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)
I knew my smile was giddy.
“Yes,” I gushed at the older man. “The queen is correct. I heard some feedback the other day and wondered if you’d be willing to share some more? Maybe you could gather all your like-minded friends together, and we can get into it.”
“Oh . . . yes.” The man looked back and forth between the queen and me as though this might be a trick. “You’re the drugmaker, you say? That captive they got over there at the castle?”
“Yes.” I clasped my hands in front of me. “I am being made to repent for my sins as part of my punishment. I am eager to clear my name, and am working on a way to make recreational and medicinal products safe for all. Part of that, per the queen’s orders, is to address the woes and concerns of the people in this kingdom. Please, help me repent.”
I wasn’t sure where all that had come from, wondering if maybe I hadn’t evacuated all of the trial product from my system after all, but the man seemed to thaw.
“Oh, right.” He nodded. “That makes sense. Yes, of course. Here, come in, come in. Have a seat, please. Can I get you some tea?”
“Maybe just a glass of water?” I asked politely. “And something to write with. And on. Thank you.”
“Sure, yes.” He hesitated, doing a double take at my shirt. “Are those penises on your shirt, young lady?”
“Um . . .” I looked down at myself. “Yes?” I grimaced. “It’s part of my punishment.”
His frown was clearly meant for the queen. “Some punishment,” he muttered.
He collected a few people from within the village. All of them were eager to share feedback, and I was just as eager to write down the things they had to say. We visited one other house before we traveled to another village, and then a town, my wolf running straight there, keeping in line with the dragon flying slowly overhead. Her annoyed roar when my wolf passed through the middle of an Everlass field made me want to snicker.
Wolves ran forward to greet us as we traveled the wood, the full night no longer a hindrance to my wolf’s vision. They didn’t run all the way with us, though, instead staying at our flank until another wolf took up the position. It was clear they were offering themselves as our protection, and each one of them extended the bond for us to grab on to. Given their offer wasn’t grabby like Dante’s had been, my wolf didn’t slap it away. Instead, she did the equivalent of politely refusing, veering a little to bump into their sides to ensure there were no hard feelings. Flexing was one thing, but disrupting the bond of the pack was entirely another. I was sure Finley would agree.
After visiting a few houses, it quickly became apparent that I wouldn’t need to visit every village or town in this kingdom to get a good idea of things that weren’t working or that needed to be fixed. Most of the issues that were cropping up were universal. The few that weren’t? Well . . .
“I need something for pain relief,” one woman told me. “My back is always hurting me.”
“You already have access to something for that,” Finley replied. “There are many remedies for various types of pain, all of which use Everlass, which grows just . . .” She twisted and pointed. “Just in the wood there. Any of your neighbors, I’m sure, can help you make it. It won’t cost you anything. Everything you need can be collected in the wild.”
“I have that. But . . .” The woman had issued a dramatic sigh. “You have to boil the water and pour it in and wait for it to cool . . .”
“Your solution to that is to stop being so lazy,” I said without thinking.
The other people in the room laughed.
“No,” the woman persisted, “it’s not just all the work. I mean, just popping something into my mouth would be much easier, but it’s not just that. The Everlass pain formula doesn’t work very well with the Dream Scape. My back ends up being much worse.”
The Dream Scape was Granny’s name for one of the stronger hallucinogens.
Finley tilted her head in that way that said the woman’s information was noted. She waited for me to write it down.
I didn’t bother.
“If you take something like Dream Scape,” I told the woman, “you’re going to be twisting and turning and doing weird stuff that your back is not going to appreciate. You either need to take care of your back and work on fixing it, or you need to feel the pain after taking a drug. I am not going to help you ignore a physical problem so that you can make questionable choices and end up crippling yourself for life. If you want to cripple yourself, you’re going to know about it. Stop treating me like a common fool.”