Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
“There was a loose brick at the bottom! I scraped it free from its moorings and pulled it out. Even now I sit here with my cheek to the sands, all so I can talk to you, my love!”
His love. I want to roll my eyes at the declaration. He’s been saying that ever since I took him to my bed that one time. He cried all through sex, and I resolved to never bring him back to my sheets again, but he’s the only one that cares that I’m trapped here. There’s something sweetly earnest about Balon’s eagerness to please me. “But you can’t free me? Please, Balon! I hate it here. It’s so very dark.”
“My love, I wish I could.” Balon sounds distressed. “You are serving the goddess. I dare not help free you or she will take away her benevolence.”
I bite back a sigh. “So the winds are fair, then?”
“They are indeed. King Lionel has set off for war as of yesterday. The fleet was something out of a song. You should have seen it! So majestic! All of Lios has gone to war. We are certain to be victorious!”
He sounds positively elated. “All of Lios goes to war and yet you are here?”
“My father will not let me don armor. He says I am far more valuable as his heir. Besides, it gave me the chance to get away and come visit you. Now…a song? A story? What would please my love?”
Freedom, I want to say again. I want nothing but freedom. But I bite back a sigh. He’s here, and it’s something, at least. “You can tell me a story soon, Balon. Just…thank you. Thank you for coming. I appreciate it more than you know.”
“I would do anything for you, my darling Candromeda.”
Anything except free me, of course. But I don’t point that out. Maybe he won’t free me today, but I have nothing but time in which to convince him otherwise. The important thing is to keep him coming back, so I can show him how miserable I am and how much I love him. “You’re so sweet to come to me. Tell me, how is my sister?”
“About to give birth any day now,” he assures me. “And she misses you greatly.”
I dig my nails into my palms, because I miss Erynne, too. We’ve always been together, the two Vestalin daughters. Well, there were three of us, but Meryliese was always gone, nothing but a distant memory. It’s always been me and Erynne. When she married Lionel, I left our familial, crumbling castle and went with her, so I could be at her side. I was to be a trusted advisor…but instead, I flirted and partied my way through court while Erynne took on the duties of a queen. I tell myself my sister didn’t mind, of course. It was enough to have me there. But now I feel a little guilty that I wasn’t more of a help, that she was forced to lean on her maid Isabella more than me. “Please tell her I love her and I long to see her again.”
“Princess…I cannot tell her anything. No one can know I am here.”
“Of course, of course,” I reply quickly. “Still, it is enough for me that you came.” I smile into the darkness, because it’s the truth. I’ve been trapped in here for days now with only my own company, and just hearing a familiar voice makes me feel like myself again. “Tell me court gossip. Tell me anything. Just keep talking.”
Balon talks to me for hours, until his voice grows hoarse from projecting it enough so I can hear it through the thick door. He speaks of all the comforting nothings of home. Of who wore what colors to a festive ball, of what was served, of who was found emerging from a lover’s bed. A scandalous song written for an anonymous woman that all the court is buzzing about. It’s all utterly frivolous but it makes my heart happy. In a way, it’s nice to hear that nothing back at court has changed. I thought I would much rather hear that everyone was devastated that I’m trapped in the tower, but it’s actually nicer to hear that life goes on as usual. That even without me, a gem of the court and one of its favorite subjects of gossip, that life goes on as usual.
That it’ll all be the same and waiting for me when I get out.
“I must go soon,” Balon tells me eventually. “But I shall return to you in two weeks. Is there anything I can do for you, my princess? Anything at all?”
Free me, I want to scream again, but I need him to come back. Maybe after a few more visits, I can convince him that he needs to help me escape. “It’s enough that you’re here,” I say sweetly. “I’ll check for your return constantly.”