Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
My kind of woman.
“It’s underneath the snow?” she asked between breaths.
“Yes. It’s frozen over with a thick sheet of ice.”
“Are we standing on it right now?”
“No.”
“Even then…that water must have been freezing. If you weren’t knocked out, you must have been in shock.”
“Ian was. We got him out of the water. We thought he was gone, but miraculously, he came back.”
“My gods…” She didn’t give me that look often, tenderness wrapped up in sympathy, but she gave it to me now. Like she could feel exactly what I went through.
“My mother kept us alive. It was my father’s responsibility to raise us from boys to men, but the task fell to my mother. She changed us from victims to survivors. She made us strong, vengeful, and ruthless. We weren’t allowed to complain about our broken bones, to voice our hunger, to do anything besides press on. I know I’m a heartless man, but I wasn’t raised to be anything but fierce.”
Her soft eyes continued to regard me. Without judgment and without pity, she stared. There was something deeper in her expression, the same emotion my mother showed for me when I was in her good graces.
Respect.
“Now I feel stupid complaining about anything…”
We made it to the cave at nightfall, and I noticed the supplies were beginning to run low.
Ian would need to make a delivery soon.
“I’m not in the mood for seeds and nuts. Not a goddamn rabbit…” She grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows. “I’m going to hunt before it gets too dark.” She stared down at me, as if she expected me to tell her otherwise.
I gave her a slight nod. “Don’t go too far.”
She left the cave, her sword on her hip, her bow over her back, her ass nice and tight in her trousers.
I watched her go before I readied the fire. The wood was piled on and then kindled. Soon, the orange flames heated the space, melted the snow at the entrance to the cave. Shadows sprawled across the walls and the ceiling. I stared at it, thinking of old memories as I listened for signs of trouble.
Just when the night turned pitch black, she returned, two squirrels in her hand. “It’s not much—”
“I don’t like rabbit food either.”
I prepared the meat for the fire then roasted it on a spit. The juices started to bubble and make the fire hiss below. I watched her across from me, her eyes tired, her hair messy after the long journey. She leaned against the other wall with her knees pulled close. Her eyes were on the fire most of the time, but sometimes it was on me. “I didn’t realize princesses ate squirrels.”
Her eyes narrowed right on cue.
I grinned because I loved pissing her off. It inevitably led to sex. Good sex.
“I was never a princess, but even if I were, I’m definitely not anymore.” She took the spit away from the fire and divided the food between us. We ate in silence, just the way Ian and I would after a hunt. I’d hunted with women. I’d fought with women. But I’d never done these things with a lover.
“Did you guys travel to HeartHolme, and the Runes welcomed you with open arms?”
“We went to the outpost first. They took us in for a while.”
“And then your mother became queen?” she asked. “That’s one hell of a story.”
“It didn’t happen that quickly. Her reign didn’t begin until a decade later.”
“How?” she asked. “How did she pull that off?”
“By being the fiercest warrior. By being selfless for her people. By giving everything to everyone else and leaving nothing for herself. When the king passed away, his son wanted to take the throne. But the Runes wanted my mother instead.”
“That must have pissed him off.”
“It did. But he was too young for the role anyway. Too spoiled by luxury that was given and not earned. My mother has led them ever since, and her wish is for me to take her place when her time comes.”
“But the people will have to vote?”
“Yes.”
“And what if they vote no?”
I took another bite and didn’t answer until I was done. “I will always embrace the will of my people. But ruling HeartHolme has never been my destiny. My destiny, as we both know, is to take back my father’s throne and rule Delacroix and the Kingdoms.”
“Then who will rule the Runes?”
“Ian—if they’ll have him.”
“If Necrosis is defeated and there’s no barrier between the top and the bottom, would there still be different kingdoms? Wouldn’t they all be united under one banner?”
I gave a slight chuckle because she was so naïve.
“What?”
“There’s no such thing as happily ever after. Peace isn’t eternal. It’s temporary, a pause between wars. Without Necrosis as their primary adversary, I imagine the Runes, the Plunderers, and the Teeth will wage war until there’s one sovereign.”