Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161535 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 538(@300wpm)
The guard doesn’t reply. None of them do. They just clasp my wrists in the manacles. One puts a hand on my back. I jerk away, snarling, until he gets the idea that I don’t want to be touched. Not by him. After that, they box me in and lead me up a dark, narrow stairwell. The railing is a rope, and the steps are tall and awkward, and it’s lit by torchlight, which makes for an unnerving experience. I’m led down another hall, also filled with guards in uniform, and I grow more unsettled by the moment. The walls of this place are just as narrow and oppressive as the stairwell, made of heavy stone and poorly lit. This stronghold is giving me serious claustrophobia, and I wonder if Margo likes it or if she finds it as oppressive as I do.
There’s a large, heavy door at the end of the hall—guarded, of course—and one of the men opens it and I’m escorted in. The room here is large, with more torches and a big, warm fire blazing in an enormous carved fireplace. Several high-backed chairs are situated near the fireplace, and I see Margo and a strange man seated next to her.
“There’s our guest of honor,” says the strange man, who must be Seth. He doesn’t look how I expected, but I’m not entirely sure what I thought he’d look like. He’s handsome, in a sly, sharp sort of way. His features are both chiseled and foxlike, his eyes narrow and long. His smooth jaw is square but delicate, with high cheekbones and his hair is cut short, like I might see on a Hollywood actor, dark and artfully rakish.
“Are you Seth?” I ask, drawing myself up to my full height and straightening my back. “Here I thought you’d have an evil goatee and a mustache to twirl.”
Margo chortles.
Seth shoots her an irritated look.
“Told you,” is all she says, but she seems highly amused at my comment.
“Margo told me all about you,” I continue, and that shuts both of them up. Seth’s eyes narrow while Margo’s expression becomes guarded. Interesting. Did she spill something she wasn’t supposed to, then? I’m going to have to mentally go over our conversation again. For now, I hold my wrists out. “You want us to work with you both, but this is a cruddy way of winning our trust. Free me.”
Seth’s smile returns. “You can leave at any time.”
“I’m in chains.” I rattle them to prove my point.
“Chew your way free if you don’t like your cell. Anchors don’t need hands to serve.”
My jaw drops. “You are really something else.”
“Thank you,” he says smoothly. “And now that you’re here, be seated and be quiet. Kalos will be joining us soon.”
The chains on my wrists are heavy and pull at my skin, no matter how I twist them. I grunt in frustration. “Why would I be quiet? I want to talk to Kalos. Alone.”
“You can, later. As for now, you’ll be silent. Because if you speak up, I won’t give you the antidote to the poison that was in your food.”
I stop.
That fucker. He wouldn’t dare.
Margo drops her gaze, her expression slightly pained.
Did…did they really poison me? Again? Or is it just a ploy to get me to be silent when Kalos arrives? I genuinely don’t know, and that’s the terrifying part. I eye Margo for a while longer, but I can’t tell what she’s thinking. I let my chains go and drop my hands. It’s not as if they’re afraid to use poison to get their way. I have no choice but to believe them.
“Good. Bring her a seat,” Seth says. He gestures at one of the guards and turns his gaze back to me. “Just so you know, if you try anything, I will have my guards kill you. If you aren’t with us, then you’re better off removed from play entirely. Understand?”
I nod, frightened. Is Kalos okay? I want to ask, but I’m afraid to speak up. As a high-backed chair is brought for me, it’s set a distance away from the others, and Margo’s chair is moved back an equal amount, mimicking mine. A guard stands behind hers, and as I sit down, a guard moves behind me. I’m not surprised when I feel the prick of a blade tip against my lower back.
Some fucking allies.
I have no idea how they think this is going to work. Bully Kalos into working with them? Sweet-talk him? The moment we’re alone, I’m going to tell him what’s going on. Or do they think I’m not important to him in the scheme of things, and that’s why they can lock me up?
Or do they plan on killing us anyhow?
Seth returns to his chair and flicks his cloak out over his elegant deep blue robe. “Send someone to bring down Kalos. Tell him we request the honor of his presence.”