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)
The want.
The need to be out there.
I padded barefoot to the window and looked out. Immediately, I spied the floating, glowing balls of light that appeared in the night sky somewhere between the end of spring and the beginning of summer, in the weeks before the Feasts, and then disappeared shortly after.
A smile raced across my face at the sight of them. I pushed away from the window and slipped my feet into a pair of thin-soled shoes. Grabbing a midnight-blue, short-sleeved robe from the bathing chamber, I slipped it on and belted it at my waist as I glanced at the lunea dagger on the nightstand, reminding myself to ask Grady if he had an extra sheath for it.
Leaving through the terrace doors, I crossed the back lawn, avoiding the partygoers as I made my way to the narrow footbridge that crossed the small stream and entered the gardens. I followed the winding path of the Baron’s gardens, focused on the bright spheres drifting down from high above like stars to float among the sweeping loblolly pine. The magical lights cast a soft glow as they filled the sky. They’d always fascinated me, even as a child. I couldn’t remember if the Prioress had ever told me why they appeared when they did. I’d asked Claude once, but he’d shrugged and said they were just a part of the Hyhborn.
That really hadn’t told me anything.
My steps slowed as one of the spheres, about the size of my hand, floated down from the trees to hover a few feet in front of me, surprising me. I’d never been this close to one, not even before I came to Archwood. I took a hesitant step forward, half afraid the orb would flutter away or disappear.
It didn’t.
The ball of light remained close enough for me to see that it wasn’t just one central light. My eyes widened. It was actually a series of tiny lights clustered together. The orb pulsed, then drifted away, slowly returning to the trees above. I watched the lights dip and rise as if they were joined in a dance before they fluttered back into the trees.
Toying with the edge of my braid, I started walking again, trailing after the lights as night birds sang from the trees. The peace of the gardens calmed my mind. I wondered if Claude would be against me setting up a . . . a hammock out here? I doubted I would have any problems—
Stop.
I jerked to a sudden halt. Brows knitting, I slowly turned and faced an archway to my right. My fingers twitched as an acute sense of awareness washed over me, pressing between my shoulder blades.
Intuition had sparked. It had done so well over an hour ago, I realized. There had been that urge to leave the solarium and enter the gardens.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered, staring into the darkened pathway.
I held myself still, my heart kicking unsteadily in my chest. Only the gods knew what my intuition wanted to lead me toward tonight. I didn’t even want to know. My fingers gave a spasm, muscles trembling as I fought the pull of intuition.
“Damn it.” I blew out an aggravated breath and crossed under the archway.
Very little moonlight pierced the large wisteria trees and their heavy vines, and only a few glowing spheres glided high up in the trees, their soft glow illuminating the pale blue trailing stems. Brushing aside the low-hanging limbs, I continued along the path, traveling deep within the wisteria trees.
Then I felt it, a sudden change to the air. It had cooled, but there was a thickness to it. A heaviness. Power. I’d felt this before—
“Like I just said, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” A man was speaking up ahead. There was a . . . a cadence to his speech, where certain letters were trilled, that was uncommon to the Midlands region, but his voice also did something to me. It felt like thistle weeds against my skin, and it opened that door in my mind.
I saw red.
Dripping against stone.
Splattering pale blossoms.
Blood.
I halted, breath catching.
I saw nothing of those who spoke beneath the shadows of the wisteria trees, but I knew something bloody was about to happen.
Which meant I should be hightailing my ass out of there. The last thing I needed was to get caught up in whatever drama was about to go down. Whatever this was, especially after last night, it wasn’t my business.
But I saw blood.
Someone was going to be hurt.
My fingers curled around a stream of blossoms as I dragged my teeth over my lower lip. I should’ve just stayed in the solarium and drunk half my weight in liquor tonight. The sight, the voices, the knowing would’ve been silenced for a little while. I wouldn’t be standing here, on the verge of doing something very ill-advised— and my gods, just last night accounted for a year’s worth of foolishness.