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)
Let me go he will, to return to Lyrica and save my family from the grip of Kirwan, but the truth is I’m not done with Lumenfell yet.
I nodded to myself, letting that thought sink into my bones. I couldn’t be done with Lumenfell until I found and saved the fox boy from Shadowsoul. Of course, I couldn’t delay my plan to break free of the marriage and runes. I could hardly free the boy from the castle when I was trapped in the castle.
But once I no longer had the runes boiling my skin, I’d come back with something Alisdair wanted, and trade for his freedom. Although, what he wanted was the issue.
It was abundantly clear that Alisdair wouldn’t settle for anything short of complete, total, soul-crushing revenge against King Salman for what he did to Raelina. He certainly wanted it more than he wanted a tiny, desperate thief. The question was how could I deliver that without committing treason?
I couldn’t lie. I held no fondness, respect, or regard for my king. I didn’t before I had Emiana’s memories, and I had even less after. Emiana experienced nothing but neglect, and she witnessed nothing but cruelty. The few times Salman tore himself away from the arms of his harem to hold court and meet with his subjects, he did the Alisdair equivalent of tearing their throats out.
He stole their land and coin while claiming it property of the kingdom. He jailed anyone who complained of the rising taxes. He suggested to struggling women that he would happily ease their burden if they joined his harem, and after they refused and walked out, he ordered his advisors to lay even more bullshit taxes and repossessions on them—driving them to the brink to force their no into a yes.
Salman was swine. To know him was to hate him. Lyrica would never become a free and just country with that man on the throne, but the fact remained, treason carried too high a price. In Lyrica, when an individual is charged with treason, they and their entire family are put to death. Made for a very strong incentive to never think such a crime, let alone carry it out.
What if there is a way to get Alisdair his revenge without committing treason? My mind spun, carried off by thoughts and theories as we ventured deeper into the dark forest. What if I went back to the beginning with Raelina?
Murder is murder. Outlawed in every land. While King Salman may be untouchable, he wasn’t king when he murdered his wife, Raelina. If I could find proof of what he did, I’d hand that proof to Shadowsoul and let him show the world who Salman really is.
I tossed my head, shaking that idea loose immediately. If there was proof of his crime, Alisdair would’ve found it already. One doesn’t resort to murdering someone’s daughter at the altar, or changing his mind and marrying his most hated enemy’s heir to get his claws into her rightful throne... if he hadn’t exhausted all other options.
Okay, I can’t get him proof but what if I could... could... get him Emiana!
My head snapped up. That was it. Emiana broke the treaty and tricked both nations into an arranged marriage with an imposter. If anyone committed treason, it was her. She sabotaged the treaty that would’ve ended the war, and was indirectly responsible for Alisdair having to attack King Salman.
Salman tried to strike his daughter for defying him and fighting the marriage, because said daughter was a fucking stranger forced to take his real daughter’s place. Treason against Lyrica, her interests, and the throne, and I had no doubt Alisdair could strongly make that case. And once Emiana was convicted, by law, everyone in her family had to be put to death.
Including her blessed father.
My mouth curled around the edges. Salman would hang himself on his own barbaric laws, and it would all be legal, undeniable, and unable to fall on me or my family. Alisdair would get everything he wanted, Raelina would receive justice, and with Salman and Emiana dead, Shadowsoul couldn’t use her claim to the throne to take over Lyrica.
He couldn’t use it anyway because he bound his soul to a poor peasant, not a princess. A fact I’d take great pleasure in telling him, while I impressed on him that he would be accepting my deal without argument or complaint.
I nodded to myself, grinning wide. I’d done it. I saved my family. I saved the boy. I saved Lyrica from a tyrant king and a terrible war. The only thing that could’ve possibly sweetened the moment is if I found the heart and destroyed it—saving all of Lyrica—but one mustn’t get too full of themselves.
Savior of Lyrica will do just fine. I wonder what second name they’ll bestow on me. I laughed. How delicious it would be to make Shadowsoul give me my second name. The woman who outran, outsmarted, and outmaneuvered him. When I returned, dragging the true Emiana behind, he wouldn’t dare to call me an entertaining little bird then.