Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Callistina is running and dragging me like we are fleeing a fucking war zone down a hallway made entirely of windows when I just happen to look to the side and catch a glimpse of myself in the windows.
I stop. I’m talking full fucking stop. I stop so hard, Callistina loses her grip on my hand and half-stumbles, half-trips a few paces forward before she can halt her momentum.
But I don’t pay any attention to Callistina. Because I only have eyes for me.
I am not Pie.
Not in any form whatsoever.
I am something… foreign.
I am a lion, and I have wings, but they are not made of gold foil. They are made of honest-to-God feathers. And the moment I notice them, they unfurl from my back and stretch out to an enormous length. And my hands—I swear, these were not my hands a minute ago, and this was not my body a minute ago, either—but my hands are covered in golden velvet.
And this is when I realize why my feet feel wrong.
They are not feet.
They are not hooves, either.
They are paws.
My hair is still blonde, my eyes still blue. But there are no horns. Just tiny nubs that might one day develop into a spectacular set of golden antlers.
I can’t even speak. I just… point to the reflection in the window with my mouth open.
“Pianna! Put them away!” Callistina starts shoving my wings back into place, trying to fold them up. “You know Father hates the wings. It just reminds him of all his mistakes. If you show them in the throne room—” She sighs, irritated, as she continues to shove them back into position, and I feel like I’m fighting her for a moment, but I’m not doing it on purpose. “Please, please, please, Pianna, do not show him your wings! Now let’s go. Mistress Ryella is going to beat me silly tonight if we mess up the Caretaker Ceremony!”
These words echo in my head. Then I look up at my sister. She is my sister. Maybe I didn’t feel it at first, but seeing her here, it’s so obvious. And in the present day—well, she’s a prisoner in the Bottoms thanks to me. But she’s a queen. A freaking queen. And she’s mean. And it kinda sucks that I didn’t know her back when she was young because in this time, she seems to really care about me. And in the future—or the present, depending on how you look at it—she hated me. She did not want me there. It’s like my sudden appearance was going to ruin her good thing.
But anyway, back to that word. “Did you say… caretaker?”
“Pianna, I’m so, so sorry this is happening. I really would take your place. But I am firstborn and you are secondborn. And this is just how it is. I know you’re scared.” She stops and grabs my shoulders, then looks nervously down the hallway in the direction we came from, then looks me in the eyes. “Listen to me. OK?”
I nod.
“You’re going to be fine. And do you know how I know that?”
“How?” Maybe I’m morphing into this past version of me, because I can hear the fear in my voice, even though I’m not fully internalizing that I’m in some kind of immediate danger.
I mean, this isn’t really real. It’s some kind of hallway trick. I’m not really here. I’m… still in the forest with Pell. We’re exhausted from having sex, and running from the devil, and generally sick of being in charge of shit, I think. So I’m not really afraid. But I can hear it in my voice.
Maybe I’m not afraid now. I’m grown up. I have already lived through whatever comes next. But the little girl I’m inside of has no idea what’s coming.
Callistina shakes me. “Because you are Pianna, Second Daughter in the House of Fire. And that means you are special. More special than any of the others. And tonight, you will be the toast of the Realms. They are coming here for you, little Pie.”
When she says my name—my real name—she places the palm of her hand flat against my cheek.
“You will go home with a king tonight. You will live in a palace grander than even this. You will have teachers from all the Realms. And you will marry the most handsome prince and live a charmed life of beauty and riches.”
Hmm. Since I am a kid in this… dream, memory, whatever this is… and I am an adult in my real life, I can say with one hundred percent certainty that this is not what happens to me.
Callistina must read the doubt all over my face. “Trust me, Pianna. Father has only invited the most respected of all the kings. No gods will be bidding tonight. You are to go to a king. That is the rule this time.”