Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
When it did, it did with coral particles starting from where the horn stuck from his chest.
Up they drifted.
Up.
More of them.
More.
Until all of him was naught but sparkling dust.
It spread high above and was absorbed by the magical shield that protected Nadirii land.
There was nothing left of him. No soul to raise or lower.
His essence would forever protect the Nadirii.
Until it was unneeded.
Then it would just…
Cease.
Ophelia looked to the unicorns.
“It is done,” she whispered.
The mare dipped her jaw.
Then the stallion whinnied.
And they both turned and galloped away.
85
The Family Inside A Family
Princess Elena
Hall Outside the Bramble Reception Suite, Birchlire Castle, Notting Thicket
WODELL
I was lost.
I’d heard from a castle servant the men had returned from Crittich Keep.
But I was avoiding Farah, Ha-Lah and Silence who were talking with my sister about all she’d been doing since Firenze (I did this because I regularly avoided my sister—it wasn’t that I didn’t want to know, it was that I knew they’d tell me later) and I was trying to find my way back to Cassius and my room.
But this bloody castle was humongous.
So, I was lost.
I was moving down the hall toward yet another set of stairs that led up to yet another turret when I noted movement to my right and looked that way.
I then stopped, for Silence was standing at the opposite end of a large room that was filled with tables that were still set elaborately for a royal dinner that had never been consumed.
And it appeared she was standing before a miniature version (but still necessarily large) of the very castle we were both in.
“Allo,” I called as I walked into the room.
She started and turned to me.
She also gave me a small smile that she did not mean.
There would not be many smiles for a very long time and not only because of what happened that day at the wedding.
Much more had happened, it was just that what happened locally took precedence.
For now.
I wended my way through the tables to her, stopped when I arrived and asked, “Are you well?”
“I’m just…” she gestured weakly to the miniature. “It’s a miracle. This cake.”
I turned to the structure and stared at it in shock, realizing from close it was a cake.
An exact replica of the castle made of frosting tinted in the palest of pinks, yellows, creams, greens and blues. Flowers and leaves and bunting and ribbon adorning the windows, walls, arches and turrets. I could even see little candles that would have been lit in the windows and globes, had there actually been a reception.
“Aunt Mercy did this,” Silence whispered, and my eyes darted to her. “For True. For Farah. For Wodell.” Her attention went to the cake. “Who knew icing had power?”
I felt my heart squeeze.
“Silence,” I said softly.
“She was not warm, but she was a good queen. I could have learned much from her and I sense she would have enjoyed teaching me,” she said to the cake. She then turned to me. “Now I will not, and she will not.”
“You will be your own brand of spectacular queen,” I assured her.
Again, her gaze went to the cake as she mumbled, “I hope so.”
I wanted to get to Cassius, check on the girls.
But watching Silence, I asked, “Do you want to go somewhere and sit, have some tea or a glass of wine?”
Slowly, her eyes came back to me. “I heard the men have returned. I mean no offense, my friend, but I wish to see Mars. He’s been with him and thus I wish my husband to share with me how my cousin fares.”
I nodded and smiled. “That’s understandable.” I then asked, “But before you do that, would you happen to be able to tell me where the hell my room is?”
A surprised laugh came from her, and even if it hadn’t been a day since so much was lost, it sounded strange.
Out of practice.
She hooked her arm in mine and said, “Of course.”
We walked. We chatted while we did. And Silence led me to a floor that was familiar before we bid our goodnights and she retraced her steps to find her own chambers.
As I walked down the hall to the rooms Cassius and I had that were across from the room Dora and Aelia shared, I tried to decide who to go to first.
Cassius?
Or the girls.
My decision was made for me when I arrived at the rooms, saw the door to the girls’ room was slightly ajar, and heard Cassius’s voice coming from there.
“They climbed, and they climbed, and they climbed…” he was saying.
What on…?
I approached the door, adjusted my body so I could see the bed that was set at the side, and froze stiff.
For Cassius lay on his back on the bed, Aelia down one side of his long body, her head on his chest, fast asleep.