Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 132582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“I’ve missed this,” he sighs, and I smile, taking a deep breath and then burying my face deeper into his chest. “You must understand. I don’t think I can let this go again. Us.”
I’m not sure what to say to that, so I remain quiet.
“But if you want to go back—if you don’t feel safe here—I understand, and I won’t make you stay.”
I lean back, tipping my chin to look up at him. “You think I want to go back?”
“Don’t you?”
“I’m not in a hurry to go, Caz. I want to be here, with you. I want more moments like this, on a balcony that faces a waterfall. Beneath starry night skies, with your family laughing around us.” I pause. “I don’t have this at home. Family. But if there’s danger everywhere…we have to be careful. We have to play our cards right.”
He looks from me to everyone else. He studies them a moment, then takes my hand and leads me away from them. We venture along the rest of the wraparound balcony until we’re alone, still facing the moon. When we are, he brings me to him and cups my face in his hands, pressing his lips to mine. I expect his lips to be warm, but they’re not. They’re cold. But I take it because I’ve been dying for another kiss since he left for Luxor.
I lace my arms around the back of his neck, press my chest to his, but his body feels cold too. I break the kiss. “Are you okay? You feel cold.”
“I’m fine. Just a bit nippy out here.” He smiles, bringing his mouth down to mine again, then he picks me up, pressing my back against a marble column.
“Maybe there are ways I can come and go?” I offer.
“There may be. But we won’t know until tomorrow when we see Beatrix.” He drags his lips over the crook of my neck, and I shudder.
“Caz, you’re really cold.”
He frowns then, studying my face before placing me back on my feet. I grab his hands, and even through the gloves, they feel like blocks of ice.
“Let’s go to your room and light a fire,” I insist. Worry tugs at my gut, but I keep it at bay as I grab his hand and lead the way to his chambers. I enter the room swathed in gold and ivory and hurry to the fireplace, tossing logs into it and then asking for his lighter. He hands it to me, and I get the fire going, and suddenly I’m shivering so hard my teeth are chattering.
“You all right?” he asks.
“I’m f-fine.”
“Willow.” He steps closer. “Your lips are turning blue.”
I try to speak again, but I can’t. Though the fire is going now, I can’t feel the heat of it. And then I hear a chuckle, deep and sinister. When I look at Caz, his eyes are as black as coals.
I gasp, stumbling away, but he walks closer to me, smirking.
“Did you think it would be that easy?” he asks, but his voice is different. Darker. The air around me freezes, ice splintering up the walls. The fire is no longer burning hot. The flames are frozen solid. He steps closer.
“Caz,” I whisper.
“You didn’t listen to me, now I’m taking him. But don’t worry. It won’t be long before I take you too.”
“W-who are you?”
He puts on a wicked smile. And right before my very eyes, he vanishes.
“Willow!” someone shouts, and I gasp when Juniper’s face comes into view. “Love of Vakeeli, what’s happened to you?” I look around. I’m back on the balcony, seated. But Caz isn’t where he was last standing. In fact, he’s not on the balcony at all.
“Where’s Caz?” I ask, shooting out of my chair.
“He’s in his chambers. He said he wasn’t feeling well after you guys were all lip-locked and goo-goo-eyed around the corner.”
Wait…what? “When was this?”
“About five minutes ago.”
“Is everything all right?” Rowan asks, concern etching his face.
I shake my head. “No. It’s not.”
Then I run down the corridor and into the palace. “Caz!” I scream, storming up the stairs. I scream his name repeatedly, my heart beating harder. As I run, I feel the cold still in my lungs, as if I’ve inhaled that nightmare. I don’t stop, even when the cold seems it will paralyze me.
I run to his room and shove the door open. And when I see him, my heart drops to my stomach.
Eighty
WILLOW
He’s lying on the floor, shirtless, his body paler than I’ve ever seen it before. “Caz!” I yell. I run to him, lifting his head up. His body has black veins all over it, and he’s as cold as ice.
Footsteps approach, and Juniper and Maeve rush into the room.
“What’s happened?” Maeve shouts.
“I—I don’t know!” I wail.
Maeve drops to her knees, pressing two fingers to the pulse on Caz’s neck. “He still has a pulse, but it’s faint.” I’m glad to hear that, but he doesn’t look well. His lips are dark blue, and black veins slither along his eyelids.