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)
Sighing, he lifts his gaze to the mirror, then tenses. He turns to me before turning back to the mirror. “Who is that?”
The woman in the mirror has my long brown hair and my eyes. She’s me but not.
Her hair is even darker. More sleek. Her cheekbones are sharper, and her lips are plump and a red that matches her dress. The woman in the mirror is sensuality and confidence personified. She has a knowing gleam in her eye that is the opposite of the scared little thing Kendrick found in Mordeus’s dungeons. He gave me the nickname of Slayer because I wasn’t, but she is.
“How did you do that?” He tears his gaze from the mirror to look at me. “Is this your magic? Some sort of mirror manipulation? Which one is the real you?”
“What you see in the mirror is what everyone else sees when they look at me.” I hold up my hand. “So long as I’m wearing this ring.”
“Why is it different for me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Aren’t you worried this magic will fail on someone else if it failed on me?”
“I’m not afraid.”
“You should be.”
I narrow my eyes. “How is it any safer for you to be around these people than it is for me?”
“I’m not the shadow princess, for one. They think I’m supporting their cause.”
“And why shouldn’t I believe that too?”
Something sharp flashes across his face—hurt? anger?—before he schools his features. He studies my face for a long time. I forgot how comforting it was to have those eyes on me. To have his sharp mind always looking out for me. “Because you know me,” he finally says.
“It’s been three years. People change. I’ve changed.”
“You’ve hardened”—his knuckles sweep across my collarbone—“but that’s just a protective shield.” He presses his palm to my chest. “Your heart remains the same. As does mine.”
I draw in a deep breath, sure he can feel the organ in question racing under his hand. “My heart does not rule me, and neither should yours.”
The cacophony of the group downstairs pitches up as someone shouts. Chairs squeal, glass shatters, and there’s a chorus of laughter and the pounding of several large males running up the stairs.
Then suddenly the door is pushed open and a stumbling male enters the room.
In a flash, Kendrick spins me around and presses me against the wall, hiding my body with his.
He bends and lowers his mouth to mine. Panicked, I push him away, but he won’t be moved.
I slide my hand between our mouths at the last minute to keep his lips from touching mine.
“Sorryboutthat,” a drunken male slurs, then the thunk of a door closing again is followed by Kendrick sagging against me and leaning his forehead against mine.
My stomach shimmies, then flips at the contact. He was my protector in the dungeons, but Skylar made it clear that anything romantic I feel for him can’t be reciprocated. I won’t make the mistake of thinking she could be wrong when I’m smart enough to know better.
“Promise me something,” I say, slowly pulling my hand from his lips.
He swallows. “What’s that?”
I close my eyes, trying to memorize the sound of his voice this close and the feel of his breath in my ear. “Promise me you won’t kiss me.” Maybe part of the ring’s magic doesn’t work on him, but I can’t risk assuming that the rest doesn’t. It’s the second time I’ve warned him. I need to protect him when I’m wearing this ring, and I need to protect myself when I’m not. “Not ever.”
He pulls back and straightens to his full height. “I—” He snaps his mouth shut and scrubs a hand over his face. “Yeah. Sorry. I was just trying to hide you.”
“When I wear this ring, you don’t need to hide me.” I hope it’s still true, but the fact that we’re having this conversation is making me doubt the ring’s magic more than even my fear of the dark did on the walk here.
“What is that ring? Why do you have it?”
“Like I said, revenge.”
“You never told me how bad it was for you in there.” Kendrick takes my hand—the one with the ring—and strokes his finger over the silver band before rubbing the moonstone under his thumb. “I wish you had. Promise me you’ll never go out hunting like this again. I cannot stomach the possibility of you having to relive that hell.”
I swallow. “That’s a promise I can’t make.”
When he lifts his ice-blue eyes to mine, they’re as hard as gemstones. “You will.”
I lift my chin and glare up at him. “Don’t treat me like a child.”
“Then don’t act like one. Stop with this recklessness.”
“Not until Mordeus is dead again. Not until I’ve killed him myself.”
He shakes his head. “We’ll talk about this in the morning. Let’s get out of here.” He tugs me toward the back of the room. “There’s a servants’ entrance back here.”