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)
It should’ve been the opposite, really. I worked harder now than I ever had. I produced more product—better product. Granny was in the main trade markets, for gods’ sakes. The gold should’ve been pouring in.
The village didn’t see any of that coin. I didn’t see any of that coin.
The most obvious issue that I’d never bothered to reflect on hit me in the gut.
None of us had ever been paid in gold. Not ever. I was given gifts and they were given supplies, but we never got more than a pittance to spend in the Outside, and that was allocated only when we were actually traveling, a long journey to and from the nearest town. The villages that used to be close had dwindled until they were ghost towns.
Our village never got raw materials from which to make goods, either—those goods came already made. Even if people wanted to trade their wares for some sort of savings, they couldn’t. Without that job and that village, I had nothing. Literally nothing. The clothes on my back. The journals Weston had stolen.
My stomach churned, bile clawing up my throat.
“No. Stop. Just . . .” I struggled to get away from Hadriel. “Stop, let me off—“
I slipped off the back of the horse and fell into a heap on the ground. The horse danced away, probably freaked out at the lump of human that kept dropping off its side. My mind spun as memories bombarded me, each more damning than the last. My stomach heaved now as I tried to process, dizzied as I swam in guilt.
“Whoa, wait a minute.“ Hadriel steadied his horse. Those to the sides cleared some space, the path suddenly filled with stomping and dancing hooves.
I darted out from between two large beasts. One reared, whinnying. Its owner struggled to stay on.
“Sorry,” I mumbled before I was through the trees, gripping a trunk and losing the meat and cheese I’d eaten on the trail.
I flipped back through those hazy memories, adding a new lens crafted of age and experience.
“Did you know she wouldn’t allow a whole family to leave at the same time?” Weston stood somewhere behind me.
I closed my eyes, leaning heavily against rough bark.
“If a family wanted to leave the village,” he said, “one child would have to stay behind. Did you know?”
“What?” I asked, head still spinning. I sucked in deep breaths, my stomach threatening to upheave again. “That’s absurd. That can’t be.”
“Multiple people in the village verified it. She wasn’t providing escorts for them, Aurelia. She wasn’t providing protection. She was monitoring them and keeping a hostage in case they tried to run.”
“In case they tried to run?” I asked, my knees suddenly weak, remembering the things the patrol had said to me when they’d thought I was trying to escape.
“You trying to run, little girl? You stupid enough to think you’d get past us?”
“The drug trade is dangerous,” Weston went on, though he didn’t venture any closer. “But not in the way you’re talking. I’ve never heard of a drug maker being abducted. Or killed, even. They might’ve tried to poach you—tried to offer you gold and a better living situation to entice you away from Granny, but I’ve never heard of them outright abducting someone. They certainly wouldn’t take you, not with your royal backing. She was manipulating you, Aurelia. She saw your predicament, knew your limits, and was using you.”
“No!” I squeezed my eyes shut, my heart aching. “No. She took me in when no one else would. When I didn’t have a penny to my name. She hadn’t known what sorts of abilities I might have. It was only later she learned how good I was at making product. She wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t care. She wouldn’t have helped me set up a new life if she hadn’t cared!”
But she’d beaten me to within an inch of my life. She’d starved me. She’d tried to force my hand once she learned what I was good at. Her caring clearly had limits, limits my mother never, ever in her life, would’ve had.
Tears threatened to fall and I sank to my knees.
“Please,” I begged, the memories coming faster now. A black hole inside me stretched wide. “Please,” I whispered. “She’s the only family I had left. You’ve already taken her from me, please don’t tarnish her memory as well.”
Chapter 16
Weston
Iwatched Aurelia’s perception of her life crumble around her.
“Go to her,” my wolf said on a whine. “She is a product of her environment, you must see that. She’s crying out for help—can’t you feel it?”
Of course I could feel it. Her agony pulsed through the air, pounding at me, begging for mercy. For help. The sheer power of it almost brought me to my knees. No magic, my ass. Even without the help of her animal, she was able to affect those around her. Maybe her mother hadn’t been totally honest about her history. There had to be some other sort of creature mixed up in Aurelia’s genes, because no shifter I’d ever encountered could do something like this.