Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 186911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
I swallowed the rest of my questions, although I was dying to ask how a solitary fae-beast living in a dark corner of Wind and Wild was supposed to help us.
Twenty minutes later, I was sitting at a kitchen table, clamping my mouth shut to keep in ever more questions.
A woman with round, beady eyes; a long, furry nose; and thin, spindly, almost-rat-like hands bustled about the small cottage, but it wasn’t her appearance that drew my wide eyes. Well, in a way it was, since her accessories were a sight I’d never seen before.
No less than six infants hung in slings on her person. Four sleeping on her back, and two babies in front freely nursing. It suddenly made sense why Alisdair had us go to her. Not even he was cruel enough to make a mother trek miles through a dark, frozen forest with six babies hanging off her shoulders.
Despite the dark and gloomy outside, inside the cottage was warm and inviting. A crackling fireplace dispelled the chill from my bones—prompting me to shed my coat. Paintings of rolling meadows, sunny skies, and crashing waves covered every wall, showing her babies the world beyond Wind and Wild.
“Well, don’t stand on ceremony,” she said, beaming brightly. Treasa was tall, thin, and flitted around on the balls of her toes as if she was a dancer in another life. “No need for formality here. Get comfortable, my lord, my lady. I’ll start the tea.”
“Please, ma’am, let me.” Foalan guided her to a seat by the fireplace and took charge of the tea.
Alisdair and I joined her at a slower pace. It was only the four of us—actually, ten of us in the cottage. Obviously, we didn’t need everyone knowing our plans.
“There are no cribs,” I murmured quietly. “Opossums carry their babies everywhere. Don’t tell me the call of the animal is so strong, she can’t even allow herself the rest of putting them down.”
“This community was among the first to change.” He spoke under his breath like me. “By now, the instincts are so ingrained, the entire town is made of only women and their children.” He noticed my confused look. “Opossum fathers don’t stick around after mating. The mothers are on their own.”
My brows blew. I couldn’t imagine that. Yes, I looked after Mama and my siblings, but the only baby in our cottage was Savia. Six infants at the same time was a humbling that would bring me to my knees.
My eyes suddenly narrowed to slits. “And what about the kind of beast you are?” I hissed. “Instincts or no, you better not have it in your head that you won’t stick around after mating.”
Alisdair chuckled. “If such a thought were in my head, the immediate thought following it would be that my fierce and brutal queen would hunt me down, and bash such a foolish notion out of my skull.”
“Too right she would.”
“Is everything okay?” Treasa asked, catching the end of my reply.
“Everything’s fine.” I kept my voice low out of respect for the sleeping babies.
Long, furry noses and bony, clawed hands poked out of their slings. If the curse took this community first, it explained why there was no preamble with the next generations. They were all born cursed.
“We’ve come to ask for your help,” I continued, dropping down in the armchair across from her. “Although, I admit I don’t know how you’re meant to help us.”
Alisdair took over. “Treasa is the only one to help us. She is the spymaster of Lumenfell.”
I gaped at the beaming, barefoot woman covered in babies. “I beg your pardon?”
She laughed. “My lord flatters me with such an important title. I am merely a go-between for him and his loyal servants within the other kingdoms. You see, Mother Meya saw fit to bless me with a gift.” Treasa pressed her finger to her temple and turned to the side.
“What am I—?” I lurched back, clutching the chair arms.
A mirror appeared before Treasa’s face, and the reflection in it... was mine.
My round eyes, hanging jaw, and whipping head as I tried to see how she was doing that.
“I pierce through the veil of distance and space,” Treasa said, “allowing me to keep a concerned eye on the nations. I can also do—” Treasa picked up a pillow and tossed it through the mirror. It appeared out of the air and plopped on my lap. “This.”
“Amazing,” I breathed. “I’ve never heard of such an incredible power.”
She smiled serenely. “It is my honor to be blessed by Meya. It is incredible the gifts that can develop when our magic is allowed to grow and change freely.”
Foalan took that opportunity to bring out the tea. I sat back and sipped while the three of them made idle conversation.
For centuries, Elvans have cursed their inability to defeat Shadowsoul, and for centuries, they didn’t know it was because they continued to underestimate him. The wealth and power he hoarded in his small, barren, freezing corner of the world was staggering. A spymaster that could freely and discreetly watch King Salman while he plotted, planned, and took a shit? Elva had already lost the war, they just hadn’t accepted it yet.