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’ve been told that. Usually after giving a female an orgasm.”
Such a jerk!
“I think I’m done talking now,” I announced.
“Right. See you tomorrow then.”
Kill me!
“Farewell, Your Majesty.”
“Until tomorrow, Catla.”
I disengaged.
Then I threw my Palm at the wall.
It bounced off and fell to the floor.
I closed my eyes tight and listed forward, coming to rest head in hands.
I wanted to latch on to the idea I was repairing relations between realms, but I didn’t buy it.
I wanted to believe like Tanyn, who seemed so sure that I was the queen Sky’s Edge needed in these troubling times.
I didn’t buy that either.
What I was, was convenient.
There was a need, and I fit the criteria.
That was it.
I was sure more than a few marriages were based on that over the millennia, especially royal ones.
I just didn’t want any part in it.
Though, in less than twenty-four hours, I’d be on a soni-jet, heading north to my last chance to extricate myself from this nightmare.
I sat up and gathered myself.
Because I had no choice.
In less than twenty-four hours, I was going to have to give it all I had.
And hope like all the hells I could end this before it began.
Chapter 4
Sigil
The text comms from my besties were coming fast and furious as the soni-jet cut through the airspace over the realms.
It was all a lot of chin up, hang in there, you got this, it’ll be over before you know it, what will be will be, but what we know is you’ll handle it cheerleading, and I appreciated it, but it wasn’t working.
I was not a female who got nervous.
But when the jet instigated landing procedures, and I looked down through dark at the well-lit bay, beside which stood a male and his dog next to some kind of craft, there was no denying it.
I was nervous.
It was part Tanyn.
It was part the shadowy castle I’d spied on making our approach.
A castle that stood atop a very tall plateau that had a few warm golden lights blinking in some windows, but mostly, it seemed like a dark, ominous menace, looming over the island.
The jet made its hovering descent, landed, and after I heard the whoosh of it settling, I pulled on my coat, my hat and my gloves, grabbed my bag and rose from the plush seat, one of several that lined the sides of the narrow, arrow-like craft.
The door hissed open and the steps folded out when I approached. The pilot had come out of the cockpit and was nodding to me to precede him.
I stepped out, and instantly, my nostrils froze.
Dear Lilith, I’d never experienced cold this cold before.
In my spike-heeled boots, I walked down the steps, hand on the railing, needing it to steady me, because I was not about to take a header in front of the king.
But I had eyes to Tanyn.
And his dog.
Tanyn was wearing a sheepskin coat (and it looked real, naughty boy). Jeans. Some kind of thick sweater. Gloves. And startlingly in this cold, his head was bare, so his thick dark hair was being mussed by the wind.
His dog came biologically outfitted for the weather.
It was a compact, medium-sized fluffball with a mix of light gray and dark gray with some white fur, an adorable pointy face and equally adorable pointy ears. His mouth was open, pink tongue exposed, and he looked like he was smiling.
It wasn’t a lapdog, it wasn’t a big dog. I didn’t know the breed.
But somehow, he fit Tanyn perfectly.
I, on the other hand, was in high-heeled boots, wool trousers, a cashmere turtleneck, a full-length fur (fake) coat and matching hat. This was all in a sumptuous chocolate brown.
I looked like I was arriving to take on the slopes at Glacial Bay, not a female facing a weekend on a remote island that didn’t even have its own town.
And another micro emotion from my betrothed.
Tanyn was just that bare amount of smirking at me as I strolled across the cleared-of-all-but-wind-swirling-snow landing platform to him.
There was another thing I noticed on that platform, or more than one thing.
Defense bots were patrolling the perimeter.
Six of them.
When I made it to him, I dropped into the most ostentatious curtsy I could muster, dipping my head and throwing out my arm and everything.
I said to the platform, “Your Royal Majesty.”
I rose.
And Tanyn stated, “If you do that again, I’ll tie you naked to my bed for the next two days.”
I blinked, because he sounded like he meant that.
He looked beyond me.
I twisted to do the same and saw my two cases hovering toward the craft that was waiting behind Tanyn, along with several crates.
“You packed two suitcases to be away for two days?” Tanyn asked.
This was not a ploy, as such. It was a part of my personality I was going to lean into because it was my understanding no male enjoyed being with a high maintenance female.