Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
“It sounds like merth,” Annika notes.
“Except it does not paralyze us. See?” I collect her hand and slip on the ring.
“Not even a proposal first?” she deadpans but then winces from the burn.
“I know, but it’s not too bad.”
“What is this merth you speak of?” Destry asks.
“It’s a material that grows in our lands. Very dangerous to our kind.”
“Where did Uda get these?” Annika looks at her ring with disdain.
“From Ezra, who would have collected them from the corpses of the turned on Azokur.”
Annika blinks. “We are wearing dead people’s commitment bands.”
“Yes. I hope they fit.”
Annika gives me a flat look. “Well, if that is not an omen for our grand future together, I do not know what is.”
I hold up my index finger. “But you will admit that we do have a future together.”
“I suppose this will do.” Annika scowls at the mouse running along the rafters of our attic chamber in the third story of the inn.
Uda was right to insist we brand ourselves a western couple. Ezra’s merchant friend and his wife assaulted us with a barrage of questions that we were able to skirt entirely with smiles and nods. The stocky woman will no doubt talk about the husband and wife who visited their inn to anyone who will listen.
“Of course, it will do. It has four walls, a roof, and a good-sized bed. And that bath you are so desperate for.” I gesture toward the two servant girls who lug in pails of water and dump them into the copper tub that sits next to the bed. It looks like hard work. I will admit, I miss the faucets at Argon that bring water with the twist of a wrist. “Which I will leave you to.”
“Why? Where are you going?” Annika asks, her voice a touch urgent.
“For a short walk around, to see what there is to see. Unless you would prefer I remain here.” I look pointedly at the bed.
Her throat bobs with her hard swallow. “So you can watch me like a lecher while I bathe? I think not.”
“Very well, my darling wife.” I lean in to press a kiss against her temple. I could pretend it’s for the servant girls’ benefit, but really, I’m looking for any excuse to have my lips on Annika’s skin again. “Keep your dagger near you at all times. Lock the door behind them when they leave and do not open it for anyone.”
Her eyelashes flutter as she peers up at me. “Not even for you?”
“Open only for me,” I correct, squeezing her waist. “But I know how much you like to.”
I feel her blue eyes boring into my back as I draw my hood and leave to find Destry.
“The brothels are that way.” Destry jams her thumb in the air behind us.
As is the barstool and ale she salivates for, no doubt. “Thank you, but I am not looking for one.”
“Then what are you looking for?” Her short legs rush to keep up with my stride.
“A few odds and ends that Annika will appreciate.” We pass a stand with baskets of fruits and breads. “Do you know if they have small, sweet grapes here? They are bluish-black in color.”
“That does not sound like anything I have seen.” She frowns. “I am struggling to understand your relationship with the kal’ana.”
My head pivots this way and that, checking to see if we’ve caught anyone’s attention, before I scold the tiny mortal. “Do not use that name. Ever. She is simply Annika, and nothing else.” Though there is nothing simple about the Islorian princess who now seems to rule my every thought and decision. How did I end up here, serving as her rescuer and protector, on the hunt for treats to draw her smile while I pine for another chance to feel her bare skin against mine?
My mother would be distraught to learn what I’ve become. Then again, she has already expressed her deep disappointment in me and all but abandoned her children to their fates. I no longer seek her approval.
“Our relationship is … complicated,” I admit after a long moment.
“Because she hates you during the day and fornicates with you at night?”
“Who says we fornicate at night?”
“Is that not what you call what you did in the barn?”
“How do you know what happened?” I pause, my gaze narrowing on the conjurer. “Were you spying on us?”
“No. Though I may have used a rodent to check on you a few times.” She grins. “Do not fret. Mice are difficult to control. I saw little.”
I waggle my finger. “Do not do that again. And never tell Annika you did it in the first place.”
A peddler ahead has a basket of flowers.
“Have a coin I can borrow?” I hold out my hand.
Begrudgingly, Destry slips one into my palm and I swap it for a bouquet of tall stems with blossoms that remind me of Annika’s eye color. I hold them to my nose, but they carry no scent.