Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
There’s an angle here. I just need to find it. “What’s your name, Captain?”
He clenches his jaw like he might not answer, but finally he says, “Bowen.”
“Nice strong name for a nice strong lad.”
He doesn’t smile. “You have a choice, Evelyn. Make it.”
So we’re back to that. I shift, trying to press against his telekinetic hold on me. The fucker is strong, I’ll give him that. I think I could break the magic around me given the right spell, but the longer he holds me, the more I wonder if that’s even true.
Most people have tells, even if you’ve only just met them. Their faces or bodies give them away, provide leverage to get what I want. Having a conversation with him is like beating my head against a stone wall. I don’t think I can talk my way out of this one.
True fear licks up my spine, putting an edge of desperation into my tone. “Drop me at a portal. Any portal. Or throw me back into the sea and I’ll find my own portal.”
“We’re days away from the nearest island. You won’t make it without a ship.”
If that’s true, then he’s probably right. I could theoretically propel myself through the water for a decent amount of time, but my energy reserves aren’t unlimited, and I can’t hold a spell for days on end. Especially one that would require so much power.
But neither of the other options are good. “Well then, I’m not choosing.”
He flicks a glance over my shoulder to the door we just came through. “Not choosing is still a choice. Any choice that isn’t joining the Cŵn Annwn is a choice for death.”
I go cold in a way that has nothing to do with the pleasant chill of the room or my wet clothes. “What’s to stop me from joining your little fan club and then betraying you the first chance I get?”
“There are vows.”
Vows were made to be broken. Bunny’s voice whispers through me. Maybe I can work with this? I shrug, feigning nonchalance. “Oh, well, in that case—”
“Whatever you’re thinking, discard it,” he cuts in. “In the event that someone breaks their vows and deserts, a hunt is called and the entire fleet participates. The longest a deserter has lived is three days.”
Three days. That’s … not a long time. “So you put a magical tracker on them when they take the vow. That’s hardly sporting.”
Bowen stares at me for a long moment. “This is not a game. I’m sure you’re very formidable, but you are no match for us. Take the vow and take it seriously. Mourn your old life if you must, but let it go.” Shadows lurk in his eyes, but he blinks and they’re gone. “You don’t want the fate that awaits you if you try to run. Trust me.”
He sounds so sincere, it makes me fight down a shiver of dread. I’m good at evasion, but this group is the Cŵn Annwn. The Wild Hunt exists in multiple folklore traditions, but the general consensus is that they’re unstoppable. When they ride, smart people hide. Getting swept up in the hunt might mean you end up miles—and sometimes years—away from where you started … or it might mean you end up as prey.
The prey never escape.
These Cŵn Annwn either got their name from the myth or the myth got the name from them. Neither option is ideal for my odds of evading them indefinitely. Three days. I bite down on questions about that person. The way Bowen spoke of them, I bet he was part of that hunt. Were they just a normal person? Were they magical? Surely I have some kind of advantage over them.
I clear my throat. “Why the choice? Seems like guiding people back to their home realms would be just as good an option as anything. Having your crews staffed with reluctant people can’t be good for business.”
Again, a flicker, but I can’t divine the emotion behind it. It seems too much to ask for that he agrees with me. Bowen finally shrugs. “I don’t make the laws, Evelyn. I enforce them. Now, you’ve stalled long enough. If you don’t choose, I’ll choose for you.”
I almost ask what choice he’d make for me, but I don’t think I want to know. He might have stopped his crewman from attacking me again, but he’s obviously one hundred percent done with my shit, so it’s just as likely that he’d toss me overboard to fend for myself if he didn’t kill me outright.
Great.
Awesome.
I close my eyes and try to think. There’s a way out of this. I just have to find out what it is. What I need is a loophole. No organization or person is free from things that they’d rather keep quiet. If the Cŵn Annwn has existed as long as it seems, I bet they have a boatload of secrets stashed somewhere. One has to be nasty enough to convince them to set me free from their group. Without a magical tracker attached to me.