Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
He also watched her body come alert.
Hmm, yes.
She was ready to play.
“I don’t wish to discuss her,” she shared.
“I don’t care.”
She looked back to the river, mumbling, “She’s perfect.”
“Is she?”
She fully turned her head then and stated, “Yes. Have you not noticed? Are you one of the very few who does not think she commands the sun and dapples the leaves with golden rays?”
“I cannot say I did not watch with some awe, her performance at the coliseum,” he shared.
Serena continued to mumble. “You and all of Fire City.”
“Though, otherwise, I do not know her.”
She again turned away.
“I pity you. She’s extraordinary,” she told the river sarcastically.
“And you envy her, rather than being proud someone of your direct blood is remarkable, negating a possibility for you to be remarkable, as there is very little that is more so than someone who could be dimmed by another’s light, having the strength of will and goodness of heart to exalt in that light and shine their own because of love.”
She looked at him again, her arresting face having grown hard.
“With respect, Master,” she bit, “but as you are not in my position, you couldn’t possibly know.”
“I disagree, mouse, for my older brother was taller, stronger, more agile, swifter, and he was the oldest of us all, thus born to be king.”
Her eyes grew round.
“And I loved him greatly,” he finished.
“By the goddess,” she whispered.
“Unfortunately, in my culture, when multiple boys are born to the royal family, it is customary, when they begin to come of age, for the younger ones to be murdered so that they do not dispute or connive to circumvent the ascendency, something that, through history, happened with great frequency.”
At that, she twisted her whole upper body to him, saying, “Bloody hell.”
“Indeed. Making this story all the more heartwarming is that it is the mother of the boy who would be king who ensures her other offspring do not stand in his way. While the father casts his gaze elsewhere and ignores what is happening, the mother hires the assassins who will slaughter her children. That is, if one has not shown in his training that he won’t be a better ruler. Unfortunately for the three of us, but I hope fortunate for the realm of my birth, my brother was extraordinary.”
“You’re a prince?”
“No, I am a Trusted.”
“But you were born a prince.”
“In a meaningless way,” he allowed.
“That’s never meaningless,” she said softly.
“No, it was,” Chu disagreed. “What was not meaningless was my brother, who would be king, who loved me as much as I loved him. Thus, he helped me to escape so when the assassins were to come to take my life, and those of his other brothers, we were not there. Instead, I am here, alive, in the service of another great king, and my life has meaning.”
“I’m her older sister,” she reminded him.
“Then act it.”
She looked to the river.
He gave her time to think on that.
Before he was done giving her that time, she asked the river, “What happened to your other brothers?”
“During our escape, one was felled with a spear. After it, the other connived to go back, take vengeance and seize power. However, to do that and not leave any loose strings, he would have to dispatch me. We fought. He did not win.”
That earned him her attention. “So where is he now?”
“At the bottom of the sea.”
Her eyes were again large. “You killed him?”
“I preferred to be the one left breathing, but more, to be certain that my older brother would not eventually face the same test.”
“You killed your brother so he would not kill your other brother?”
He shrugged.
“Chu,” she whispered.
In the beginning, she did not remember his name.
She had come to learn it.
And he had learned to like it on her lips.
“As you can see, I come from a fond and affectionate family.”
He watched in the moonlight as something moved over her face. She seemed disconcerted and suddenly awkward, as if she did not know what to say, to do or to think.
This reaction did not surprise him.
It was that way, Chu had found, when you’d spent your life concerning yourself only with yourself, and suddenly, you thought of the feelings of another.
And it was not in his character, not in the role he played with a partner, definitely not in the role he was meant to play with her, but he felt the need to alleviate this for her.
“Come, mouse,” he murmured. “Bring your saddle rug and blanket. I will tell you a tale of the land of my birth.”
All awkwardness left, alertness suffused her frame, and she tried not to appear eager, but she failed as she moved to do as she was told.
He took the saddle rug and propped it against his own, leaning back to it, before he set her blanket aside.