Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Though it seemed more like an art studio. There were several unfinished canvases around the room. I hadn’t seen what the artist was painting. I’d had a glimpse of one black canvas with dots of light before we’d taken our place here on the comfy couch.
“Yes, it’s true.” Relda used an old-school handkerchief to dab at her eyes. “The breadth of knowledge and wisdom we’ve lost… Well, it hurts my heart.”
Relda began to pour out cups of tea with a practiced hand.
“I was told he was quite popular down here.” I wasn’t sure I should drink that tea. “None for me. I’m trying to avoid caffeine.”
“Oh, it’s green tea, dear,” Relda promised. “No caffeine for me either. I have to keep my system pure. It’s the only way to truly mirror the goddess and what she wants for us. Clean body, strong spirit.”
Jade snorted. “She’s worried it’s poisoned, Rel.”
“No, she’s not.” Evan shook her head and obviously wanted to play the politician.
I’d tried polite. It never works. Best to be upfront. “Your friend is right. I don’t know this place or the people down here, and while I adore Evan, I have to make my own decisions. I’m fairly certain poison was used to weaken Alvis to the point someone could kill him. The dude is probably still on my shoes. I’m not drinking anything my butler didn’t make for me. No offense.”
But it was obvious I had offended the witch.
Jade simply sat back. “I think that’s a smart call for a woman whose job is to guard the supernatural world. You know if you hadn’t been galivanting across the planes, we might not be in the shithole we’re in.”
Relda gasped. “Jade, you can’t talk to people like that. And in front of the princess.”
“Oh, the princess can curse up a storm, and Jade knows that.” Evan reached into her seemingly never-ending pockets—I had to wonder if that jacket of hers wasn’t enchanted—and pulled out a small package. She flipped it open and brought out a tiny dropper she used to extract some liquid from the cup she’d been given. She quickly dropped it on something in the package and then turned it my way. “See. Perfectly fine. This device is something Casey cooked up using one of those smart watches and some tech I don’t understand. I only know it works on pretty much everything that can poison a chick. Even not actual poison. One time I tried it on the meat the trolls said was chicken. It was not. You gotta be careful with trolls. They do not mind eating a pet or two.”
I wanted one of those. Like most academics, Casey’s strongest talents were in one intellectual discipline. If I needed medical knowledge, Henri was my guy. Same with legal for Hugo. Casey had a talent for technology. He could fix machines he’d never used before, and he could gadget up a chick. “Excellent.”
Relda frowned and continued pouring the tea. “It seems a bit rude to assume someone is going to poison you.”
“Well, it happened to Evan’s mom, and it was in tea,” Jade said, sitting back. “Queen Zoey lost a child to that tea. I think the Nex Apparatus is smart to be on the lookout. She doesn’t know us. We’re witches. We’re kind of the poster children for evil right now.”
“We certainly are not,” Relda insisted. “And now she knows my tea is perfectly fine and she can have some.”
I frowned. See, politeness doesn’t get you out of shit. “Well, it’s still tea.”
“Yes.” Relda held it out for me.
Jade snorted. “I think she’s saying it’s tea. It tastes like wet leaves and sadness.”
Tea was probably sad it wasn’t beer.
“Tea is delicious.” Evan accepted her cup, and I wondered who’d taught her manners because they were perfect. Someone had worked hard to teach her how to comport herself in society, and it wouldn’t have been my husband. “And yours is well known to be superlative, Relda. Thank you for your hospitality. You’ll have to forgive my friend. She’s a wolf, and I would bet she’s sad that tea isn’t beer.”
Hah. Truth. “I’m simply not a fan, and didn’t that happen to Zoey…I mean the queen in Faery? I wasn’t aware that was widely known on this plane.”
I only knew because Marcus liked to gossip. I mean he called it writing shit down for historical purposes, but I say gossip is gossip.
Jade perked up. “Oh, everything about the queen is known. Did you know that when she was young she stole the Essence of Tor? Like right out from under the owner.”
I liked the queen, but I didn’t know her every move, and I definitely didn’t want to hear about her stealing essences. That usually means some form of bodily fluid, and I’d had enough of that today. “Very cool.”