Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
I patted the bed and smiled as he jumped up and sprawled next to me, his head resting on my legs, gaze on the door.
I didn’t expect to fall asleep in a strange, dangerous place. But the day had been long, stressful, and terrifying. On top of that, the headache hammering behind my eyes, making me squeeze them closed to try to ease the ache.
In the quiet of my mind, I tried to reach out to my lake, to feel it, hear it, see what it was seeing.
But all there was left was a distant echo.
Before the misery could completely overwhelm me, the blackness of sleep claimed me.
CHAPTER SIX
Jet
“What are you going to do about your father in the morning?” Vishen asked as we both tipped back some whiskey I’d imported from the human realm the last time I’d visited.
It wasn’t something I’d been able to do for a long time—not since my father’s madness really started to take root.
Before that, I’d been able to slip away from Vishen when he had some sort of training or meeting or simply was bathing, slip through the veil, and go explore the human world.
It didn’t matter how many times I went. Because of the way time moved much more slowly in The Green, each time I dropped in on the humans, their whole world had changed so much.
On those trips, I’d developed certain preferences. Showers. Whiskey. Coffee. Records.
Since being locked down and followed endlessly by the damned redcaps, I’d tried to make do with what I had—nursing the whiskey and coffee I had left, and learning to dig deep and appreciate the music I’d already compiled. But I was antsy for another trip.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s going to notice your new bride can’t speak—if it doesn’t wear off by then. With his paranoia, we both know how wrong that could go,” he said, reaching for an almond from the bowl on my desk.
He wasn’t wrong.
Not only might he punish Grimwood for the lie, he might want to punish my new bride as well. Someone who was completely innocent as far as I could tell.
“I suppose she doesn’t need to break her fast with the family. She could be… recuperating.”
A snort escaped Vishen at that. “Because you’re that good in the sack, huh?” he asked, tossing an almond at me. “When’s the last time you got laid anyway?”
“I have been confined to the castle,” I reminded him. “And nothing about fucking a servant appeals to me.”
“Snob,” Vishen—a man who bedded every attractive woman in a five-mile radius—accused.
“It’s more the issue of them not feeling like they could say no to me.”
“Fair,” he agreed. “So, I’m taking it it’s been a while.”
I exhaled hard.
“That long, huh?” He shot me a smirk.
“Maybe the reins will loosen now that he got what he wanted out of me.”
“Not to piss on your plans, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So, you’re a married man.”
“On paper.”
“Your wife is stunning.”
“Yeah.”
“You could make it a real marriage.”
“She was kidnapped and forced into this.”
“Sure. But who, when given a chance to think it over, wouldn’t want to be a princess? And future queen?”
“It would make life easier if she simply wanted to go along with it. But I don’t think I would blame her if being kidnapped, drugged, and forced into a legally—and soul—binding contract is too much to move past.”
“I guess time will tell. Hopefully, her voice comes back by morning. It will help to know more about her. A name, at least.”
“Yeah.”
“You should get back to her.”
I nodded and got to my feet.
“We’ll meet before breakfast,” I told him.
“I’ll be up.”
“You always are.”
The military barely allowed soldiers a few hours of sleep a day. Despite having a lot more freedom to do as he pleased as my guard, he’d never been able to catch more than three or four hours altogether.
“‘Night,” I called before making my way across the hall and into my room.
My wife hadn’t lit any of the candles, so I moved around in the dark, feeling for the matches in the nightstand.
There was a strange chattering sound in the room as I finally struck a match and lit the first candle, then the next, and the next, until a whole candelabra was lit, casting the bed in orange light.
That was where I saw Knight, his body on top of my wife’s, a little whine escaping him. It only took a second to realize why. And where that chattering sound was coming from.
My wife’s teeth.
Her whole body was trembling hard enough to vibrate the bed.
She seemed fast asleep, an arm out of the blankets and thrown over her head.
Reaching out, I touched the skin of her hand, finding it icy.
Huh.
The thick castle walls did maintain a cooler temperature, but that usually wasn’t an issue until the deepest part of winter. It was still rather mild out—the kind of night where I would typically open the windows and let a cool breeze in.