Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Tension radiated from the onlookers, but none sheathed their weapons. Another blow of betrayal. He had worked himself to the bone providing for these people. Now they turned their back on him, serving Norok. Did anyone feel any loyalty to Micah? They would soon find out.
Three words shoved their way past his tongue. “Tell me why.”
Norok raised his chin. “You must be more specific. Why did I hide the oracle from you? Why did I encourage Fayette to spark your greatest fear, freeing multiple trolls from your control? Why did I flitter those trolls to your location, hoping you and your monster-maker die? Because the oracle showed me the truth, the night I captured her.” He presented the information without artifice, revealing the depths of his hatred for the first time. “You will accept a truce with Kaysar and Cookie.”
Every word hit like a blow.
“I have accepted the truce already,” he announced, murmurs of outrage rising among the masses. “It’s a done deal, the war over. No more must die. All may partake of Queen Cookie’s bounty.” A development he had yet to consider. He had planned to accept the armistice for Red’s benefit. Planned to start fresh with her. Now that it had happened, he didn’t know how to feel or proceed. But he couldn’t regret it. Viori is mine now. My one ray of light. As fragile as that light was.
The blond brute recoiled, as if struck by an invisible fist. “You ally with them, after they killed a contingent of your men and murdered Warren?” He shouted the question, spittle spraying from the corners of his mouth.
“I do. How many men did we slay when we invaded villages? We struck at each other because we were enemies. Afterward, we took them in, soon becoming a unit.”
Norok scowled. “If that is how you feel, you are my enemy. I will avenge Warren, one way or another. Whatever the cost. And I know you don’t understand this. You can’t. You’ve never had family.”
He flinched internally. “You think I did not love Warren? That I do not mourn him? That I do not mourn the others? That I do not regret my hesitation to strike at Kaysar and Cookie the moment they arrived?” Instead, he’d allowed his supposition—Kaysar, a possible chimera—to cloud his judgment. “I did. But I cannot deny the royals have been honorable enemies, who keep their word and admitted to their deeds. They didn’t lie. They didn’t slink in the background, cutting their loved ones from behind.”
“How dare—”
“I’m not finished,” he snarled, treading forward. The frontline soldiers sucked in breaths and braced. Even Norok retreated a step. “Should I deprive other parents of the choice to serve Kaysar and Cookie and sample the fruits of their pastures? Do you think I’m unaware of my inability to provide the same? That I missed the whispers and murmurs and complaints? Do you truly believe you’ll be able to provide better? You, who constantly deceive your king as well as your wife?”
Viori was right. Never trust a cheater.
Norok bowed up. “What comes next? A plea for those who wish to follow either you or Kaysar to leave with you?” A maniacal laugh boomed from him. “Unfortunately for you, Fayette has spent the past few days showing everyone what happens if a truce between you and Kaysar is allowed to stand.”
The warrior returned to his leadership post, lifted his hand and waved his fingers. The soldiers behind him parted, Fayette striding past them. She stopped at Norok’s side, defiant as she met Micah’s gaze. But then, she had lost both of her sons the day Kaysar and Cookie invaded the Forgotten Court.
“You’ll want to see this,” Norok told him, almost smug. “It involves your little Red.”
An image overtook his mind, and he couldn’t stop it. In it, Kaysar and Viori held hands. Both were splattered in blood, their heads thrown back as they sang. Utter carnage surrounded them, Micah’s dead body among the victims. Belua tore the camp apart while Micah’s soldiers writhed on the ground, screaming in agony.
No! He refused—absolutely refused!—to consider this falsehood.
“She betrays you,” Fayette called before she laughed and laughed and laughed. “They all betray you.”
As his head swam with possibilities, he displayed zero emotion. A struggle for him, but one he fought to the bitter end. Red would choose him over the childhood friend she had hurt and had now repaid in full; she would not turn on Micah and the people he would protect with his dying breath—no matter how they felt about him.
Would she?
“Your glamara allows you to twist what you project,” he stated flatly. “I will believe nothing you show me.”
“Now, we both know that isn’t true.” Norok sounded like a parent scolding a child. “Fayette showed you what the troll king does to your traitorous wife, and you believed her, or the battalion of trolls never would have gotten free. As you should. I will send more visions. More trolls will gain their freedom. They will kill her. I will kill Kaysar and Cookie. I will kill you, too, if you get in my way.”