Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
And I only agreed because I felt so fucking guilty about helping to keep her prisoner in the Underworld for so long.
“How are things?” she asks, referring to my realm as a whole.
I wasn’t going to bother with such unimportant chitchat, but since she’s here and asking, I tell her about Ariman and Jago wanting to carry on Kymaris’s work.
Zora grimaces as she hates Ariman as much as I do. He’s the one who worked with Kymaris’s lover, Pyke, to funnel the dark magic into her. It was excruciating to watch. While I wasn’t responsible for the actual torture, I was responsible for bringing her to those sessions.
Zora may have forgiven me, but I’ve not forgiven myself, nor will I ever.
“Just let me kill Ariman,” I say, leaning forward in my seat. “And Jago, for that matter. Let’s quell this once and for all.”
“No,” she replies, and I’m not surprised. She’s forbidden it before. “If you kill either one of them based on rumors and innuendo, you risk their supporters turning on you. There are too many Dark Fae still worked up about Kymaris’s death, ending their quest to subjugate the First Dimension.”
“If I kill them without mercy or trial, it will send a message that I am as ruthless as Kymaris. It will keep the subjects in order out of fear.”
“But you’re not Kymaris. If you were anything like her, I’d never have asked you to take the throne. It’s because you’re unlike her that I know you’ll do everything to protect humans in the First Dimension and others from the evil that abounds here.”
“It’s not all evil and you know that,” I mutter with frustration. It’s more than just nature that makes a creature wicked. Just like there are evil humans, there are Dark Fae who are content to live a peaceable life here.
“That’s true, not everyone here is evil. All the more reason for you to be an autocrat without seeming like an autocrat. Figure a way to be a diplomat.”
I growl my displeasure.
“This is your life now, Amell. You are tasked with keeping the rest of the world safe from the beings under your control. It’s a heavy burden, one that won’t get easier over time. You will always have usurpers and those who covet your throne.”
“I hate this fucking job.”
“And yet you do it because you feel beholden to me. I hate that for you.”
I blink in surprise. Since Zora became a god, we haven’t talked about her years in the Underworld. I apologized back when she was still human for all the pain I caused, but it’s not been mentioned since. I had thought—wrongfully—that Zora assumed the matter was behind me.
“I hate what I did to you,” I counter, because apparently we need to get this put to bed once and for all.
“I know you do. You’ve apologized, and I’ve accepted, if you remember.”
“I remember. It doesn’t make it any better for me.”
“Well, you need to let it go, Amell. Or if you can’t let it go, remember that for all the ways in which you were complicit in my imprisonment down here, you’re the only one who gave me any kindness or care. I wouldn’t have survived the Underworld without you.”
I nod, because I know that to be true. I wait for the inevitable sadness to overtake me when I think of the times Zora and I had together, first as her caretaker and friend, later as her lover.
I had loved her. At least, as much as I was able to.
It was never enough that I would’ve helped her escape. It wasn’t even close enough to give up my allegiance to Kymaris.
But apparently, it was enough for her to not hate me forever.
“So,” she drawls, having deemed this topic completed, “tell me about your human. I heard she called you a big old, winged bat.”
My lips curl at the memory. “It saved her from the Crimson River.”
“Aaah,” Zora says knowingly. “She’s a toy.”
I frown at the description of Nyssa. That’s not quite accurate, although I admit, “She intrigues me. She’s absolutely defiant and doesn’t care if she gets thrown into the river. Said she always knew she’d end up in Hell.”
“Big words coming from such a tiny, mortal thing,” Zora muses.
“I’d love to know why she is the way she is. I’ve tried to get her to tell me about her mortal life, but she’s not giving it up.”
“You must not be doing that great of a job in bed, then,” Zora says, and I about choke on my sip of wine. “Oh, come on, Amell. You don’t think I don’t know what’s going on down here? I know everything.”
“Then why are you bothering to visit to check in if you know everything?”
“Because I know you’re starting to care for the human, and I don’t want to see you hurt. I’ve come to give you my unsolicited advice.”