Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Dirk frowns “So you want me to tell Prince Titus’ bride-to-be she can try to escape?”
I nod.
“And this has nothing to do with the question you had me spend days researching, right?”
“Right.”
Dirk licks his lips, showing a rare flash of nervousness. “You know what you’re risking, don’t you?”
“Yes. If my brother catches wind of this, he’ll be sure to leverage every ounce of power my mother has to get back at me. It could start a civil war.”
“And you’re sure you want this?” he asks.
“I’m sure.”
I wait in the darkened hallways of the palace just after midnight. I have bribed the guards into taking an early night like I promised. The hallway I’m in overlooks the exit from Elizabeth’s staircase, so I’ll know if she plans to try escaping. The challenge will be running the length of the long hall and descending the stairs quickly enough to catch up to her.
My mind wanders while I wait, specifically over how I should interpret her decisions. If she stays in her room, I first thought there was only one clear meaning: she’d be telling me she had no interest in repeating our encounter from the night she tried to escape. What if she denies my offer because she thinks it’s some sort of trap? Or a test?
If she does try to escape, I’ll be equally in the dark. She might truly believe she could get past me. If she really wants her freedom from this place--and who could blame her for that--I just offered her the only real way to get it. As plausible as it all is, the hunger in me only wants to accept one outcome, one possibility, and one motivation. She will try to escape, and she will want to be caught.
If I catch her though, I’ll never know the truth, so I decide to take an immense risk--an intolerable risk. If I’m wrong, the entire kingdom may pay the price, but the alternative is unacceptable. I’m going to let her go if she chooses to go. It’s the only way to know if she wants to be caught. If she lingers or comes back to wander until I find her, I’ll know her true intentions.
Elizabeth emerges from the doorway of her tower about an hour after midnight. She wears a thin dress that has me urging to get her back in the dungeon and see what’s underneath, but not yet, not by force. I need to know she wants it without a doubt, that she wants me and not Titus. If I’m going to go forward with this and risk destabilizing one of the strongest kingdoms in the Shrouded Kingdoms, I had better be damn sure.
9
Elizabeth
I run through the darkened hallways of the palace, wind rushing in my ears and bare feet slapping against the marble. The sounds of my frenzied run echo through the vast hallways and chambers, but no one comes. Was that man really telling the truth?
He showed up at my door after the servants left for the night and gave me the strangest message: Prince Roark will clear a path for me to escape, but I can only earn my freedom if I manage to make it out without him catching me. I wrote it off immediately as a lie, but when I tried to sleep, I could think of nothing else. If he told the truth, it meant two things.
One was that my only real opportunity to escape this place might be tonight. The other implication was that Prince Roark wants me badly enough to risk what I have to imagine are dire consequences. If I were to actually escape, I’m sure one of the guards he must have bribed into leaving these halls will talk, and then Titus will find out. Little brother or not, my time here has already taught me that Prince Titus is not a man to be crossed, and neither is his mother, who wears her loyalty to her youngest son so plainly that even a blind dog could see it.
Another possibility occurs to me as my pace slows and I move through the final stretch of my flight more slowly. Maybe Prince Roark knew there was no risk in letting me escape, because he knew he would catch me. This could have just been a ploy to get me alone at a time he could have me again without anyone finding out. The idea should terrify me, especially as I creep through nearly pitch-black rooms and stairwells with the hairs on the back of my neck prickling like I’m being watched. Instead of frightening me though, the idea sets my stomach on fire, and it’s not long before the heat spreads between my legs, leaving no doubt to what my body wants.
After what feels like ages, I reach the front gate. As promised, it stands wide open, giving me a view of the sparkling city ahead and the distant hills that lead to my freedom. I take a step forward, but hesitate. The life I lived up to this point in the outside world was far from good. My parents acted like I didn’t exist most of the time, and my sisters made sure the existence I did have was as miserable as possible. But turning eighteen was going to be the start of something new. I was going to leave home and go off to college, even if it meant taking on debt and working my ass off.