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)
Whatever little hope had sparked was quickly extinguished as the thumping continued overhead. Not only would Thorne have to have ridden like hell to catch up with us, there was this trouble Prince Rohan had ensured Thorne and his knights would encounter.
There was also the fact that Thorne had no reason to come for me. He had no knowledge of me being this ny’seraph. I didn’t even know what it was. The journey had been a tense, silent one. That was how Prince Rohan preferred it.
Another guttural moan echoed from above.
At least, that was how the Prince preferred it up until now.
“But if it is him? Prince Thorne?” Grady said after a few moments. “I’m not sure that’s going to be a rescue.”
I closed my eyes as that pressure increased, feeling as if it would drag me through the bed. I’d told Grady everything while I tried to free him. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of Thorne killing me, especially when I felt safe with him. I wasn’t afraid of him.
But he also didn’t know what I was, I reminded myself. That could change the moment he discovered that I was this . . . this thing that basically stripped him of his immortality. Why was that even the case? There was so much I didn’t understand or know, and it made this all the more frustrating.
“Lis?”
I opened my eyes. “Yeah?”
“You like him, don’t you?”
“Gods,” I muttered as a piercing pain hit my chest. He’d asked this before, but it felt different now. More real. Harsher.
“Lis,” he said, and the sorrow in the way he said my name, the sympathy and . . . “Do you remember when I was getting with Joshua?”
I stiffened. “Yeah, of course I do.”
“And do you remember what you told me?”
“To stop messing around with someone who was married?”
He huffed out a dry laugh. “Besides that. You told me to cut it off before I got deeper and got hurt.”
“Yeah,” I said, thinking of the handsome banker. “And you didn’t listen, if I recall.”
“I know.” There was a pause. “I’m telling you the same thing.”
“What? It’s not like that. It’s nowhere near like you and Joshua— ”
“You and this prince may not have known each other long. You might not have been pretending make-believe like Joshua and I were, but I know you, Lis. You don’t get interested in anyone. It might be because you could touch him. It might be whatever the fuck you are to him and he’s to you, but— ”
“Okay. I understand what you’re saying. I do. But what I feel or don’t feel for him doesn’t matter.” I rolled onto my back. “We have way bigger problems to deal with.”
“You’re right. It doesn’t.” His exhale was heavy. “What does is that you need to get out of here.”
All tiredness vanished in an instant. “What?”
“You’re not bound. You can escape. There’s a window right above us that looks like it can be easily opened,” he said. “You should’ve already made a run for it.”
I turned my head toward him. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Lis—”
“I’m not leaving you. Gods, I can’t believe you would even suggest that again. That you would think I’d be okay with doing that . . .” I trailed off, suddenly understanding Naomi’s anger. Naomi. My breath snagged. I stopped myself before I could learn of her future, like I’d done the last two days. I didn’t want to know, because I needed to believe that she was alive. That she’d gone to her sister’s house and that it remained untouched despite the fact that I knew Laurelin wouldn’t live to see the end of the Feasts. That this attack could have been what ended her life.
I just needed that little piece of hope, because I knew when I closed my eyes again, I would see what I had when we’d been taken from the manor. The bodies of staff and guards I’d seen every day in pieces. Bodies strewn about the lawn, lit by moonlight. And the city? Homes had been burning and the path to the city gates had been cluttered with stone, broken wood, and . . . and shattered bodies. So many bodies, lowborn and Hyhborn. The old. The young, some that were—
“What happened in Archwood wasn’t your fault.” Grady interrupted the spiral of my thoughts.
Clamping my mouth shut, I scrubbed my hands down my face, wiping away the dampness that had found its way to my lashes.
“I know that’s what you’ve been thinking. It’s not,” he said, voice low and hard. “The King didn’t want Archwood defended. He wanted the city destroyed. Prince Thorne told you that.”
I flinched at the sound of his name.
“Archwood was fucked whether or not you ever set foot in that city.”
Dropping my hands to my stomach, I shook my head. “Well, it was mighty convenient that Prince Rohan came for me the same night they laid waste to a city.”