Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
He took a deep breath before continuing. “The mage who broke in was looking for my journals and spell books. An alarm spell tripped him up. By the time I arrived, he was breaking out of it. He pinned me with magic and was about to deliver the killing shot when Nessa stuck a knife in the back of his neck. She’s never been very squeamish about that kind of thing.”
“I would’ve made a really good gargoyle,” she said, half turning back with a grin.
“He went down like a sack of flour,” he said.
“I might not be powerful with spells,” Nessa said, “but I’m pretty damn good with knives.”
“The problem was, in the Guild’s eyes, she was nothing,” he said. “Killing a powerful mage would’ve almost certainly been a death sentence for her. But I was powerful—am powerful. I knew they wouldn’t want to destroy me, so I said I did it.”
“But you were protecting yourselves,” I said, horrified.
“They didn’t care,” Sebastian replied. “I killed one of their elite. They’re supposed to protect their elite. If they don’t, why would anyone bother paying for that status? They weren’t prepared to kill me, but I had to be punished. They tortured me for hours at a time each day. On the third day, they had a talk with me before they got started. ‘I’ll tell ya what,’ the guy said. I’ll always remember that. ‘I’ll tell ya what, you pay us what we’re owed, and we’ll forget about this whole thing.’”
“What they were owed?”
“The money they wanted to extort from me,” he replied. “Money they claimed they would have raked in from the mage if he’d lived.”
“Did you pay?”
“No. Screw them. They continued torturing me for another few days. How many exactly, I lost count. Each day, they gave me the same offer. Each day, I ignored them. I didn’t utter a peep during the sessions. Not a cry or a scream, nothing. Nor did I acknowledge their attempts at extortion. I wouldn’t even look at them. Finally, they got fed up and just let me go.”
“With a warning,” Nessa added.
“Right, with a warning. Don’t mess up again, or they’d kill me next time.”
“So we killed them instead,” she said.
“Yes. That’s when I started killing in cold blood. I already had the stage name, but I started using it as a weapon. I became a weapon.”
“That wasn’t cold blood,” Austin growled.
“Maybe not. But by then, I had no emotion left about it. I’d paid the price, and I returned to get my change. In blood.”
I shivered. Sebastian hadn’t told me any of this before, just hinted at it.
“There are some places in the shifter world as bad as that,” Austin said. “Maybe worse. This place was lawless when I arrived. Those in power hunted or stole or extorted as they desired. The weak were used as punching bags or killed for sport.”
“So you know what it’s like.” Sebastian’s tone was lifeless.
“Yes. The body count I racked up was very high.”
“But you fixed things,” I said.
A pause. And then Austin said, “Yes.”
“Well, then.” Nessa patted Sebastian’s arm. “That’s good news, isn’t it? We can finally help build something, Sabby. Rather than always tearing it down, hmm? Won’t that be nice?”
“Leave me alone. I’m moping,” he replied grumpily.
She laughed at him. “But the Guild will react differently to Jessie. Her setup is nothing like what they’re used to.”
Sebastian coughed out a laugh and then started chuckling helplessly. “Oh my word, is it different. Let’s count the ways, shall we, Captain?” Sebastian held up a fist and then peeled a finger away from it. One.
“Well, Vanna, the most obvious is also the gravest offense as pertains to her status,” Nessa supplied. “Until very recently, she was a Jane.”
“Blech. That makes her lower than any magical person on the planet, yes.” Sebastian glanced back. “If you haven’t caught on, mages are horribly snobbish.”
He peeled away another finger. Two.
“She inherited her magic,” Nessa said, and I could see her nose crinkle in the rearview window. “She has some sort of weird historical magic. Magic that comes from a house. There are legends about it, but since when are those actually real? I don’t buy it.”
“Yeah, a house?” Sebastian’s tone was comically skeptical.
“A house, yes. And this house apparently changed her from a Jane into some sort of shifter. A gargoyle, of all things, even though everyone knows female gargoyles don’t exist.” She shook her head. “Honestly, it’s too absurd. She must be making it up.”
He turned up his nose. “There is no way anyone could take that sort of thing seriously. No wonder Momar sent a lackey to collect her.”
“Agreed.” She nodded, her ears lifting with a smile.
Sebastian put up another finger for Nessa. Three.
“Well, the obvious, of course,” she supplied dutifully, glancing in the rearview at Austin. “She hangs out with filthy animals. Hell, she’s almost a filthy animal herself, and then she doubles down and beds one? Disgusting. She might as well go back to being a Jane. She’d at least have some self-respect that way. Blacklisted.”