Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
“Just in case tempers were running high yesterday . . .” I inched in slowly, the image of her lying on the ground in the mayor’s house—deathly pale, slipping away—haunted me. I don’t think I’d ever felt the panic and helplessness I’d felt when my newest friend and latest charge had barely clung to life. “In case maybe one of us is smitten and not thinking clearly around the other one of us . . .” The alpha’s stern look had me hesitating. “Are we absolutely sure that this is the best thing to do? Didn’t we rummage through all your half broken and very odd supplies yesterday evening, Aurelia? Didn’t we decide one or two would work well enough for you to analyze the waxy stuff we are now calling petrified troll snot?”
“You’re the only one calling it that.” She picked out the product she wanted and stuck her nail underneath the sticker holding the packaging together.
“Fine, but didn’t we decide that would work?”
“Yes. And it will.” She turned the item over again and studied the fluorescent yellow, pillow-shaped item. “Horrendous. Who is choosing these colors? I wouldn’t eat an actual piece of candy if it looked like this.”
“Right. Then maybe we should—”
She chucked the thing into her mouth and I issued a high-pitched shriek I didn’t know I was capable of making.
“Fucking shit-warts, what the fuck, Aurelia?” I yelled at her.
“Careful how you speak to my—to her,” the alpha said in a growl that was not nearly as scary as Aurelia having just popped that thing into her mouth.
“Spit it out, my darling! This is crazy!” I nearly ran at her and tried to pry the thing out of her mouth. “Alpha, have some sense. Remember when you dug your fingers into her mouth and tried to pry out—damn it, she’s swallowing. Slap a cock, she’s swallowing! I’m so fucking distraught I can’t even joke about her swallowing!”
“Missed opportunity,” she said, packing away the rest of the products.
“A real fucking missed opportunity, yes. You know how angry it makes me when that happens. Okay, what should we do? How long do we have before we know if you’ll be okay or not?”
She gave me a long-suffering look. “Since when are you as overbearing as he is?” She hooked her thumb at the alpha.
“Since I’ve realized I have way more sense than you do, obviously.” My voice was too high and erratic. “This is dumb. I hate this.”
She rolled her eyes and made her way past me, finding a collection of people waiting outside the tent.
“Good gods,” she muttered, passing them.
“I feel like one of us doesn’t quite remember the near-fatal episode you had with those drugs.” I followed her.
“I took one the day before yesterday and no one was any wiser. It should be out of my system by now. I’ll be fine.”
“Should be? Should be out of your system by now? What if it isn’t?”
“That’s the golden question. We shall see.”
She sat down by the fire next to Tanix and said nothing else; she just watched the flames, and we all watched her. Everyone else hovered close, some worried, some curious, some probably wishing it would kick her into an early grave like they thought she deserved. The alpha settled at her other side, watching the flames with her, and I sat where I could see her face. Nova had the same idea, and I had to shoulder her out of the way.
“I’m better in a crisis,” Nova said to me quietly, both of us watching as Aurelia sat placidly. So far, she was showing no signs of anything happening.
“And look, it’ll be easier for you to get up and sprint for aid. Do we even have the syringe? Is the alpha secretly trying to kill her? I have so many concerns about this. Why do I have so many concerns about this? You’d think I’d be used to horrible risks and terrible decision-making.”
“Not when the risks don’t need to be taken,” Nova murmured.
We all watched quietly, intently, for what felt like an eternity. Her face didn’t so much as twitch, her body completely still.
Eventually she said, in a soft voice, “The sickness has come and passed.” She glanced up at us. The reflection of the fire in her eyes made them look particularly fierce. “It was a little bit worse than the last time, but only marginally. Not enough to cause alarm. The journey has started—”
“She means the high,” I whispered. “That’s what she says when she is talking about the high.”
“This is the strongest hallucinogen I make, and I am going to let it run its course to see how the troll snot reacts. Will my change in heart rate or body temperature affect it? We shall see.”
“Are you doing this to prove a point?” Tanix asked when she fell silent again.