Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Well, yeah, obviously.
She darted in and pierced him in the shoulder, good and deep. That strike would hurt like hell. Even the most stubborn person would react. Nothing.
“Shit,” she whispered, kicking one of his arms out of the way. It was heavy and lifeless. “Oh shit. Mordie…I think I fucked up.”
This time something entirely different caused the rush of adrenaline.
After killing, be ready for remorse. Be thankful if it doesn’t come.
But it wasn’t remorse fluttering in her stomach. She’d killed once before. She knew the feelings that would come. The nothingness and knowing that in this life, it was kill or be killed. There was no room for emotions when surviving.
No, the fluttering was the fear that her mother figure, Lexi, would find out about this and raise hell that Daisy had put herself in danger and that Mordecai had let her.
“Oh shit. Mordie…” she said as he padded over, leaving the panther on its side, its bloody, glistening body rising and falling as it struggled to breathe. “Is that one going to live?” She pointed at the panther.
Mordecai sniffed the man’s face before his head came up, his intelligent hazel eyes meeting hers. She knew the situation without having to ask. The crack she’d heard when executing the move hadn’t been her back during the bad landing. It must’ve been this guy’s neck.
She’d accidentally killed him.
Fuuuuck.
Her stomach started to roll. She would get in so much trouble for this. Lexi would kill them for fighting big guys twice their age. Kill Daisy for fighting at all when she wouldn’t take Demigod Kieran’s offer of blood magic, something that would give her speed and strength and quick healing. It would also tether her to him forever. That guy’s dad had gone crazy, and they’d all nearly died stopping him. If Kieran followed in his family’s footsteps and tried to trap Lexi, Daisy needed to get them out of there. She couldn’t have the permanent connection of blood magic with a guy like him. He was levelheaded now, sure, but Demigods weren’t to be trusted. Which Lexi understood…to a point. She would not be so understanding if she found out about this minor debacle.
The day swam before her. The sun bleached the color of the crystalline ocean, the white sands.
“Zorn will help us get rid of it,” she said in a rush. “He won’t tell anyone. He’s really good at keeping my secrets. Should I go get him?”
Fuck, she hoped that was true. They’d only been training for a year or so, and he was a buttoned-up sort of guy. She didn’t know him half as well as that claim implied.
A strange feeling rolled over her—a humming sort of vibration that sang along her nerve endings, both soothing and ominous. A pleasurable tingle ran down her spine like ice-coated fingertips dancing along her skin, equally chilling and diverting. It was a familiar feeling, one she’d grown accustomed to. One she’d committed to memory, relishing in it, delighting in its terrifying pleasure.
A presence had joined them. The presence. Beautiful and wicked. Exciting…but dangerous. Death incarnate.
It called to her. Begged her to look at it. To notice.
She’d felt the same presence yesterday before the courtyard battle in the convention building at the Demigod Summit, a huge meeting for all the top magical people in the world. It had stood just off to the side, noticed by absolutely no one, a spectral brilliance that not even Zorn, a Jinn, could manifest on his best day. But they had the same roots, at least partially—of that she was certain. This was a fae.
For a moment—a brief, mind-spinning moment—a pair of vivid green eyes flared into existence. The face of a boy a few years older than her—she was just fifteen—stood close by, his body sparkling and shining within its glamor. His severe cheekbones would break a fist crashing against them, and the soft cleft in his chin pleasantly contrasted the strong jaw. His gaze was like a brand upon her skin, awakening something she didn’t want to set loose, sparking something primal and setting it ablaze. His rugged, almost cruel handsomeness was nothing compared to the sparkle of deviousness in his eyes.
Her heart beat too fast. She’d never felt this feverish without being sick. Never felt this terrified, but she wasn’t afraid. She couldn’t tear her eyes away, wishing a body would manifest, wanting him to speak.
In another moment, everything vanished. The face, the presence, everything. Magic too incredible and too potent to track or maybe even acknowledge blinked out.
“What was—what…” Mordecai, having changed into his human form, took two quick steps forward, shock on his face. He looked at the beach.
The bodies were gone. Both of them. The blood, the messed-with sand—all of it. It was as though the skirmish hadn’t happened and Daisy hadn’t killed someone five feet from where she stood.