Series: Lords of Rathe Series by Meagan Brandy
Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
But then the woman holds her hands over it, and within an instant, steam rises, bubbles fluff, and the soft scent of lavender fills my nose.
“There.” She smiles, turning to me. “That should be just how you like it.”
It dawns on me then, and a smile stretches across my lips.
The moment it does, the woman looks startled. She takes a step back, but halts when I nearly shout, “You’re Fae!”
Her frown is instant, her mouth opening as if to say something, but then a sharp knock has her lips clamping shut. “Yes, my lady. I am. Angela,” she says, nodding her head. “Bathe. I’ll get the door. You must be ready before the clouds in the sky clear.”
She scurries out of the room, and I stare after her a moment.
After the what?
I look up, and sure enough, a bruised purple sky hovers above, the clouds slowly drifting from the center, so I do the only thing I can think of, while wondering if I’m about to wake up from a weird ass dream, knowing I’m not. I’m in Rathe.
I get in the fucking bath.
Breakfast in the Gnome Gardens.
The lady in my room, Angela, had said that, so I’m not sure what I expected, but this is ... not it. Why, I don’t know, because it’s literally exactly that.
Breakfast.
With gnomes.
In a garden.
A garden with sprouting stems and blooming flowers, with small clouds of rain hovering over tiny dirt patches, and floral walls killing and creating new colored Morning Glories like an LED light strip set on fade mode.
And again … real fucking gnomes!
They’re taller than I would have guessed, most standing to my hips, and wearing the same small scowls across their faces. Their hands are gloved as they carry trays of what I’m guessing is food, to the long, C-shaped table curving the edge of a giant ivory wall.
If I had to guess, I would say this breakfast is going to be buffet style, which seems odd considering I'm ninety-nine percent sure this is the courtship the letter spoke of.
I mean, what else would it be? I wasn't transported here randomly.
Or I was, but nobody came to the room I woke up in to give me a breakdown of what to expect here. I was given no rules on how to act or how to address the future King and his family.
Am I supposed to bow? Give a little curtsy, maybe?
I snort at the thought.
No, that has to be way too human for these people.
Shit, for all I know I’m supposed to offer my neck for him to sink his teeth into as a gift, like some twisted version of Sleeping Beauty.
Glancing around, a small smile pulls at my lips. The gnomes could play the part of the Seven Dwarfs. Wait, no that's the wrong fairy tale. It's with that thought that a loud boom sounds. It’s crisp, as sharp as thunder perfectly timed as if to remind me this isn't a place of fairy tales. It's the birthplace of the dark King. Rathe, I mean. Not…what did the letter call it?
Faelific Fortress.
OMG, duh, that woman was Fae!
The thunderous sound rumbles once more and just across the gardens, where the fluorescent green shrubs are nestled between thick stumps of marshmallow-colored mushrooms, a portal appears.
Suddenly my heart starts to pound within my chest. My fingers go clammy around the glass of glittery shit a male gnome shoved into my hand the moment I entered—it's bubbly, but it's not any champagne I've ever tasted, an’ I've tasted them all.
I stare at the center of the gateway, waiting for the Royal Family, assuming that's who it's going to be, to step through and just as a sheet of blackness appears beyond the opal rings, a snarky voice pipes up at my side.
“I spent way too long wondering why in Merlin's name he would want you here, and in the end came up with nothing.”
Just like that, the bitch gets my full attention.
I spin in my boots, or the ones that I took out of the closet anyway, and face the chick at my side.
“You must be Regina George.”
The girl’s head yanks back as she stares at me like I've grown a second one.
The poor Gifted will never know the greatness that is Mean Girls.
“Sure, pretend you don't know my name or what I look like naked and on top of your best friend.” Her eyes gleam with something I could only guess as pride. “Or should I say old best friend, you know, since he’s nothing but dust.”
I smash my lips to one side, nodding at the girl because one ... what is she talking about, and two… what the fuck is she talking about? The who is obvious, being I only have one best friend but… “So, you fucked Ben?” I ask, looking her over. It could happen. We’re at Daragan State and she could be a student at Rathe U.