Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
She was still for a moment and for a second I thought she would soften. But her shoulders went back, eyes going steely again. “If there is one thing I’ve learned from you it’s to stay away from love. It’s all a lie. It’s a biological impulse that controls us, nothing more. Feelings and emotions are useless things. They’re useful for manipulation and trade. Logic is better. You understand logic. Kelsey, Donovan can’t win this war. We’ve had twelve years to fortify ourselves against him. Twelve years to put our plans in place.”
“Your plans to give the Earth plane to Hell?” It was what Sasha had told me they’d learned. He’d gone over all the hows and whys, but it boiled down to Myrddin couldn’t hold the plane without the demons, and the demons were sick of Heavenly interference. They sought to close the doors to the Heaven plane and allow demons to rule the lower planes.
Unfortunately, to do that Myrddin needed his grimoire and my sword, and that sneaky queen had managed to steal and hide both before she got thrown to the outer planes. She was planning on stealing them back, and I couldn’t wait to get Gladys in my hands again. She’s the sword the Nex Apparatus carries. She came from the Heaven plane, and the people smarter than me theorized she might be used to close the door. After all, one of Gladys’s most formidable talents is to store the unique energy of the creatures she kills. Is used to kill. I don’t know. I only know it works and the last thing I killed with Gladys had been an angel from the Heaven plane, and that meant there was an enormous amount of Heavenly power stored in that sword.
Olivia shook her head. “Do you honestly believe I want to live in a hellscape where demons run everything? Of course not. Is that what the rebels believe? Well, I suppose that’s what happens when the majority of your army is barely able to drink.”
“Oh, I assure you Lee can drink and do lots of other way too adult things.” The sweet kid I’d known had turned into a horny man who did not discriminate when it came to the…people, creatures…in his bed. The queen had her hands full with that one. At least I only had to worry about Fen sneaking into Evan’s bed.
I was a bit more practical about that than Quinn was. They were young and in love. They had adult responsibilities and had been forced to mature long before they should have. If they were safe, I said go for it. This was war. They should find comfort where they could.
“Yes. I don’t think any of us thought he would turn into such a little manwhore. Or that his brother would be an uptight prick. That poor Green Man. He must be dying. One day he’s going to explode and then we’ll be able to find him and put him out of his misery. Don’t think we’re not looking for Fae magic. He’ll light up like a firefly on our locator maps.”
I stared at the woman who’d been my best friend, nausea rolling through me. “You taught those children. You babysat them. You held them in your arms and they trusted you.”
That seemed to stop her for a moment. “They aren’t the same. I’m not the same either.”
That was where she was wrong. “They are. I assure you those are the same babies you used to make grilled cheeses for and watch Disney movies with. You were the teacher they all wanted when they got to high school. Liv, you were part of the reason they never made it to high school. You had a hand in this. You stole my son’s childhood.”
“And you left.” Liv shouted the words, one finger pointing my way. “You were stupid and blind, and you couldn’t help yourself. You had to go and try to find that vampire. Your arrogance made you fall into that trap. You left me alone, and I couldn’t even protect myself. What the fuck should I have done? I was alone and I had no power without Myrddin. I had nothing. I was as weak as any human, and you were supposed to protect me. I lost my power for you, Kelsey. So you could save that kid and your men. I was there to help you, but you left me behind. You want to talk about me teaching kids? That was my job. I was good at it until you dragged me into yours and cost me everything.”
I hadn’t meant to leave her behind, but she didn’t want to hear that rationale. I went with another. “You had Casey. Even after I disappeared, he would have been there for you. You could have told the king what was happening.”