Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 114551 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114551 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“What?” she breathes, gripping the center console and gaping at me as I hit the gas and fly out of the parking garage. “I don’t know any of The Circle’s chants or vows.”
I shake my head and let out a heavy sigh. “Then I suggest you figure it out fucking fast,” I tell her. “I shouldn’t have to be explaining this shit to you. If you want to survive in this world, then stop giving the other members of The Circle reason to doubt you. Fuck, Cara. Sawyer has known this shit since he was a kid. He used to spend hours reciting the chants and vows.”
“Yeah, well, forgive me, asshole. I’m not Sawyer, and my father didn’t spend the last twenty-three years preparing me for this shit. He was more interested in making sure I had a good childhood.”
“Your father failed you,” I tell her, not bothering to sugarcoat it. “Stop trying to defend his actions. Sure, he might have made sure that you had a great life, and that’s more than any of us can say about our fathers, but the bottom line is that he knew the likelihood of you being initiated into The Circle, and he didn’t do a damn thing to prepare you. He let you down.”
“No, Zade. You did.”
I scoff and glance at her. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re the one who put me here, not him. I was happy living in ignorance. Every single member of Empire believed that Sawyer was the rightful heir to my father’s legacy. Hell, even Sawyer and I both believed it, but you had to go and make things right. You could have initiated Sawyer into The Circle and no one would have even questioned it. You could have let the secret die with my father.”
“But it wouldn’t have,” I spit through a clenched jaw, not appreciating being questioned. “Apart from the fact that I refuse to start my reign by lying to my people, your father wasn’t the only one in on the secret. Your mother knew. She was a liability, and for me to go ahead and initiate Sawyer instead of you, I would have had no choice but to deal with that liability. Is that what you would have preferred? Go ahead and tell me now that I didn’t do the right thing, that I, as your leader, didn’t make the right decision.”
Cara mutters something under her breath before focusing her stare out the window, putting an end to the conversation. She thankfully stays quiet the rest of the drive, not uttering a single word until after I’ve pulled over on the side of the road, my SUV hidden within the shadows of the nearby woods.
“Where the hell are we?” she says, her gaze quickly scanning the thick brush ahead of us. “I thought we were going to the sacred tomb.”
“We are,” I say, indicating deeper into the darkness. “It’s through there.”
“But . . . no. That doesn’t make sense. We can’t be here already. The meeting doesn’t start ’til midnight,” she says, glancing down at the clock on my dash. “It’s only a little after eight. I figured we’d be driving for hours.”
I shake my head, not bothering with a proper response as I get out of the SUV and take a step toward the thick bushes.
Realizing I’m more than prepared to leave her stranded here, Cara scurries after me, hurrying out of my SUV and slamming the door behind her. Rolling my eyes as I listen to her feet rustling through the fallen leaves, I lift my hand over my shoulder and lock the car.
“Wait up,” Cara hisses behind me, quickly catching up and invading my personal space as though I could offer her any kind of safety in these woods. “I just . . . can you just lose the chip on your shoulder for one minute and explain what the fuck is going on here? I get it, alright. I’m not good enough to stand as one of The Circle members, but you’re not doing either of us any favors by keeping me in the dark. Give me a chance to learn.”
I really fucking hate it when other people are right.
Letting out a heavy breath, I lead her through the woods, along the well-memorized path, and out toward the sacred tomb. “You and I both have a lot of enemies, many who are working directly with members of The Circle. They want you dead, Cara. They refuse to accept you as part of The Circle. And me? Well, that’s self-explanatory, but tonight’s meeting isn’t exactly one of Empire’s best-kept secrets. If anyone was looking to take either of us out, these woods would be the perfect place and time to do it.”
“The fuck?” she gasps, her eyes widening as she scans the darkness, inching even closer. “Why the hell did you bring me out here if there could be people waiting to kill me?”