Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
His eyebrows drew close together. “You would?”
I chewed the inside of my lip and nodded. “Let’s just say I would’ve been much better off not seeing what Sarasin had to show me.”
He leaned closer, eyes alight with curiosity. “What did he show you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I grabbed the bottle of wine and poured the last of it into my own glass.
“Why not?” he asked, then grimaced. “Was it bad? Did you ask to see the future or the past?”
“The future, and again, I don’t want to talk about it,” I told him firmly before knocking back a large gulp of wine. After the night I’d had, I certainly needed it.
“Oh, come on. At least tell me if I was there,” he encouraged with a cajoling smile. I wasn’t sure what expression was on my face right then, but it must’ve told Vasilios something because he slammed his hand down drunkenly on his thigh, his smile growing wider. “You did see me! I knew it!”
I did my best to act casual. “What makes you believe that?”
“Your eye twitched. I think it might be one of your tells.”
“My eye did not twitch, and even if it did, that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Yes, it does. So, tell me, what was I doing in your future? Have I gotten even more devilishly handsome than I am now?”
Oh my God. He really was drunk. It was almost … charming.
“You weren’t there,” I lied and picked up a slice of candied apple from his half-eaten plate of dessert. Oh, man, so good! Whoever did the cooking for the gathering was an excellent chef. “You know, it’s kind of rude for Sarasin to pick people before the meal has finished being served,” I grumped, going for another piece of apple before Vasilios cruelly snatched the plate away.
“No more dessert until you tell me what you saw. You don’t have to tell me everything, just the parts that pertain to me.”
Well, that would be tough since very nearly all of it pertained to him. It was the biggest shock of my life to know that Vasilios’s and my futures were so heavily intertwined. I was still in a state of denial about it.
“What? What does that face mean?” he asked, still holding the plate out of reach. “Am I dead? You saw me die, didn’t you.”
“Relax. I didn’t see you die.”
“What then?”
I exhaled heavily. “Just put the plate down, and I’ll tell you.”
Vasilios lowered the plate, and I scarfed down another few pieces of perfectly sweetened apple. Okay, so I could tell him a tiny bit of what I saw. I didn’t have to tell him about the bedroom scene that was so explicit it was currently burned into my retinas, nor about the little boy I was almost certain was our child, but I could at least give him something.
His bright eyes were levelled on me keenly, full of anticipation when I said, “Sometime in the future, I’m not entirely sure when, I go with you to Oreylia.”
His nostrils flared, his face hardening as his demeanour flipped. “That’s not possible. I’m never going back there. I promised myself that I wouldn’t.”
“Um, you and Sven are being sent back there when you finish serving your sentences here.”
“And as you well know,” Vasilios said, speaking a little too loudly on account of the wine. Luckily, no one seemed to be listening. All of them were just as drunk as he was. “Sven and I have no intention of completing our sentences.”
“And when exactly will you be cutting your sentences short?” I asked, hoping he might be inclined to reveal details now that he was drunk and Sven wasn’t there to interrupt him.
Sadly, he still maintained a modicum of awareness because he drew back. “You don’t need to concern yourself with that.”
“Why not? You offered for me to come with you. I can hardly do that if I don’t know when it’s happening.”
“I’ll collect you when the time comes. Now, tell me more about you and me in Oreylia. Why do we go there?”
“Well, the vision I saw didn’t provide a lot of details,” I lied. “But I think it might have something to do with, um, the reylite mines. I think … I think we go there to help free the miners.”
I saw surprise flicker across his features before he asked, “But why do you go with me? Are we … I mean, do we …”
“No. Nothing like that,” I replied a little too hastily. Again, a lie.
It aroused Vasilios’s suspicion. “You’re hiding something.”
“Why would I be hiding something? I’ve told you all I know about your part in my future. There’s nothing else to add.” I scooped up the final bite of his dessert and knocked back the rest of my wine before rising from the table. “I’m tired. I think I’ll go back to my cell to sleep.”