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)
I furrowed my brow, adjusting my stance as I processed. “They made the villagers tote the crates all the way out? Why not have the horses come in and collect it?”
“I have no idea. It didn’t seem like these villagers had seen a horse within the boundaries in years. Over a decade.”
“Yet they were being used to transport the drugs to another location.”
“The tracks suggest they were.”
“And no one knew where that location might be? The details of what they did there?”
Tanix shook his head. “The villagers didn’t have a clue. Not about Aurelia’s operation, Granny’s—anything. Occasionally Alexander would let slip some things that happened ‘Outside.’ They used the term ‘outside’ like it was a specific place. The most recent incident got several people punished. I guess punishment for rule breaking is severe here—beatings, whippings, cut with tools.”
I shivered with the memories of when I’d endured such treatment in the demon dungeons. I knew exactly what these people had been through.
“Is there anyone we need to take with us?” I asked.
Tanix pulled his lips to the side while slowly shaking his head. “I really don’t think so. Mr. Poet was the closest to the woman’s—Aurelia’s—operation. No one else worked in her vicinity. He never actually helped her, though. Didn’t know how. He just learned what plants she’d need next and made sure she had them. He seemed to be her errand boy, mostly. Granny’s as well. He dreaded delivering both of them things—Aurelia because of her lack of magic, Granny because she was prone to bad moods. Apparently, Granny’s bad moods had the potential to result in punishment at any time.”
“Did you get any sort of history from him?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Tanix said. “It seems that when Aurelia advanced in her craft, Granny quickly shut down the borders. Alexander let slip around that time that their business was taking off and Granny needed to protect it. This, too, was years and years ago. The villagers let it happen because Granny brought in gold to fix up dwellings and the village square, and offered them more food than they knew what to do with.”
“They didn’t look like people that had more food than they knew what to do with.”
“Offer them plenty so that they will choose to enter the cage. After they are trapped, take it away. By the time they realize what they’ve done, it’s too late.”
That was true.
“Mr. Poet remembers Aurelia entering the kingdom half-starved,” Tanix said. “Only a kid. This was before the borders closed. He learned quickly that she didn’t have any magic and from that moment on he—and most of the village, it seemed—didn’t much trust her. What quickly befell the village ensured no one would warm up to her. She was an outcast while also being Granny’s prized worker. The village around her was collateral damage. She has no friends here.”
“I gathered that.” I inflated my chest with a deep breath.
She’d been just a child when she’d come here. A child without her mother who’d obviously fallen on hard times. When she’d needed support and love, she got the censure of a village and put to work by a calculating woman. I couldn’t help thinking how heartbreaking her life was. She’d been set up for the loneliness I’d read in her journals. She’d been trapped in it by an unfeeling person who wouldn’t pull out her animal and make her part of the village. She’d been kept separate on purpose.
“Terrible fucking life,” I murmured. “Why would she care about those she’s hurting when she doesn’t have a friend in the world to protect?”
“With Granny’s help, it certainly made her dangerous.”
“Indeed.”
“There’s something I’ve been wondering . . .” Tanix snagged his lip in his teeth. “If she’s your true mate, that obviously means her animal is just suppressed. And powerful, we’d have to guess. I can feel it and I’m not even an alpha.”
“Very powerful,” I supplied. “It is pulsing within her.”
“It wouldn’t take much for you to yank it out, right?”
“Correct. I’ve almost done it by accident a couple of times.” I didn’t elaborate, unwilling to admit that it had been at the height of pleasure. I’d barely known my name, drunk as I was on the euphoric feeling of her pulling me into her climaxes. I’d never experienced an intimacy so overpowering.
“You never got close to Granny,” Tanix went on, “but we’ve always heard she’s a fairly strong alpha.”
“Why didn’t she pull out Aurelia’s wolf?” I said, surmising the question. Tanix nodded. “I honestly have no idea.”
“Do you think it was about control? Keep her weak, keep her an outcast, show her the only kindness she’s liable to get, and thus keep her dependent. Do those things and you maintain control of the prized asset.”
“It’s very possible. Aurelia must’ve seen what was going on within the village, though. She was helping to cage people. That and making the types of drugs she does—drugs ten times more dangerous than any of her competitors— remain inexcusable. She needs to stand in judgment, and if this disgusting kingdom won’t do it, ours will.”