Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
“I guess so.” I never thought of it as more than one spell…or any spell, really. Just that it could answer me. “I asked it if someone was coming to bring us food supplies, and it didn’t answer me.”
“Ask it again.” There’s a desperate look in his gaze. “Just in case.”
I hold the knife flat in my hand, extending it between us. “Is Lios sending food to me?”
No response.
“Is Darkfell sending food to Nemeth?”
No response.
“Perhaps that’s too specific,” Nemeth says quickly. “Ask it if anyone is sending supplies to us.”
I do, and the knife is as silent and cold as before. A knot of despair forms in my throat. “There has to be a reason why,” I say to him. “Something must be wrong. They wouldn’t cut us off.”
“They would if they knew we were mated.” Nemeth’s gaze is solemn. “If you reported back to your sister that you’d become the mate of the enemy, they wouldn’t feed you.”
I’m a little stung by his accusation. “I wouldn’t report back to her. How can I?”
“You think she doesn’t have a little blade just like this? You think she doesn’t ask about you?”
I hold the knife up by the tip, so that if the blade shivers, it’ll jump out of my grip. “Have I reported back to Erynne about my relationship with Nemeth? About anything?”
The knife doesn’t move.
“Does she know about us?” I continue.
Again, the knife is motionless.
“I am wrong,” Nemeth says in a soft voice, squeezing my waist. “My apologies, milettahn.”
“And you?” I accuse back. “Were you reporting back about me?”
He’s silent.
The knife is not. It shivers in my grasp.
Chapter
Fifty-Three
Oh. Nemeth has been reporting back about me to his people.
I let out a shaky breath. Hurt makes my chest tight and I stand up, wanting to get away from him. “I see.”
“My life is not my own,” Nemeth says desperately. His arms go around me, holding me against him. “Listen to me, Candra. Listen. Too many others have a say in things. Just because I am here does not mean that I am in charge of my life. All of Darkfell watches me, just like all of Lios watches over you.”
He’s not wrong. How many times has Erynne tried to push her wants on me? How many times did she explicitly state that I needed to kill Nemeth? “I understand, but…it’s hard to hear that.”
“My heart,” he murmurs, his green eyes desperate as he meets my betrayed gaze. “My milettahn. It is true I sent them reports of you in the beginning. Bare details enough to keep them satisfied while allowing me to feel rebellious. But as I grew to care for you, I have sent them less and less. My last report was some time ago.”
“Is that true?” I ask the knife.
It shivers.
I relax a bit with that. “Do you truly love me?” I ask. “Or is that a lie?”
He looks wounded at my doubt. “I love you, Candra. Of course I love you. Why would I ask you to be my mate if I did not?”
“Does he love me?” I ask the knife, and I’m pleased when it shivers in my grasp.
“I am not your enemy,” Nemeth tells me in a soft voice. “I meant it when I said that you and I were in this together. You are my mate, my heart, my comforting darkness.” He strokes my cheek, his eyes full of emotion. “I love you, and I mean it when I say that I came into this tower with secrets, but it has changed me, just as I think it has changed you.”
I lick my lips and then nod. He’s right. We come from warring peoples. Of course they’re going to want him to spy on me and report back. I’m surprised Erynne didn’t ask me the same. Then again, my sister asked me to kill him, so I suppose there would have been nothing to spy upon if he was dead. “I’m with you,” I reassure him. “We will find a solution together.”
“Together,” he says, and kisses me, his lips soft and coaxing on mine.
And because I’m in love, I adore that kiss as much as I adore every kiss he gives me. He’s right. I’m not the same person that I was two years ago, who entered this tower defiant and anxious to escape. I’ve changed. It’s ironic that I would happily stay in this tower with Nemeth forever, given that we had the appropriate amount of supplies.
That’s the real problem here, not Nemeth. I kiss him back and then nip at his lip. “You’re going to need to prove that devotion between my thighs later.”
He chuckles, pressing hungry, insistent kisses to my face and throat. “Later? Not now?”
“We have the knife out,” I say, even though my will is faltering under the onslaught of his kisses. Gods, he’s good with that mouth of his. Even now, he tugs at my clothing as if to undress me. “Might as well use it to figure out our situation.”