Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I could drop her name big-time, infer her desire is for Amell to help me, but that’s not quite true. She’s staying out of it, and I don’t want her implicated in any way if I’m able to get Lucien back.
“I’m here on my own. I want to talk to you again about Lucien.”
Amell’s head snaps my way. “I believe that discussion has already been laid to rest.”
“With all due respect,” I say as I lean my hip against the rail and cross my arms over my chest, “we didn’t have a discussion. We obliterated trees and boulders.”
The fight was epic and ended far too soon, in my opinion. I would’ve liked to pound on him some more, and I’m sure he felt the same, but Zora used her infinitely stronger powers to separate us like we were little brats duking it out on the playground.
Amell doesn’t say anything but turns his attention back over the glowing city.
“I’ll owe you a huge favor,” I offer to sweeten the pot. “Anything you want.”
That gets his attention. I don’t like the glitter of satisfaction in his expression when he asks, “Anything?”
It’s do-or-die time. How bad do I want my brother back?
“Anything,” I affirm.
“Leave Zora alone and I’ll do what I can for you,” Amell says as he straightens and turns my way. “Agree to never see her again unless it’s to perform a formal task she requests.”
“You are unfuckingbelievable,” I snarl at him. “You’re married, supposedly to a woman you love, and you still want to keep a piece of Zora for yourself. You can’t stand that we have something.”
Amell doesn’t even flinch. “Lucien or Zora. Take your pick.”
“Fuck you,” I snap at him. “I pick Zora any day, every day.”
I prepare to bend distance, but I can’t think where to go. In that moment of hesitation, Amell’s face breaks into a toothy grin. “Excellent.”
That’s startling and… confusing. “Excellent? You’re glad I chose Zora?”
Chuckling now, Amell walks back into the main living area and I follow. Food and wine have been laid out on a buffet stand near the wall. “You were right and wrong. I do love Nyssa more than any creature could love another, but you’re wrong I want to keep a piece of Zora for myself. I have her friendship, and that’s enough.” He pours a glass of wine and hands it to me before preparing one of his own. “I merely wanted to see how serious you were about her. The fact you’re choosing her over the one thing I know you want more than anything speaks volumes.”
Amell turns and holds his glass up to me in salute. “You have my assistance.”
“Are you serious?” I ask, feeling like I’m walking into some sort of trap. “You’ll bring Lucien back?”
“I’ll assist you in trying,” he says flatly. “I don’t even know if I can do it, but there’s a book that might show me how.”
“A book?”
“The Book of Shadows. Kymaris started it when we first populated the Underworld, and as she received more stone magic, she cooked up all kinds of spells with it.”
“A spell book? A simple spell book will work?” It’s unfathomable to me that it could be so easy.
“It’s anything but a simple spell book. It’s alive with magic that’s strengthened and evolved over the ages. Some even say it’s sentient. It’s dangerous but powerful and used in the right way can probably accomplish anything.”
Hope surges and my chest swells with the thought I could potentially have Lucien back by dinnertime.
“But I don’t have the book,” Amell says.
I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Of course it can’t be simple.”
“It is simple,” Amell says with a smile. “My daughter, Thalia, has it but I’m not allowed out of the Underworld. You’ll have to travel to Vyronas to get it from her.”
* * *
After the original meteor struck the Egyptian desert, it was found to contain magical properties. Pharoah Khufu built a pyramid over it and named it Giza. Inside, he tried to hide this most important treasure all for himself. Unfortunately, the pyramid was ransacked and the huge stone was obliterated into smaller pieces anywhere from the size of a basketball to a pea. Obviously, the larger stones contained more power and the Light Fae were lucky enough to get a piece that enabled them to create their own dimension, called Faere.
Other dimensions were created, and now hundreds exist. One such dimension was just burned to ash by Cato because it failed to thrive, but others are important magical meccas.
One of these is Vyronas, and I was here not long ago bringing tidings to a man named Bastien Dunne. He was leading an army against an evil sorceress to reclaim the throne for a princess named Thalia. After the war was won, she became queen and married Bastien.