Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Besides, why would Weston have lied? Why wouldn’t he have told me that she’d lived? It wasn’t like he’d been trying to get on my good side in those first days. We’d hated each other. Chemistry and desire aside, we hadn’t gotten along. He wouldn’t have been trying to spare my feelings.
Alexander knew Granny. He had worked closely with her since before I’d gotten there. I doubted anyone knew her better. He could mimic her handwriting, I was sure of it. He could mimic her style. He might’ve done it in the past without me knowing. It’s not like I had ever questioned anything.
I hesitated getting into the little boat near the end of the dock that would take us across the water. The throng of people thinned out here. I studied each one, looking for the gray curly hair, the lined face.
“Come on, love,” Hadriel said solemnly. “Time to go.”
“But . . .” I clutched the note, tears blurring my vision. “What if she’s alive?”
“What will that change? Would you go back to that life?”
Would I?
“I mean, maybe I could at least talk to her. Say goodbye.” Sobs made my battered body shudder painfully, suddenly so confused. She was family. She could make things better. Now that I knew what was going on, she could change things to make it better, like she had in the past. Couldn’t she?
Would she?
The thought made me cry harder, all the things I’d realized over the last weeks coming to the surface. I could ignore everything Weston had said. Everything the pack had insisted on. The changes to my product. I could ignore all of that, but could I ignore my own journals? My own thoughts and feelings and experiences?
“Please,” I said, not knowing who I was begging or what I begged for as Hadriel firmly moved me toward the boat. “Just . . . please.”
I didn’t want to leave like this. I didn’t want to walk away. I’d had no choice the first two times, but this time I did. She was still alive. We could talk about it. I wanted to give her a chance to explain, to change. If she’d altered my product to protect me, surely she’d be amenable to altering it so that it was just as effective but safe. She’d been my guardian for nearly sixteen years now. It felt like a betrayal to leave like this when she so obviously wanted to see me. She’d saved me all those many years ago. If not for her, I’d be dead.
Is one’s life a fair trade for losing one’s freedom?
“Stop,” I said, physical pain and emotional torment making me bow in misery. “Just . . . wait. Let me think.”
“Get in the boat.” Weston was there, his hand wrapped around my upper arm and firmly directing me. “Get in the boat, Aurelia. It’s time to go. You’re not safe here.”
“But I won’t be safe in the dragon kingdom either,” I said as he picked me up.
Weston’s hand on my ribs as he set me down into the boat sent a flare of pure agony through my body, halting my breath.
“This is the right thing to do,” Hadriel said as he sat next to me, grabbing my hand. “It’s the right thing.”
“But . . .” I struggled to catch my breath through the radiating pain.
The boat drifted away from the docks as Weston stood at the edge watching it go. A moment later, he turned and directed everyone else to get moving. His movements were hastened, his urgency obvious.
He wanted to get me away from Granny as quickly as possible.
Dark thoughts rolled through my mind as I clutched the note. At the entrance to the ship, the pain from climbing up the ladder made it hard to think. Once on the ship, I was shown to the top deck and led to my quarters. I could barely muster the strength to will my legs to move.
What was I doing? Was I really leaving?
Life with Granny hadn’t been great, but she was a known entity. If she could change, if the operation could change, would it really be so bad? At least it would be familiar, unlike a distant land with rage-monger creatures who didn’t sound safe. Was leaving really the safest thing I could be doing? Going to face a punishment that, until lately, I’d been assured would be death?
Tears dripped down my face as a deckhand showed me around my quarters. None of it really registered. The large bed, the table in the back with settings for two . . . It was evident Weston would be in with me, monitoring me even here. He had to get me back to his royalty, after all. He had to do his duty, my happiness or peace of mind be damned.