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)
“Where’s all the coin for this coming from?” Nira, as bold as ever, asked Tove.
“It’s amazing how much coin is available when the high-ranking, powerful families are no longer being bribed.”
“Every day, I learn something new about Cass that makes me hate him more,” Nira said. “Do you know how many days I starved working in his military?”
That plan was also underway. More gardens were being created. Orchards were getting planted. No one around the palace would go hungry. And because those who farmed the land would no longer need to send two-thirds of their crops to the palace, they would be free to sell or trade with other fae, so, hopefully, no one would go hungry again.
It was ambitious.
But I knew Jet.
If anyone could accomplish it, he could.
He was meant to rule.
“You can’t escape it here, either,” Nira grumbled when a procession of carts rolled past the windows, their backs loaded down with barrels. “What is all that, anyway?” she asked.
“I have no idea. I haven’t asked.”
“You’re the queen. Ask.”
“Okay. Tove, what is all that?”
“That,” he said, clipping closed a book and tucking it under his arm, “is a secret your husband is working on. For you.”
“For me?” What else could he possibly give me? I had everything a woman could want. More, even.
“In fact, if my calculations are correct, those carriages mark the end of the project. The King has been quite devoted to this cause.”
“Well, now I want to know what it is,” Nira said, turning and walking to the door.
And nearly colliding with Jet.
“Just who we were looking for,” she said.
“Why’s that?” he asked as he walked up behind me to place his hands on my shoulders.
“We heard you’re working on a secret project,” I said, leaning my head so it rested against his arm.
“I am,” he agreed, fingers rubbing at my shoulders, made sore from hours hunched over a desk. “In fact, that is why I came to find you. It is ready. As ready as it is going to be for now, anyway.”
“I’m coming,” Nira declared.
“Me too,” Cora said as she stood.
“Very well,” Jet said, shrugging.
I still hadn’t gotten used to walking out of a room on the main floor of the palace and not being followed by those creepy redcaps.
Jet was still working on his plans for them, but they had been moved away from the castle for the time being. And good riddance to them.
“Are we going to the stadium?” I asked, stomach tensing at the still-fresh memory of the last time we’d been there.
“Yes and no. The stadium is no more.”
“Hey, I liked the tournament!” Nira grumbled from behind us. As far as she’d come, she was still not back to her usual self, so she was following much more slowly.
“We will still do the tournament. We might even do a modified version of the melee. But the stadium will be rebuilt further away from the palace.”
“Is it just me, or were all these trees not here before?” Cora asked as we wove in and out between what did seem to be a denser forest than I remembered. Then again, things had been so hectic that day, there was no trusting my memory.
Jet was suspiciously quiet at my side.
I felt like that said everything.
The trees were new.
They were somehow part of his plan.
But nothing was clear until we moved around a wall of towering pine trees that I did not remember.
Then there it was.
A lake.
Not as big as my lake, but a respectable size, flanked on nearly all sides with weeping willows, their fronds half-hiding the water from view except on the far end.
Hundreds of water lilies dotted the surface.
A frog floated on a lily pad, searching the surface for bugs to eat.
Wait.
It wasn’t just any lake.
It was… my lake?
It called to me.
It sang in my bones.
It sighed in my mind, “Oh, there you are.”
“I don’t understand,” I admitted, looking over at Jet.
“I consulted with some experts, who informed me that if I built you a lake and slowly filled it with water from your lake—without draining your lake—the water would still recognize you. This will become a continuation of your lake as it fills with more water. We will still visit your lake as often as you’d like, but I want my wife, my queen, at her full power at all times. This will allow you to feel your best at all times.
“And I had the willows brought in—with the help of at least a dozen trolls—to provide privacy for your visits. No one will be able to see you out here. This is your own personal sanctuary.”
He leaned down, snatching a pink lily out of the water and pressing it into my hands.
“Hello,” it seemed to sing in my mind.
The surge of emotion was sudden and overwhelming.
Tears streamed down my face as I let the lily fall back into the water so I could throw my arms around my husband.