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)
She rolled her eyes and pushed backward, lying on the bed. Fine. If I’m forced to be an invalid, I’ll go fully into it.
“Yes, thank you.” With a smile, he sat on the edge of the bed next to her, the bowl balanced near her hip. His hands trembled, too, as he saw the blood and remembered the helplessness he’d felt while watching her writhe in agony. The rage when he finally became action. The despondency, not protecting her as he had said he would. As he’d promised.
He applied pressure, scared to hurt her and thankful he could hear her thoughts to ensure she wasn’t hiding how bad off she was. He worked quickly but gently, soft and careful, wiping away the blood and smoothing the wounds with his fingers. Guilt tore at him, but he tried not to let it show in his expression or his bearing.
Her gaze never left his face. She caught every emotion he thought he was hiding.
“Will you tell me what the problem is?” she asked softly.
He tried to keep his tone even. “I didn’t protect you like I promised. That’s one thing.” He pulled up her knee and looked at the cuts and scrapes there. Most were nearly healed already. They’d been shallow, thank the Divine Collective. Her ankle wasn’t great, though.
He bit back the wave of rage-induced misery and owned it.
“I exposed you to the court and served you up for the slaughter.”
“That princess has lost a few screws where it concerns you. She was always going to walk this path,” she said in total indifference. She wasn’t at all concerned about how close the princess had come to killing her. How useless he’d been in shielding her.
No, maybe she wasn’t human, after all. Nor fae. She was some other creature, born in the fire, used to dancing in the flames.
He smoothed her hair back from her forehead but resisted the urge to lie beside her. He had work to do still.
“We’ll just need to look out for her,” she continued. “This was necessary, Tarian. Everyone saw you kiss and fuck me. They’ll know if they try it, you’ll kill them. Right? That’s common knowledge?”
He let out a breath. “Yes.” He pulled the cloth away to check the wounds.
“And they are scared of you, more so now that you stood in front of them all—in front of the king—and threatened the princess.”
He could hear the pleasure in her voice. The lust in her mind. She’d liked his menacing show of possession and vengeance. She was such a similar creature to him.
“She made a deal,” he said. “I’m living up to my end of it. They all heard it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told her I’d kill her treasured pets if she harmed you. She did. Now I will.”
“That’s not a deal. That’s an ultimatum.”
“In this court, that is close enough.”
She sighed as he got up to get a fresh cloth. He refreshed the water so it was clean.
“Right, so that’s them sorted,” she said, fatigue entering her voice. “We just need to watch out for that princess.” She swallowed thickly. “And the king.”
“The king…” His stomach pinched with what he’d learned tonight. He’d need to go over it in detail, change some plans, form others. She was in more danger than either of them could’ve known.
He braced a hand beside her, looking down at her. “I didn’t know we’d have this problem with him. I had no idea he was so…infatuated with humans.”
“It kinda makes you think he’s got some ulterior motives for going into the human realm.”
Tarian pushed up to sitting again, trying to hide his wince of pain. “He knows very well that if he stays in this realm, he’ll be killed. There is no return for him. It might not be the Celestials—it might be other kingdoms seeking to right this wrong—but someone will handle it. He’s on borrowed time. Initially, however…”
His heart beat faster with the implications as he finished cleaning her up before standing and stripping off his shirt. He didn’t bother looking down at himself. Daisy noticed each and every scratch, served up in her mind. He had many rips in his flesh and messy wounds leaking down his stomach. He grabbed the bandages he’d brought in and wrapped himself up. One wound needed tending, but Faelynn would handle that when she got here.
“I fully believe he wants to rule without being governed,” he went on. “He wants a kingdom that knows no bounds and a throne no one can contest. But yes, it seems there is more to it.” His lip curled as anger pooled hot within him. As their fates loomed.
“I know how to null now. For the most part. How fast is he? How hard will things be if I kill him before you’re ready? Because I won’t suffer the touch of him. Sorry, Tarian. I know you are counting on me, but some things…I just can’t stomach.”