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)
I’m still looking when someone grabs my arm and drags me into an empty storefront by Estella’s apothecary.
“Hello, Felicity,” my brother says, his grin wolfish as Natan slips in behind us.
Hale Kendrick’s long light brown hair is tied back at the base of his neck, and his ice-blue eyes bore into me, seeing every fault and failure. Every moment of cowardice.
The door clangs shut, and my throat goes tight.
Natan dips his head in greeting. There’s so much in that simple gesture—awareness of who I am beneath this form I’ve taken, acknowledgment of the adventures we shared as children, and a reminder that he’s here to protect Hale, all rolled into one.
Instead of lying, instead of pretending I’m the elderly faerie everyone sees when they look at me, I give my own nod of acknowledgment before glancing around the empty store. “What brings you to this part of the world?” I ask, as if I haven’t ached from missing them every single day of my three years away.
“The usual,” my brother says, his blue eyes bright. “Rebellion. Treason. Sedition. Plans of world domination.”
I nod and wipe my wrinkled hands on my skirts. “How did you find me?”
“It’s cute that you think I ever lost you,” Hale says. He’s my brother in every way that counts. We might not share blood, but we were raised side by side, and he would never just let me run away without bothering to keep tabs on me.
“And how is Mother?” My voice hitches on the word and Hale’s face softens.
“Why don’t you go home and find out for yourself?”
My stomach twists painfully at the thought. It’s like seeing a warm bed after days in the cold and knowing you can’t climb in. “Did you come here to be cruel?”
Hale sighs. “Never, Lis. I came because I need you.”
Guilt swamps me. Hale wants me to save our home realm, Elora, and all I’ve ever wanted was to save him.
He sweeps his hand up and down my form. “Who’s this? Tell me, does living in a body that can’t even fight make you feel safe?”
I can fight just fine but won’t bother trying to convince him. I lift my chin. “Why do you care?”
“Because I’m going to need you to leave behind the elderly faerie act. Immediately. It’s time to slip into your other favorite skin.”
“You’re being obnoxiously vague, Hale.”
“You’re being deliberately obtuse, Lis.” When I narrow my eyes, he laughs. “Gods above and below, when you look at me like that, I can almost see the real you in there.”
“What’s she look like?” I ask. “Just curious, since it’s been over three years since I last got a glimpse of myself.”
He shrugs. “That was the choice you made when you decided you’d rather hide for the rest of your life than fulfill your own destiny.”
“Hale . . .”
“I’m not here to try to change your mind about that.” His hard eyes soften, and so does his tone. He reaches into the satchel hanging at his side and withdraws a tattered, leather-bound notebook. “I’m here about this.”
I gape at the journal—my journal. Inside, next to a small envelope of the princess’s hair I bought from a palace maid, I’ve been keeping notes about the shadow court’s princess, documenting every detail I’ve learned from taking her form, hoping to figure out what the oracle meant when she told me the shadow princess could save Hale from an early death.
“It seems you’ve been taking Princess Jasalyn’s form for months.”
I huff out a laugh to hide my grimace. No one knows that I’ve been taking the princess’s form, because I never leave my house as her. But Hale only had to see those hairs and read a few pages of my scribbled notes to know. Every memory from every transformation is documented in there, spanning between the most uneventful moments from her childhood to the darkest days as the shadow princess.
“You know something, don’t you?” he asks. “You knew, even before me, that she can help us save Elora.”
I frown. I don’t know anything about that, but maybe if she really can save Hale, she can help us both. “What do you mean?”
“I need you to take the princess’s form—but not just in the privacy of your own chambers this time.”
“Right.” I glare when what I really want to do is yank my journal from his grasp. “And have a target on my back for impersonating royalty? I’ll pass.”
“You can’t pass, sister. If you don’t help, the streets will be flooded with shadow court sentinels searching for her.”
I stare at him, confused for a beat until I realize—
“You took her? You kidnapped the princess?” I spin to Natan, hoping this is their idea of a joke, then squeeze the bridge of my nose when I catch his hard stare.
“I did,” Hale says. “And since I’m putting my entire team at risk if the queen is looking for her, I need you to go to the palace and be her. As soon as possible.”