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)
“Are you—”
“Tove!” Cass yelled from somewhere down the hall.
“In here, Your Majesty,” Tove called.
My free hand went toward my waist, ready to grab the borrowed dagger.
Did I think I could fight off both these men? Probably not. But I wouldn’t go down without a fight, that was for sure.
“Where is my son?” Cass barked as he came striding into the room.
His hair was wild, like he’d been raking his hands through it. There was a bloody scrape down his face and a wild look in his eyes.
“Maybe we should ask your daughter-in-law,” Tove suggested.
Cass turned as he moved behind his desk, his brows pinched. “She’s mute. And likely daft.”
I inched away from the desk, stepping closer to the wall, wanting to see any attack coming.
Tove was still standing near the door, close enough that he could easily grab me if I made a run for it.
I could try to tackle him then just… crawl away. Run to Vishen.
I still didn’t hear any guards in the halls.
It was just the three of us.
A mad king.
His most trusted advisor.
And me.
The odds weren’t in my favor, but they were far better than they could have been if the area around the palace wasn’t a battlefield.
I just needed to focus. Remember what Nira, Vishen, and Jet had taught me.
“Right?” Cass barked, making me jolt. When I turned, I realized he was staring at me. “Or have you been lying to me? Have you been scheming against me?”
What was my move here?
Tell him I could speak?
Or stay silent and let his suspicious, unstable brain wonder if Tove was the one lying?
Before I could answer, though, I watched as Cass reached for his glass.
My heart flew into my throat.
My head whipped over, looking at Tove.
But he didn’t rush forward to knock the glass from the king’s hand. He didn’t even open his mouth to object as the glass lifted to Cass’s lips.
My heart was thundering loudly in my ears.
No.
Wait.
That wasn’t my heart.
Those were footsteps.
Someone was coming.
Cass took a long swig of the wine as he sat in his chair.
My blood froze in my veins.
The footsteps grew closer.
Then stopped.
I didn’t know which way to look: at the king with the poison working its way through his system, at Tove, who allowed it to happen, or at the figure that was suddenly at the door.
I chose the last option, turning and feeling my heart swell in my chest.
“Jet,” I whispered.
There was a loud thud, making all of us turn toward the king. Who was folded forward facedown on his desk. Unmoving.
Jet stepped closer to me, his hand on his sword.
“What is going on?”
My gaze slid to Tove, who was watching both of us.
I had no idea.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Jet
“Serin!” I screamed, racing down the hallway of my wing in the palace.
Mendalyn was running a foot behind me. I could hear the footsteps of two of her other women behind us. A few others were spreading around the palace, finding strategic places to stand guard.
We’d left the majority of the women back at the tree, safe to continue on Mendalyn’s mission if something happened to the rest of us. They worked on a volunteer basis—with most of them offering to come, save for the few who were too injured or too valuable—like the healer—to put themselves into potential harm’s way.
The woods were quiet as we made our way back, pausing only to grab my crown from up in the tree, then running the rest of the way back to the palace.
As the scouts said, there was an angry mob still outside the stone walls, riling each other up.
If allowed to continue, it was going to get worse and worse as the night wore on. Eventually, some of them would get brave and try to infiltrate the castle.
I had to find Serin, check in with Vishen, then find a way to get my father off the throne, so I could handle this shit before it got any worse.
The guards knew better than to hassle me about the women, despite them being told not to let anyone in the castle.
Then we were running, up the stairs, down the hall to my wing.
“Serin!”
I threw open my bedroom door, making a small girl yelp and fall back, dropping the fruit in her hand, her eyes going huge.
This had to be the girl Mendalyn mentioned, right? The one Serin had been protecting. Which meant she was okay. She’d made it back to the palace. But where was she? Had she gone back to look for me?
“You’re growling,” Mendalyn scolded. “You’re scaring the girl.”
“Where’s Serin?” I asked.
“Looking for you.”
“Fuck,” I growled, whipping around.
Then there was Vishen, standing in the doorway to his room, blood covering his clothes, his eyes exhausted.
“Is that your blood?”
“It’s Nira’s,” he said, gesturing into his room where the female guard was laid up in his bed, head half shaved, a bandage wrapped around her midsection.