Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 42412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 212(@200wpm)___ 170(@250wpm)___ 141(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 212(@200wpm)___ 170(@250wpm)___ 141(@300wpm)
Her eyes narrowed.
“And how will your King accomplish all of this?” I asked, glancing at the hair piled and pinned atop her head. The color wasn’t natural, likely achieved with henna and intended to mimic… Anger pulsed in my chest, and the space between my shoulder blades prickled.
She smirked, her chin lifting. “He has already begun to do so.”
“Was forcing you to dye your hair red one of the ways he has begun to do so?”
The smug tilt of her lips faded.
“Does he want you to look like her?”
She didn’t answer.
Disgust curled in my gut as the anger deepened. “You follow a god, who has allowed his obsession for a woman who never wanted him, to rule him for millennia.”
Her jaw worked. “A woman who no longer has his love.”
“I never said love. I said obsession. Are you also incapable of telling the difference?”
“Does it matter?” she countered.
It didn’t. I was done with this conversation. I exhaled slowly. “Where has he hidden himself away?” I waited. “Are you going to make me ask twice?”
“You can ask as many times as you like.” Silver eather spat from her fingers, spinning down the length of her blade. “The answer will be the same.”
I let out another sigh.
The god moved quickly, jerking her arm back. She let the dagger coated with essence fly.
But I was quicker.
I disappeared in a shroud of smoke and shadows that shattered the dagger and swallowed the bolt of eather. She jerked back, her gaze darting over the Hall.
I reappeared behind her as I let my hold on the essence snap. The tingle between my shoulders began to burn as bones snapped and fused, slipping through the tears left in the thick material of the coat from the last time. My flesh thinned and hardened. The shadow of twin arcs sweeping upward appeared in the glow of the moonlight reflected off the floor.
I let her whirl around.
Let her see me.
After all, the shock splashing over their faces and the ensuing fear that followed was quite satisfying. Witnessing it gave me something to look forward to.
The god didn’t disappoint. Her mouth dropped open as she stumbled back, tripping over a tangle of vines. She lost her balance and went down on her ass, the scent of her fear coating the air.
My lips curved up on one side. “What was it that you said you would do?”
She stared wordlessly, her gaze darting from the wings to the crown and its staggered spires shaped like antlers.
“I’m sorry?” I tilted my head. “I can’t hear you over the sound of your pounding heart.”
Her throat bobbed on a swallow. “What…what are you?”
If I had a coin for every time I’d been asked that, I’d…well, I’d have a shit ton of coins. “You don’t want to find out. So, tell me where he is.”
She scampered back as I strode forward, the vines retreating to clear a path.
“Tell me.” I knelt before her as a raven landed on my shoulder. “And I’ll make this painless.”
“He is Death,” she forced out between quick pants, eyes darting to the raven. “He is everywhere and nowhere.”
“Is that supposed to impress me?” I stretched my neck to the side as the essence crawled beneath my skin, the raven mimicking the action. “In case you’re wondering, it doesn’t.”
“It should frighten you.”
I laughed, and the sound was full of frosted smoke and chilled shadows. “It does not.”
“It frightened her.”
Everything in me went still.
Her lips curved up in a thin smile. “I was there,” she said, her voice dropping to a hiss. “Saw her enter with the arrogance of the False Queen whose blood runs in her veins.”
The ravens perched above turned their heads toward me as my blood cooled.
“I heard the exact moment all that false bravado collapsed into nothing. When she learned the hard way what her position is with him.” The god laughed, the sound light. “I can still hear her screams.”
Ice-coated smoke crawled up my throat.
“Do you know she begged? Pleaded with him.” Her smile grew, revealing the tips of her fangs. “Ah, you didn’t know that.”
A deep, animalistic sound tore from my chest in warning as I locked gazes with her. The raven on my shoulder took flight.
“She was weak,” the god whispered. “And once she shows her face again, he will find her and finish what he started. He will take it all.” The glow of essence in her eyes grew brighter. “And there is nothing you can do to stop him. You’ll already be dead.”
The ravens vanished.
I snapped forward, grabbing a fistful of her hair. Twisting her around, I dragged her back against me before she could take another breath. Jerking her head to the side, I struck, sinking my fangs into her neck. It wasn’t a nice, clean bite. I made sure I tore through her flesh, letting the blood pour down my throat.