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)
This court forsook the gods a long time ago. Besides, they agreed to take me in. They didn’t specify how long they’d keep me.
The chill turned into a whole-body tremble.
Stick to the plan, Tarian murmured, his gaze locked on the princess’s while she stared at Daisy. I know what he intends. I know the timelines, give or take. I have not been idle. Stick to the plan and we’ll play them at their own game.
That was all well and good, but Daisy didn’t know the fucking plan. She loved chess, and she’d hoped to play with Tarian, but now she was on the outside looking in while supposedly a big player.
Your piece is surviving, he said, very unhelpfully. You’ve done amazingly so far. Keep it up.
Help him, Faelynn said to just Daisy from somewhere behind. Maintain your courage. He cannot take on this court alone.
She was walking up with him, wasn’t she?
He threaded his fingers between hers tightly as they kept going, and Daisy looked away to the side, still not making eye contact with anyone, but not deferring to the princess. Apparently, her entire existence would focus around winging it.
“Stupid human,” she heard from those watching them pass. Over and over they muttered it, or something like it. And she smiled at the name. Not a Chester, but a human in general. Magical people would have been so annoyed to be lumped in with the likes of her.
“What is this?” the princess hissed. Her words sounded like a thousand snakes singing a chorus. Dark, forbidding magic slithered over Daisy’s body to match the sound. A horribly acidic smell like sulfur wafted up.
It used to be an earthy smell, Tarian thought. Even the smell gives away the rotting nature of this magic.
Everything in Daisy recoiled. It definitely didn’t feel natural, that magic. Her hair stood up on her arms and prickled on her scalp. Still, she kept from looking at the royal figure, instead pulling up her free hand and checking out her nails. She popped one into her mouth, chewing on the end as she scanned a pair of weird fucking shoes that really shouldn’t exist. The shoemaker needed to be dragged over to a well and tossed in until he could come up with better ideas.
Tarian laughed, not covering it this time. The sound was light and carefree, like he’d been freed of this terrible place.
I have, he murmured. Through you.
That was a stretch because they were marching toward the undertaker, and if they made it through her, they’d be greeted by the prison-robbing rapist next. What a fucking family.
“Princess Elamorna, hello.” He tugged on Daisy’s hand, and she finally dragged her attention in that direction.
She didn’t look at the princess, though. Oh no. She was a stupid human, after all. She had to play her part.
She looked up at Tarian to see what he wanted. The gold in his eyes had settled but still moved around the pupils, no black to be found. The black hadn’t returned since they’d first made love.
…made love…
The words echoed in her mind, and she knew Tarian was echoing them back to her, teasing her.
I’m just being tasteful, she groused.
His smile was sweet and intimate. He winked at her, making the princess wait.
The princess didn’t take it well.
The hiss reverberated throughout the corridor and off the ceiling. Needles dug into Daisy’s flesh, and slick fingers pried at her head, burrowing deep into her mind.
Daisy winced and pulled herself in tight, hiding her thoughts from everyone in case the princess was stronger than Daisy’s diamond dust or her amateur mental shield. She thought about nulling the onslaught, but if the royals were readying to get rid of Tarian, they might have more knowledge than he suspected. One hint and she might run the risk of revealing herself as the true chalice.
A surge of magic welled up. Daisy felt the tingle of Tarian grabbing some of the power she’d accrued, and then it was whisked away, his training ten times smoother with that contraption than hers had ever been. He clearly had plenty of experience.
Black magic sparkling with gold sliced through the air. It danced and played around Daisy, burning away whatever the princess had done. She took a deep inhale as the pain cleared.
“As I was saying before the princess rudely interrupted us,” Tarian said to Daisy, not having looked away, “we must look at the princess when she is greeting us, little toy.”
When he finally turned to the princess, her eyes had grown wide with disbelief and worry. She wasn’t used to his having that much power.
“You must excuse her,” he told her lightly. “Such stupid creatures, these humans, but so incredibly pleasing. I never thought I’d desire anyone again, let alone be pleasured. It seems I just needed someone outside of this court, especially after you and your minions tried, and failed, to produce those results, hmm?”