Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 229266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1146(@200wpm)___ 917(@250wpm)___ 764(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 229266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1146(@200wpm)___ 917(@250wpm)___ 764(@300wpm)
“Sorry to disappoint you,” he replied. “Why did you leave?”
“I wanted a few moments to myself, but apparently, that isn’t going to happen.”
A muscle flexed in his jaw. “I’m sorry, Poppy.”
My brows lifted as I focused on him. There was still a potent thread of anger in him, and I didn’t delve deeper into the layers of emotions. “About what exactly?”
“About more than one thing, apparently,” he replied, and my eyes narrowed. “But I’d like to start with how my people have behaved toward you. I hate that they’ve made you feel so unwelcome, and I hate that you know how they feel. I can promise you that will change.”
“You…you really believe that you can change that? You can’t,” I told him before he answered. “They will either accept me or not. Either way, I expected this, and there’s no way you didn’t. You just hoped I wouldn’t read them.”
“I wished you wouldn’t have known,” he corrected. “How could I not wish that? And I do believe how they feel about you will change.”
Pressing my lips together, I looked away. I didn’t think it was impossible for them to change. Feelings were not stagnant. Neither were opinions or beliefs, and if we stopped believing people were capable of change, then the world might as well be left to burn.
“We need to talk and not about the people in that room,” he said.
I turned from him to where the reflection of the moon rippled across the Bay. “That’s the last thing I want to do right now.”
“Do you have better ideas?” He stepped closer, the heat and scent of him reaching me. “I know I do.”
My gaze shot to him. “If you’re suggesting what I think you are, I am going to stab you in the heart again.”
Casteel’s eyes flashed a warm honey. “Don’t tempt me with empty promises.”
“You are so twisted.”
“Alastir was right. I do take after my father when it comes to women with sharp objects,” he said.
“I don’t care.”
He ignored that. “My mother has stabbed my father a time or a dozen over the years. He claims he deserved it each time, and truthfully, he never seemed all that torn up about being stabbed. Probably had something to do with the fact that they’d be holed up in their private chambers for days after a spat.”
“Glad to know the disturbed apple doesn’t fall too far from the crazy tree.”
He chuckled.
The door opened behind us, and Kieran prowled out. “Don’t yell at me,” he said as the door swung closed behind him. “But my father wants to speak to you.”
“Your father?” I frowned, and then it occurred to me. “Jasper?”
Kieran nodded, and now I knew why I thought some of Jasper’s features were familiar.
A muscle flexed in Casteel’s jaw once more. “He’s going to—”
“Go speak with Jasper,” I cut in. “Because as I already said, I don’t really want to talk to you right now.”
“Keep telling yourself that, and maybe it’ll be true.” Casteel turned to Kieran as I came this close to punching him. “I really hope your father has a good reason for wanting to speak with me right this moment.”
“Knowing him, he probably just wants to laugh at you,” Kieran replied. “So have fun with that.”
Casteel flipped Kieran off as he stalked back toward the doors.
“Very princely,” Kieran called after him and then turned to me. “Come, Penellaphe. I’ll take you back to your room. Then I must ensure that Casteel actually doesn’t end up slaughtering someone, because my father is sure to drive him crazy.”
“I don’t—” Exhaling heavily, I was too irritated to even argue. “Whatever.”
Kieran extended an arm and waited. Swallowing a mouthful of curses, I walked past him.
“That was a spectacular dinner,” he said as we rounded the fortress.
“Wasn’t it?”
He snorted.
Neither of us spoke as he walked me back to my room. It was only when he went to close the door that I asked, “Your father is the what? Leader of the wolven?”
“He speaks for them, yes. Brings any concerns or ideas to the King and Queen.”
Remembering that Vonetta planned to travel home to visit their mother, I asked, “Is your father normally in Spessa’s End?”
“He comes quite regularly to check on the wolven that are here. Sometimes, our mother travels with him, but she’s due soon.”
For a moment, what he’d said didn’t make sense. And then it did. “Your mother is pregnant?”
A faint grin appeared. “You look so surprised.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that…you’re around Casteel’s age, right?”
“We’re the same age. Vonetta—who won’t be the baby of the family much longer—was born sixty years after me,” he answered. “My father is nearly six hundred years old—my mother four hundred. Next to Alastir, he is one of the oldest wolven still alive.”
“That’s a…hell of an age gap between children,” I murmured.
“Not when you think about how long it takes to rear a wolven. Beckett may resemble a mortal who is no older than thirteen, but in reality, he is older than you by many years. So is Quentyn.”