Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 145704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Gesine sighs. “As you command.” I can’t tell if it’s respect for a king or if she’s simply too tired to argue.
Either way, my pity for the woman swells. Quickly behind it is my anger. “Hey, Your Highness”—I haven’t used that patronizing tone in weeks, and it feels oddly satisfying—“in case you haven’t noticed, we’d probably all be dead or in a tower by now if it weren’t for Gesine’s help tonight, so maybe dial it down a notch or twelve.”
“I’ve noticed. I’ve noticed everything,” he answers me, but his glare remains on her.
Gesine dismisses my defense with a raised hand. “It is all right. His anger is just.”
Zander studies her another long moment, dragging his gaze over her pale face, her slouched body. When he speaks again, his tone is less hostile. “How many horses?”
“Two.”
I stifle my groan. That means doubling up, and something tells me the two Islorian males won’t agree to ride together.
“And you trust the human?”
“Saul’s keeper is an unsavory fellow who provides little for his family, despite his thriving mill. He requires Saul’s sons to work grueling hours and threatens to loan his young daughters to acquaintances for feedings any time Saul complains.” She shakes her head. “The mortal holds no love for his keeper or his king.”
Zander’s teeth grit. This Islorian is the type of immortal he wants purged from his kingdom.
“Atticus will be dispatching riders in every direction by now,” Elisaf says. “The road is not safe to travel.”
“And yet to get to Gully’s Pass, we need those horses and the road. Find them and bring them to us. We’ll meet you as quickly as we can. Be careful.”
“Wait.” Gesine reaches within her cloak to fish out a small velvet coin purse. She tosses it to Elisaf, who deftly catches it. “Tell him Cordelia sent you. That is the only name he knows.”
Planned escape routes and fake names. I’m feeling closer to Gesine already.
“Cordelia,” Elisaf repeats and then takes off, disappearing into the tree line at a clipped pace.
She hobbles over to slump against a boulder, her complexion green.
“Do not get comfortable,” Zander warns, removing an assortment of daggers from the sack.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” She closes her eyes, her chest rising and falling with practiced breaths as if trying to keep the vomit at bay.
He watches her as he straps the arsenal of blades to his body. With his casual outfit and mussed hair, he reminds me less of the king I knew yesterday and more like the warrior who left camp in search of a nethertaur. Unfortunately, I fear neither is the version I face now.
“You’re being an asshole,” I whisper, working the countless fasteners and pins from my hair.
His attention snaps to me. “And how do you suggest I behave with a woman whose conspiracy against me has cost me my throne and put our lands in jeopardy of war? Should I bow down to her for getting us out of a predicament that she and this Ianca helped create?”
“There’s a lot we don’t know yet,” I remind him. “I just mean that unless you feel like carrying her to the horses, you should let her rest. She is three seconds from face-planting into the sand.”
“And if you believe she does not have a use for you beyond what she admits to, you are a fool.”
“I know she probably does.” I steal a glance to where Gesine sits perfectly still. I lower my voice. “But I need her. I need to understand who I am. What I am, what I can do. Given our current situation, don’t you think that would be helpful?” While Zander brooded earlier, I spent that time mesmerized by possibilities. In just days, I’ve fought an underworld beast and stopped a hundred flaming arrows, and I have no clue how.
His lips purse.
“She can give us answers that no one else can.”
“If she chooses to. Casters aren’t known to be forthcoming, as I think you’ve now seen. They speak in lies and half-truths that may as well be lies.”
Fair enough. “But she’s powerful, Zander. Look what she did out there.”
“She’s reckless. That wind could have killed countless innocent people had she unleashed it against the shoreline. And do not suggest for one second she didn’t intend to ignore my need for Eldred Wood and take us to Northmost.”
“Maybe. But I don’t think her reasons were evil. More like pragmatic.” I slide my fingers through the braids Corrin so carefully spun, quietly praying my lady maid is safe at the castle after being interrogated by Atticus. Though knowing that salty woman, she would have scolded him for daring to question her. “Gesine can protect us.”
His face turns grim with annoyance. “Relying on others to protect you will be the fastest way to get yourself killed. Put this on.” He thrusts a strap toward me. “And remember that everyone is an enemy now.”