Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
With a hand on her nape and her waist, Micah captured her gaze. “Tell me you agree.”
She gulped, licked her lips. The secret must be shared. Here. Now. Build the foundation before it was too late. If it wasn’t too late already. No more teetering on sand, always expecting to fall. Better to stand on solid rock. She’d tasted of joy and security, and she only wanted more. There was a chance she would lose everything being honest, but there was a guarantee she’d lose everything remaining deceitful.
“Micah, there’s something I must tell you,” she croaked. Maybe, somehow, he would understand.
“Cough, cough, cough.” Cookie’s voice rang out.
Gasping, Viori spun. Micah stiffened.
“What do you want?” he demanded, hauling her behind his back.
She didn’t stay there, but plastered herself to his side.
“I hate to interrupt such a meaningful moment or whatever, but my oracle tells me this is the perfect time to test a crazy theory I’ve developed based upon our last conversation.” The queen stood with her arms behind her back. She wore a gown of black silk, the material clinging to an hourglass figure. “Are you ready? Because I don’t know if I am.”
“What are you even talking about?” Viori groused. The other woman’s “perfect time” just happened to be her worst time.
“I’m here because I’m curious about your reaction to this.” Cookie swung her arms forward, revealing the cutest doll in all the world.
Viori lost her breath. With tears brimming, she cried, “Drendall!”
The doll blinked. A second later, the softest, sweetest voice cried back, “Momma!”
Cookie yelped as if she’d been stabbed, dropping the wiggling doll and screaming, “Spawn of Chucky!”
On the ground, Drendall clambered to her feet, then ran to Viori, who captured the darling with open arms. “I found you, I found you, I found you!”
“Where have you been, my beauty?” she rasped, too afraid to glance at Micah. He’d stiffened further. “I missed you terribly. For decades, I searched high and low.”
“I slept like you, Momma, but I was also awake,” Drendall said, nuzzling her cheek. “A little girl found me and took me to the castle being built. I got stuck in the treasure room.”
“You’re really her,” Cookie said, shell-shocked. “You’re Viori.”
Viori stood with Drendall cradled against her chest. “Yes.” Finally, she allowed her gaze to dart to Micah. He appeared confused—and full of dread. “I am.” For better or worse.
“Kaysar has searched for you for so long. I must tell him you’re here. You know that, yes?”
“I need a bit more time,” she pleaded, her heart thudding.
“I’m sorry, but that’s out of the question. For me, he comes first, always.” The doorway between locations was already closing around the queen. Within seconds, Viori and Micah were left alone. Well, as alone as you could be with a living doll in your midst, brought back to life—empowered—at the mere sound of her creator’s voice. Would Kaysar come and change everything?
“Viori,” Micah stated. She swung around to face him fully, and his narrowed gaze fell to Drendall, who fiddled with the lapels of Viori’s robe. “Explain.”
“I... I have to tell you something,” she said. “What I tried to tell you before. The secret I’ve been keeping. It’s more of a fact, really. I’m, um, more than childhood friends with Kaysar.”
A blank film fell over his features. “Go on.” Flat tone. Scarily flat.
Can’t stop now. “I am his...sister. He is my brother. I killed our parents. They were sick, and I sang... I gave birth to my first creation, trying to help them heal, but it...it murdered them. An accident, but also not an accident. How could it be? I think Fifibelle killed them to please me. Because deep in my heart, I desired their deaths. Their peace. I haven’t spoken to Kaysar since. Not for centuries. We were separated soon afterward and...”
Her husband gave no reaction. None. Zilch. Zero.
She pushed through her trepidation, telling him, “I didn’t know you warred with him when I first came to your camp. I’d just awoken from a seeming eternity of sleep, after spending years in the mortal world. I was hungry and searching for food. Micah, are you hearing what I’m saying?”
“You are Kaysar’s sister.” Same flat tone. At his sides, his fingers lightly flexed. “You are his family.”
“Yes. No. Maybe? But either way, you are my family, too. Aren’t you?” Please. “Micah,” she said, cradling Drendall with one arm and reaching for him with the other. When he stepped out of range, she let her hand flop to her side. “I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner. Maybe? What would you have done if the situation were reversed? Everything seemed wrong and right at the same time. You were my enemy, but I felt connected to you in a way I’d never felt with another. I wanted to be with you. Still do. I long for the future you promised me. Everything you—”