Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 48827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 163(@300wpm)
“I am the queen,” Lyric adds. “I'm sure I have an empty dungeon around here to throw him in.”
“And I could conjure an illusion for him to get stuck in on a loop for a few hours,” Jocelyn says, looking thoughtful. “Perhaps falling from a cliff with no end in sight, over and over again?”
“I could listen in on his thoughts and let you know what he's actually thinking,” Grace offers.
My heart expands with each kind and ridiculously fun suggestion.
“And I could do…absolutely nothing,” Annika says sarcastically. “Except maybe accidentally make a pipe burst above his head.”
I chuckle softly, giving her a sympathetic look. Lyric told me her friend Olivia was doing her best to get Dagon to work with her niece Annika, who she suspected was an elemental. I’d seen Oliva asking him the night we went to the museum. But being the hunter that he was, Dagon put his mission above helping figure out if a friend of a friend had powers or not.
“I appreciate the offer,” I finally say, smiling at all of them. “Truly I do. Come back to me the next time he pisses me off, yeah?”
“We'll be here,” Lyric says, nothing but sincerity in her voice.
I can't stop my heart from expanding, from warming to all of them, from the whispers in the back of my mind saying this could be the start of something good.
The start of a family I’ve always wanted and longed for…for much longer than I can even remember.
After an unsuccessful quick hunt tonight, I find myself in the assassin's training room once again.
It seems to be the only place I can let out my frustrations at utterly failing over and over again, but throwing daggers at one of the wooden targets—which had been freshly replaced since I destroyed the last one—offers little comfort.
“Working out some aggravation?” Zachariah asks, and this time I don't jump because I smelled him the second he walked into the training room. Another fun side effect of being in close proximity to him nearly every single night, with only a wall separating us during the day, I'm becoming more attuned to his scent again. Like I was so many years ago.
“Obviously,” I say, but even I can hear that the once icy tone I held with him before has subsided. A girl can only keep up the snark so long before she starts to sound like a cold-hearted bitch. “I thought I caught wind of Conrad’s trail again, after seeing a contact in witch territory that Jocelyn set me up with, but the lead ended up turning cold.”
I throw the last dagger, hitting my mark, and then turn toward him.
“You went out on your own again?” Zachariah says. “Why didn't you tell me?”
I furrow my brow, stepping a little closer to him, the soft training mat beneath me giving just slightly. “I don't know if you've realized, but I don't run my agenda by anyone. You should understand that, being a hunter.”
He steps closer to me, a deep groove of concern lining his forehead. “I go out with my brothers,” he says. “I always go out with backup—”
“No, you don't,” I cut him off. “If that were true, I wouldn't have found you alone in a cave with half a dozen newborn bloodmad vampires. I saved your life then, too. Maybe you're the one who needs my protection.”
“I absolutely need you,” he says, smirking as he looks down at me.
I tilt my head, ignoring the heat that blazes through me at that declaration. “Have your skills gotten so rusty?” I tease. “Did stasis really weaken you that much?” The question actually brings a flash of concern, but I cling to the fun game we're playing. “Maybe I could take you right here.”
“That's adorable,” he says.
“You don't think I can?”
“I have no doubt in your abilities, Talia. But think about who you're talking to.”
I bite my tongue so I don't admit to just how much I've been thinking about him lately.
“Scared to find out?”
“Try me.” I lash out with an attack as the words leave his mouth, knowing I'm severely outmatched and need the element of surprise to get even remotely close to besting him.
Zachariah is taken off guard for only a moment, dodging my attempt to get him to the ground, and bouncing on the balls of his feet as we circle each other.
Anticipation blasts through me as I calculate the best way to get him to the mat, battling every other way I'd like to get him underneath me as I try to think strategically.
“You've been dying for a shot at me for centuries, and that's the best you have?” he teases.
I gape at him, but can't keep the smile from my lips as realize I can’t approach him like I would any other foe. I have to get in his head if I want to win.