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)
Odette had remained quiet as Elijah drove them around the outskirts of the city and onto a freeway.
They were all silent and tired, the only sound in the car the rushing of the road beneath it, the traffic outside, and the French GPS that Elijah turned to English with a wave of his hand and a crackle of energy. He’d explained to them that his doomsday property was deep in the heart of Lozère, a rural region of the country. They’d drive two and a half hours north and then they’d have to walk half an hour through thick forest to get to the cabin.
Echo, despite her tiredness, couldn’t sleep at night for obvious reasons.
“I’m not turning you into a vampire. Ever. Certainly not when you’re only twelve.”
Odette stuck out her chin stubbornly. “I’ll find someone else to, then.”
“Really?” Impatience crackled in her voice. “So you’re going to live all of eternity in a twelve-year-old’s body? When your mind and heart mature and you want adult things, you won’t be able to have them because you’re in a child’s body. You’ll go insane. Remind me to let you watch Interview with the Vampire.”
Her sister, despite her youth and immaturity, was smart. She processed Echo’s wise words quickly and agreed. “Fine. You’re right about that. But Daddy promised he’d turn me when I was eighteen.”
“He isn’t your father.” Emotion clogged her throat. “Odette … you don’t know what he’s done.”
“Then tell me. I’m not a little kid. Orla was being super nasty to me, and Roark was all kinds of creepy. I can’t believe Daddy would let them treat me like that.”
“He did. He had them take you to get to me.”
“And you killed them. Why? Why did Daddy make them take me?”
Sighing, Echo turned back around, her fingernails biting into her palms. How did she explain this to her kid sister who was so much more of a little girl than Echo had ever been?
“Tell her,” Elijah prompted. “She deserves to know the truth. Even if it hurts.”
“Yeah, tell me. Tell me why the lead singer of the Strix is driving us to a safe house in France.”
The corner of her lip curled at her sister’s dry tone, but the smile fell away as reality set in. With a pit in her stomach, Echo unclipped her seat belt and started to clamber between the seats to get into the back.
“What are you doing?” Elijah asked, reaching for her.
“I need to be next to her when I tell her.” Echo grunted, trying to squeeze through the narrow space.
Then she stiffened when she felt a strong hand on her ass.
Elijah cleared his throat. “I was trying to help you.”
“Or copping a feel,” she replied sarcastically.
“Can’t it be both?” he teased.
Echo held back an unexpected snort of amusement. The fae had a natural way of easing the tension. She wasn’t exactly Little Miss Sunshine, so it was a big thing that he could make her smile.
Odette glanced between her sister and Elijah as Echo settled into the back seat beside her. “Is he your boyfriend?”
“No,” they answered in unison, and Echo cut him a dark look for his too-fast response.
Elijah seemed to sense it and chuckled.
When Echo turned to her little sister, Odette didn’t find anything amusing. She looked indignant and scared out of her mind.
After a long, slow exhale, Echo launched into her story about Niamh Farren and the truth about William “the Bloody” Payne. When she was done, silent tears fell down Odette’s cheeks.
“You—you’re saying my real parents are alive?”
Echo nodded grimly. “They are.”
“And your mom … she’s alive too?”
She nodded again, a twisting, agonizing pain knifing through her heart at the thought. “He stole us from them.”
“And he did all this because your mom left him for your dad? And he killed your dad?”
“Yes.”
Odette wiped at her nose, looking so much like a little girl. “But why my mom and dad?”
“Because your mom looks like my mom.”
Her eyes washed over Echo. “That’s it? He ruined us all because my birth mother looks like a woman he was creepy obsessed with?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“And that’s why we look like real sisters?”
“Yeah.”
“This is true? You know this for a fact?”
“I did my own research, little darling. It’s all true.”
“And the fae aren’t bad?” Her gaze flicked warily to Elijah.
Echo could have sworn she felt a glimmer of fury, and it wasn’t coming from her. It was coming from the fae in the driver’s seat.
“No. That was a lie too.”
That fury simmered way down and melted into gratitude.
Complicated. That … sensing his emotions. Echo was afraid to look too much further into the connection between them.
“I hate him,” Odette hissed. “I hate William.”
“I know.” Echo pulled her into her arms and let her cry it out. “I’m going to keep you safe. And when it’s all over, I can take you back to your parents.”