Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“You kidnapped me for nothing,” Brynla seethes under her breath as I lead her between the fountains in the middle of the yard and Solla’s rose garden.
“What little faith you have in me,” I tell her with a grin.
“I have zero faith in you,” she says.
My smile shakes slightly.
“I’ll just have to prove you wrong,” I say.
Just like I have to prove everyone wrong, all the time.
It’s fucking exhausting.
We enter the main doors and step inside the hall, the smells of dinner cooking coming from the kitchen. I spot my sister, Solla, heading toward the great chamber, a book in her hand.
“Solla,” I whisper to her, hurrying Brynla along the obsidian floors, Lemi’s nails clicking on the surface as he trots behind us.
Solla stops and stares at us, blue eyes bright and wide. “You’re back early,” she says in her quiet voice, clutching her book tighter to her chest. “Who is this?” she asks, trying to sound polite, but I can see she can’t make heads or tails of Brynla and Lemi. I’ve certainly never brought a girl home—I’d never subject a woman to this place—and most definitely not a hound.
“A prisoner,” Brynla says dryly as I loosen my grip on her arm.
“Is the dog prisoner too?” Solla asks, brushing her bangs out of her eyes with her free hand.
“Yes,” I tell her. “Listen, I need you to do me a favor.”
Even under her hair I can see her thick brows knit together. “What?” she asks, ever hesitant.
“Can you take Brynla to her quarters? Put her in the yellow room. The dog can go with her too.”
“Oh, she has a name?” Solla asks.
I wince. “I’m sorry, I forgot my manners.”
“When don’t you?” Solla mutters under her breath.
“Solla,” I say, “this is Brynla and her hound, Lemi. Brynla, this is my one and only sister, Solla. She’s the sweet one in the family, don’t worry.”
“And you want the sweet Kolbeck in charge of the prisoner?” Brynla asks, raising a brow at me.
“I can bite if I need to,” Solla says, completely deadpan. I’m not worried about my sister. Even if Brynla tries something, she won’t get far. Kjell will have put the guards on high alert already. Besides, Solla knows how to take care of herself when she needs to. Her gifts are impressive.
“You certainly can,” I say. Then I sniff the air because I know it will get a rise out of Brynla. “And draw her a bath and fetch her some new clothes. She needs it.”
Brynla glares at me but then self-consciously sniffs her shoulder. Honestly we all smell the same after being on the ship, just an overall sense of fish, brine, and oil.
I let go of Brynla’s arm and Solla beckons for her to follow her down the hall to the east stairs. Brynla and Lemi reluctantly trail along, with Brynla glancing at me over her shoulder with a wary look.
I give her a reassuring smile that I’m sure she doesn’t find reassuring at all, considering how the scowl on her face deepens, and then I quickly duck down the wing to my father’s study and knock on the door.
“Come in.” I hear his gruff voice through the door.
I open it and step inside.
My father is sitting at his desk, leaning back in his chair with one leg crossed, holding a glass of amber liquid. From the way the leather chair across from him has been pushed back and the telltale ring of condensation on his walnut desk, I know Kjell must have been with him right before he came out to the yard.
“One of the guards spotted your carriage coming up the road,” my father says. “I was surprised it was you. You never come back from your voyages early. I take it you had a fruitful mission this time? Or am I just getting my hopes up?”
“Very fruitful,” I say, sitting down in the chair. “In fact, I brought back more than you bargained for.”
He gives me a tepid look, a gray brow arched. “Is that so?”
“I have suen from an elderdrage, as well as from a blooddrage,” I say, leaning back in my chair, my left foot bouncing. “And I have a thief.”
He frowns as he takes a sip from the glass. “What do you mean, you have a thief?”
“She’s upstairs. Solla has her.”
My father pauses, then slowly puts the drink down. “Andor,” he says sharply. “Stop wasting my time like you always do and come out with it. What do you mean Solla has her?”
“Look,” I say, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees, needing my father to take me seriously for once. “You know I’ve been working on a way to secure our position in the egg trade.”
“You have been doing no such thing. It’s Kjell that’s been putting in the legwork.”