Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Figures.
I take a deep breath and stand, but I have no opportunity to step away before Horus’s hand snakes out and grips my wrist. He lifts my arm to his face and sniffs, then locks eyes with me. “Kitsune.”
“What did you say?”
He jumps to his feet. “I dreamt of you.”
“What?”
His eyes fill with tears. “I know you. I had visions, dreams. You’re… something important.”
“You said that.”
“You healed me,” he whispers. “I was bleeding, and you fixed it. I was out of my element, out of my zone of protection. I was weak, and you… healed me.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “How far do you think someone would go to save you?”
“What?”
“Wait for me,” he says the words like they’re so final. “Wait for me.”
“Wait for what?”
“Retribution,” he says. “I’m going to tell you who you are. I’m going to save us and repay the debt.”
“What freaking debt?” I yell.
His smile is sad. “Once upon a time, a fox gave me her bead in order to heal me. I never forgot it. I gave it back, but I also never forgot her. But then she lost it again… I’m going to find it.”
“A fox?” I ask. What do beads do, and why does that feel like I should know this story?
“A fox.” He nods. “I finally know. And I know who to ask. Just wait for me and try not to piss off Tarek.” He sighs. “A fox bead is the most precious thing to a fox with nine tails. It heals, it protects, it’s what makes them divine.”
I’m still thinking about how he’s worried about pissing off Tarek. “Forget the bead. What about pissing off everyone else?” I’m clearly thinking about the immortals that I’ve tried not to think about.
“This isn’t about them.” He starts walking out of the room when a chill erupts around us.
Cassius opens the door like he just appeared out of thin air, which is strange, except Horus doesn’t seem phased at all, as if he expected him to either try to stop him from making a choice or warn him that it would have consequences. “So you’ll go, then?”
“Yup,” Horus says, nodding eagerly. “Later this evening. I’m sorry I’ll have to miss any future family dinners.”
Cassius nods like he knew the answer all along. “I’ll keep her safe. Just remember, your powers are limited, and you can’t return if you don’t win. And where you go, we cannot.”
“She was mine once,” he says low in his throat. “She was lost to me. So I’m going to win, no matter what.”
“All right, god of the sky. All right,” Cassius says. “Let the Creator be with you.”
I lunge toward the door. It slams shut.
Cassius looks me up and down, then flicks his fingers, causing me to fall back onto the couch. “Sit, fox.”
“Fox?” A frown tugs at my brow. I’m so confused I want to cry. “Where’s the fox?”
He points to the couch, and my gaze follows his motion. In that moment, I nearly pass out as I notice nine fluffy furry tails resting against the sofa cushion and… attached to me. One of them twitches, and… I feel it! Only to have everything disappear into thin air. “Wh-what?”
“ Nine-tailed fox. Kitsune. You’re a kitsune and the only person able to figure out why you’ve been repressed…” He draws in a deep breath and then slowly releases it. “…rests in the Abyss. Pray that he’s feeling generous. Pray your past love finds him and convinces him to help, or all will be lost. You have hours before he leaves, and even now, I sense the loss in you; I wonder why?” He shakes his head. “I cannot make choices for people, I can’t make decisions, but all I’m allowed to see are all of the outcomes, depending on the path any being takes. Right now, the path is rocky, but it always has been between you two. For how could a fox ever fall for a god, and how could a god ever fall for a fox when he’s on the other side of the world. He was hunting. He got injured, and while he could have self-healed after a few days, someone came and licked his wounds, binding themselves to him. I sometimes wonder if it was destiny or random. I guess it’s not in my nature to ask now that things are moving forward. Just like walking into that bar for training. Just like being unable to sleep for fear of what the moon brings.”
He’s talking in riddles.
My fingers tremble as I reach for the tails; they fade in and out; they’re a mixture of orange and white, so pretty I start to cry, but in an instant, they’re gone.
As if they never existed in the first place.
Cassius stares me down with a grin. “It’s Friday, isn’t it?”