Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
He wasn’t sure of anything except the fact that half his soul was here on this plane, and he had to get to her. The kids he raised were old enough to take care of themselves now, but Marta…
He would never forget the way that beautiful goddess had raised her hand and cursed him if he did not come for her host. Oh, she hadn’t put it that way, but a Russian knew a curse when it was sent his way.
You owe her.
He owed her everything.
“I have to get to the dungeon,” he said slowly, trying to find that calm he’d learned over the many years as an intelligence operative.
“Well, the dungeon is going to be guarded,” Lee said, leaning against the wall like he was settling in.
Sasha felt his fangs in his mouth, felt the talons his fingers could spring at a moment’s notice. “Then I will make it unguarded.”
“I know that sounds like a good time, but it won’t simply be Fae guards you’re up against,” Lee said. “You’re up against all the wards and traps the wizard has placed there. Do you think I haven’t tried to get in? He takes my soldiers there when he captures them. I’ve tried to rescue them before and lost more men and in horrific ways.”
Sasha’s heart felt too tight in his chest. He should have stayed and fought. He shouldn’t have allowed them to take her away.
“You would have died.” Lee’s expression was grim. “And no, I’m not reading your mind. It’s a pretty easy bet what you’re thinking. So she was your wife and you died, but you didn’t die and she actually died. That’s a fucked-up story.”
“I turned when I died,” he explained. “She was murdered because she was trying to find me, but while I thought about going into the light, I talked with some smart vampires and scholars who believe deeply that we find each other again and again. So I became convinced I must wait for her. But it’s only been fifteen years.”
“From what I understand time runs differently depending on the planes. She could have been born and lived a whole life and you wouldn’t have aged more than a few months or years. Though it seems to have worked out for my father since he’s now found my mom again and she’s pretty much the perfect age for him.” Lee’s eyes closed. “I see her dying, you know. Over and over again. I was there. I was ripped from her arms, and it was only Deinny who saved me.”
“My daughter was only saved because her mother made her hide in a cabinet and she wouldn’t give her location up.” He thought about it a lot. Prayed Tasha had forgotten. It had been there in her memories the night he went to find her in the orphanage in Siberia. His little girl had been pale and thin and he’d asked a friend to plant certain ideas deep in her psyche. Michael House had left behind the only thing Sasha could give her. The deep belief that her parents loved her. That they would never have left her willingly. That she was beloved and worthy.
While he’d done it, some of her memories had played through the mind connection they had. Michael had dutifully related both the good and the bad.
“So your wife is reborn on a Fae plane and gets selected to be the host to a goddess.” Lee chuckled. “You know if you had decided to try to follow her…”
The irony was not lost on him. Fate had a plan. “I would not have been immortal. I could have ended up anywhere, and the timing would have been wrong. If I had not chosen to go on this mission, I would have missed her.”
“Yes,” Lee said, the warm glow of the torch softening his expression. “Everything fell into place and you ended up in a timeline you shouldn’t be in, the only timeline in which you could ever meet her. So it’s your turn.”
“My turn?”
“The goddess gave you a gift, directing you each time to the right path, to the one that would lead you to her forever. Think of the choices you made along the way. Not the ones you had taken from you. The ones you purposefully selected. You said you saved someone.”
Sasha nodded, his emotions so close to the surface. Owen. His brother by bond, not blood. He’d been so lost without his memories. He’d been bitter and mean, but when the moment came, he threw his body in front of his brother’s without regret. He’d taken the bullet.
And risen later that night a vampire.
He chose to stay in Venice when he could have gone to the Council House so when the supernatural world exploded, he was there to take the royal children in.