Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 186911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Shadi smirked. “This isn’t the conversation you want to avoid.” She jerked her chin at the women seated at the table. “See that woman in green?”
I followed her gaze to a slender, blonde woman with pale skin and a long, jagged scar on her cheek.
“Of all of us, she’s the only war wife that’s gone to war. There’s a reason none of the others who’ve seen the faeriken on the battlefield even thought of collecting that one hundred and fifty kiruna. If you ask her,” Shadi said softly, “she’ll tell you why.”
I gave the woman in green a long look. “Will what she has to say make what’s coming easier or harder to bear?”
Shadi didn’t answer.
“Then I’ll let her enjoy her meal in peace.”
I wish I could say they let me enjoy mine. For the rest of the night, I was treated to their collective wisdom of dealing with every unsavory, unwashed, overly aggressive situation. I thanked Meya when a servant came in and said it was time to retire.
She led us down a winding, torchlit hallway. The hustle and noise from the busy kitchen had gone silent. It was then I realized why we were made to stay in that room so long after sunset. We were only allowed to pass through the halls after everyone else had gone to bed.
Irritation beat at my calm. It shouldn’t surprise me. All my life I’d witnessed how war wives were treated. I used to dream all the facts and knowledge in my head would amount to something useful. I’d open a shop or give something to Lyrica that could only come from my mind, not my magic. The kiruna would flow, and I’d give my mother and siblings a new life.
Instead, I was another castoff slinking through the back hallways.
“In there.” The servant girl gestured at two doors on opposite sides of the hall. “You’re not to leave your rooms until I fetch you in the morning.”
With that she left, not even offering so much as a good night.
I followed Shadi and Myrna into the room on the left. Fifteen cots were scattered about the stone prison. I wanted to call it something else, but no other word came to mind. There was nothing inside barring the cots and four walls.
“They didn’t place a cot in here for you,” Myrna said. “I know where they’re kept. I’ll get another and you can take mine. You’re dead on your feet, shoua. Get some rest. The world’s better in a dream.”
It wasn’t until she said it that a wave of exhaustion bowled me over. My knees buckled, dropping me to the stone. I styled my hair to hide the hard lump from Kirwan’s attack. Didn’t prevent it from thrumming a deep, pricking pain that reminded me with every breath that my life was about to change forever.
Shadi pointed out Myrna’s cot and I collapsed, dropping on the thin blanket with my slippers still on.
Life’s better in a dream.
It was earlier that day that I told Savia the only happiness for her was in a fantasy. Let there be some waiting in mine.
Closing my eyes, I drifted off into darkness.
I WOKE UP.
As simply and abruptly, one moment my eyes were closed, then they were open.
My vision cleared on a figure standing above me. He bent down, beaming his crooked smile directly in my eyes.
“Oh yes. I knew you were perfect,” he whispered. “Come with me.”
I kicked off the blanket and stood, following him without a word. A calmness settled over my mind. The part of me shouting and screaming not to go with him. Screaming to call for help, was getting quieter and quieter.
Kaelan Moontreader led me out into the hallway and ordered me to shut the door. Then, he started talking.
“You don’t know how glad I am to see you, sweetling.” He stroked my cheek, his fingers gliding down to take my hand. “All those other hags were useless to me. Too old, too fat, too scarred, too tall, too short. I almost gave up... then you walked in.”
We left the abandoned quarters and turned right instead of left down the only familiar path I knew. A narrow staircase invited me up, its walls hugging my shoulders imparting the coolness of its stone—a final kind embrace before he took me somewhere I knew I would not want to go.
“It’s a disgrace,” Kaelan spat. “That it took me this long to find someone suitable is unacceptable. The king himself sounds the call for you whores to serve your kingdom, and barely any answer. It’s our duty—nay, our privilege to do our part to end this war and the threat of the curse.
“Today, you are given that privilege. You will do more for Lyrica and the war effort than anyone in this kingdom. Be proud of that, girl.”