Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 140412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
I’ve never heard her speak so plainly. My jaw drops.
For a moment, I’m afraid Nathan will get all egotistical and angry, but he doesn’t. He just nods thoughtfully. “Without thralls, we can’t control what we become at the full moon. Which is the most important function thralls perform, really.”
“And if we take that away, what are you left with?” she asks.
“There are human magicians,” Ryan points out. “Why do we keep forgetting this?”
“And do they have access to the millennia of magic texts and techniques thralls have acquired?” Xiao counters.
“We’re getting ahead of ourselves,” Hannah says, almost nervously. I wonder if she’s uncomfortable talking about this because she doesn’t want to think about what would happen if the thralls took that control away from us, or if she’s worried something will happen to Xiao for speaking her mind with Nathan in the room.
I know Nathan as my mate.
Hannah and Ryan and Xiao know Nathan as the guy who just enacted the most brutal mass execution in pack history.
“Right, back to the moonstone,” I say. “But Xiao, I appreciate your insight. Please, feel free to join in with anything you think might be helpful.”
She nods.
“King Archibald didn’t trust thralls,” I go on. “So, what are the chances that he was aware that some were working magic on werewolves?”
“High, though he never mentioned it to me,” Nathan says.
“I found listening devices all through Wyrding House,” Xiao puts in. “They might not have been for thrall spying. He might have been spying on the thralls.”
“And poor Harriet is clearly used them.” I pause. “Poor Harriet was loyal to your uncle. For over a hundred years. She could have killed him or hurt him at any time, and she didn’t.”
Nathan nods, brow creased in thought. “And if he had been concerned about Harriet’s loyalty, he wouldn’t have kept her in the house.”
“Harriet seemed to have a real issue with thralls, herself,” I point out. “Snobby.”
“And poor Harriet tried to kill you,” Hannah reminds me. “After you learned that thralls put the spell on you.”
“Your Majesties, she could have overhead any conversation you had about the binding while you were in the house,” Xiao adds.
“So, you think she tried to kill us because of the spell the thralls put on us?” My pregnancy-fatigued brain struggles a little to keep up.
“In which case, why would the thralls give her the magic she would need to throw a wrench into their plans?” Nathan grimaces and curses under his breath.
“I’m going to write this…” Hannah says, uncapping a new marker and turning back to the whiteboard. “…in blue… so we know… it’s unsubstantiated…”
When she turns back, the “moonstone” entry has a color-coded bullet point that reads: “humans”.
“Fantastic,” Ryan exclaims. “This gives us a direction to move in.”
He reaches across the table and grabs a notebook and pen. “Make fun of Hannah all you want, Bailey, but look. She brought paper.”
“Paper can be destroyed,” Nathan muses. “Good idea, Hannah.”
She gives me a playful little smirk.
I laugh and gesture at the board. “Okay. Now, let’s talk about this Tyr and Fenrir thing. I admit, I’m not the expert in mythology here, but they never boned down, that I can recall. What’s the point of symbolically making them have a baby?”
“Good point.” Hannah writes, “Not literal symbolism” as a bullet point under “Nathan and Bailey reproductive spell”. She uses blue, so we know it’s not a definitive answer.
I love my best friend.
There’s a knock at the door. Suddenly, any sense of ease we may have felt as we got lost in our brainstorming? It’s gone.
Xiao unlatches her holster and moves to open the door. I’m fully expecting a werewolf to burst in and bite off my other hand, but it’s just Tara, standing in the hall with a gym bag that looks like it’s about to burst.
Her gaze flicks down to Xiao’s hand on the gun and Tara says timidly, “Bailey said there was a meeting?”
I can’t believe she actually came. When I told her before, she’d been almost hostile in her level of non-commitment.
“I didn’t think you’d come,” I blurt, unthinking.
“Do you want me to leave?” Her eyes narrow in a petty expression I recognize from so many moments in our childhood, and my heart nearly bursts. This tiny drop of bitchiness momentarily quenches my fearful thirst for reassurance that we’ll be sisters again someday.
The catch here is, I didn’t tell Nathan she might join us.
“Pardon me,” he says. “I say this with the utmost respect to you as my sister-in-law and as a member of this court but with your history—”
“You’re talking about the weird spell they put on you,” Tara interrupts him confidently. “I know more about Norse lore than you do, and I’ve been researching nonstop since eleven this morning. Do you want my input or not?”
Without looking to Nathan for confirmation, I say, “We do. Please, explain.”