Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
“I’m fine,” I cut him off, because I didn’t need him offering me more blood. One drop from the likes of him was enough for one lifetime, thanks very much. “Now, what did you want to talk about?”
A faint, worried line creased his brow. My attention went to the nasty scar that ran down his face. He said it wasn’t a punishment for trying to escape from the mine, which only made me more curious about how he’d gotten it.
“I’m sorry you got dragged into this mess. I never imagined …” he trailed off, seeming lost for words.
“What? You never imagined that the demon who enslaved you and Sven for almost a century would find a way to come to this dimension and take you back? Oh, and that I’d somehow be used as a chess piece in whatever grand scheme he’s plotting to recapture you?”
“About that,” Vasilios said, running a hand over his shaved hair. “He must know you possess my mark. Perhaps he framed you in order to punish me, though it does seem rather convoluted. If he knows where we are, then why not just come and get us.”
“Maybe he can’t. The prison is guarded by magical wards, and if he’s a demon, then he wouldn’t have the magic to break them.”
“Oh, he has magic. There was a woman, a friend of ours, who worked in the mine. Her name was Carrabelle, and she was part witch. I wonder if Red Armand had her create the portal to come here. Some demons can create portals, but that’s not one of Armand’s abilities. As you know, time moves quicker in Oreylia. Sven and I have been here for two years, maybe a little longer, which means he’s had Carrabelle working on the portal for ten.” He fell silent, then continued quietly, “I can’t imagine the suffering she’s endured at his hands.”
“Were you close with her?” I asked. “With Carrabelle?” He appeared upset about her being in pain, making me suspect they’d been intimate.
“We were friends, but she and Sven, they were never together, but I believe he loved her.”
I was surprised by his admission. I couldn’t imagine Sven loving someone. He was so cold and clinical, so easily capable of extreme violence. “I’m sorry. The lives you lived back there. I can’t even imagine—”
“No, you can’t,” he said, cutting me off, his eyes hard.
“Look, I’m just trying to understand you. It’s hard for me to be here after all you did. I’m stuck in a place where the only allies I have are those who caused harm to someone I care about, killed my teacher and who planned to harm my parents.”
Vasilios’s eyes flashed sharply. “Your parents abandoned you to this place, yet you still care for them.”
“They’re my mother and father, no matter their faults. You, of all people, should understand that,” I shot back.
His eyes narrowed to slits. “It’s not the same thing. My father was—”
“Marcel told you he lost his mind. This is a man who was there to witness Theodore’s insanity first-hand, yet you still dismiss him. How?”
There was a long silence, and then he spoke in a low, sad voice, “Because when you have so little, you need to hold onto things that much tighter.”
“Is that why you refuse to spend time with Marcel? Because you don’t want him to tell you unpleasant things about your father?”
He didn’t answer, but his eyes held mine, and they were bright with emotion. At that moment, I felt a connection to him I hadn’t felt before. I felt like I understood a tiny fraction of him. A long quiet fell before he said, “Sven wasn’t supposed to attack Angela.” The admission startled me. “He was supposed to grab her for me so that I could cast a quick memory-erasing spell, but she fought back, and Sven bit her to subdue her. He ended up taking too much blood. But believe me, we never meant to injure her so badly.”
I wasn’t sure if I should believe him. He was clearly offering this up so that I would trust him more. “What about Mr Williams? I suppose you’ll tell me his killing was an accident, too.”
Vasilios shook his head. “No, that was purposeful, and I’ll take whatever punishment I deserve for that in the next life. The more time I spend in this realm, the more I realise that murdering someone because they’re a problem isn’t always the answer.”
Had hell frozen over? I couldn’t believe Vasilios not only wasn’t trying to justify the killing, but he was also admitting it was wrong. Several moments of stunned silence passed before I said, “I wonder what his angle is.”
“Whose?”
“Red Armand’s. You say he framed me as a way of punishing you, but as you said, that’s overly convoluted. How does reuniting us help him recapture you and Sven?”