Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
“This stuff might cause heart attacks. Denied.”
I shoved my finger into the air, saw Finley bristle, and decided enough was probably enough. She was getting ready to force-feed me that sleep aid.
“Okay, okay.” I nodded. “Okay, okay. Whooooeeee! Moonfire Li-lyyyy!”
Finley, now officially unamused, sent out a burst of power and growled, “Now, Aurelia.”
Thank the gods she had a lot of power and an alpha’s command. It helped clear my mind long enough to slip into my alternate headspace and clear these chemicals from my consciousness. I’d learned after nearly dying from Granny’s product, though, that the effects would stay in my bloodstream.
“Do you know what we need?” I said as I came out of it.
She was watching me. “Something to slow down your thoughts?”
“I have that. No, we need a way to test the potency of stuff.”
She motioned around the room, and I stared in blind terror at the mess in front of me.
“I can’t leave this mess. Crap, what . . .?” I grabbed the sheet from the test basket and turned to throw it into the garbage. “The last thing we need is a dragon getting hold of that and going on a tear. Just hang on a moment while I set everything to rights.”
She did, stepping out of the work shed. Once I’d finished—my area was now organized but packed full of stuff and therefore ridiculous, and I knew Vemar was going to make fun of me—I met her outside. My heart was beating too fast and I was sweating.
“You okay?” she asked, studying me.
“I . . . am not sure, actually. I guess we’ll see. As I was saying, it would be helpful if we had some way to evaluate how strong the mixtures are. Like some sort of solution you could drop a test product into that would change color depending on the potency. The more potent, the less we ingest when testing.” I paused. “Should we be leaving the castle grounds this late in the day?”
“I’m not the sort of person Granny wants to capture,” she said in a low voice, walking to the stables.
“Oh, someone should’ve told you . . . I don’t know how to ride a horse. I tend to jump off, they try to kick me, and it’s a whole thing.”
She shook her head and looked away. A moment later, her shoulders shook and she lowered her head, laughing silently. Then louder until it was echoing across the grounds.
“Was it something I said?” I muttered.
That just made her laugh harder until she stopped, bracing her hands on her knees.
“The thing is,” she said, “I’m supposed to always show decorum and maintain the prestige of my post. Arleth has spent a lot of time and effort—continues to spend time and effort—drilling proper etiquette into me. But you’re just so fucking hilarious, made funnier because you don’t realize it. Aurelia, tell me, how the leaping fuck are you so naïve? How is that possible? Hannon says you are every bit as genuine and honest and . . . wide-eyed as you seem, but I’ve heard your history. You’re a survivor, like me. How are you so . . . like . . .” She made a flowing sort of gesture with her hands, swaying from side to side.
“I don’t know what that gesture means.”
She shook her head again, smoothing her hair into a ponytail. “Well, what do you want to do, then? I ride the horse and you run in wolf form? I fly and you run? I fly and my dragon carries you in her mouth?”
My wolf piped in then, growling, “Nope.” I could only assume she was responding to the last one.
“Just so we’re all on the same page here,” I said, “Weston knows you are taking me away from the castle, right? Into the wood? Without a guard or anything . . .?”
She studied me for a moment. “You’re a rule follower, like him.” It almost sounded like an accusation. She was definitely irritated about it, that was clear.
“You seem to have forgotten threatening me with death for my involvement in the drug trade. But no, following rules right now is not my main concern. My fear is that Granny has someone hiding in that wood, and when I pass by on my own, they’ll trap me and take me back to her. Weston’s rules are an attempt to keep me safe. I very much want that safety.”
She chewed her cheek, still analyzing me. “Fair.”
Clearly this queen was not in the habit of following rules. Interesting she expected people to follow hers.
“You’ll be on the ground,” she said, “and I’ll be watching you from the air. Weston’s people are covering every inch of that wood in anticipation of this outing—or they will be in a moment. I told him not long ago this was happening. We’ve got you, Aurelia. You’re good.”