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)
Homey, worn, but still lovely, deep-pile rugs covered the dark wood floors. There were no lamp drones, but actual lamps on tables, ones that plugged into outlets on the walls. Some of them were on, not all, and they lit the room like a seduction scene.
Hmm.
There was indeed a balcony off the room, windowed doors to it, and there were two more narrow windows on either side of it a bit away from the door.
And the whole place had a delightful nuance of the scent of evergreens.
“Have you eaten?” Tanyn asked, shrugging off his coat and tossing it on the back of a chair.
“No,” I answered.
“Do you want to eat or relax and have a drink first?”
I seriously needed a drink.
“Drink,” I said, dropping my bag onto the seat of the chair he’d used.
Pulling off my hat, and since he was moving to a drinks cabinet rather than helping me with my outer gear, I set it on the back of the chair, tugged off my gloves and shoved them in a pocket of my coat. I took that off too and tossed it on top of the rest.
I smoothed my hair so I didn’t have hat head, then moved to a snug, inviting, deep-seated armchair that was placed perpendicular to the fire and across from another chair a lot like it, however mine was a rust color, and the one across from it was the color of pine.
“What do you want?” Tanyn asked from the cabinet.
“Martini. Vodka, olives,” I answered, tugging off my boots so I could curl into the chair and tuck a throw around me.
Yes, it was a whole lot warmer in here than it was outside.
No, the chill wasn’t entirely beaten back.
After I got comfy, Hurley trotted over, sat beside me, and I reached down to pet his head.
“Your dog is cute,” I told him.
“He knows that.”
I looked at Hurley’s blissful face.
Yes, he knew.
“What breed is it?” I inquired. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like him.”
“Keeshond.”
That really told me nothing, since I’d never heard of that breed.
Hurley licked my wrist.
“You’re not only cute, you’re a charmer,” I told him.
Hurley panted then licked my wrist again.
I smiled at him.
Tanyn broke our moment by offering me a martini glass, three fat olives hugging the bottom.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
He moved to the chair opposite me holding what looked like a heavy, squat tumbler containing a healthy vodka rocks. He sat and lifted his glass to me.
“Welcome to Sigil.”
I lifted mine in return, tardily getting a weird feeling from him, and as such noticing he might be impassive, but he’d never been distant.
So, he might not smile, laugh or shout, and any expression on his face was so micro I could talk myself into thinking I didn’t witness it, but when he was around me, he’d always been engaged with me.
Now, he seemed detached. Short. Right there and still far away.
I took a sip of my (excellent) martini, studying him and wondering how to play this, because it seemed, for once, I might have an advantage.
At the same time, that niggly section at the back of my brain shared it was a little worried about him.
While I had these thoughts, he shifted his bottom half toward the fire, crossed his long legs, turned his head that way too, and brooded while the firelight danced along his face and frame.
He wasn’t wearing just any sweater, but a thick fisherman’s sweater in marled blue wool that did amazing things to his eyes.
And he hadn’t even run his fingers through his hair to right it from the wind, so it was messy, and, I noticed, about a month beyond needing a cut, so it was overlong, curling around his neck and ears and falling on his forehead.
He’d never looked so handsome.
Oh gods.
“Do you know the history of Sigil?” he asked the fire, thankfully breaking into my thoughts.
Since I was going to spend time there, before I came, I’d looked it up.
But I was in a kind of trance concocted from his mood, the vibe of the room and the visage of him seeming far away from me, at the same time seeming at one with his surroundings, which weren’t kingly in the slightest, and that was attractive too.
When I didn’t answer, he turned his head to me and lifted his brows.
“Tell me,” I said softly.
He jutted up his chin and looked back at the fire.
“It all began when the realms were still ruled by the clans, and they warred over everything. One of the demon clans had been beaten back to the sea. Many lives lost. Lands. Homes. Belongings. The chieftain was weary of war. Of blood. Death. Fear. Grieving widows. He decided to quest to find a land no one would fight over. To find a place where his beings could be safe.”