Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Open a waterway to my childhood home,” he commanded. “We’ll travel there together.”
The newest compulsion hit like a lightning strike, and I ground my teeth. Was I this irritating when I’d been the one at the helm? “I don’t even know where your childhood home is.”
“Doesn’t matter. The cuffs will take care of that.”
We approached a fork in the cavern, the sound of trickling water drawing me left. Then, suddenly, we were there, standing before a bubbling cenote, the haunting scent of limestone tinging every breath.
Want it more than air.
Without thought, I extended my arms toward the steaming water. The desire to leave this place frothed inside me. Though I spoke no commands and offered no instructions, the water broke into a slow whirl. As I watched, amazed, that whirl increased in intensity. Going faster, faster still, until the center sank, creating a funnel.
I walked into the void. Unlike before, I experienced no discombobulation. It felt as if I simply glided down a single step.
One moment I stood inside the cavern, the next I occupied an abandoned, surprisingly spacious hut with streams of sunlight cutting through small slits in the straw roof. Sparse furnishings: three small beds positioned side to side, a tub of water partially hidden by a sheet, a round table with four chairs, and a small kitchenette with a short counter, a sink, and a handful of shelves lined with dishes. A wood-burning stove filled with ash.
A great improvement from my last accommodations.
And just like that, my adrenaline crashed. Pain spiked from injuries I’d forgotten during the race to safety. Weakness invaded my limbs, quieting the hum of power beneath my skin. My knees quaked.
“Get comfortable,” Jasher muttered.
My legs carried me to the trio of beds, and I plopped onto the mattress of the closest with a sigh. “No wonder you hated me,” I mumbled.
For some reason he blurted out, “Malkom is Ian’s master, and Sin is Malkom’s.”
I rubbed my temples. No wonder Elowen considered the pair our biggest threat. “So. What’s your plan? Hold me prisoner forever?”
“Stay within this structure, and do not leave it,” he said, heading for the exit. “I will return.”
“Where are you going?” I demanded.
Long strides took him outside, through a door made of the same straw used for the walls.
“Stubborn Tinman,” I mumbled.
I forced myself to stand, despite my protesting muscles, and tripped to the kitchenette to search for a weapon. All I found? A spoon. I returned to the beds, where I used the utensil as Jasher had done with his coin, searching for a hidden mechanism. But the more I worked at the seamless metal, the sharper the spikes became. The more I bled and shook and weakened.
How had he done it? There must be a trick.
In a fit of frustration, I huffed and tossed the utensil across the hut.
Fatigue added a hundred-pounds of weight to my eyelids, and they sank. Darkness cloaked my mind, visions waiting at the door of my consciousness, attempting and failing to enter. Inside my chest, a pulse of energy flickered on and off, spotlighting Ahav, as if an answer waited with him.
Glittery tears. His miraculous rise.
I see the truth. His words reverberated, tapering into an echo.
The truth. I needed to see it too. Needed the truth.
Truth.
The Ring of Truth.
I awoke with a gasp, immediately aware. Yes. That. The Ring of Truth. That was what I needed. The only place I could mine every bit of knowledge from every life I’d lived. Maybe I’d learn more about Malkom and Sin, too. Ian’s “masters.”
Elowen had said I would die if I entered the Ring, but I now understood what she meant. I wouldn’t die physically. Rather, the woman I was would perish. A new me would be born.
I would remember everything. The memories waiting at the fringe of my mind. Those still in hiding, hoping to never be found. The good, the bad, and the ugly. All of it.
Finally, I was ready.
Too many people had fed me too many lies in too many lives, until I didn’t know what was what anymore. That must end. Besides, Ahav wanted us to meet him at the palace. Two tasks, one mission.
I had only to escape my cuffs and—
A jolt shot through my chest. Someone approaches.
Ripping out of my head, I snapped my gaze up and scowled. My visitor had already arrived. “Elowen,” I growled.
She stood before me. Easing down, she settled next to me there on the beds, resplendent in a gossamer scarlet gown, casual and calm. “Hello, Rye,” she said, her tone as elusive as ever. She peered at me with her fathomless smile. “Sister.”
25
SISTER MAY I
So many thoughts and too many emotions as I stared at my sister. On the front lines? Torrents of anger that whipped hard. “You knew of our connection from the beginning, yet you left me floundering. Why not share everything right at the start? Why make me find out this way?”