Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
But even if I could handle it? I can’t risk spending the night with him—or even a single dance—if he’s suddenly hearing my thoughts. If my shields no longer work on him and he sees the web of deceit I’ve drawn him into, I won’t have the chance to wait until tomorrow to search for the portal.
I need to end this all now. Tonight.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jasalyn
TIME DRAGS IN THE SHELTER. My mind won’t stop spinning, won’t stop imagining what could be happening to my friends. To Kendrick. But when the wyvern’s screeching finally ceases and someone throws open the shelter doors, less than an hour has passed.
“Jasalyn,” Kendrick calls.
I run up the stairs behind a few others and throw myself into his arms. He’s here. He’s alive. He’s okay.
He hugs me tightly for two beats before releasing me. His face is haggard, eyes red, but he’s whole. “I was afraid you were hit. I thought . . .”
“The others?” I ask. Then I realize there are dead bodies all around me, and I need to be more specific. “Remme, Skylar, Natan?”
“They’re okay,” he says. His eyes grow haunted. “I wish I could say as much for all Lons’s fighters. These people lost more than their homes today.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “I wish I could’ve helped.”
I try to take in my surroundings, but everywhere I look is another horror. Half the village is in ashes.
“That wasn’t Crissa,” I say.
Kendrick’s jaw twitches. “No. That was a trap, and we fell right into it.”
“The Magical Seven?”
“I think so.” He drags a hand over his face. “They have to know we’re close to something. They’ve never bothered us outside of Elora. I didn’t think they’d know where to find us, but it was a targeted attack. It’s hard to imagine anyone else was responsible.”
“What about Isaak? Did he know he was bringing a wyvern into his home?”
Kendrick closes his eyes for a beat. “If he did, then he got his just end.” There’s no satisfaction in his words.
“He didn’t make it.”
He swallows hard, then shakes his head. “He was at home—where we sent him—and his was one of the first houses the wyvern hit.”
People slowly emerge from the cellar and look around wide-eyed.
“Find Lons in the square,” Kendrick announces as people pour onto the street from the cellar below. “He’s assigning temporary housing to everyone who lost their homes.”
He frowns, then seems to realize that people are staring at me, entranced when they should be looking to reunite with their loved ones. “You’re wearing the ring?”
I give a shaky nod. “I needed it. To help.” Then, with the most convincing smile I can muster, I say, “Go find your families and meet Lons in the square.”
He frowns. “Are you going to take it off?”
“It’s stuck,” I say. I tug again, testing it, but it still doesn’t move. Not even a little.
“What do you mean stuck?”
My gut knots. I haven’t let myself think about it. I can’t.
“Come on. I’ll help.”
He leads me back to our house and into the kitchen. My hand trembles as Kendrick wets it with soapy water, but dread is icing over my heart. I spent the entire wait in that cellar trying to get the ring off my finger, and I know there’s nothing Kendrick can do.
When he takes hold of my shaking hands, his are steady. It’s a comfort—those rough fingers on my slippery ones—but I already know.
“How . . . ?” He holds my hand up to the lantern, turning it this way and that, rubbing the edge of the ring. “It’s like it’s not a ring at all. It’s as if it’s part of you.”
We’re sitting in the kitchen when Natan, Remme, and Skylar return.
“We have a problem,” Kendrick says. He squeezes my hand as their eyes glaze over, one by one.
“Jasalyn,” Remme says, standing and stepping toward us.
Skylar jumps in front of him, eyes glued to me.
“How can I serve you, Princess?” Natan asks.
“Avert your damn eyes,” Kendrick commands, but they ignore him.
Kendrick’s authority means nothing so long as I’m wearing the ring.
I smile. “Please turn your attention to that wall,” I say softly. “We need to speak with you while you aren’t looking at me—so you can focus.”
Once their backs are to us, their shoulders drop, my spell loosening its grip on them.
“Jasalyn used the ring to help during the chaos of the attack,” Kendrick says, “and now it won’t come off.”
Natan turns toward us.
“The wall,” I remind him sweetly, and he fixes his face toward the wall again, hands clenched at his sides.
“What do you mean, won’t come off?” he asks. “Have you tried getting it wet?”
“It’s as if it’s part of her,” Kendrick says. “The ring has become one with Jas, and she can’t rid herself of it.”
Skylar presses her palm against the wall and squeezes her eyes shut. “Which means I’m going to feel like this every time she’s around?” she asks.