Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
“I am not your brother.” Duffy says it so quietly I almost miss it.
Poor Duffy. So in love with a woman he can’t have. “Duffy, are you all right?”
“Sure thing. I’ll patrol.” Duffy clears his throat and walks outside.
I feel helpless. Gods, I’m utterly useless. For the last thirteen years I was so weak, and now that I have some modicum of strength back, the sunlight holds me in a trap.
“Shim!”
I run to the door. Duffy is pointing off in the distance. “That cloud is covering up the sun.”
He’s right. Sure enough, there are far more shadows and shade than there were but minutes before. I step out and my eyes burn, but I can stand it. “I need to find Bron.”
Lach would want me to. Lach would want to fight the battles while I take care of our wife. I feel my twin’s deep satisfaction with the idea. Since we landed on the same plane as our bondmate, we’re so much more in synch, even without the deepest of bonds.
Lach is fighting. I can feel it. I close my eyes and I can see it in flashes. Lach bringing his sword down and skewering an opponent, strength flowing through his veins like never before. They’re outnumbered, but not for long. Every foe they bring down becomes Lachlan’s. The enemy doesn’t merely lose a fighter. With every death they gain another opponent.
I grimace. Even this low light hurts my eyes. I close them and search for some fire. It sparks to my fingertips, but I hesitate to use it. The villagers are running. The scene is far too chaotic. If I start a fire here, how many innocents will be burned?
Bronwyn. I need to concentrate on Bron.
I open my mind and seek our connection. Even with her shields up, I know she’s alive. I simply can’t see through her eyes or feel what she’s feeling.
I can, however, tell she’s close.
And she isn’t the only one. Four guards round the corner and begin walking down the narrow street. I pull Duffy in. He’s carrying an axe. No matter how small he is, the guards won’t like the fact that he’s armed. Fire pricks at my fingertips. I can roast them, but the street is so narrow and the roofs around us are all thatched with straw. One errant flame and the village will go up. It was easier in the town square. There was room to maneuver.
“You!” The largest of the guards shout at me. “Bring out your women. The king requires all women to report to the town square for inspection.”
I don’t like the sound of that. Gillian is in the store. I have to hope she’s doing what she said she would do, manning the rear window. “We don’t have any women. It’s just me and my brother.”
The guards take in Duffy.
“Well, lookee here.” The largest of the guard’s voice drips with sarcasm. “The mayor of this town is lax. A fucking gnome. Don’t you know your kind aren’t welcome here, you piece of shit? No non-sidhe. We’re going to have some fun tonight. You’ll look good on the end of a pike, wee one.”
The guard laughs, bringing the others in.
Duffy, not one to shrink back, walks up, his axe in his hand. “Now I’d like to know what you plan to do with those women. I can’t think of any good reason to bring forth all the women of a town. What kind of men do you call yourselves?”
The biggest of the guards stiffens, his limbs taking a predatory stance. “I call meself loyal is what I call me. And the king has decreed your kind to be undesirable and all who would aid you to be traitors. Now I think it’s about time to take care of this. Glannis didn’t tell us to bring non-sidhe to her, so we can do whatever we like to these two the way I sees it.”
Why the hell don’t I have a sword in my hand? Perhaps because my father had thought me too weak to hold one. Perhaps because until I had first blood, I was too weak to properly wield one.
Duffy isn’t smart enough to run. He hefts his axe and swaggers out into the street. “I think we’ll have to see about that. And I won’t let you hurt a bunch of women.”
“The wee one thinks he’s a warrior.” The guards begin to circle in a predatory fashion, like jackals looking for an easy meal.
I step behind my adopted brother. “Duffy, I think we should go back inside.”
“That option is gone now,” another guard announces. “We don’t let fucking gnomes talk to us that way. And they’re certainly not going to threaten us with axes.”
There’s another sonic boom. It startles the guards and gives me a chance to focus. I let the fire build in my fingers. I can’t torch the fuckers the way I want to, but I can try to take them out one by one. The fire sizzles along my skin. It’s so much easier now. The power is right there at my fingertips. I can tap it without losing control. It’s mine.