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)
“There is no land, Ryker. That’s all a lie.”
“I know that! But we need to do something because I’m not going to let this happen to her.”
“Her?” He stepped closer to me. “This is no friend, then.”
“It doesn’t matter what she is.”
“It does matter. Because I’m not going to spare a whore—”
“She’s not a whore. She’s important to me.”
He gave a loud sigh and looked away. “Ryker, it’s too late.”
“It’s not too late!”
“Even if I had land to give them, I wouldn’t. You want to know why? Because they don’t deserve it. They’ve done nothing to earn it.”
“Then tell them it was a mistake.”
“And let the other subjects see that we don’t keep our word? They would never trust us again.”
“Then we just tell her family the truth and to keep quiet about it.”
He looked at me, his eyebrows high on his face. “Don’t be stupid.”
“If it’s going to save their lives, they’ll be quiet.”
He held up his forefinger right to my face. “If they tell just a single person…all our power could be dismantled. There would be riots. Uprisings. The lottery wouldn’t work anymore, and we wouldn’t have anyone to sacrifice. You know what that means? King Rutherford would have my head—or worse, Necrosis would starve and make it up here. I’m sorry that you’ve developed an affection for this girl, but you know full well you were never going to marry her. She’s not your problem.”
“Father, I never ask you for anything—”
“Then don’t start now.” He turned back into his bedroom. “They chose to play the lottery—and they’ll accept the consequences.”
“But they played it under false pretenses!”
“Doesn’t matter. They should have considered themselves lucky to live in Delacroix, to be protected from the monsters down below, to have food on the table and a warm place to sleep in the winter. But they got greedy—and wanted more.”
“Wanting a better life isn’t greedy.”
He stepped into his quarters. “Goodnight, Ryker.”
“Come on!”
He shut the door and locked it.
I threw my body against it, pounding my fists into the solid wood to get him to return. “Open the fucking door!” The guards eventually had to yank me away from the door and drag me down the hallway. “Father! Please! I’m begging you!”
“Stop!” I ran down the pathway in the dark, carrying a torch to light my way to the edge of the cliffs. Their structures were visible in the distance, but I couldn’t make out anything else. “Stop this now!” After what felt like an eternity, I made it to the area where the guards stood. “Where are they?” Effie and her family were nowhere in sight.
Fuck, was I too late?
The guard held up his torch as he stared at me. “The winners have been lowered to the bottom of the cliffs.”
“No…” I ran to the edge and looked down the line of cables but saw nothing but darkness. “Effie!”
The silence echoed back at me.
I leaned over the edge, my toe just over the line, and stared into that dark abyss with agony.
I was too late.
Then I heard it—a faint shout.
It was so faint that my heart heard it louder than my ears.
“M’lord?”
“Raise the cables.” I turned back to them where they stood at the cranks.
Neither one of them made a move for it.
“The duke has ordered their return.” My torch changed hands, and I came closer. “Now.”
The guard glanced past my shoulder.
“Move.” I threw the torch down and shoved him out of the way. I grabbed the handle of the crank and started to turn it, immediately wincing because it was a lot harder to raise than lower with their weight at the bottom. I grimaced as I kept turning, my hand burning against the metal.
Then the cable suddenly went slack.
My eyes shifted to the rope—and I watched it disappear over the edge. “No!” There was nothing left to grab. Nothing left to pull. It was over—and there was nothing I could do. I turned back to the crank and saw the blade that had severed the line.
My father’s blade.
I turned around and faced him, seeing his face in the glow of the torch. I was slow to anger, didn’t hold grudges, and chose to make a joke out of everything, even something serious. But right now, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so livid.
He was in his uniform now, his appearance no longer wild, and the darkness in his eyes showed his inhuman traits. “Don’t look at me like that, son. This isn’t my fault. It’s yours.”
With my teeth clenched tightly together and the dimples in my cheeks caved in, I seethed in silence.
“If you’d told me this sooner, I could have prevented it, and you know I would have. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. But you waited until the very last possible moment when everything was already set in motion, when there was no going back. If you care about something, do a better job of protecting it.”