Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Oooh. Not bad but impactful. My mouth curved up. “Please describe this dance.” He’d brought it up twice before but had never shared the details. “Just give me a description. Hip hop? Ballet? Tap?”
A beat laden with yearning. “Intoxicating.”
Flutters in my heart. “Confession corner time, so you don’t keep your hopes up. Past me must have had skills present me does not. I have zero moves and even less groove. I can dance, but you’re more likely to laugh than…burn.”
“Well.” He tossed a wink over his shoulder. “Now I want to see you dance even more.”
We snickered at each other. And as we checked off the miles, we ate strips of jerky and talked about nothing. Then we held hands again. He moved branches out of my path and helped me hop over logs. I performed my best dance move, the Twist, earning a bark of laughter from him, warming the cold recesses of my heart.
A woman’s scream of “Help” ended all playfulness. We shared a beat of dread before racing forward. The trees grew denser as our cobblestone path thinned. At its end waited a glittery wall of air.
He ran through it. I did the same, experiencing a prick of energy. We entered…
Chaos.
An inferno crackled all around, another village aflame. Men, women, and children rushed in every direction, screaming with panic and pain. Helmeted soldiers in royal armor peppered the throng, calm, cold, and collected as they brandished torches and swords while shouting, “For King Ahav!”
Jasher ground to a halt, and I crashed into his powerful body. “These men do not belong to Ahav but Ian. They’re clones.” A flat statement. “The elders were trained to mimic royal guards while causing as much pain, violence, and death as possible to spread hatred for Ahav far and wide.”
Righteous fury flared. No wonder the townspeople throughout the land came to despise the royals so much they pretended he never existed.
I blinked in time to see a soldier swing a blade at my head as his horse reared up.
Without thought, I made my body mist. His sword sliced through me without causing harm. A second later, I solidified.
Shock rattled my bones before realization rolled in. Just then, I was a water maiden through and through, able to wield abilities I didn’t yet understand.
Jasher stopped the next swing with an axe. Metal clanged against metal. “She’s not to be harmed,” he snarled at the offender.
“No one is to be harmed,” I stated. “Call off these men, or I’ll stop you myself.” I meant it. They served Ian and harmed innocents. There would be no mercy. If Jasher tried to stop me, well, I’d deal.
“Call them off,” Jasher demanded in solidarity. Another shock.
“Brother?” The soldier calmed the stallion. Beneath the visor on his helmet, he flicked his attention to me, his neon red eyes aglow. “You. You’re the traitor with her. I found her!” he bellowed to the others. “I found the green one!”
Stopping them it is. “I won’t kill them, but I can’t let this continue. I’m sorry.” Letting instinct take me over once again, I exploded into action, becoming water and ghosting into the offender…flooding his lungs with just enough water to drop him.
He toppled, writhing. The horse ran off, stomping on his thigh along the way.
In unison, the other soldiers focused on me, as if driven by a hive mind. They readied to attack.
Jasher shot past me, axes swinging. He leaped, dove, and spun from man to man. Heads fell. Despite his unnatural speed, he skipped villagers and animals, ending only the soldiers. I could only stand in place, gawking as he worked his way back, finishing off the elders.
Panting and splattered with blood, he halted. Blood rained from a gash on his arm, pouring from minced muscles. Bile seared my throat. Some parts of him resembled raw, ground meat.
“I remember this night,” he croaked. “Ian encouraged the elders to bring the females back to camp as a prize. Many did. The screams…” Muscles clenched in his jaw. “Younger ones like me disposed of the bodies once they finished. The men in this battle were not my brothers.”
Shock re-surged, a far more potent brew. “You need serpens-rosa.” Though the enemy had fallen, bedlam reigned all around, infernos snapping, huts deteriorating. The good news? Villagers had escaped. Smoke thickened the air, stinging my nostrils.
He snapped his wings to his sides and hooked his axes to his back. “I’ll be all right. Come.”
We hurried from the heat, Jasher in the lead once again. I noticed he avoided any tracks left by the villagers who’d made their escape. Smart. The sight of a half-shifted monstra would only incite more battles.
Running, running. The forest blurred at my sides. Past the trees and branches, over logs. Through an icy river where I tried and failed to open a waterway to the palace. Every rainbow bird we passed gave chase. Ian’s best little messengers.