Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
“I’ve already lived a horror novel,” I mumbled. Never again. Trembling, I flipped to the next page and found the coded text I’d expected. A sigh slipped out. This was going to be a long day.
Letting the world fade from my awareness, I worked and worked . . .
And worked . . .
And worked.
Finally, the little symbols unraveled, more letters forming right before my eyes. A single paragraph became clear.
Astan has claimed Cyrus as his chosen. It’s obvious. Tick tock goes the clock. The beginning of the end is here.
My stomach dropped. Astan would select Cyrus as his host? The knowledge settled hard, but okay. So it wasn’t great news. It wasn’t the worst either. Cyrus would say no, and we’d move on.
On the next page, a larger passage cleared, and I hurried to read.
We stand in a stalemate, the battlefield between us a nightmare of lifeless bodies and scattered limbs bathed in the unflinching light of Theirland’s twin suns. Lavender and gold streak the sky, casting an eerie glow over the blood-soaked earth, where rivers of crimson carve fresh paths through the flatland. Overhead, a restless flock of scavenger birds circles, their shrill cries piercing the thick, heavy silence as they await their feast.
A fresh wave of CURED soldiers floods in, surging from behind the former high prince and hurrying to kill the array of glowers trapped around me. Men and women I admire. Many more will die today if I don’t stop Cyrus. But how do I strike down the man I love?
No. No, no, no. Cyrus would say no. He wouldn’t accept . . . couldn’t . . .
But he might.
“No!” I burst out. Soal had promised me a love story.
And pain.
And tests and trials.
I swallowed. This must be a mistake. Cyrus would never accept Astan. Not ever.
But if he did . . .
We would absolutely go to war.
I swallowed harder. I must have misunderstood what I’d read. Yes, that was the simplest explanation. I just had to read on, and I would learn what came next. Perhaps a celebration because we’d so thoroughly fooled all of CURED, pretending to do battle. Yes, yes. I must only read on.
On edge, I buried my face in the tome and labored to decode the next passage.
Chapter Eight
Every path Astan offers ends in destruction.
—The Book of Soal 1.20.14.12
“Time to go.”
Domino’s voice penetrated my haze of concentration, yanking me kicking and screaming from my study.
I had yet to decipher another word, much less a second passage. Just need to try harder.
“Arden!”
Jolting, I clutched the tome close and met the librarian’s determined gaze. “I’m not going anywhere, Dom. Astan targets Cyrus, and at some point, we fight, which means he might say yes to possession, so I need to read more and find a way to stop it. Okay? Okay.” Had I really called him Dom?
Domino plucked the book from my intractable clasp with humiliating ease. “Fear impedes your ability to decode. You know this.”
Ha! “The joke’s on you, because I don’t know anything anymore. Maybe the battle is pretend. A trick meant to confuse Astan. That’s possible, right?”
“If you don’t exit the library now, you will miss the final train back to the base.”
“But—”
“You can argue with me, or you can return to Cyrus. You cannot do both.”
Return to Cyrus. Yes. Purpose rampaged through my veins, and I popped to my feet. “Let’s go.” I would warn him of the god’s plan, and he would mount an unbeatable defense. Because Cyrus wanted nothing to do with Astan; he’d already chosen Soal.
Guess I did know something, after all.
Domino led me through a maze of hallways scattered with private reading nooks. “Remember there’s always a path to victory, no matter what you read. The answer is here, and we’ll find it.”
Great. Wonderful. “I’m not sure I can trust you with this particular mission. Your dislike of Cyrus clouds your judgment.”
“I told you, I don’t dislike him. And it wouldn’t matter if I did. He’s one of us. I’m willing to die to protect him, just as I’m willing to die for you.”
His ferocity turned his words into a vow. As he steered me forward, I was struck anew by his quiet strength. If he was even half as loyal as he seemed, he might just be the friend I’d been searching for—someone worth trusting, after all. “Thank you, Domino,” I said softly.
“There’s no need to thank me for—”
“Doing your job. I know. But it’s your choice to do it with honor and kindness, and I appreciate that.”
His gaze cut to me for a split second, like he was trying to determine if I was a figment of his imagination.
“I call that look the Arden Effect,” I bragged, earning another of those maybe smiles.
We cut through different exhibits featuring holographic displays of phenomena from around the world, throughout history. He stopped in front of a particular wall with no decorations. The stone—Tsuri—thinned, allowing me to see Ourland beyond it. Bala City, to be exact. Citizens went about their evening, unaware they were being watched from within the Rock as well as outside it.