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)
Alisdair was the slaughterer of millions. His selfish and greedy bid for power warped innocent fae into feral beasts, and the curse spreads farther still—dragging us all into his hatred. Every kingdom of the fae would rejoice and honor me for getting rid of our greatest threat, and even so... I wasn’t doing it for them.
Kingdoms had warriors and soldiers to fight their battles. My family only had me. I would not be Shadowsoul’s queen of the beasts. This was always going to end one way—either he left this palace a widower, or I left a widow.
Shadowsoul lazily threw up his palm, and the bronze blade halted just short of it—hanging still and obedient in the air. I tugged, wrenched, and pulled with all my strength. It didn’t budge.
“That is enough!”
Rough hands hauled me around. I had time to see Salman’s furious, purpling face, and the shadow of his backhand falling across it, before it fell.
Movement flashed out of the corner of my eye.
Shadowsoul’s claws shredded Salman’s sleeve and pierced his skin, staining the fine fabric with pinpricks of blood.
“That is the last time you attempt to lay a hand on my wife.” Alisdair struck his chest with an open palm, and Salman blasted off his feet and crashed through the wall.
Someone screamed. I think it was me.
No— It was everyone.
Through the man-sized hole, the palace harem wives bolted from their beds and lounges, running screaming for the door. Their cries were the only sounds coming from the room. The floating mound of silk, blood, and plaster in their bathing pool didn’t speak or move.
“And for your sake and the sake of that worthless parchment the treaty is written on,” Alisdair finished, “it’d better have been the first time.”
“Argh!” Guards, nobles, and Lyricans roared to life.
Coudarian crystals on their clothes, weapons, and staffs blazed with power, and the world lit on fire.
I stood stock-still as explosions burst and danced all over me, greedily headed for us, then forced away—streaming around an invisible barrier.
“Ah,” I cried when the world spun.
Shadowsoul tossed me over his shoulder. “Let us away, little bird. We’ve overstayed our welcome.”
“Put me down!” I clasped my fists and smashed them against his spine—kicking and fighting with all my might. “I’m not going anywhere with you! Let me go. Let me go!”
“No.”
He spoke so calmly and with such finality, my protests clogged in my throat. I could not make this man do a single thing he did not wish to do. I knew that as surely as the explosions crashing over our heads, repelled by an invisible barrier.
Alisdair Shadowsoul could not be touched. He could not be stopped. I was a dandelion before a storm. My only hope was for the soil to remember me after I was washed away.
A wave of exhaustion bowled me over. My lids drew heavy over my eyes, begging to close. This was no one else’s doing but his.
“And to think,” he said as black crept into my vision. “I had every intention of leaving you at the altar...”
I flopped against his back—gone.
Chapter Four
“Meli!”
I bolted upright and tipped over—my head bumping against the curtained window. Hurriedly I ripped it over, and gazed out over the vast, rolling fields.
I wasn’t in Lyrica anymore. By the gnawing in my stomach and the bright, morning sun creeping over the horizon, it seemed I left Lyrica some time ago.
“No,” I whispered, throwing myself against the door. “No, no, no!”
I scratched, screamed, pounded, and kicked at the door panel. The frame didn’t bend. The handle didn’t bother to move. I was locked in, and not going anywhere.
How could this happen? Without me to stop him, Kirwan would force Meli under his thumb all to have sick, bedridden Mama under his thumb. Without them to take care of the little ones, Kirwan would ship Gisela, Jaclan, and Savia to an orphanage without sympathy or hesitation.
Just like that. One selfish princess and a beastly bastard of a king—ruined our lives forever. And to think, that morning, my biggest worry was finding a shop owner who’d let me do some sweeping for extra coin.
Sinking to the floor, I cried.
Chest-heaving, lung-shredding, hiccupping, bawling wails ripped from my throat and spread throughout the countryside.
“There, there, little bird.” I jerked when a warm hand brushed the back of my head. “Don’t cry.” His slow, steady crooning was as gentle as the fingers tangled in my hair—soothing me more than I wanted them to.
Slowly, achingly, my tears stopped falling.
“See? Much better,” he said. “No sense crying now when things are about to get much, much... worse.”
I flung back, slapping his hand away. Alisdair’s laughter filled the small, darkened space.
Pressing my back to the cushioned corner, two strange, shining eyes beheld me through the gloom. Sometime between my abduction and waking up in the carriage, he had time to change out of his wedding robes into a casual, almost peasant-like outfit of a tunic, trousers, and simple leather boots. His hair had been released from its confines, and fell in soft, curling waves around his ears, and horns.