Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 150546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 753(@200wpm)___ 602(@250wpm)___ 502(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 150546 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 753(@200wpm)___ 602(@250wpm)___ 502(@300wpm)
I ignore him when I turn to face Priest, who’s in the spot directly beside my aisle.
He turns his head slowly, his cognac eyes meeting mine lazily. The corner of my mouth tips up slightly.
A silent conversation passes between us that neither of us want to touch on. Priest doesn’t tolerate anyone he doesn’t want to, and his cousin is no exception.
“Hey, cous,” Baylee teases with a full-tooth smile.
“Baylee…” Priest answers, closing his eyes while tossing a hoodie over his head. I’m about to stretch my legs out wide, ready for takeoff, when I hear heels clink up the metal stairs.
What?
She lifts her dark sunglasses up over her head, her eyes falling on her brother. “Sorry I’m late.”
He shrugs. “Wouldn’t expect you any other way.”
She ignores me as she makes her way down the aisle. I kick out my leg, when Baylee’s foot connects with mine, and I’m met with a curved brow.
“You always manage to squeeze your ass into the plane before we leave.” I reach into my pocket and open a new message.
“Yeah, and?” Baylee leans forward, tapping my phone away and forcing my eyes to his. “Why is the ice queen here?”
I shrug without looking at her. I’m done being the only one asking questions. Do I feel a certain way about her taking on more of a role within our world? Fuck yes. It has never been done in the history of the EKC ever, and I’m not so sure I want it to be her who is the one testing it out. Why couldn’t there have been a generation between ours and our parents?
“She’s a King, Baylee. You ain’t. So why are you here?”
He leans back against his chair, flashing another smile. “Well, I think you and I both know why I’m here.”
I tap out a message to River, reminding her to not throw any parties while we’re not there before turning my phone on airplane mode and shuffling my hoodie over my head. The plane takes off and I lean against the window, my knee jiggling beneath my weight.
Baylee has long since crashed, and when I look up to the seats in front of me, Vaden is asleep, his head tilted back and face like stone. I don’t even want to see what she’s doing. We both know that it’ll turn into an argument. Or it won’t, and I’ll just want to shove her up against a wall and squeeze the life out of her. Am I mad? Yeah, probably, but that doesn’t beat the fact that years ago… we were just a couple of kids who told each other secrets…
She grabs me by the hand and drags me toward the withered cathedral. With stained glass windows and a small bell hanging at the front, it was all rusted doom and gloom.
I know what she is doing, even if I pretend that I don’t.
“War!” she yells, and every hair on my body stands to life when I find her pulling open the large door. Not only is the church old, but it’s haunted. I could have sworn Mom said that it was newly built. Maybe they brought it over from somewhere else.
Probably from Perdita.
Then it would definitely be haunted.
I chase her through the doors, pausing when I see Hector standing at the end of the aisle, his hands in the pockets of his pants and his back turned to us. Halen doesn’t flinch, bouncing down the aisle with her leather dress in the breeze and her Docs tied at her feet. Her dark hair is braided into two, and I’m certain that she’ll always have her hair long enough to do braids.
“Princess…” Hector greets lowly, his eyes drifting up to meet mine.
The church smells musty. It smells exactly what it looks like.
He holds my stare. “What are you both doing?”
“Err…” Halen turns over her shoulder slightly, until I find my feet catching up to where he stands. “Just with War.” She bends to the side. “Is Priest here?”
Hector sits back, reaching inside his suit jacket and taking out a cigar. He places it into his mouth, and I watch as his eyes continue to bounce between Halen and I, almost as though he is trying to figure out what mischief we are up to.
Which is nothing. We aren’t doing anything. I am keeping her out of it.
I reach for Halen’s hand, and the second my palm meets hers, her little fingers close around me. She stands directly in front, even though I want to push her aside. It is subtle. Kind of like she knows, or has an inkling, that her pop is someone who should be feared. Or maybe everyone knows that. We sure as fuck do.
She wants to protect me anyway.
“Go back out to the car, Halo. I’ll be there soon.”
She turns, exhaling loudly as she crosses her little arms in front of herself. “But you said we were—"