Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
But Quill wouldn’t stand for it. I saw him confronting our cousins later as I hid in the shadows—they were all about the same age, though Quill was always the tallest.
“I know what you did to my sister,” he growled, glaring at the two of them. “How dare you treat a princess of the royal blood that way? How dare you treat anyone that way!”
Calista and Asfaloth looked at each other. They were twins—they had the same shimmering, golden blonde hair and large amethyst eyes that shone like stars. To look at them, you’d think they could never do wrong—so innocent and beautiful were their perfect faces.
But I knew the truth about them—there was darkness behind their perfection—an ugly kind of evil that never showed in their physical appearance.
“You think we hurt Alira in some way, cousin?” Calista asked, opening her amethyst eyes wide to give him her most innocent look. “Pray, whatever would make you think so?”
“Yes, what can you mean by such accusations?” Asfaloth demanded.
Quill glared fiercely at them both.
“Don’t play the innocent babes with me—I know how you love to torment Alira!”
“Why do you care so much for her, anyway?” Asfaloth asked, making a face.
“Yes, she’s such a nasty little thing,” Calista sniffed. “And she doesn’t even have any magic to make up for her ugliness.”
“She’s as fat as a troll’s wife!” Asfaloth added. “Really, your father should have sent her to the Unseelie court as soon as she killed your mother coming out. That’s where such ugliness belongs.”
“That is enough!” Quill’s blue eyes had been snapping with rage by this time. “How dare you speak about my sister that way? I’m telling you now, you’re going to pay for the way you tormented her. You—” he pointed at Calista and made a motion with one hand, squeezing his fist hard and bringing it down in a rapid motion, “Will feel like you’re walking on hot coals. Every step will be agony! And you—” he made another motion and pointed at Asfaloth, “You’re going to feel like you’re constantly shitting fire, cousin. Your ass is going to burn both inside and out!”
Both my cruel cousins were already dancing in pain as my big brother finished his curses, crying that they didn’t deserve such harsh punishments and that he was being horrible and unfair.
“How can you do this to your own blood?” Calista whined. “Our mother is your late mother’s sister!”
“How dare you? Remove the curse at once!” Asfaloth was clutching at his bottom, clad elegantly in silken breeches woven by a fairy seamstress.
Quill crossed his arms over his chest. “Not until you admit what you did to Alira.”
“So we let a few bugs crawl on her—so what?” Calista exclaimed, dancing from foot to dainty foot. “She deserves it! The nasty little thing was spying on us!”
Of course, this was a lie. I had never meant to see them doing…whatever it was they had been doing. But I had certainly paid the price for it. That was why Quill had found me in my rooms, alone and covered in nimble-bugs.
But of course Calista and Asfaloth weren’t about to admit their misdeeds. They only danced and cried in outraged pain when he cursed them with his much stronger magic.
“How long is this curse going to last?” Calista exclaimed, her pretty purple eyes filling with tears. “We only left her there a little while and my feet feel like they’re on fire!”
“And my arsehole’s burning!” Asfaloth snarled. “This is uncalled for!”
Quill gave them both a cool smile.
“My curses will last for exactly as long as you left Alira sitting there in the shadows, bound, with bugs crawling on her,” he told them. “So if you really only left her there a ‘little while’ you have nothing to fear.”
Then he left them, dancing and howling their outrage and pain. As you may imagine, following that incident it was quite some time before they bothered me again.
I did my part—I did my best to stay out of their way. I kept in the shadows and avoided them in Court for years. And Asfaloth and Calista ignored me—or at least they left me alone and basically pretended I didn’t exist—which was fine with me. I would much rather be beneath their notice than the focus of their attention.
No doubt my cousins left me alone because they feared my brother’s retribution. But after Quillian was killed, they seemed to remember me—to remember how much they loved focusing their cruelty on their younger cousin. And so it started again. My cousins had been tormenting me of late—so much so that I was almost glad to be leaving the Summer Court.
Almost.
2
I studied my wedding gown—a huge white mound of white fabric. Tansy bustled over with the crown of white flowers which would complete the outfit. I did not like any of it, but I knew I had no choice but to put it on.