Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
His eyes narrowed. “We don’t have a guard by that name.”
“Because he’s not a guard. He’s a Rune…”
When the understanding descended, his eyes looked cold.
“He’s one of the sons I told you about—Mastodon.”
“Wow…” With a clenched jaw, he gave a slight shake of his head. “That’s who you’re fucking? He kidnapped you.”
“I know—”
“He wants to destroy our family.”
“No, he doesn’t. His anger is reserved for Father—and rightfully so. He has no ill will toward either of us.”
He backed up, his eyes glowing with fury. “I can’t believe this.”
“I already told you I was helping them. What does it matter if I’m sleeping with him?”
“It just does.”
“How is it any different from Effie sleeping with you? Her family would be appalled if they knew about you two. Would you want her to stop?”
That shut him up really quick.
“Huntley is the strongest man I know. He’d never let anything happen to me.”
“Except being given to the Teeth in the first place.”
“That wasn’t him—”
“But he couldn’t protect you from it either.”
“He amassed an entire army to free me, but by the time they got there, we were already gone.”
His green eyes turned still.
“After I help him, we’re going to return and begin our plan against Necrosis. I need you to get Father on board before I return.”
“Or what?”
“Just…get him on board.”
“Otherwise, Mastodon will kill him?”
“His name is Huntley. And he promised me he wouldn’t kill him.”
“And you believe that?” he asked incredulously. “He wants nothing more than to defeat Delacroix with an army and slaughter Father. If it were me, I would do the exact same thing. He may have made you a promise, but there’s no way he’s going to keep it.”
“He will.”
“He won’t—”
“Yes, he will. He will because he’s my husband.”
Totally shocked, he didn’t have a reaction. Not for a couple seconds. Not for nearly a minute. He just stared at me, speechless. Then the hurt moved into his eyes. The pain of betrayal. “What the fuck, Ivory…”
“He married me to protect me from the Teeth. It didn’t work, but…we still forged an alliance. We agreed to take the Kingdoms and defeat Necrosis together—as husband and wife. I know this is hard to digest—”
“Hard to digest?” he exclaimed. “You married the enemy.”
“He’s not the enemy, and neither are we. We’re doing this for the good of everyone, so no one is sacrificed at the bottom of the cliffs, so there aren’t soul-sucking monsters ready to kill us all at a moment’s notice.”
He stepped back and dug his fingers into his hair. “Fuck. Do you realize that marriage is permanently binding? You can’t just divorce this guy and marry someone else once this is all over.”
“I don’t want to divorce him.”
He turned silent once again.
“It’s not just a political arrangement…”
He turned away altogether, releasing a heavy sigh.
His disappointment was like a hot knife between the ribs.
“Ryker—”
“I’m done with this conversation.” He turned back to me, his hands on his hips. “Let’s go.”
“There’s something else I need to say—”
“Then fucking say it.” Now he didn’t care if anyone overheard us. He spoke as loudly as he wanted.
“While I’m gone, you need to work not only on Father, but you need to work on the Capital.”
He gave me a blank stare, as if he couldn’t believe what I’d just asked him to do.
“Huntley used to be a Blade Scion, and he told me what they do for King Rutherford. Apparently, there’s another kingdom to the north of us. They give us supplies in exchange for keeping Necrosis confined to the south. Not all of them are loyal to the king. A lot of them don’t agree with his practices at all. Connect with them, and you have allies.”
“Ivory, I never agreed to do any of this. I said I would think about it—”
“You know it’s the right thing to do.”
He looked away.
“You know this world needs to change. You’re just saying this because you know Father won’t cooperate.”
“Well, he won’t.”
“Then we need to find another way. I’m sorry.”
With his hands on his hips, he bowed his head.
“I know this is hard.”
“Really? Doesn’t seem hard for you at all—since you married a traitor.”
“He’s not a traitor. We are the traitors, Ryker.”
He raised his chin and looked at me.
“I know you don’t want to believe it. I didn’t either. But it’s the truth. Try to talk Father into it, and if he says no…which he probably will…we need to execute this plan instead. He can have a nice house when this is all over. He can have a normal life. We can still be a family. It just won’t be in a castle anymore.”
“Well, you would still be in the castle.”
“That’s not why I’m doing it.”
“It’s not? You aren’t as power-hungry as Father is?”
“I just told you that’s not why.”
He looked away. “Whatever you want to tell yourself…”