Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Admittedly, he was right. The last thing that I wanted to do was fuel a King’s ego and admit that they were right, but Sol and I had to form an alliance for Biba. She meant more to me than my ego, and that seemed to be the same case for Sol.
“Yeah, okay,” I replied, continuing to trudge down the road.
When Stormcloud loomed ahead of us, we diverged from the road and walked through the fields that surrounded the walls of the academy. We couldn’t see that much from the outskirts, but we could peer through some windows and look into the courtyard from the top of a grassy hill. Since it was the day before classes began, more students lingered around outside, chatting and catching up with friends.
“Do you see her?” I asked Sol, letting my eyes sweep over the students in the courtyard. It was hard to make out their features, but I would be able to recognize Biba anywhere, no matter how far away from her I was.
Sol narrowed his eyes to try to sharpen his vision. He then sighed and shook his head.
“No. She could be inside and we don’t know it,” he muttered. “But if we get caught in there… game over.”
I wanted to save Biba, but I knew she’d kill us if she found out we went into the academy. We had to be smart about our next moves. If she wasn’t at the academy, we needed to consider places she could possibly be outside of the academy. The list of places I could think of was short.
“We should probably head back before someone sees us,” Sol told me, sounding as disappointed as I felt. “Arvo has spies everywhere.”
I nodded, despite leaving being the last thing that I wanted to do. I didn’t want to give up, but what more could we do? If we got too close, we would be seen. Our best bet was to figure out another move in the safety of the inn at the village.
When we arrived at the inn, I headed to my own room, shutting the door before lying down on my bed. I stared up at the ceiling, a feeling of dread weighing down on me. What if Biba really was dead?
Dark thoughts flooded my mind as I considered the morbid possibility. I didn’t get the chance to tell Biba how I truly felt. We didn’t even have a chance to fully explore what we had together, and I needed her to know how much I cared about her. I was so worried about her that I felt sick, my stomach twisting.
All I wanted was for her to be in my arms. I could keep her safe there, and we could block out the rest of the noise. The world around us was so loud and stressful, distracting us from what we needed to focus on.
Biba wasn’t even the only thing on my mind at that point. Simone and all of the information that she dumped on me took up a portion of my mind as well. There were so many secrets and so many betrayals. I was a secret, born from a betrayal. She had so much hope for me, for Rafael, for her life. All of it went up in smoke.
No one could have hopes any longer, especially when they were at someone else’s mercy. When Rafael died and Peter Williams entrapped her, she was left with one hope: save me. Along the way, her care extended to Biba, who became her surrogate daughter.
Whenever I thought about my mother, the first memory that came to mind besides her death was the first time that I saw her. When I first came to Stormcloud, it didn’t take me long to figure out how headstrong and sharp-witted Simone was. On my first day, as I was roaming the halls and becoming more accustomed to my new surroundings, I rounded the corner and nearly ran right into her.
She had been striding down the hallway toward her office, walking with determination per usual. She parted her lips like she was about to chastise me, but she stopped. Her eyes swept over me instead like she was studying me.
Now, I realized that she probably recognized who I was and had to stop herself from treating me like I was her son. I wondered how hard it was for her to be around me and keep her secrets. Did she almost slip up before she finally told me the truth. I didn’t assume anything was up during our first meeting.
“Are you finding your way around the academy fine?” she asked me as she adopted a casual expression and stance.
“I’m just looking for my room,” I explained to her. They needed to give students a map to help them navigate the academy and its numerous hallways.