Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 90404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“I found nothing,” he spat. “I scoured my land in all directions and found nothing.”
“Oh,” I say, blinking. I’m glad. Mikhail does not need a ten-foot, angry Abaddon showing up at his door and causing trouble for being nice to a girl who showed up all but dead on his property.
“Oh?” He storms toward me. “That’s all you have to say?”
His horns bang into the pots, and he swipes outward with his wing, knocking the whole rack of them to the floor.
“Hey!” I say, immediately dropping to the floor to start collecting them. “That wasn’t necessary.”
“What’s necessary is for you to tell me where you went yesterday!” he roars.
Ugh, I hate it when he gets like this.
I look up at him from where I’m on my knees. His legs look almost human, except where they jut out backward at the ankles and end in hooves instead of feet.
That is to say, when I look up, I see exceptionally muscled thighs and a shadow hanging low beneath the loincloth he occasionally wears. No clothing for me, but he gets this little cloth, huh?
I abandon the pots on the floor and get back to my feet. My cheeks are hot in a way I can tell means there are bright pink spots on them. I’m only momentarily delighted by how easy it is to pop back up. My whole life getting off the floor has been a whole thing. I learned how to do it, of course, using my crutches and grabbing onto something for stability. But this whole just being able to pop up-and-down-thing is still novel.
And it takes away some of my anger, since this big oaf in front of me is my miracle-giver.
So, I just smile at him and say, “I had a lovely breakfast, thank you. Did you get something to eat? Maybe that’s why you’re so grumpy.”
He looks completely taken aback by my sudden topic change.
“I ate some bear jerky on my way out,” he snarls.
“Oh,” I say brightly. “I’m happy to hear it. An empty stomach is no good. Speaking of…” I’m suddenly struck by a thousand new questions, “I really didn’t react well to meeting your brothers. I found this apron in the closet, so I won’t be naked when I meet them. It’s musty and moth-eaten but should still hides enough. Will you take me down and introduce me properly?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
ABADDON
Perhaps there is something faulty with the food I brought. I have heard certain mushrooms can have hallucinogenic properties.
She is making no sense at all.
I bend over in concern to look into her eyes. Creator-Father sometimes liked to take substances. He enjoyed all the mortals’ luxuries, as he called them.
“What are you—” she starts, but I ignore her, holding her right eye open with two fingers so I can get an appropriate look at her pupils. “Abaddon!”
I like the sound of my name on her lips. I like it very, very much, but I do not let it distract me from my examination.
Her pupils do not look very large or very small, as Creator-Father’s would when he took substances. Nor are her eyes red.
I let go of her face, and she scowls at me. “What was that for?”
“I am unsure if you are of sound mind.”
At which point she laughs at me. Laughs. At me.
“Why? Because I want to meet your brothers?”
I pause a moment, then nod.
“Well, from what you said this morning, they were created just like you, right?”
Again, I nod. I am not sure what she means by this line of thought.
“So why do you treat them like they’re monsters?” She sounds exasperated. “How can you lock them in a basement? I mean, yeah, they look a little… um… terrifying.”
I nod more vigorously.
She puts her hands on her hips. “But so do you. How would you like it if you were put down there and chained up in all that filth?”
A growl emanates from my throat. I spent many, many years chained up exactly as she describes.
“I thought so,” she says loftily. Then she leans forward and puts a hand on my arm. “One of them spoke to me, and he seemed in his right mind…” Her eyes drop. “Well, before, ya know, his head spun around.”
“Yes. Romulus is quite lucid, but his parasite makes him dangerous. They are all dangerous.”
Her eyes flash at me. “So are you. Does that mean you deserve to be locked up like an animal?”
This is not where I intended this day to go. I planned to have my cock inside her sweet cunt by now, working on breeding a kit.
“Hannah,” I soften my voice, “there is no hope for them. They are true monsters.”
Her eyes flash in a way I am becoming all too familiar with as she steps back from my reach.
“How do you know? Have you even tried to treat them like… people?”