Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
I found her surprising, because she was cultured and cool (I didn’t mind saying it, she reminded me of me).
Somehow, I expected her to be a bouncy, easygoing female who was so much of both, she let the bro stuff slide off her back.
She was not.
In the brief time I’d been in her presence I saw that, again, like me, she gave as good as she got, when she wasn’t making it plain she was simply tolerating their chicanery.
Onward with the positioning in the jet, Hurley’s bulk was stretched across Tanyn and my laps (luckily, I got the head end), as Hurley had become the master of getting pets from both his daddy and (good gods, but there it was) his new mommy.
Across from us were Gayle and Cormac.
She’d sat down first. Immediately after, he’d sat down beside her.
And for the first fifteen minutes of our flight, she spent her time frowning down at her Palm, on which she was scrolling.
Cormac had spent that time watching her scroll and scowling.
As such, totally invading her privacy.
I turned my head to Tanyn, who felt my regard and looked down at me.
I was about to open my mouth, but he shook his head.
Ugh.
But he was right.
I needed to stay out of it.
Tanyn reached to the tablet at his side, woke it up, and I saw a dizzying amount of text on the display, with numerous headings and subsections.
It had to be a contract (the worst) or a bill up for vote in the Assembly (probably not much better, or alternatively, unimaginably, and by the looks of it, truthfully, it could be even worse).
“You know, we haven’t considered this,” I started, and got his attention again. “But you could avoid that kind of thing”—I indicated his tablet with my head—“by dumping this whole king gig and moving to Nocturn with me.”
“Dumping the whole king…gig?” he asked, his eyes alive with humor.
I loved it when he thought I was cute.
“Yes. That,” I confirmed.
“And what would I do in Nocturn, baby?” he asked.
I grinned at him. “Be my kept male.”
His gaze warmed on my grin, but he replied, “This idea holds merit, but right now, the next in the line of succession is Arnaud.”
I wrinkled my nose.
It was his turn to grin, and he did so while he bopped said nose.
Lord in Hellfire, when he was like that, I so wanted to pounce on him.
“Stop scrolling.”
Cormac’s growl took my attention.
And by the by, along with some grunting, I’d discovered over the last several days, all Cormac did was growl.
He was not a male of many words, and the words that came out of him gave the impression he wished he didn’t have to trouble himself to say.
He was also a male whose brood dial was constantly set on high.
Like his eyes were green, his personality was brood.
He was totally a cavemale, and I wouldn’t admit this out loud, but for some reason, I found this attractive.
Of course, I’d never give up my cool and collected male for anything.
Still, it was attractive.
“I said, stop scrolling,” he repeated.
As she did before, Gayle ignored him.
So he plucked the Palm out of her hand, then shifted so he could shove it in his back pocket.
“Hey, give that back,” Gayle snapped at him.
“I will, if you stop scrolling,” he replied.
She glared at him.
Then she bent to the bag at her feet and pulled out her tablet.
Before she even got resettled in her seat, Cormac plucked that out of her fingers too.
“Hey!” she snapped, more annoyed this time.
“You’ll scroll on that as well,” Cormac explained.
“You can’t tell me not to scroll,” she proclaimed.
“I can when it distresses you,” he fired back.
I could tell Gayle was in no mood to put up with Cormac’s version of thoughtful, so I decided to wade in before it got any more heated.
The soni-jet seated fourteen, it was long and narrow, the seats were comfortable but there wasn’t a lot of space, and we didn’t need a full-on row because none of us could escape it.
“What are you scrolling?” I asked.
Cormac answered for Gayle. “She’s obsessed with the tapes.”
Even I could descend into an epic scroll session from time to time, but life was full, so it was rare.
And I knew Gayle was the same way, so this was a surprise.
“Why are you obsessed with the tapes?” I asked Gayle.
She averted her eyes.
So again, Cormac answered for her. “She’s hit some shit algorithm where Edgians are bitching about you.”
Ah hells.
It was not lost on me they were still talking, as it wasn’t lost on me they’d never stop. Mira had sent me a few e-comms to give me a heads-up about it. Her team monitored them, of course, not as closely as they did in the Fall, but she wouldn’t be doing her job if they didn’t.
However, she’d managed to place a glowing article in a popular on-pane magazine. It came out today, perfect timing for me and Tanyn to officially appear together for the first time at the party tomorrow night.