Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
The Matron giving the lesson that day clapped her hands four times, and said, “Let’s go girls, we’re moving inside.”
So we did.
And that’s when the cold, conditioned air hit my face. The very first time I had felt it.
Not just the cold, but the comfort.
This is what it’s like to share a bed with Finn Scott. This is what it’s like to share a life with him.
He is warm arms around me, and soft bedding beneath me, and my hand on his rising and falling chest a rhythm that soothes.
He is new clothes, and good sex, and fine-tasting food.
He is comfort.
And now that I’ve had a taste of him—of who he really is as a man—I am well and truly addicted.
Because, to my surprise, Finn Scott—the dirty talking sex fiend who wanted to fuck me from behind the very moment we met—is a family man.
I feel like I’ve won the Extraction.
Maiden Number Ten.
Thinking this almost makes me snort. Because it’s true, Maiden Number Ten is the jackpot because Gemna Hatley won the game. I highly doubt she sees it that way, but as far as I know, she’s still alive and all the rest of those Maidens are dead. Maybe a few Little Sisters made it out of the explosion, but Gemna did for sure. The last time I saw her, she was nothing but power.
This makes me absently wonder if my spark is capable of being as strong as hers one day. It has the potential, I think. I did help Gemna collapse the Looking Glass. But will it be enough?
Enough for what, Jasina? I chastise myself. Your role as Courtesan is over.
Because at no point in any of those stories about the Godslayer was there any mention of a baby.
I admit, I had never thought much about having a family. But why would I? I was aiming for the Extraction and the Rebellion my whole life. So this realization that the Godslayer and his Courtesan will never have a family should not hit me so hard.
But now that I’m carrying Finn Scott’s child, I find this outcome to be… unbearable. So terrible, I wave the thought away with a swish of my hand.
“You’re awake?”
I smile as Finn holds me tighter. “I’m awake.”
“Should we stay the night here? Or go back?”
“Ohhhhhh,” I moan. “I don’t want to go back to the train. Not yet. I know we can’t stay here, not for real, but it would be nice to find a meal.” I open my eyes, peeking at him. “There’s a dining room at the top of the Maiden Tower.”
“Do you think there’s food up there?”
“Probably not. But there has to be food somewhere. In some house, maybe. Oh!” I sit up a little, looking down at him. He’s smiling. And it’s such a content smile, I pause to take note of it.
“Oh, what?” He asks, when I don’t finish.
“I bet there’s food in the Matron Tower. I bet those crabby, old bitches get good stuff too.”
He chuckles. “There’s probably no one in there, though. Why would there be food?”
“It’s worth a look. Plus, you know what else is in there?”
“What?”
“A Looking Glass. The outdated one. Remember? I told you about that.”
He presses his lips together. “Mmm. Yeah. That would be interesting. Should we get going then?”
I am about to protest, when Finn turns over and gets to his feet, grinning sleepily at me as he tucks his dick back into his pants. I cannot believe that we just had sex in a Little Sister dorm.
The very thought almost makes me guffaw out loud.
If Auntie Bell could see me now. She’d call me every name in the book.
“Come on,” Finn says, grabbing my pants and holding them out. “I’ll help you get dressed.”
For a moment I don’t know how to process that statement. Help me get dressed? I mean, I know this is a thing for the Maidens. Those bitches practically forget how to dress themselves after their duty is up, that’s how helpless they become living in that tower.
But I pride myself on being self-reliant. So a part of me wants to be offended at this offer.
It’s just, there’s another part of me—a much stronger part of me—that thinks this is kinda sexy.
“Jasina?” Finn shakes my pants.
I nod, scooting over to the side of the bed, then quickly slip my feet into the legs of my pants.
“Stand up,” he says. And again, I’m slightly offended because it’s a command, not a request.
But strangely enough, I also find it a turn on.
Oh, my God. I’m so weird. At least as weird as he is with all that dirty talking stuff he enjoys.
While I would not really call myself a grown woman—I feel like a few more years are necessary for me to adjust to the new adulthood before I see myself that way—I’m certainly not a child who needs help getting dressed.