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)
“She’s no siren.”
“I’m not saying she is, but the power she wields while wearing the ring isn’t so different than that of a siren, and in the stories, who were the only men who were immune to the song of the siren?”
“No one was immune. Women, men, fae—it didn’t matter. Those creatures wrecked anyone they wanted to.”
“Remember the tale of Fienna?”
“I suppose I do.” Kendrick’s quiet for a long time. “You think that’s why?”
Natan low chuckle fills the air again. “So you don’t deny it?”
He scrubs a hand down his face. “You know it’s irrelevant.”
“I want better for you than that.”
“Better is coming for Elora,” Kendrick says. “That’s what matters.”
I’ve dozed off again when I hear a scuffle of feet a few yards from my bedroll.
Skylar and Kendrick face each other a few feet away, arms crossed as if they’re both angry.
“What if she’s still alive? What if we find her? Are you losing hope? Because may the gods help us if you, Kendrick the Chosen, have lost faith. Why are we even bothering with any of this?”
“We don’t know anything right now.”
“Your destiny awaits, and you—”
“You know I will do my duty when and if the time comes. I’ve never chosen anything over duty.”
“And you’re sure it’s so smart to make the girl love you. Is that supposed to make it easier when the time comes?”
“I’m not talking about this with you. The winds are changing, and our fates with them.”
“Perhaps,” Skylar says, “but don’t confuse lust for fate.”
“So long as you don’t confuse my friendship for deference. Remember your place.”
Chapter Seventeen
Felicity
“YOU WILL EAT,” MORDEUS ROARS, and Jas’s body slams down into the chair, her jaw snapping with the impact.
The food should smell delicious. If he had brought her to this room on her first day here, her mouth would’ve watered with the aromas filling the air. She’s been a captive for less than a month, but it’s been years since she’s eaten well, and a meal like this is something she dreams about on nights when she goes to bed with an empty belly. But today, the sight and smell of the aromatic fare make her gag. She’s too far past hungry, and her days in his dungeons, suffering the games of his guards, broke anything resembling appetite.
“I’m not hungry,” she rasps through parched lips.
He narrows those unnatural silver eyes. “I didn’t ask if you were hungry. I said you will eat.”
Her hand reaches for the fork and jabs a piece of meat. It isn’t her own. She has no control of her mouth as she opens her jaw and chews.
She gags as she swallows, but the magic is too strong and the food goes down, scraping like crushed glass with every inch.
Bite after bite, these hands that don’t feel like her own feed her and put water to her lips.
The king never takes his eyes off her.
It’s a violation she never could’ve imagined. If someone had told her the horrors of finding yourself taken by a faerie who forced you to eat delicious food, she would’ve laughed and asked if she could volunteer, but every bite is a betrayal by her body. Every morsel of food that makes its way to her stomach is an unwelcome intrusion into this last remaining piece of herself. Even her body is no longer her own.
When the plate is empty and her face is smeared with sauce, her shirt wet with water, her stomach convulses—too full after too many days of being so empty—but when she thinks she’ll vomit, magic sweeps over her again and it settles.
He doesn’t let her leave even then. Doesn’t let her have control of her limbs. She’s locked in that chair while he stares, like she’s a puzzle he’s trying to figure out.
“Refusing food and water is senseless,” he finally says. “I control your fate. Your future is mine to rule. You understand now?”
She understands nothing, but it doesn’t matter. She can’t answer anyway. Her lips won’t move. But even if she could, she wouldn’t have anything to say to him. There’s no point in begging. No point in asking why he’s doing any of this. He’s evil, and all she wants is to be free.
I bolt awake and dry heave at the side of my bed, the sensation of food and water being forced down my throat—Jas’s throat—still too fresh.
“Princess,” my handmaid says, rushing to my side.
The sound of her coming into the room must’ve pulled me from that horrible dream. Memory.
“Are you okay? Should I cancel with the king this morning?”
I sit up in bed and try to get my bearings. “Cancel what?”
“Your training.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and will my queasy stomach to settle. It was just a dream. Only it wasn’t for Jas. For her, it was very real.
“I’m fine. Just had a bad dream.”