Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 642(@250wpm)___ 535(@300wpm)
She says it like I should be terrified. The EKC aren’t bad. They all have one thing in common that holds them together. Family. Why is this so daunting for her and my fathers? We are all basically family.
“Two, I’m always right here. We all are. Right here waiting for you. If you don’t want this life, Luna, we will make you disappear. They say you can’t run from a King, but you can if you don’t fall in love with one.” The words echo long after she says them. “Dad is always there for you. He can take your calls and see you, but your father and I will not. At least for now.”
Okay, this is worse than I thought.
“And last, Luna, baby, don’t let them take it. You hold on to that right here—” Her finger jerks into my chest. “You hold on to it. You let it sit there and fester, and you do exactly as you’re to do to get through the years.” She takes a deep breath. “Alive.”
Noises of nature start to fade into the distance as acid fills my throat. What does she mean alive? I’ll always be safe here. With them. Right?
“Lilith.”
My mother stands to her full height after a chaste kiss on the head, swiping the tears from her cheeks and brushing off her sadness as if it was never there. When she turns, she exposes the wall of muscle behind her. Uncle Bishop Hayes. He’s the leader of the Elite Kings Club, and pretty soon, because of tradition, my stupid tormentor will take his place.
“We must leave now before others see. She’ll be fine.” Uncle Bishop is so tall that it hurts my neck to look up at him. I’ll be safe with him. He always jokes with me when I am here. He taught me how to play chess, as did Uncle Nate. They said it wasn’t just a game, but a strategy for life if people were smart enough to learn.
Mother smiles, but it isn’t wide enough to reach her eyes. She removes the necklace around her neck, placing the gold chain into my palm. “I know all too well the complexities of secret societies, Hayes, and I know how dangerous you, your family, and the EKC are, but if she does not make it out of this alive, I will kill every single one of you or die trying, but just know…” She turns her back to me, patting Uncle Bishop over his chest. “I’ll go for Madison first, and then Priest and Halen, and then, well—” The shadows beneath Uncle Bishop’s features darken, and I swear a growl shakes the forest. People are always scared of him. Understandable, I guess, but not really.
Uncle Bishop doesn’t scare me. None of them do except maybe him.
“Leave, Lilith.” He draws in closer, so now they’re shoulder to shoulder, and even though Mother is a lot smaller than him, she keeps her shoulders back and chin high. Mother has a reputation, and it hangs around her like invisible armor. “While you still have legs.”
Mother takes her time as she makes her way through the pillowing snow and to a sedan waiting near the SUV. The same one she brought me here in, with hopes to have a talk away from my fathers. This was supposed to be a regular Aspen trip. We’ve all been coming to the same one once a year for as long as I can remember.
But I knew something was going to be different about this one. And it wasn’t just because I had overheard them talking about me being a Rebellis and the first one of my kind—whatever that meant—but because of the conversations with Father and Dad over the years.
Uncle Bishop takes my hand. It’s small against the base of his. He doesn’t say a word as he directs me toward the SUV. The times we’d play chess, it would only be him and Uncle Nate. Uncle Brantley never did. He would just watch from the corner of the room and drink. He’d drink and drink and watch as the three of us would go back and forth. It was a fun game that I enjoyed. We played it every year we came to Aspen. I didn’t wonder until just now why we didn’t play it this time.
I climb into the car and shut the door. It’s not until Uncle Bishop slides in beside me that the heaviness of Mother’s words comes back to me.
Alive.
What did she mean by alive?
My fingers spread open, exposing the necklace in my palm. A four-pointed star sits to the side, and the letters IV are engraved in the middle. Encrusted in diamonds and gold, it isn’t something I’ve seen her wear at all.
Maybe because she bought it before we all came.