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)
“Why?”
Did I speak? My ears were roaring. My lips were numb. I couldn’t be sure they moved.
“Why did you change my mind?” He wasn’t drawing anymore. His fingers were gliding over my body, but leaving no ink behind them. He was simply exploring me—
His new possession.
“Because I saw in that moment that you hate him as much as I.” Laughter rolled out of his chest. “Not only do you hate him, but you openly and blatantly defy him—destroying his bid for Lyrica’s peace and your subjugation—it was you who tried to kill me in front of him. It was then you and I came up with a much better plan.
“Killing you would solve nothing. If the hatred between you and your father is mutual, he would care for you passing only long enough to shed fake tears at your funeral,” he dropped. “No, if I was to truly hurt him, how much better would it be... to keep you?”
His words reached me from far away.
“To corrupt you. To make you mine in every way—including becoming the natural successor of the Lyrican throne.”
“What?” I whispered. “But—but you can’t—”
“No, you can’t,” he barked. “A woman cannot take the throne, so in the case of your parents, it passed to an outsider. Your father threw you away so easily because despite only having one child with your mother, he has half a dozen bastards out there, waiting for the day one is tapped to rule.”
I choked, eyes bulging. The surprise wasn’t mine. Seemed Emiana didn’t know about these half-siblings.
“Or I should say, he used to have half a dozen bastards out there.” A slow smile stretched his lips. “Do forgive me for having to put you to sleep so many times during our return home. I couldn’t have you interfering in their ends.”
“Their ends?” I cried. “Are you saying you killed them?”
“A mere precaution. We don’t want anyone with a legitimate claim to threaten my ascension to the throne.”
“Stop saying we!” Or at least, I tried to scream it. Panic had such a stranglehold on my throat, nothing but a hoarse rasp could get out.
“Naturally, when I signed the treaty, I relinquished any claim to Lyrica and swore it on Meya’s name, but then, you, my dear one, broke that treaty.” He caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers. “Your rights remain intact, and through this ceremony—binding us as one—your rights are my rights. The throne denied you, will be mine.”
My body came alive. I shoved his hand off. “You bastard.”
He growled, lips peeling back. “You believe you hate me, little bird? I assure you the feeling is decidedly mutual. You are nothing. Less than nothing. Just another sniveling, insipid, pampered child who thinks if you scream and shout loud enough, you’ll get your way, but a marriage doesn’t require love, and a partnership doesn’t beg respect.
“Thanks to you, I will take away everything your father truly loves. His wealth, his land, his honors, his throne. You will watch the man who threw you away reduced to nothing. All that he greedily gobbled on Raelina’s sacrifice will vanish into vapor, and right as I plunge my sword into his chest, he’ll know the reason why.”
He stepped back, beholding me with something akin to pride. “I told you, my queen. I answered this question already. I made you mine because you and I will stand atop the world, claiming the faelands for our own, and crushing the beast who spawned you under foot.”
I gaped at him, body shaking. “What is wrong with you? Why do you keep saying we? You can’t possibly believe I’ll allow any of this to happen.”
“Oh?” Alisdair said, cocking a brow. “You think you’re going to stop me?”
“Of course!”
“Then, you’ve decided to stay.”
“I—” I cut off, jaw clenching. Oh no.
I agreed to this with the promise of fleeing from him. A promise I burned on his skin. I either stayed and fought to save all of Lyrica, or I ran to save my family.
“You wanted this,” I hissed. “You tricked me!”
His expression was flat. Bored even. “I did not. There can be no tricks in the cauldron. I offered you what you truly want—to leave—and named what I truly want—for you to stay. From this point on, we will fight for our wish. But I say to you, my queen”—flicking off me, he nodded at Aeris—“I intend to win.”
“Wait! No!”
Aeris and Bradach tipped the basins over our heads, shocking my system with a blast of freezing cold. Even colder than the elements.
The white magic rushed down my body like water, washing away ink like it was never there, and leaving only the runes behind. I gasped as the cauldron of ink went ghostly white.
“In honor of the gift your sword through the chest has given me,” Alisdair said, wrenching my head up. “I shall give you a gift. A head start.”