Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 152616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 610(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 610(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
“Allyson!” I screamed.
Her head jerked up. She spun, taking off between the stacks. The ni’mere shrieked, diving down between the rows. “No!” I shouted. I knew what was coming. I had seen what would happen, and still I shook as her screams hit the air, high-pitched and terrifying before ending in a wet gurgle.
Then silence.
“Why do they always run?” Lord Samriel asked. “Where do they think they’re running off to?”
“Death,” Prince Rohan answered, eyeing me.
Lord Samriel chuckled, sickening me. “So very morbid.”
“You . . . you said you wouldn’t hurt her.” I could barely breathe; my chest was too tight and I was shaking so fiercely. “You said— ”
“I said I would give her a choice,” Prince Rohan interrupted. “I did not say I wouldn’t hurt her.”
My lips parted. “What choice did you give her?”
“To die quickly or slowly, screaming in pain the entire time,” he said. “And that was a quick death.”
“My gods,” I whispered, a part of my mind unable to process the cold brutality of his words.
“I hope you’re not praying to them.” Prince Rohan looked down at me coolly. “Because they stopped listening long ago.”
“I wasn’t,” I rasped, not having the brain space to even consider if what he said about the gods was true or not. I glanced at Grady, seeing his chest rise and fall. I placed my palms there, letting each breath he took calm me. “Why . . . why are you all doing this?”
“You can say we’re changing the rules,” Prince Rohan answered.
“What?” I looked between him and Lord Samriel. “What rules?”
Prince Rohan’s lip curled in disdain; then he turned his back without answering. The Lord stepped in closer, peering down at me. He squinted. “She doesn’t bear the mark.”
The mark.
The mark Claude had spoken of.
“I’m not sure what you’re looking for,” Hymel said from where he hung back. “But she has abilities. The gift of foresight and intuition. She can read intentions and the future.”
“Her eyes,” Lord Samriel explained, head cocked. “The mark would be in her eyes.”
I sucked in a sharp breath, my mind flashing from the brief sight of them changing in the mirror. It hadn’t been my imagination, but didn’t I already know that? Deep down?
“She could’ve been glamoured,” Prince Rohan mused, and I didn’t have a single clue what he meant by that. “We will know once Lord Arion returns. In the meantime, get rid of that one— ”
“No. No. Please,” I pleaded, stretching over Grady. “Please do not hurt him. Please. I’ll do whatever it is that you ask.” I trembled, not above begging— bargaining. “Please.”
Prince Rohan turned slowly toward me. His eyes . . . they were like Thorne’s, a kaleidoscope of shifting colors, except the brown was closer to a shade of crimson. “Anything?”
My heart plummeted, but I nodded. “Anything.”
Lord Samriel glanced at Hymel.
“She speaks the truth.” Hymel crossed his arms. “Those two are thick as thieves. He’s leverage.”
Anger flooded my veins but I choked it back, focusing on the Prince. “Promise me you won’t hurt him, and I will do whatever you want. I swear it.”
A faint smile appeared, and as I stared up at him, I could see that his features were even more finely crafted than Thorne’s, but there was no . . . no life to them. He was a perfectly molded shell. “Okay.”
I didn’t let myself feel an ounce of relief. “Promise me you won’t hurt him.”
That smile grew, and still, it did nothing to soften his jaw or warm his stare. “You are a quick learner.”
I glanced at Hymel and then toward the stacks, where Allyson had . . . where she’d taken her last breath. “No, I’m not.” I swallowed. “Promise.”
“I, Prince Rohan of Augustine, promise that no harm will come to him,” he said, and I shuddered with relief despite the knowledge he hailed from the Lowlands— the capital. Hyhborn couldn’t lie. They also couldn’t break an oath. That I remembered. “As long as you give no reason for that to occur.”
Trepidation tiptoed through me, but I held on to Prince Rohan’s oath.
“Take her to her quarters,” Prince Rohan directed.
“I’m not leaving Grady,” I warned, latching on to his tunic. “He stays with me.”
Lord Samriel’s brows inched up as Prince Rohan refocused on me, his stare more unnerving than Thorne’s because it was so cold, so lifeless despite the churning. The Prince moved so fast I didn’t even have time to scream.
His hand came around my neck, and he lifted me, forcing me to stand on the tips of my toes. “I promised no harm would come to him,” he said as I grasped his arm. My mind opened wide to him, and I saw nothing . . . nothing but darkness. “Whether or not I honor that oath will be up to you. Making demands is one way to guarantee that oath is broken.” His fingers bit into my throat, sending a flare of pain along my neck. “Do you understand me.”