Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Boman huffed out a laugh as Jerry nodded solemnly.
Clouds gathered quickly in the darkening sky to the west. Lightning flared in the gray depths. Dylan turned to look that way, the sudden winds ruffling his hair.
“Dylan won’t be the hottest guy around anymore,” Boman mused.
“Nah, he will,” Bria said.
Jack turned. “When the fuck did you become the pageant director for the guys?”
“What?” Boman looked between Dylan and Tarian. “I know when someone is attractive, and these two are very attractive. I’m just noticing.”
“It’s not that,” Jerry drawled. “Jack is just ugly in comparison.”
Jack’s jaw dropped, scandalized. “Speak for yourself, Jerry.”
Bria and Boman laughed delightedly.
“It’s not ugliness,” someone said from over the way. Niall, standing with the rest of the Fallen and listening in. “Daisy calls it having a good personality. I have a great one, apparently. Isn’t that right, Daisy?”
A smile spread across Bria’s face. Her eyes sparkled. “Oh, I like him. Are they all like that? They’ve been awfully quiet so far.”
“They speak in their minds,” Daisy told her. “We’re going to get contraptions to help you all learn to shield your thoughts.”
“Yes, please,” Tarian murmured. “It’s disconcerting hearing how viciously everyone wanted to kill me and now how little wiggle room I have. ‘One wrong step’ seems to be on everyone’s mind…”
Bria lifted her hand. “Guilty.”
Jack lifted his as well. “Guilty.”
Jerry followed.
“Yup.” Boman nodded.
“That isn’t a natural storm,” Dylan said, watching the clouds. He looked over at Kieran, who glanced up.
“Trouble?” Kieran asked with a growl.
“No.” Tarian lifted his hand, turning to show he was talking to Kieran. “It’s natural for Faerie, which you know isn’t saying much. It’s not trouble, though. It’s a herd of stormbacks. They’re our rides.”
Lightning forked across the sky and plummeted to the ground as the large herd of creatures circled in their descent. Dylan directed the lightning far away from where they stood, the humans all watching curiously and the fae planning who would ride with whom.
“What’s your magic again?” Henry asked Daisy
“I cannot believe the Gremlin has magic!” Bria said, shaking her head. “There’ll be no stopping her. You guys are fucked, Jack. You’ll pick on her and she’ll end you.”
“She could’ve always ended us,” Jack said. “I sleep much too soundly to keep her from killing me.”
“I’ll show you when we get home,” Daisy said. “It might be better with a demo.” Certainly more surprising when she used the magic as she was attacking them.
Tarian smirked, hearing that thought.
Bria pointed at Tarian’s face, looking back and forth between him and Daisy. “She just thought something, didn’t she? Pay attention, boys. We got some facial expressions that snitch when the Gremlin is getting sneaky.”
Tarian’s expression almost cleared, but he couldn’t wrestle the smile completely away.
They are a treat, he told Daisy privately. What is a gremlin?
You’ll need to watch the movie for that one to make sense.
Ah. More movie references. I should’ve guessed.
He really should have.
The stormbacks landed nearby, but only Stratow approached. He looked at Daisy as Tarian explained how riding them would work.
So, little human. You triumphed and lived to tell the tale, he said to her.
I lived, yes, but the gods forbade me to tell large parts of the tale. I can’t say why. They didn’t want all their trickery to get around. As if people didn’t know how horrible they were.
That’s for the best, Stratow said. You would inevitably tell it too many times and annoy your friends.
There was that, she supposed.
Faerie is as pure as I’ve ever felt it, he went on. You have done a great service to this land. You are a friend to us, little human. If you need us, we will come.
She touched her heart. That means a lot. Though she had no idea how she’d ever call in that favor. How did you know to come?
Tarianthiel had a need, he replied. The need flowed on the winds.
She nodded, making a mental note to ask Tarian about it. Thank you. My family has had a long journey.
His focus was stolen by Tarian and Kieran, with Kieran explaining how he could alter the winds to help the creatures take flight. That Demigod was widening a few eyes in this realm, just as Lexi had with her soul grabbing.
While everyone was getting sorted, Mordecai approached her. He’d been quiet the last few days, mulling things over.
Now he stopped in front of her and wrapped her in a tight hug.
“You scared me,” he said. “What were you thinking, trying to sacrifice yourself?”
“You would’ve done the same thing.”
“You would’ve been just as pissed at me for it.”
Too true.
“Thank you,” she told him, hugging him back. “For coming. You shouldn’t have.”
“You would’ve done the same thing.”
“You would’ve been just as pissed at me for it.”
He laughed, stepping back. He wiped the corner of his eye where it glistened. “I’m glad you’re coming home, but you could’ve been queen. You could’ve been the highest queen in the land!”