Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
When I reached him, I greeted him by gripping his shoulder.
He did the same to me. The relief was in his eyes, as if he’d feared I wouldn’t return from Delacroix. “Did you find her?”
“Yes.”
“So, she fled?”
“She was with other travelers headed to Delacroix, so she decided it was best to join them since she needed something from the castle anyway.”
His eyes shifted back and forth between mine—stoic.
“It took her a few days to uncover what she needed to heal the dragons. That was when we departed.”
“And you believe her?”
“Yes.”
His eyes continued to shift.
“I have no doubt.”
“But you also have no sense when it comes to this woman.”
“She’s not a woman. She’s my wife.”
“Doesn’t matter what she is. She should have come straight here.”
“She had good reason to return to Delacroix. She saved us a lot of time—and now we’re ready to recruit the dragons into our army. It won’t be long before we take the castle with fire, teeth, and claws.”
Ian retained his cold composure.
“We can trust her.”
“She could have told her father everything.”
“He had no idea she was there.”
“You don’t know that—”
“I stayed with her for about a week. Her brother snuck her all her meals, and no one ever came to the door.”
“Her brother was in on it?”
“Yes. He was a prisoner with her at the Crags.”
His eyebrow cocked. “How’d he end up down here?”
“His girl won the lottery, and he came down to save her.”
Ian paused as he digested the tale.
“That’s the reason why he helped her, because he doesn’t agree with the policies they enforce.”
“And you believe him?”
I considered the question for a long time. “I’m not saying I trust him fully, but if he were going to snitch to his father, he would have done it by now. Will he openly oppose his father? Probably not. But in the dark, he’s loyal to his sister.”
“I don’t understand why she’s helping you. I don’t understand why she’s turning her back on her family for you. Love isn’t the reason, because love isn’t strong enough for that kind of betrayal.”
I wanted to tell him the truth. He was more than just my brother. He was my best friend. But I knew exactly what his reaction would be. “Because she knows I’m the one true king. She knows her father’s claim to the throne is false. She wants to make it right.”
“Even so…”
“You know I promised her I wouldn’t kill her father.”
His eyes narrowed. “That’s a promise you never should have made.”
“It was the only way to get her cooperation.”
“Then you keep your promise, but that promise doesn’t apply to the rest of us.”
It was a loophole she hadn’t foreseen, and now that I was buried deeper in this plan, I felt like shit about it. “If she gets us the dragons and hands us the keys to the Kingdoms, I think it’s the least we can do.”
Ian held his silence, his jaw clenched hard. “The second Mother steps foot in that castle, she’ll stab her sword straight through his throat—just the way he did to Father. No amount of gratitude will change that.”
No, it wouldn’t. It would be up to me to convince her.
“What’s the next step?”
“Ivory and I will ride to HeartHolme, rest, and then venture to the island.”
“After she heals them, how do you plan to earn their allegiance?”
“If I fix their wings, they’ll be indebted to me.”
“Do dragons understand such a thing?”
No idea. “I’ll figure it out. We’ll leave in the morning.”
He gave a slight nod. “Ride hard.”
I stepped into the cabin with two trays of hot food.
Ivory was asleep in bed, the sheets below her arms so her tits popped out slightly. Her hair was all over my pillow, and the furs were pulled up toward the headboard to keep her warm.
I set the food on the table before I undressed and had a bath. It’d been five days of solid travel, and the second the dirt and oil were off my skin and hair, I felt like a new man. I dried off with a towel and returned to the main room, the fireplace greeting me with its warmth.
Ivory was awake now, eating in the armchair near the fire, wearing one of my shirts she must have found in a drawer. Her eyes were still heavy like she was dead tired, but she couldn’t turn down a hot meal.
I put on my underwear and sat at my desk. We ate in silence, hardly looking at each other.
She scarfed down her food, but I still finished before she did because I ate like a bear. When I was done, I watched her, watched her eat every single crumb before she sucked off her fingers and wiped them with a napkin. Then she left the tray behind on the table and climbed right back into bed. She turned and faced the opposite wall, as if she would fall asleep the second her head hit the pillow.