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)
“I can decide. Our bodies are wheels, too. I decide when I’m ready, and no gorgeous fertility god can get around my will.” I move into his space this time. He has never had control over this part of his magic. His father hadn’t either. It was only when he took on Bris that Dev Quinn could control some of it. “I am your control, Rhys. I am your goddess.”
“My magic flows from you.”
“And mine flows from you.” We are like the stream that runs through the temple. We meet in the middle, our magic forming a pool we can drink from, luxuriate in, draw from. We do not have to fear our magic. I would not have found this magic without Rhys Donovan-Quinn, and his would be out of control without me.
“You are sure?” Rhys asks, his whole body taut but his eyes hot on me.
As sure as I can be. I know it deep in my soul, the same way I know we were meant to come here. Myrddin might have tricked us, but there is a greater purpose at work.
The wizard really should remember the rule of three. But that is a thought for another night.
I nod.
“Then you should be undressed, my goddess.”
I take a deep breath, ready to begin.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sasha
Sasha breathed deeply, thanking the universe that he wasn’t afraid of small spaces. These “tunnels” had obviously been created for brownies and trolls and gnomes. The small Fae creatures. They had not been created for a six-foot, three-inch muscular vampire. And yet he fit. He had to walk sideways, but he fit as long as he didn’t breathe too deeply.
“Are we almost there? This is terrible. And the smells…”
Neil had decided to come along. He also decided to complain. A lot. Sasha had shushed him several times, but Bibi had explained the walls were reenforced with magic. Lee had brought in witches to spell the tunnels so they were soundproof. Going out. Not coming in. They would be able to see and hear what was going on in the dungeons once they reached what Bibi called the king’s audience room.
It wasn’t a part of the tunnel system the rebels had managed to build over the last decade, but they had attached a tunnel to it.
“We are close to the audience room,” Bibi promised. “It will not be so crowded.”
Neil sighed behind him, but Sasha kept moving. “How will we know the king won’t be watching tonight?”
“Because he hasn’t used it in years,” Bibi replied. “Once he met the wizard he started participating in the torture sessions. I believe it is because the magic works better if he is in the room.”
“What do they say about the king’s new magic?” Neil asked.
“That it is dark. We all fear it. They say when the king or the wizard has you, there is no coming back. Not even in death,” Bibi said quietly, moving with ease. “They say he eats souls.”
“I have friends in another timeline who don’t believe that it is possible, though there might be a way to trick a soul into trapping itself.” When he’d become a vampire he’d stayed with an academic named Marcus Vorenus. Vorenus had been an excellent mentor and they spent many nights sitting around his luxurious Venetian townhouse arguing points of law or history, or in this case, philosophy. “The question is are the rules different here because we’re in another timeline. Myrddin can cross them. He might have come here to take advantage of the difference in how things work here.”
“I think some rules are immutable.” Neil sounded serious again. “It’s why Kelsey’s in Hell right now. No one believes Myrddin could destroy Liv’s soul, but he might be able to hold it somewhere. Or it might hide. What if he’s found a way to tempt the soul to go to a particular place?”
“Like the mountains that called to Shy.” It wasn’t a question. He knew they would have to deal with whatever Shy was here to do.
“The king believes he is eating souls and gaining power from it,” Bibi says quietly. “It might be a lie from the wizard, but he truly thinks he is the most powerful king in the history of the Seelie Fae. Why would the wizard lie?”
“Because he needs your king for something,” Sasha explained. “In our timeline the wizard has grown desperate. I would bet this is some long-term scheme of his that he’s suddenly kicked into high gear. The king wasn’t expecting him, was he?”
“The wizard returned to our palace a week ago, and from all reports there was no scheduled meeting. I was not in the room, but we had eyes and ears on them. The king’s personal dresser has become adept at a form of language that uses only the hands. He cannot write down the things he hears, but his hand language somehow gets around the spell.” She stopped and ran her hand along the wall. In a moment, the bricks receded, a small opening appearing. Sure enough, there was a throne chair and what appeared to be a two-way mirror.