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)
Pearl Jean and King Jareth must be standing near her, but out of the doorway’s range. Enemies! To reach them, Micah had only to dive through the opening. Which he could do. He had never vowed not to harm the old crone and the errant king.
Cookie’s attention swung back to him, her scowl easing into the wicked smile once again. “Where was I? Oh yes. Your desperation to free your brand-new wife.” Her gaze dropped to the still-hissing cats, and her eyes narrowed. “Call off your...whatever those things are.”
An obscenity boiled at the end of his tongue. “I. Will. Have. Her. Back. Now!” He would lock her up as planned and be done with her!
“Dude. Chill,” Cookie interjected and rolled her eyes. “She’s fine, promise. I haven’t approached and given her my hard sell yet. That’ll come in a bit if you continue to prove unreasonable. I wanted to offer you a onetime, too-good-to-pass-up deal first. Are you ready? Here it is. I’ll concede to nothing, and you’ll concede to everything, and the war stops before it starts.”
Concede? “I would rather die.” He kept his gaze on both queens. Vee still winked in and out of view.
“Look,” Cookie continued with a sigh. “You’re a family man now. You and the old ball and chain might dream of popping out a couple of brats. Or enjoying a decade of Naked Tuesdays first. My point is, you’ll be busy. You won’t wanna be preoccupied, trying but failing to fend off my brilliant attacks. And I get it. So stop being selfish and concede already. You aren’t the only one ready to enjoy wedded bliss, you know.”
Realization dawned, shining light on a well of hope. His own smile bloomed. “You fear you’ll lose.” A prediction of her oracle or spy? Or both?
Muffled voices seeped from the doorway.
She stomped her foot, then drew in a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. A soft breeze brushed a lock of fallen hair over her face. “Shut it, Pearl Jean! You do not tell Amber she got this one right. Agreed?” Another stomp of her foot. Cookie lowered her arm and glared at Micah. “As for you. You’ve made your choice. It was the wrong one. And, like, superdumb. Enjoy your time-out. Or not. I plan to make you as miserable as possible.”
In a snap, the foundation beneath his feet vanished, a doorway opening beneath him. He shot through the air, landing on an icy mountain, and rolling over carpets of sharp ice. Stings registered, a freezing burn following. Numbing cold seeped deep into his bones.
Thunder boomed as he caught himself and crouched, taking stock. A storm raged in a lightning-lit night sky. Wind billowed, sharp crystals pelting him. No trees. A cave over there.
Micah’s wrist cuff vibrated, forcibly extending his arm in the direction of the Dusklands because Cookie had portaled him into the farthest reaches of the Winterlands. He geared to flitter back. Had the queen forgotten he possessed the ability? She had wasted a good doorway.
Then a roar Micah recognized sounded in the distance. His chin snapped up, his ears twitching. Rage stormed once again, far colder than the ice. The snow beast. His guardian’s killer.
Vee’s child. Another roar, this one shriller. The ground shook.
Micah growled low in his chest. He had a choice. Return to the Dusklands and find Vee before Cookie did, or slay the abomination?
* * *
VIORI TRUDGED THROUGH Grimm Forest, exhausted, thirsty, furious, overheated and dragging her tired, aching feet. She had been alone for hours and hours. Truly alone for the first time in forever. Reminded her of the morning she’d awoken in an Earth forest, no children around her, men with torches and pitchforks bearing down on her, shouting, “Witch!”
Once she’d found safety, regrouped and recharged, she’d hunted the men—and she’d left destruction in her wake. Exactly what she would do to Micah.
She swiped her claws at air, willing to attack any available target. Even her husband’s name provoked her fury.
Where was Graves? Despite his incredible size, there was no sign of him. Did he not care that she required a companion? That she was too weak to create someone else? Why punish her this way? Especially while she was in the middle of a separation from the male who was soooo not his father.
Had her child abandoned her like everyone else?
She kicked at a mound of sand and kept moving forward. The collar anchored to her throat burned and tugged and chafed.
With a quaking hand, she swiped at the sudden moisture in her eyes—just as the collar tugged harder, yanking her from the path. She tripped to the side as if she’d exited the other side of the realm. Wait? Had she? Were those interworld doorways closing before her?
“Pst. Over here.”
Viori righted and dug in her heels, fighting the pull, knowing it would lead her straight to Micah. Her heart thumped as she came face-to-face with the speaker. A woman. Kaysar’s queen. Cookie. A black cat perched at her feet.