Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Ivory gave a grunt when she set the heavy books on the table. “Gods, those are heavy.” She dusted off her hands on her trousers before she flicked on the lamp at her bedside. The room was set aglow, revealing her crisp white bedspread, the white nightstands and dressers trimmed in gold, the place she used to call home. “Wow…it looks exactly the same.”
“But it smells a lot better.”
She grabbed one of her pillows and chucked it at me.
“Ouch,” I said sarcastically.
She parted the curtains and opened the window, letting the breeze air out the staleness. The scent of jasmine was noticeable a moment later. With her arms crossed over her chest, she looked at the city below, the torches flickering in the breeze.
“Nice to be home?”
She was so quiet for so long it was as if she hadn’t heard me. But then she spoke, her voice practically a whisper. “Doesn’t really feel like home anymore…”
19
IVORY
I spent all my time in my room, working at my desk, reading in bed, sometimes sitting on the floor. Books were open everywhere, and even though I felt guilty for marking them, I made notes in the corners. I made notes in my notebook too, but the highlights made it easier for me to go back and find the important stuff.
Ryker snuck me food and water. Whenever he had meals, he got extras and delivered them. He never stuck around because he had stuff to do, and I basically spent all my time in solitude, surrounded by books. He hid me in his room on Monday when they came to clean.
I kept the window open all the time, just as I did when I lived here. It was nice to have the fresh air, which was warm and soft on my lungs. I could smell all the scents of home, feel the breeze move through my hair just like old times. Sometimes I would sit at the foot of my bed and look out the window, seeing the hawks pass in the sky, the cloudless day.
Everyone below…they didn’t enjoy days like this.
I wasn’t even sure how they had reliable harvests with their kind of weather.
I lay on my side across the bedspread, an open book in front of me, but all the reading lulled me to sleep. With my head in the crook of my arm, I slipped under, the breeze hitting me right in the face from the window.
But then the breeze stopped.
The curtains rustled.
The floorboards creaked.
After months of traveling in the harshest conditions, of having to sleep with one eye open, my mind was trained to pick up any sound it deemed unusual. My eyes flew open, and I saw the man standing there.
In black armor with two short swords at his hips, he stood with broad shoulders and powerful arms. His back was to the window, as if he had climbed all the way up the rocks, past the guards, and straight into my open window.
I recognized the blue eyes from my dreams, but now they were different.
Livid.
His stern face was harder than usual, his jaw clenched with the same tightness as his closed fist. When he stepped forward, his boot was heavy against the floor, heavy with the weight of his muscles and armor.
I sat up, still unable to believe he was right before me, that this wasn’t a dream. “Huntley—”
With the speed of a hawk catching a mouse from the grass, he gripped me by the throat and squeezed. “You betrayed me.”
My hands immediately reached for his wrists, and when I tried to speak, I just lost air I couldn’t afford to lose.
He lowered me back to the bed, using his weight to pin me down. “You humiliated me.”
I tried to shake my head, but his grip was too tight. My head was submerged in a lake, and every time I drew breath, I just inhaled more water.
“I led an army to the Crags to get you back. But you were already gone.” His face came close to mine, his eyes angrier than I’d ever seen them. “I assumed you would come to me at HeartHolme. At the outpost. But you never did.”
I tried to kick him off, but it was like slamming your toe into a wall. I tried to peel his hands off me, but his lock was as strong as a viper’s jaws.
“My mother told me you returned to Delacroix, but I told her she was wrong.”
“She—” Now I really started to suffocate.
He gave me a hard shake. “You ran the first chance you had—and broke your promise to me.”
I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t breathe. My mind was about to slip away, and judging by the insanity in his eyes, I wouldn’t wake up again. The maids would find my corpse eventually, and no one would ever know what happened.