Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 156210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
“You know lots of people will be looking for me, right?” I ask even though deep in my gut I know this is no normal abduction. He hasn’t bothered to tie my hands, as if he knows I’m not getting away so easily. “And there are several cameras in the restaurant and outside it, so costume or not, you will be tracked down. If you turn around now and let me go, I’ll tell the cops it was all an elaborate prank on your part and we can go our separate ways.”
Sadly, both the cameras and the people looking for me are a lie. I’ll be lucky if my mother starts worrying in three days.
Kyranis shakes his head, and a strand of that silky-looking hair slips out from under the hood. “I don’t think you understand your position. I was actually excited to come whisk you away tonight, but you had to spoil it by lying to me and attempting to escape. We’re not off to a good start to our engagement, Luke.”
Engagement.
I can’t help it. I roll my eyes. “No shit. I don’t even see a ring on my fing—” I lift my hand to make my point, only to get flustered because my ring finger is adorned with an exquisite piece of jewelry.
Made of some kind of black metal, it sparkles in the green light with several tiny gems on its band. They could as well be diamonds. At the heart of the ring rests a large blue stone that seems to shimmer with my every move.
“It belonged to my mother,” Kyranis says in that smooth voice that is so infuriatingly beautiful. “The pattern on the band represents seaweed, and the jewel is a blue tear stone, a crystal found only at the bottom of the Sea of Sorrows.”
I’m struggling to take it all in. I’d throw the ring in his face if it wasn’t for the fact that I don’t know where we are, and a piece of jewelry can always make for a handy asset during my escape.
Because I will be escaping.
“Is this a suggestion that our marriage will be a sea of sorrows?” I deadpan, glaring at him.
Kyranis frowns. “It doesn’t have to be, but test my patience, and it just might.”
I swallow the cold lump in my throat. My big mouth often gets me in trouble, but I don’t want to prod this guy too much until I know more about my situation. He seems unhinged, but what happened in the parking lot with my shadow is still vivid in my mind. It wasn’t a dream. I’m dealing with something beyond my understanding.
I’m taking the lack of shackles on my wrists as a suggestion that he’s not afraid of anything I might do. Which either means he’s underestimating me, or he’s so confident in his own prowess he thinks he can subdue me with ease.
I’m about to ask more about this ‘marriage’ and what it means, why me, and a million other questions that could help me find my feet, but then we stop.
There’s a thud, and after a short knock on the door, the coachman opens it.
To my relief, he does have eyes, they’re just a strange milky blue with barely visible irises. He’s wearing a tricorn hat, but his long black hair is soaking wet to the point of dripping onto his simple leather coat, and… is that seaweed tangled into it? I have to admit he’s handsome even though he doesn’t seem to have eyelashes. But where Prince Kyranis is the picture of deadly elegance, about to either stab someone or sniff a glass of wine, the coachman looks as if a witch dragged his pale body out of the ocean, then charmed beauty into him by force. There’s just something… sinister about him.
“We’re at the tollhouse, Your Highness.”
Kyranis rises as much as the carriage allows his tall form and, to my shock, reaches out to pet my chin. “I will be right back, my sweet,” he says and walks out with a swish of his cloak.
The coachman glances at me as if he can see through me. Like I don’t deserve to be here. I didn’t ask to be abducted, thank you very much. But I still feel a bit underdressed in my Best Burgers Bonanza uniform.
When he shuts the door on our staring contest, I give into childishness and stick my tongue out.
That’s where my silliness stops though. I need to get out of here while I have the chance. My hand trembles when I reach for the handle of the door on the opposite side to the one through which Kyranis left, but it opens without issue. I leave as quietly as I can, my heart already rattling. I’m no super spy. I’m not used to any of this.