Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
So I walked with my head high straight to them as if nothing at all had happened.
“You women are the most terrifying of creatures,” Hinrik stated once I reached them.
“We know,” Melora said, linking one arm with me while Atarah linked the other.
I grinned and allowed them to take me away from everyone here.
“Druella,” Theseus called me, but I ignored him.
“Get a clue, brother. She’s mad at you.” Ulrik voiced behind me as we walked away. “At least you have me—hey, don’t hit me! I’m not the one who has crazy-women problems. What is it that you do to them that makes them never want to give up on you, anyway?”
“It seems like my mate also needs a clue.” Melora sighed.
“At least he’s not as stiff as mine,” Atarah replied.
I heard a chorus of “What?” behind me, and it made us all laugh.
“And this is exactly why I prefer men,” Hinrik muttered.
It seemed it didn’t matter if they were a vampire or mortal men, they were all a bit clueless when it came to women.
* * *
“On a scale of one to ten—”
“Again, with this scale of yours? Didn’t I tell you that it was not strong enough?” Melora cut me off as she drank from the bottle filled with blood as a drunk human would drink wine.
“I thought that was just for Theseus,” I replied, staring up at the moon that hung like gold in the black night sky.
“Nope. I notice that everything with you, Druella, is always at above ten.” Melora chuckled, drinking again.
Frowning, I turned my head and gazed at Atarah, who sat up in the grass with her dress puffed up all around her, drinking her blood from a teacup. “You aren’t going to disagree?”
“No, I think her assessment is pretty spot-on,” Atarah replied and sipped—her control was amazing.
They had led me to the gardens, Rhea’s garden, with a large maze at the back of their palace, and yes, I was calling it a palace. The maze was massive and made of green shrubs. Arsiein apparently created it as a defense measure against mortals should they accidentally stumble too close to the house. But it did not seem possible since how could they make it so close with all the vampires around here? Ulrik thought the same, so he would use it to trap mortals or pigs and chase them. We sat in the garden upon the grass, drinking the blood already out here for us, away from everyone else.
I sighed and wanted to kick my feet like a child. “I’m not trying to be at or above a ten. I’m trying to be normal, simple, but nope. Instead, I shoot off magic from my fingertips.”
“Don’t forget silencing and burning Orspina’s throat,” Atarah added and took another sip. “I’ve seen women do a lot in marking their territory—”
I sat up. “Marking their territory? I didn’t—”
“You bit Theseus in front of every vampire worth a damn in this country,” Melora reminded me. “Even his father. And I thought I was bold, but you? You pretty much yelled, ‘He is mine, and you try to say otherwise, I will set you on fire,’ then proceeded to force Orspina to agree to your terms. Brava, honestly, brava.” She clapped for me.
I pouted and lay back, brushing my hands over the necklace. “It’s not my fault. Well, it is my fault. But it’s not like—ugh, I don’t know how to say it. I just think something or want something, and it begins to happen, and I just—”
“Lean into your power?” Atarah replied.
“Yeah.” I didn’t know to control it, but it still knew what I wanted and did what I wanted, and sometimes, I liked it. “Has Orspina really been after Theseus this whole time…over a thousand years?”
“Yep.” Melora nodded. “She was sure they were soulmates, and that’s why neither of them had been mated after all this time. She even excused Rhea of hiding the truth from Theseus because of Rhea’s hate for her.”
“I’m sure Rhea regrets killing her,” Melora mused as if that was not a big massive detail I also didn’t know.
“Rhea killed her?”
Melora and Atarah gave me a look.
“What?” I asked. “I remembered Theseus saying she’d killed the man who had killed him. But nothing about his former wife.”
“When Theseus told you his story and how his mother saved him, you didn’t put together that to do this, she would have to kill both of the people who had hurt him?” Atarah asked, and now that she broke it down that way, it seemed obvious.
“Rhea snapped the neck of the man Orspina was with. And she ripped out Orspina’s heart. She actually ripped it from her chest and threw it beside her body,” Melora added. “Sadly, Rhea did not know Orspina was a healing witch.”
“A mortal can heal from their heart being ripped out?” Not something I wanted to find out personally, but what?