Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
However, I didn’t get more than a single step before Nylian grabbed my arm and jumped to his feet as well.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
I cocked my head to the side, my brow furrowing at his tone. There was no way he was jealous of Jasper. We’d covered this already. “I wanted to take a peek in the spell book. Just help him a bit.”
“Absolutely not.”
“What?” I choked on the word even as Nylian wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me back a step.
“We’ve watched him reduce ogres to squirrels, change scoundrels into ducks, and now his own mentor is a chipmunk. You aren’t allowed anywhere near him when he’s casting spells.”
“That…is an excellent point,” I conceded. “You’re right. Forgive me?”
“Ooooh,” Nylian purred as he added as a second arm to my waist and pulled me in even closer. “I like how that sounds.”
“Forgive me?”
He shook his head with a smirk. “No, the other thing.”
Instead of rolling my eyes at his ridiculousness, I leaned in closer, brushing my lips over his as I whispered in a husky tone, “You’re right.”
“Ha! I knew it! About freaking time!”
Adeline’s shout and laughter nearly jolted me out of Nylian’s arms and into the fire. Good thing the elf had better reflexes. He jerked me close, nuzzled my neck long enough to place a kiss behind my ear, and shot Adeline a glare without missing a beat. Had I mentioned that my elf was smooth? Yes, very smooth.
None of that fazed Adeline. She laughed so hard she fell off the log she was using as a seat and still continued to cackle like a Halloween witch.
“Are you done yet?” I inquired as I leaned into Nylian, enjoying the feel of his muscular body supporting me.
“Never. I will never be done,” she gasped between more crows of laughter. Really, it wasn’t that funny.
After another minute, she pushed herself upright, her face bright red from laughing. “You have no idea. That whole trip to Riverhold, he was mooning over you or trying to get your attention. I thought he was going to hit you over the head with a stick and drag you into the woods if you didn’t catch a clue soon.”
“Utter nonsense,” Nylian grumbled, but I noticed he refused to meet my eyes.
Swallowing my chuckles, I leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I don’t believe her. There’s no way I could have looked away from your handsomeness.”
Adeline dissolved into more cackles, and even Jasper sounded as if he were going to choke to death in his attempt to not laugh at us. Nylian muttered something under his breath that sounded like a swear and released me, intending to move back to his seat.
He didn’t get more than a step when a hawk’s cry cut through the giggles and the crackle of the fire. Binx squealed and darted into the sleeve of Jasper’s robes. All the mirth dissolved from Nylian’s face as he turned toward the sound of the cry and lifted one arm upward. With a flap of great brown wings, a hawk dropped to our camp and lightly landed on Nylian’s forearm. Its black talons circled his wrist but seemed careful not to puncture his skin.
“Whoa,” I exhaled, my heart still racing at the sight of the raptor the size of a medium dog. “How did you do that?”
“I didn’t.” Nylian didn’t take his eyes off the hawk as he answered. The fingers of his free hand plucked at a small cylinder on the hawk’s leg, pulling out a tiny scroll of paper. The second it was free, he lifted his arm, sending the hawk into the air.
“Who’s that from?” Jasper asked.
“How did it even find you?” Adeline chimed in.
“My uncle. The hawk is trained to find me anywhere,” Nylian replied, his eyes skimming the paper before he wadded it up in his fist. He turned his gaze to me, all laughter and teasing long forgotten. He was as serious as I’d seen him since we first met. “We need to go to Blackscar. My uncle has news for me about Orian.”
“Blackscar, that’s in Wolfrest, right? Are you sure we can trust this uncle?”
“Yes. I’ve always been close with him, even though I haven’t been able to see him often. I don’t believe his intent is to harm me but to help me get to the bottom of what happened to Orian.”
I didn’t like this. After so many people had shown that they wanted Nylian dead or wanted to somehow use him, it was a little hard to believe that this uncle wasn’t among them. However, if he really had some news about Orian’s death—particularly about the poison or who’d put the poison on the sword—we would have a better chance at finding the true culprit. It was a chance we had to take.