Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Then she would work her way up using purer and purer bloodlines until she was crossing the F1 generation. A pure human bred to the best chimera she had produced over the years. They would all be lions, in her case. House of Fire. What a status to be born into. Not only are the gryphons the most desirable chimera in all the lands, they are godlike in their own way.
As a queen, Callistina would not have been schooled in the art and science of lionesses. The reason there is an accent on the second half of that word is because a lioness is the ultimate product of selective breeding from the House of Fire. Every lioness is a gryphon chimera, but not every gryphon chimera is a lioness.
But she never went down that path. I doubt very much that Callistina, House of Fire, Queen of Vinca, has any idea of who and what she really is.
But I do.
She sighs and leans on the terrace wall. It’s coated in smooth plaster, like almost everything else in this city, and is the color of sand. “I love this place,” she croons.
I almost snort. “I can’t imagine why. There isn’t a human alive in this city who wouldn’t kill you, or rape you, or torture you, given the chance.”
She turns to face me, her elbows leaning back on the top of the wall, stretching one long leg out in my direction as she settles into a leisurely pose. I don’t even think she’s doing this on purpose. This is just Callistina getting comfortable, not presenting me with her shape like a whore would.
Regardless, it has the same effect on me.
“You’re… sour.”
I shrug. “It’s just the truth, Callistina. Glory Rome hates chimera. They despise them. They see them as animals. Meant to make a human’s life more comfortable and nothing more.”
“Then why do they make them in those buildings over there?” She nods her head a little, indicating the Sphere of Science and Glory buildings across the city.
I glance over at the seven buildings. They are lit up with electricity that makes them glow blue at night, a really dramatic contrast to the gold they are during the day when the sun is bouncing off the mirrored glass they’re all made of. The Sphere is the only place in the city that is allowed to have electricity, if my memory serves. The rest of the streets and buildings are still lit with oil, or gas, or candles. The streetcars in most districts and wards of Glory Rome are pulled by horses. But over there in the sphere, they run on the electric lines that crisscross through the air above the roads.
I look back at Callistina, who I think has been studying me. “Because they’re trying to make gods.”
“So why do they bother crossing humans with animals, if the animal side is so despised?”
“It adds power to the humans. At first, it takes away. But through careful breeding things lost are added back and things never had added in. They will do this until they have every desirable characteristic isolated so it can be added on a whim. And then, once all that has been perfected, they will start crossing humans with technology.” She makes a face at me, not understanding. Savage Falls has technology, but not all there is to offer in the Realm of Pittsburgh, so I search for an example that she will understand. “They will cross humans with… radios.”
A laugh bursts out of her. “What?”
“Not exactly a radio, but the components inside it. The technology.”
She thinks about this for a moment. Then sighs. “I don’t get it. I don’t understand that world at all.”
“Well, you don’t belong in that world, so why should you?”
“That’s kind of my point. I do belong in this one. I can feel it. Even more so than in Vinca.”
“You were a queen in Vinca.”
“I know. But it wasn’t meant for me. It was meant for Pie.”
I’m a little bit surprised that she is so self-aware. She came across as insane back in Savage Falls, but beyond that, she came across as… shallow. And she’s not. Not at all. At least, that’s not the side of her she’s shown me since she took those antlers off.
“I think we should talk about how we get home.” Callistina doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t want to go home. I know this. And that’s why I’m choosing to have this conversation now, rather than later. “Don’t you think?”
“Why do you want to go home, Eros?” I open my mouth to answer, but she puts up a hand to stop me. “Think about it. We don’t have to stay here, but we’re rich.” She points to her godsmetal dress. “And we could go anywhere. We could live our lives in a place where we fit in and turn it into anything we wanted.”