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)
Except my child. I rub my belly, hating that their fate has already been decided. “I’ll speak to Nemeth tonight and will let you know my answer in the morning. I will let you know if I am with you.”
“If you are not, I fear we are all doomed,” Riza says.
She might be right, and yet I cannot make a choice without speaking to Nemeth first. I must find out from him if all that Riza says is true…and I will find my answers, I suspect, in what he does not tell me.
A short time later, Tolian returns me with a quick teleport back to Nemeth’s quarters.
There is still no sign of my mate, and my heart aches with the realization that he is going behind my back…or so it seems. They could be wrong, I reason. Nemeth’s actions might be lumped in with Ajaxi and Ivornath, but perhaps he’s not working with them and that’s why they sent him back to the tower.
There could be any number of reasons as to why Nemeth was sent to the tower, and they don’t necessarily have to do with me. It could be anything, I tell myself. Anything at all.
And if Nemeth would just be straightforward with me, I’d feel so much better. I’d trust him again. Truly, all he needs to do is throw me a bone. Just one. Just a morsel.
I put the stone back in the teleport circle and pace around the room restlessly. I can’t explore the rest of the house, so I’m more or less confined to our bedroom, and I hate it. I hate that it makes me feel trapped, like when we were in the tower. I hate that it makes me feel as if I’m an afterthought in Nemeth’s life. Like I’m a pretty bird to be caged until it’s time for me to sing.
I hate all of this, so much.
Eventually, the door opens down below, and I all but fly to the edge of the bedroom and peer down. “Nemeth?”
“My mate.” His voice is as warm and delicious as ever, and my heart aches painfully. In the next moment, he’s behind me, pulling me away from the ledge, and his arms go around me. “Do not stand so close to the edge, milettahn. It would break me if you were to fall and hurt yourself.”
He nuzzles the top of my head, as loving and sweet as ever, and I want to cry with the agony of it. Why is he so good at pretending, if he truly doesn’t care for me? “I’m glad you’re back,” I manage. “Where did you go?”
“Where I always go,” Nemeth says, a hint of wry humor in his tone. “To stand at my brother’s doorstep and beg for an audience.”
I turn in his arms, trying not to frown. “He still won’t see you?”
He shakes his head. “Being stubborn. Ivornath grew up knowing he was to take the throne, and it made him impossible to budge when he had an idea in his head. Acquiring the throne has made him less willing to listen, and aging even more so. Willful fool.”
Nemeth strokes my cheek, his expression full of the same humor and intelligence I’ve grown to love over the past few years. I see no deception there, no distaste, only the same affection he’s always shown me. Maybe Riza and Tolian are wrong. Maybe my sweet Nemeth has nothing to do with Ivornath’s plans.
“I’ll try again tomorrow,” Nemeth promises me.
“What if we leave?” I say brightly.
His mouth turns down at the corners and he tilts his regal head at me, as if he’s misheard. “Leave?”
I nod. “It’s clear we’re not wanted here. What if we leave? Just head back out and go back to the way things were before when it was just you and me? We can fish—I’ve gotten pretty good at catching my own dinner—and we can grow mushrooms. We can live off the coast or even head back to the tower, though we won’t have to stay inside forever. We can just come and go as we please!”
Nemeth stares at me, hard. “Candra…”
I grip his hand in mine. “Please, Nemeth. Say you’ll go with me.”
“What about your sister? What about the people enslaved here?”
He’s stalling. I know he is, and it breaks my heart. “I’ve changed my mind. I want to leave. I don’t want our child born here. I’d rather go back to the tower. Please.”
My mate’s bright green eyes fill with pain, and he slowly shakes his head. “We cannot, Candra. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think it’s the best thing for our child. There are physicians here. Herbalists. Midwives. You need them for our baby. And even if you can forget about your people, I cannot. Things are just as wrong here as they were back in Lios. It’s my duty to do what I can. Once I get to see my brother—”