Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“And that is?” Prescott asked, offering her the drink.
She took it and sipped it daintily before sinking onto the couch next to him. His eyes were wide and bright blue as he stared up at her.
“You.” She pointed a finger at his chest.
He snatched up her hand and held it against his heart. “What about me?”
“You are the next part of the plan.”
His brow furrowed. “How so?”
“She is to fall in love with you.”
He laughed and then stopped when she didn’t join him. “Whatever do you mean? She’s in love with our cousin.”
“She is very plainly. But the good thing is that you and our dear cousin look very similar. Did you not see the way she looked at you when you opened the door?”
Prescott swept a hand up over his head and struck a pose. “Do I look as conceited and furious as the crowned prince?”
She rolled her eyes and came to her feet. “Of course not. You and Fordham are nothing alike, but your appearance is appealing.”
“Why, thank you,” he said with a smirk.
“You have the same face, the same hair, the same mannerisms. We can dress you in his clothing and have you smile that quick smile we practiced as children to get away with everything. Put thunderstorms in your eyes, and we have her hook, line, and sinker.”
“And what if she doesn’t fall for it?” he asked.
“Who can resist you after all, Pres?”
“No one. Obviously.”
“I have another plan,” she told him reassuringly. “Don’t worry too much. The endgame is all the same. Kerrigan Argon will spill her secrets to us, and we will take our place in this new world,” she said confidently. “There is no other option.”
So, she dragged her brother out of the tiny apartment and out into the swirling, amazing city. She could do very well here. That she knew. She could become a queen in her own right in a city such as this. Kinkadia would bow to her, and she wouldn’t need Fordham or Wynter to get her onto her own throne any longer. Arbor was enough.
She found the nearest falconry and spent her time picking out a bird. She had an affinity with the creatures. She always had. They did her bidding almost without asking. It was how she had found Fordham when he went out of Ravinia Mountain to begin with. He would listen to her now.
She chose a particularly troublesome bird, bringing him to her arm without even a scrap of leather between them. “Nice now,” she told the bird.
The beast dug his claws into her and cocked his head. She ignored the trainer, who was protesting at her treatment.
Arbor had always wanted to be a bird. She knew what it was like to be caged and, now that she was free, how much she would never allow herself to have clipped wings again.
“You will do my bidding,” she told the falcon, placing a slip of paper into the holder at his leg. “Do this for me, and I will take you away from this place.”
It shrieked and then was gone. She smiled a dangerous thing, knowing the price of her own freedom.
17
THE OFFER
CLOVER
The loch tasted like life force.
Before she had discovered that loch was the only remedy to her debilitating chronic pain, Clover had suffered. Her parents were loving and attentive. They did everything they could to ease her pain, but none of it worked. Her father had been a clockmaker. He’d let her tinker with mechanisms as he fit tiny pieces together. He never faulted her for spasming while working with him. Her mother had worked for the Laments church. That was before most of them had been burned down by the Red Masks. She’d prayed to Laments for healing for her daughter, but nothing helped.
No amount of praying could fix what was broken inside of her. Only the white powder that she inhaled greedily.
“That’s your second within the hour,” Hadrian said as he adjusted his cravat in the mirror.
She was still mostly naked with nothing but a sheet wrapped around her brown figure as she stared out at Kinkadia beyond. “So?”
“You’re nervous about tonight.”
It wasn’t a question. She’d never admit to it, but of course she was nervous.
Tonight was Kerrigan’s name day event. When she had gotten the secret invitation, she’d thought it was a joke. Red’s birthday wasn’t for weeks, but it had been closed with the House of Cruse seal. Kivrin Argon wasn’t the type of man to make a mistake. The invitation said to tell no one of the event, that it was small and exclusive. Which meant she would be in close quarters with Darby. That hadn’t happened since she had discovered Clover and Hadrian were together.
Even now, tucked away in his bedroom at his mentor’s home in Central, she could feel the weight of Darby’s disappointment.