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)
A stray thought floated through my head that this faeman was insane. What kind of addled, self-important lunatic believed taking me away to do whatever he was going to do to me, was a grand act in service of the war and kingdom?
The thought crossed my mind and evaporated, unable to summon the shouts, biting retorts, or kicking and slaps that it would if he hadn’t bound my free will as easily as they did my magic, all those years ago.
The staircase released us into a space grander than Kirwan’s home could ever boast. Tinkling chandeliers reflected dancing rainbows on crème walls flecked with gold. Portraits gazed down on me, the borrowed images of queens past who couldn’t help me, and a grave and disapproving look as though they wouldn’t even if they could.
Kaelan stopped before double doors and knocked.
“Enter.”
Fear and disgust tried to push through. He brought me here for someone... or he brought me to share. Why couldn’t I run? How would I get away?
Kaelan got behind and shoved me inside. I tripped over the corner of a rug and dropped to my knees where I stayed, my body refusing the command to stand up.
My eyes rolled in my head, taking in as much as my stiff neck would allow.
We were in a room the likes of which was ten times the size of our modest hut in Gutter Galley.
The finest of furniture stood upon ancient and expensive rugs. I felt their history pressing into my knees. Tapestries climbed the grand windows, allowing the barest sliver of moonlight to grace a bed of silks and downy pillows.
A figure rose from the blankets, concealed in shadows.
“I found her, my love.” Kaelan dropped beside me and bowed low till his forehead touched the rug. “The right height and build. Even better, she’s a nobody. Nothing. Just another war wife desperate for some coin, and not the child of anyone important. No one will notice her absence.”
“Is that so?” A light, almost musical voice floated out of the shadows. “How did such a perfect find land in your lap?”
“It is Meya,” he breathed, raising his head. “She sent her to us. Just when we’d begun to lose hope. Our actions are blessed by the All Mother herself. I know it.”
“As do I, my love. It is as you say. This meaningless waif was sent to me in my time of need by Meya herself. This is her will.”
She stepped out of the shadows, and not a speck of recognition lit in my eyes.
No, wait...
It came to me. Painted flyers in the square. Model figurines in the shops. A name on everyone’s lips.
Princess Emiana.
Hair so red it rejected the moonlight fell around her shoulders and brushed the bottom of her bodice. To say she was lovely was to insult her. So simple a word did not begin to describe the beauty of her emerald eyes, bee-stung lips, rosy cheeks, and jewel-cuffed pointed ears. Robes like angel wings floated around her form, revealing more than it concealed.
I instinctively averted my eyes. A finger under my chin drew them back up where she trapped them in her green pools. I would’ve cringed if my face would’ve allowed it. No one had ever looked at me with such contempt before, and I endured Kirwan’s hatred for years.
She halted in her tracks. “She’s moon-kissed. How—? She’s disgusting,” Princess Emiana spat. “If only Meya had seen fit to send us a comely girl. It sickens me to think I’ll be wearing this face for the foreseeable future.”
Confusion wafted through my mind and dissipated, not allowing the questions it brought to my lips to come out. What in the name of the All Mother was she talking about?
“Disgusting, my love? I wouldn’t say so,” Kaelan spoke up. “She has a certain fairness about her that I thought worthy—”
“Don’t you dare question me.”
The snap closed his mouth.
Irritated, Emiana threw my face away harder than she needed to. “She may be the right height and build, but she is wrong in every other way. I shall be as cursed as her for what we do here tonight. Punishment for dabbling in the unholy arts, but...” She blew out a long breath. “That is how it must be.
“Stand her up.”
Kaelan stood me on my feet, gentler in his touch than she was.
“Undo whatever magics you performed on her.”
“Your Majesty?”
Emiana spoke to him, but looked deep into my eyes. “Her magic is no less bound than mine. There is nothing she can do to fight back against us. No need to restrain her body and mind too, unless she gives us reason.”
Her compassion surprised me for the brief moment I felt surprise. Largely because she was still sneering at me.
Coolness spread down my head and flowed through my body. In the space of a breath, control was mine again.