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)
And those were my last words before I promptly fell asleep. When I woke up, Vasilios was sitting on the floor on the other side of the cell, knees bent, back against the wall. The prison was quiet. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, while Vasilios sat still, watching me.
“How long was I out for?”
“Two hours, maybe a little more.”
“It’s quiet.”
“The guards managed to subdue the riot about an hour ago. Everything’s been quiet since, but they haven’t unlocked the cells yet.”
“Oh. Did anyone come by to do an inspection?”
He shook his head, and we fell into silence. Now that I’d slept off the blood haze, self-consciousness was swiftly trickling in. I couldn’t believe I’d fed from him. What had I been thinking? Oh, yeah, I hadn’t been. I’d allowed the beast to take control, and now, I might be strong and fed, but I was also full of shame and regret. What would Peter say if he knew?
Guilt and anxiety mingled within me, making my stomach hurt. Drinking blood was necessary for my survival, but I couldn’t deny that there was often a sexual element. There hadn’t been with Angela because we were both straight, but with Vasilios … I couldn’t tell if it was because of him or if it was just because he was a man, but there’d been a charge between us, and it hadn’t been a platonic charge.
I stood from the bed. “You can sleep now if you want, and I’ll keep watch.”
He shook his head. “I’m good where I am.”
“Are you sure? It can’t be very comfortable on the floor.”
He only shrugged and turned his attention toward the bars as he quietly scanned outside the cell. We sat silently for a few minutes before I spoke, “Tell me about Oreylia. What’s it like there?” I wasn’t sure what compelled me to ask. Call it mild curiosity. Or maybe it was the fact that I still couldn’t comprehend how my future self chose to travel there. Sure, I had my selfless moments, but I wasn’t certain I could ever be selfless enough to risk my life for a population of strangers.
Vasilios arched an eyebrow and turned his head to me. “Why do you want to know?”
“Well, if what I saw of my future is real, then I’m going to go there one day. It seems smart to be prepared.”
“You should hope the future you saw is wrong. Oreylia is no place for you.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re a dhampir. A demon would capture you right away and put you to work in the mines. It took almost a century for Sven and me to escape. Is that what you want? A hundred years of agony?”
“No, but as I told you before, in the vision of my future, I saw us go there to help free the other miners. Don’t you think that’s a noble pursuit? All the people who are suffering just like you did could have a chance at a better life.”
“And we would be risking ours just to give it to them.”
“It might not make sense now, but Sarasin said something interesting to me before I left him.”
Vasilios perked up at this. “Oh?”
“He said the future often doesn’t make sense because we haven’t experienced the journey yet. So maybe it seems improbable right now that we would risk our lives for others and travel to Oreylia, but perhaps there comes a time when it’s something we feel we need to do.”
What was I even saying? I had no intention of allowing the future Sarasin showed me to occur, so why was I even talking about it with Vasilios? Perhaps it was because the visions were so ingrained in my mind. I didn’t want to accept them, but I also couldn’t stop thinking about them.
His eyes held mine, curiosity in them. “Maybe you’re right.” He paused and exhaled a soft breath. “All I know is that travelling back to Oreylia would be like willingly stepping into a living nightmare. I mean, I’m in prison in your world, Darya, and I’d rather spend another century in this place than spend a single day back where I came from.”
I saw the pain, the years of suffering, in his face, and a sliver of guilt trickled in. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me about it if it’s too distressing.”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment, his attention on the floor when he finally said, “The city where I was born is called Treyu. It sits at the foot of a group of mountains known as the Hamlivs. Sven and I had to climb through those mountains to escape. We hid there for months while I taught myself how to harness my powers and create a portal to the dimension where my father came from.”
“How did you survive? Was it very cold?”