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)
But they know.
We stop at a food cart in the nearby flower market and get food. Not poached eggs, to Callistina’s disappointment, but it’s a good enough bit of hot meat and cheese wrapped in rice-bread to satisfy both of us. Ire, having already eaten, provides a nice shadow over us as we sit with our backs against an alley wall and eat in silence.
When we’re done, I get back up on the beast and Callistina proceeds to lead us through the city towards the Sphere of Science and Glory where the best shops are.
It takes about an hour to get there and we gather children along the way like we’re leading a parade. But once we get to the edge of the Sphere, they break off and scurry away.
There are gates, I see. And peasants, even human ones, are too lowly to shop with the elite.
For a moment I am worried that we will not be let through, but it’s a needless worry. The guards are transfixed by the image of us walking towards them, and they simply step aside and let us pass with a bow of their heads.
Once we’re in, Callistina shoots me a look over her shoulder, asking what that was all about. But I know as much as she does, so I just shrug.
She leads me over to a stable where I dismount and haggle a price with a groom to watch Ire as we shop. And I’m just paying him when that song starts playing. Just like it did last night.
First just one instrument. One voice. Then more join in until it’s a chorus. I look around, certain that I will see her. Pressia.
“What are you doing?” Callistina whispers.
And her voice is enough to break the spell, or delusion, or whatever was happening with the music. Because there’s like a… like a sharp crack in my ears, and the song is gone.
Was never there in the first place.
I’m seeing things. Hearing things. Going mad, probably.
“Eros?” she whispers cautiously.
“Right. It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“OK.” She’s not convinced. “I’m going to go look at bottles in the glass district.” She nods her head at a narrow street lined with sandstone buildings that house shops and cafés. “You should go find a magiceutical store and we’ll meet back here in an hour. Since I’m a beast, I can’t purchase anything. You’ll have to come with me to purchase. But I think it’ll be quicker if we both go find the right shops first and then—” She stops talking. “Are you OK?”
“Yep.” I nod, absently, looking around for Pressia. She’s here, I know it. And even though Callistina didn’t hear the song, I did. I know she’s here.
“Did you hear me?”
“Right.” I force myself to look at Callistina. “Yeah. You go find the bottle and—” But that’s when I see it. The Market Nymph’s Bookstore. Huh. And there it is. That’s her place, I know it. “You go find the right bottle and I’m gonna hit up that bookstore for spelling help.”
“Since when do you need spelling help?” This is a casual question. Off-the-cuff and all that. Not something she’s really concerned about, just a flyaway comment.
But she hit the mark. I do not require spelling help. And she realizes her words are more meaningful than she intended. I turn to find her looking in the direction I was staring, but she lets out a sigh. She doesn’t see it. Or if she does, she doesn’t understand the significance. She doesn’t know that Pressia is a market nymph traveling through time via doors, writing books as she goes.
“One hour,” I say to snap Callistina out of it. “Right here.” I point to the ground.
She looks up at the sun, since we have no timepieces, and then nods. “OK. One hour. Then we’ll go buy our packages and head back to the inn.”
She stares at me after saying this. And it’s an awkward moment. A moment when two lovers might kiss goodbye. Even if it is a short goodbye. They would show affection and leave with a remark about seeing each other again soon.
But there is no fucking way in hell I can kiss a chimera in public. Not in Glory Rome. It would start a war.
So she just takes a breath, shakes herself out of it, and turns, walking away—lead in hand that attaches to her slave collar.
I watch her for a few minutes, making sure no one is going to bother her. But no one does.
And as soon as she disappears down the narrow road, I turn as well. And then I head straight for the bookstore.
A bell jingles over the door when I enter. It’s dark in here, the windows covered with a gray, gauzy curtain, casting shadows over the wall of shelves suddenly surrounding me. A stark contrast to the almost too-bright city outside.