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 shook my head and looked at the dragons circling above, my stomach churning. I had those five to seven guesses. I had to pray to the gods that one of them was right. That they could find us.
We got to the side of the ship, and I was made to climb up the rope ladder first, hating the disgusting creature coming behind me. We got to the balcony, and I swung my feet over, seeing people turn Weston so that he would face me. He’d been stripped to the waist. Blood seeped out of two points on his torso and down his skin, soaking into his pants. Those spikes in the cage pushed into his flesh, warning of a terrible fate should anything go wrong.
Granny stood next to him, her face so familiar, the pain of this moment acute.
“My, my, Grandmother,” I said as I slowly walked closer, “what big balls you have. You’ve captured the beta of a dragon kingdom.”
“I’ve captured your true mate, by the looks of things.” Her gaze touched on the marks. “You’ve found yourself quite a prize.”
I put my finger in the air, indicating the dragons. “How are you going to get rid of them?”
“As Alexander said, magic. How else? Dragons aren’t invincible.” She narrowed her eyes at me as Alexander walked around to stand at my side. The bond was thick with Weston’s rage. “You’ve been quite naughty, Aurelia. You get taken captive, and the first thing you do is start making my product to compete against me? I told you I would come for you. Was it the wolf that turned you against me?”
She reached out and shook the cage. Pain came through the bond as the spikes pricked Weston’s skin.
I clenched my jaw. “I did not approve of that coating you put on my product,” I told her in a firm voice. “I did not approve of killing people and addicting them. You need to be stopped.”
She quirked her brow. “Do I?” She laughed and motioned for those around us. Deck hands got active, clearly readying to make way. “How about I do the opposite, hmm? You will be going back to your duties, and your mate will help incentivize you to do a good job. Now you will also make that coating. Got that? You will make your improved formulas and you will make the coating. I assume you figured out how to do it better? You were always very good at solving riddles.”
I let out a breath, my heart hurting. The sails lifted and the dragons circled.
“Just tell me why,” I finally said as Alexander took a step toward me, clearly intending to grab me and force me to wherever they planned to keep me. “Why didn’t you tell me I had magic?”
“And have an underling with more power than me? I wouldn’t have been able to keep you contained. You should know by now, Aurelia, that you are integral to my operations. Without you, I won’t succeed.”
Her tone was callous, devoid of even a hint of an apology.
Anger nearly stole my breath. Pain ate at my heart.
“Don’t you get it? I trusted you. I looked up to you. I loved you!” I shouted. “I wouldn’t have tried to leave you. I thought of you as family. But having magic would’ve meant I could’ve had friends. People wouldn’t have avoided me or spat at me. I would’ve been included. Instead, I was kept in solitude. How could you do that to me?”
“Aurelia, come now. You can’t still be this naïve.” She looked at me as though I were an imbecile. “This is business. We had the perfect setup, you and me. You got everything you needed, and you had a job and protection. We had a partnership. Life isn’t always fair, but survival isn’t pretty, right? It’ll be better now. I don’t have to keep you in the dark about things anymore. Now maybe we can furnish you with some nicer things. You have your mate, and you’ll have everything you need. It’ll be great, you’ll see.”
A tear leaked out of my eye. “Did you ever love me?”
Alexander scoffed, laughing in disbelief. I felt like a fool.
Granny’s smile was condescending. “Aurelia, as I said, this is business. You are too old to hang on to such silly sentimentalities. Time to grow up, dear.”
“I’ll say,” Alexander murmured.
“But it wasn’t business when you took me in,” I pushed. “Why did you bother? I didn’t have an animal yet. I didn’t think I had magic. You couldn’t have known how it was going to turn out with the business. Why did you shelter me?”
“You absolutely had magic when you came to me. You were emoting heavily, looking for someone to rescue you. For safety. If nothing else, I figured you might have fairy blood. It was worthwhile to put you up for a few years and see what you turned out to be. When I realized the treasure at my disposal, a treasure not because of your blood, but because of your mind . . . Well, the rest is history, as they say.” She tilted her head at me. “I can see you’re unhappy with this, Aurelia, but trust me, this is better. Once you let go of these sentimentalities, you’ll see that business requires a passionless disposition. It requires cool logic. That’s how you make gold.”