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)
“It’s our Fellian blood,” Erynne says. “That potion doesn’t work as well on us. I drank it when I got here. I was furious when it didn’t kill me. It’s because somewhere in our ancestry, someone married a Fellian. That blood is still in our veins.”
And I have more Fellian blood than most. I have Nemeth’s blood in my veins, too. Maybe that’s how I lived. Does he know what they did to me? Was he in on it? I have to think he wasn’t. He wouldn’t have given me his blood ahead of dinner if he’d known what had been planned.
What Meryliese had planned.
My bitch of a sister is alive.
“I hope that’s it,” Riza says in a low voice. “I don’t know what we’ll do if she can’t walk.”
“I can hear you,” I whisper. “I’m right here.”
“You’re not asleep, then.” Riza’s tone is brisk as she pats my shoulder. “Good. That means you’re recovering quickly.”
“Cold,” I manage. Everything feels like ice.
A warm hand takes mine and rubs my fingers. “I know,” Riza says. “Not too much longer, and when you can walk, we’ll leave the root cellar together.”
“Is…that where we are?”
“Aye. They can’t exactly dump you with the rest of the trash or the humans will rise up. So they’re waiting to dump you when no one is looking.” Riza pauses. “Or to burn you in the ovens.”
Well that’s chilling. I try to move my feet, to hurry things along. My eyes feel heavy but I can keep them open with effort. “Meryliese,” I manage. “How…”
“I had my suspicions but nothing confirmed.” Erynne hovers over me, her face blurry. “I’ve been hearing strange things for a while. People kept saying they would see me with Ivornath when I was not. Or they would catch sight of a dark-haired woman. I thought they were tales, but then Ajaxi started to call me ‘Meryliese’ in bed and I put some of it together.”
Riza makes an unpleasant sound in her throat.
Erynne just laughs. “Oh, yes. It’s as bad as you think it is, but I’m just waiting for the right moment to kill him. Never fear.” She rubs my hand harder, as if she can work her frustration into my veins to warm them. “Our bitch sister brought down Lios by activating the goddess’s curse. She thought she’d be safe here in Darkfell, but I think the goddess’s wrath has followed her under the mountains. I’ve heard some of Ajaxi’s mumblings in his sleep. He’s wanting to overthrow Ivornath and claim the throne for himself, but he’ll have to get rid of both of his brothers first, and something tells me Meryliese doesn’t want that.”
I whimper, trying to sit up. “Nemeth—”
“Safe,” Erynne says even as she puts a hand on my shoulder. “Ajaxi has him imprisoned in the palace. I don’t know how he managed it, because Ivornath wouldn’t approve, but—”
They don’t know? I groan, trying to force my unresponsive body to work. “Dead. Ivornath is dead.”
“He’s what?” Riza leans over me, her face full of urgency. “Tell us what you know.”
Even though my face feels numb, I tell them what I can of that dinner. Of Ajaxi sabotaging Nemeth with comments to make me angry. Of Nemeth attacking his brother. Me heading to the stairs—of course there are stairs, because Meryliese is there—only to find Ivornath’s dead body in his room and Meryliese lurking in the shadows.
Both Riza and Erynne make unhappy noises when I’m done.
“It makes sense,” Erynne says. “Ajaxi’s been getting bolder lately. He won’t let Nemeth live, though. As long as he’s alive, the throne passes to him. I know he was furious when Nemeth arrived, but at the time I thought it was because of the goddess’s curse. Now I know it’s because he wanted him to die. I have no doubt that Ajaxi didn’t send the shipment of food to the tower, expecting Nemeth to starve to death like a good, honorable prince.”
Except he didn’t, because he fell in love with a shameless, self-centered Liosian princess. I’m a little proud of myself in that moment. “He’s not with them,” I tell my sister and Riza. “We have to help him.”
“He’s safe for now. But if Ivornath is dead and Ajaxi is getting bold enough to poison Candra, we need to act quickly.” Riza’s face is full of urgency as she gazes at Erynne. “We must act soon. If he’s taking out his rivals, Second House is next.”
And that means Nemeth is in danger no matter what they say. “Then help me up,” I tell them. “Because the sooner I’m on my feet, the sooner we can take Ajaxi down.”
And the sooner I get my Nemeth back and we can talk about the secrets he’s been keeping.
It’s still hours before we’re able to leave the root cellar. No one wants to teleport me because they’re afraid that in my weakened state, it’ll kill me or harm the baby. So we wait, and then, extremities numb, I stagger between Erynne and Riza out of the root cellar and into the kitchens. From there, a human slave leads us down a twisting hall and a secret passage that takes us all the way to a storage shed. There, Second House meets us.