Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
“In his dreams,” Skylar mutters before turning her scowl on me. “She’d look like an idiot if she tried to pull this off. And anyway, doesn’t she have some sort of special blood? Child of Mab or whatever? I bet they can smell her coming from a mile away.”
I fold my arms and set my jaw. “Are you always this charming or only when you make new friends?”
Kendrick turns to me and cocks his head. “I don’t know, Slayer, Skylar seems to bring out a side of you that’s an awful lot of fun.”
Natan hums and taps his lips with his index finger. “Her appearance isn’t truly that well known,” he says. “The queen hasn’t allowed any paintings of her to be distributed, so the depictions floating around are based on rumor and hearsay.”
“We’ll just focus on what’s most recognizable about her and make her look the opposite,” Kendrick says. “The whole court will believe she’s staying at Castle Craige with King Misha, so they won’t be looking for her.”
“What do you think of when you think of the shadow princess?” Natan asks.
“Quiet, meek, and virginal,” Skylar says, but the words are snapped like barbed insults.
I turn to Kendrick. “What if I wear a wig and something under my dress to make me look pregnant?”
“But we’re traveling as fae,” Natan says. “And any faerie who’s with child is something special. That in itself would attract too much attention.”
“No one will try to detect a glamour if we don’t give them a reason to suspect one,” Kendrick says. “Let’s keep this simple.”
Skylar chuckles, pulling all eyes her way. “I have a plan,” she says.
Chapter Six
Felicity
IT’S DARK IN THE DUNGEON. Always so dark. And tonight the darkness is joined by rare silence. Usually there’s a cacophony of horrific sounds coming from the other cells—wailing from the woman whose child was ripped from her arms, mad screams from the male down the corridor who was threatening death to his captors then howling because they took his hands.
In some ways, the silence is worse. At least the screams of the other prisoners remind her that she’s not alone. But when it goes silent, the sound of nothingness fills her ears, her head, her whole body. In this dark so deep she can’t see her own hand in front of her face, she wonders if she’s ceased to exist entirely. If this is the nothingness that comes after.
When she first arrived, she cried for hours. Or was it days? Time has no meaning in this godsforsaken place. She cried until her eyes burned like white-hot embers at the bottom of a fire, sobbed until her chest ached from the exertion.
Tonight, she has no tears, and when the guard drags her from her cell and places her in front of the silver-eyed king, she doesn’t sob. When he slices open her palm and presses it to his lips to drink, she doesn’t cry out for her dead mother. When he reveals he is among the fae who drink the blood of their captives to learn their secrets, she doesn’t cower.
Now she only wishes for death.
And when he cuts her wrists and she watches numbly as he fills a goblet with her blood, she hopes it comes quickly.
My heart swells at the sight of my old friends gathered in front of a small cottage. This might not be the same as going home, but it’s the closest I’ve been in years.
I’d been awake for hours when Natan finally arrived at my cottage to lead me back to Hale. My earlier anxiety at the idea of going out in public in the princess’s form eases as we join the others. I’m just thankful I can be part of this.
Part of ending Erith. Part of saving Elora. Finally.
Hale’s busy talking to Skylar, so he doesn’t notice I’ve arrived, but when I hop off my horse, Remme wraps me in a tight embrace. “I could just knock you out for running away the way you did,” he grumbles into my hair.
“I know. But I couldn’t be who you needed me to be.”
He grunts in understanding, then steps back, chucking me on the chin. “You were just a girl. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
Natan, Remme, Skylar, and Shae were always Hale’s people—his friends and protectors who simply tolerated his pest of a little sister—but at some point they became something to me too.
I’ve missed them.
I scan the faces around us again, but I already know Shae’s not here. I’m not sure I’d want to face him if he were. Would it still hurt? Would I still feel that twist in my chest that comes from wanting someone who doesn’t want you back?
I push those thoughts of adolescent infatuation to the side and drop my hood, adjusting my posture. Princess Jasalyn, sister to the Unseelie queen, child of Mab, is small in almost every way. Slight in stature, standing just over five feet, with tiny hands, a soft voice, and a small waist. Even the way she carries herself is small. Chin tucked, eyes downcast, smile tentative. She moves through the world like she wants to disappear.