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)
King Mars
On the Journey to the Great Wohd
WODELL
He heard the flap to their tent slap open, and Mars was up from his seat on the log about the fire where he was with his men, discussing the message they’d just received from a bird.
He turned to his wife, who was dashing across to them through the chill of the night in naught but her nightgown.
Silence was wee, but the force of her impact when she made it to him took him back on a foot.
She then clutched his shirt into her fists, buried her face in his chest, and dissolved into tears.
He wrapped his arms around her.
“What on earth, piccolina?” he asked, torn between concern at her state, and fury at whatever might have caused it.
“Ophelia,” she answered.
Shite.
He drew in breath, and with it, her body deeper into his.
Accept her with mercy, he prayed to The Spirit.
King True
One Hundred Miles over the Border
AIREN
It was not True who woke that night with a start in their tent, it was Farah.
And she sat bolt upright when she did so.
He came up with her, blinking away sleep, and trying to focus on his queen in the shadows.
“Darling,” he murmured.
“They are all gone, save one,” she whispered, before her frame began to shake with her tears.
He pulled her into his arms, asking gently, “What do you speak of, Farah?”
“Ophelia,” she told him.
Gods.
He shut his eyes tight and held her closer.
May she walk in the sun forever, he prayed to Alabasta.
Marian and Jellan
Underground Lair of the Beast
WODELL
Marian felt only a tremor in the veil, though a strong one, for she knew of the veil, just not how to read it.
And she grew wary, for this seemed to be happening far too often of late.
But she had other things on her mind.
Precisely, stopping what was happening just above them, at the surface.
Jellan knew of the veil and how to read it.
Thus, he felt the tremor, and his eyes went direct to the Beast.
The creature had felt it too.
“It is time,” he mouthed soundlessly.
The Beast nodded.
Princess Elena
Night Heights Mountain Range
AIREN
I found her sitting atop a slab of stone at the side of a cliff, the dark shadows of mountains and valleys before her with a backdrop of taller rises in the distance, their black shapes cutting into the night sky.
The two gnomes who had traveled with her, males who had introduced themselves to me some days earlier as Galbdor and Welbrix, were loitering about the top of the slab, strangely as if they were guarding my sister.
They let me pass, however, with courteous tips of their bearded chins.
I dropped down beside her to sit as she was on the slab. Arse to stone, knees up, but Serena had her wrists resting on her knees.
I pulled my thighs closer to my chest and hugged my shins.
I studied the landscape.
She spoke.
“Trust it to be you who was the one who sought me.”
“I can just as easily leave,” I replied.
She turned her head to look at me. “No, you can’t. It would wound you to leave me to my grief, no matter the anger you hold toward me, no matter the spites I have inflicted on you. That is you. That is my sister Elena.”
My sister Elena.
If I was not wrong, that was an olive branch, as best Serena could extend it.
“Serena, we must—” I began.
She turned back to the view and stated, “I know she has named you queen. She told me.”
“And I know it is soon after she’s joined the veil, but perhaps, before feelings can dig in, we should talk about it.”
She again gave me her attention. “Why?”
I blinked at her. “Why?”
“It is her wish. And there is one thing I am certain you know about me. I can follow orders.”
“Are you disappointed?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. I plan to sail to the Southlands. I liked the look of that warrior from there, and if there are more of them as such, they would be an appealing challenge to me, as both a warrior and a woman.”
“I, well…yes,” I stammered. “It is my understanding that they are all like that there.”
“Hmm,” she hummed, again looking away.
“There is much change in you,” I whispered.
“Yes,” she agreed.
I braved leaning an inch her way and saying under my breath, “Who are the gnomes?”
“They are my friends,” she told the view.
Friends?
“What about Darma, and Heloise and Genia?” I asked.
“They have sent me ravens. They have returned from Firenze to The Enchantments. I have ordered them to stay there. It still needs guarding and patrolling, especially on the Airenzian border.”
“Of course,” I muttered.
She looked at me. “If you wish, while this is happening, with your marriage, and the Beast, I will act in your stead in The Enchantments,” she offered.
I had intended to ask Lucinda to do that.
“Right,” she mumbled, reading my face.