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)
His hands curled into fists. He should have expected this. He was a chimera, destined to be alone. He’d known better than to try to make a relationship work. Especially with a beauty like Vee. He should have suspected she had come here with an agenda. Their attraction had been too visceral, their connection too quick. But what was that agenda, exactly?
Wed him and then what? Destroy him from the inside out? As punishment for what he’d done to her creations throughout the ages? Her children. His rage reached new heights. She had risked her own family to conquer him and his army, and she had lost. The fault for this belonged to her, yet she blamed him. Hated him even. Good. He hated her right back. But...
Guilt proved an ever-constant thorn in his side. For a moment, he’d glimpsed her inner pain, and oh, it proved nearly unbearable. And he was responsible. He’d killed a part of her. Unknowingly, yes, but even if he’d comprehended the truth, how should his actions have differed? He must always do what was necessary to protect his people.
Now, at least, he knew the facts. She was his enemy, plain and simple. A foe he’d foolishly invited into his bed. His life. His future. A bellow of agony lodged in his throat.
But agony wasn’t allowed, only logic. With brutal precision, Micah ripped through each of his emotions, leaving only shreds and logic. Think this through. His wife’s glamara was as horrifying as it was awe-inspiring. An ability that involved her voice—exactly like King Kaysar’s.
Had she murdered the man’s parents, hoping to destroy her competition? Or had she lied about her dealings with the Unhinged One, along with everything else?
A bitter laugh escaped Micah. Well, well. Look at that. An emotion had survived his assault. She never wanted me. Always plotted to ruin me. To destroy my people.
The wind died, and the fog thinned, his army appearing again. Men ceased writhing and lumbered to their feet, wiping blood from their faces. Everyone looked to him, expecting direction.
The felines wound through his legs, and they, too, seemed to expect direction. He scowled and kicked, shouting, “Get!”
A whimper sounded as the sandcats skidded across the dirt, and his guilt sharpened. He didn’t care. They weren’t real.
The animal—things—remained nearby, but kept out of striking distance. They hissed at anyone who approached, as if protecting him.
He would deal with them later. There were more important matters to attend now.
“Surround the belua,” he bellowed. The giant would be allowed to go nowhere.
So far, it hadn’t attempted to move. But then, Vee had told the abomination to take her home only when it was able. Because she assumed she had tied Micah’s hands with her parting words. That he would choose to keep her and her abomination safe. How smug she’d been before collapsing into the new belua’s arms.
That smugness still pricked Micah’s pride, the urge to prove her wrong nearly overwhelming him. Not that the life he intended to grant her would amount to much. She would spend the rest of her days in a dungeon, able to hurt no others. But the creature? It would be eliminated.
Soon she will discover why I’m called the Unwilling.
Once he made a decision, he never backtracked. He refused to reroute or withdraw.
His men obeyed him, hurrying to form a circle, trapping the beast from every angle. The thing was tall. The tallest and widest belua he’d ever faced. At least double the height and triple the width of the others, all coiled strength, bark shards and stony force. It held Vee in the crook of its arms, pressing her against its belly. Shielding the most important parts of her from any attack—because she slept again.
Ripe for the plucking.
Eyes made of jagged rock darted over the soldiers, who inched forward, closing in. More and more agitated, the monstrous amalgamation shifted from foot to foot. Soon to strike? If she were injured in the fray...
A muscle jumped beneath his eye. “Stay out of range, but maintain the circle,” he commanded. There would be no battle yet. “Do it. Now!”
As they scrambled away, a plan formed. He would use his glamara. Prove his strength without combat and simply command the beast to release its mother. It would be compelled to obey him.
Mother. Vee’s betrayal. New flames of rage erupted. No mercy! He didn’t care about causing Vee more of that soul-crushing grief. The slightest sliver of compassion would only act as a reward for her evil. Something no king should do. Her monsters had killed hundreds of his men over the centuries. How many of their families had grieved, blaming Micah for the deed?
She will pay. But perhaps he shouldn’t kill this beast, after all. A soft wind rattled the budding leaves. Where there were leaves there could be fruit. The idea stopped him cold. What if this...thing could grow fruit and seed others able to do the same? In the past, he’d had no luck transplanting the trees, but these had first sprouted in the Dusklands; they might succeed whether others had failed.