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)
This time, Nemeth’s somber expression breaks into a grin. “I will wash every grain of salt from your skin when we get home, I promise. You’ll see that Darkfell is pleasant and welcoming, for all that it is underground.”
Pleasant, maybe. Welcoming to one of the Vestalin name? I doubt it. But I’m out of options, and I won’t leave Nemeth. So I blow him a kiss to show him how I feel. “Go do your scouting before it gets much darker, love. I’ll be fine here.” I gesture at my line. “Don’t hold your hopes out for dinner, though. Nothing’s biting.”
“We’ll be home soon enough and you’ll dine on the finest Fellian feasts,” he tells me, a hint of excitement in his voice. “And I will return as quickly as I can. I swear it.” He rubs the spot on his hand where my bite is tattooed on his skin, and it’s as good as a kiss. With a wink to me, he launches himself into the air once more, and I cling to the edges of the damned rocking boat.
At this point, I’ll happily run straight through Darkfell’s doors if it means no more boats.
I catch nothing for dinner, and when the stars come out, I pull my line in and recline on my seat at the end of the boat, rubbing my rounded belly and gazing up at the stars. The golden moon is huge in the sky tonight, as if the goddess is watching everything we do with a judgment-filled gaze. The stars are pretty, though. You can see them a lot better from out here in the ocean than in the palace. I gaze up at the sea of twinkling lights and hope that if the Gray God and the Absent One are watching from above, they know we’re doing the best we can.
A shadow moves over the bright face of the moon. It’s brief, but I catch a glimpse of wings. “Nemeth?” I call out. “Any luck?”
Heavy cloth smacks into my face, covering me like a blanket. I squawk with indignation, because what a time for the sail to fall apart. In the next moment, a tight arm goes around my waist, and I’m dragged from the boat itself, claws digging into my skin.
I’m so surprised that I scream, only for a blow to land on the side of my head. “Quiet, human!”
That voice isn’t Nemeth’s. Dizzy, I flail, only for a heavy arm to push my limbs down. There’s a strange puff of air, and then I’m dropped a few feet onto what feels like a cold stone floor.
“Get up,” says a terrifying voice.
I don’t, though. Panting, my head spinning, I try to make sense of what just happened. The air feels different. Out on the ocean it’s humid and damp, even when it’s not raining, and there’s a hint of salt that permeates everything. I don’t smell salt now. The air is cold and dry, and when I press my hand to the floor underneath me, it’s hard and chilly.
The shadow. A hood over my head. The claws that dug into my waist.
That wasn’t Nemeth. Some other Fellian has kidnapped me.
Chapter
Seventy-Two
Aheavy boot thuds into my back, and I cry out in pain.
“I said get up,” the voice tells me, impatient. “Lazy sack of shite. Stand up or I’ll make you stand.”
I struggle to get the heavy hood off of my head, and when I finally pull it free, my eyes take a moment to adjust. The cool moonlight is gone. I’m inside a dark, shadowy cavern of some kind. When I look straight up, I can see a ceiling, curved and high overhead, made of stone. Near the ceiling itself are the same round magic globes that we used for light back in the tower. Nearby, I hear the slap of water against stone, and when I look around, I can see a few small ships in the distance, along with an enormous cave mouth that leads outside.
But I’m not outside. I’ve been taken into the depths of the mountains by a stranger. Looming over me is an unfamiliar Fellian, his face hard and unpleasant. When he glares down at me, he bares his teeth, as if the hated sight of me makes him violent.
“Get up, human—”
“I’m up,” I snap back. “Where’s Nemeth?”
“Prince Nemeth?” The Fellian reaches out and shoves me the moment I get to my feet, nearly knocking me to the ground again. What a bully. “He’s in the tower where he should be, doing his duty. Why do you care?”
I stare at him. Do I tell him that Nemeth left the tower? That I did, too? That I mated to Nemeth and I’m carrying his child? Something tells me he won’t believe me. “Why did you take me from my ship?”