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)
If I was ever asked of this, I’d say he performed terrible magics on me, rendering me unable to move. But I’d know it was a lie then as I knew it now.
I knew what magic felt like. I knew it like I knew the well of trapped power, desperately clawing the cage around my soul. This was not magic or trickery.
No, this was all Alisdair Shadowsoul.
He brushed a kiss on my chin, teasing a sigh from me. “Kiss me,” he whispered. “My wife, my queen. Kiss me.”
Rising on tiptoe, my eyes fluttered shut.
“Kiss me.”
I frowned, blinking open—and locked eye to eye with the hideous, horned beast.
“Ahh!” I flung back and on a box of scrolls, tipping them and me onto the floor.
Alisdair laughed uproariously. “Do you see, sweet Ana? To deny my power over you is pointless. No matter what, no matter how—you’ll always end up on your back.”
“Fuck you!” I kicked and floundered under the avalanche of scrolls.
“It is that time, yes.”
I heard the creak and wheeze of the door opening.
“I’ll give you an hour head start tonight,” he said as I finally kicked free and got to my feet.
I huffed, boring a hole in his arrogant head.
He didn’t notice in the slightest. One of the servants came in, cleared a small table, and set down a food tray. Alisdair made short work of the apple.
“One hour?” I glanced out the pane window. It looked no different outside than it did an hour ago, or the hour before that, or five hours before that. “Why so generous?” I spat.
“It’s only sporting, considering you’ll need time to eat.”
I quieted, looking from him to the tray, then the door. There was no chance of me running past him. I considered trying anyway.
Relaxing, I shrugged. “Thank you, but no. I’m not hungry.”
My rotten stomach growled, betraying me instantly. Fruits, spiced vegetables, roasted lamb—their heavenly scent enveloped me. I wasn’t a stranger to missing meals.
Emiana was. Her body wanted food.
Now.
“I’m not h-hungry,” I repeated, voice cracking.
“Yes, you are.”
“I’m not.” I casually inched toward the door. “I ate a big lunch.”
“Cease your lies,” he growled. “Your stomach has been trumpeting for days. Why are you refusing—? Ah, wait. I see. You have no hope of outrunning me, so you’re taking the coward’s way out by starving yourself.” Alisdair scoffed. “Pathetic.”
“You are so—!” I cut myself off, taking a deep breath. Why did a man I’d soon be free of irritate me so greatly? “No,” I forced out. “That’s not the reason. I just don’t... have a taste for Lumenfellen food is all.”
“You have yet to eat Lumenfellen food, so you know nothing of its taste. Again you lie, and again you do it badly. What is the real reason?”
I didn’t speak. My lips tightly pressed together. If I opened them again, I would shove that food in.
He hummed. “No, it’s not cowardice. It’s ignorance. You think if you eat our food, it will trigger the change.”
Shadowsoul read the answer on my face. Sighing, he rubbed the bridge of his nose like I was tiresome. “Princess, it doesn’t work that way. I cannot tell you what triggers the curse, but I can assure you it isn’t food. The actual trigger has already begun its work.”
“What,” I cried, whipping around.
“Whether or not you eat will not change the result, or accelerate it. You starve yourself for nothing.” He shoved the tray across the desk. “Eat.”
I stared at the food for a long time, internal battle raging. Incredibly, I didn’t think he was lying. Everything around me was cursed from the plants, to the mountains, to the air. The mountains were hardly eating roasted lamb, so it was never going to be as simple as refusing the food. I only wanted to believe it could be that simple, because if I faced the fact that the curse was in the air I breathed, the water that bathed me, or the stone beneath my feet, I had to accept that another curse was taking everything from me... and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
“Very well,” I whispered, claiming the tray. “I will eat, but not here. You’ve given me an hour and I’m not wasting it.” I abandoned the vegetables and snatched up the rack of lamb and the mug of ale. “I’ll see you in the morning, husband...” I headed out the door, the lamb already half devoured.
“...as you’re weeping and waving goodbye to the back of my carriage.”
His laughter echoed through the hall.
I SETTLED INTO MY HIDING spot, checking and rechecking that everything was as it should be.
This is it. Finally the nightmare will end.
The doors banged open, blasting a whoosh of air that blew out half the candles, plunging the room in dancing shadows and smoke. Alisdair stalked inside, fangs bared. He didn’t look like a husband preparing for a night of making love to his new bride. He looked like a predator who finally caught his prey.