Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Hearing the emotion thicken her voice, Echo straightened her shoulders and cleared her throat. She sounded much more composed as she continued. “I was never given a choice in whether I could remain a human or become a vampire. The choice was made for me, and I let myself believe it was a gift. That William didn’t want to lose me, to watch me grow old and die. But the truth is, it was all part of his revenge to make me into the thing Margaret, my mother, fears the most. Do you know he named me Echo deliberately? I am the embodiment of what unrequited love did to William.
“My entire existence is a lie. He stole everything from me. Including my humanity.” The cool reserve she’d worked so hard to maintain cracked under Elijah’s soulful, compassionate gaze. “I miss the sun, Elijah. Sometimes I ache with it. To be denied it, to be in constant darkness, knowing that the shadow world stretches before me in an awful eternity … I haven’t been happy in six years. Each day, I go through the motions, wondering if anything could ever make me feel the anticipation of living again.”
“I am so damn sorry, Echo,” Elijah said sincerely. “You deserve so much more.”
She shrugged. “It’s not all bad. I have Odette. She’s my reason to keep going. And our purpose right now.”
“Did William do the same thing to her?”
Rage churned in her gut. “He did. This time it wasn’t personal. Her mother and father are still alive. I tracked them down via the lies that William told me about Odette when he first brought her into our lives. I was fourteen at the time, and he told me she was another orphan. In truth, her parents are Swedish. And her mother bears an uncanny resemblance to my mother. Odette and I … people in The Garm have remarked that we could be true sisters.”
“So we’re going to Canada to collect Odette and keep her safe from William?”
“Exactly. We’ll leave Odette with your parents. Once we’ve dealt with William, I’ll take you to Niamh. And Odette back to her family.”
“It sounds like you’re her family.”
“And I always will be. But Odette has romantic notions about what it means to be a vampire. She doesn’t understand what she’d be losing. I won’t let it happen to her. She’ll grow up human with her human family.”
“No matter what it costs you,” he whispered, but she heard him.
Echo watched as he studied her, like she was the most fascinating being on the planet. “While I’m sure you think I’m not capable of it, I know what real love is. And sometimes it means sacrificing your own happiness to do what’s best for the people you love.”
To her shock, the fae smiled. A boyish, handsome smile that caused a flutter in her belly. “You might fool others, Echo, but you don’t fool me. Of course I think you’re capable of love.” He gestured to the dog in her lap. “And tenderness and affection and compassion. You’re also ruthless, focused, bitter, vengeful, and cold when you need to be. I see you, woman. I see you for exactly what you are.”
“Bitter?” She raised an eyebrow, trying to break the sudden extreme tension between them.
“You’re a little bitter.” He held his forefinger and thumb close together. “A smidgen.”
“Well, I have a reason.” She shrugged.
“You do. And I can’t say I wouldn’t feel the same. I’m a little bitter about being fae because of what it’s doing to my parents. That’s nothing compared to what William has done to yours. And to you.”
Echo nodded. “Now you know the truth. We’re heading to New Brunswick to save the girl I consider a sister, and then we’re taking on the leader of one of the most well-organized and well-funded supernatural crime organizations in the world.”
Elijah considered this and rested his head back on the wall of the bulk hold. “Right. Well … sounds easy enough.”
To both of their surprises, Echo gave a bark of laughter, jolting Milo in his sleep and causing Elijah to look at her in such a heated way, her cheeks turned hot for the first time since she’d become a vampire.
10
The nights she spent with Odette were the easiest to bear. No one had told Echo how difficult the transition would be. Three months had passed since the ritual in which she turned vampire, and an emotion akin to grief still weighed heavily on her.
She missed the daylight.
With such ferocity it shocked and appalled her.
Echo could only hope the melancholy, the longing, would dissipate with time.
For now, however, the evenings when sun set and she got to enjoy her little sister’s company were the best.
Odette was a precocious six-year-old who made her laugh when no one else could.
“What are we watching tonight?” Echo asked Odette as they snuggled down on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn between them.