Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“You hope to go home, yes? You’ve heard of the portal in Lux.”
A portal between worlds? No, I’d heard no such thing until now. “Can that portal take me to the otherworld?”
“Most definitely. But only the Guardian is allowed to navigate it.” Jasher tossed a couple berries into his mouth, chewed and swallowed.
He’d said allowed, not able. The opposite of the bath babes. “I hear he’s great and terrible.”
“Heed my words,” Jasher replied, breezing past my comment. “You may get what you want, but you may not like what you get.”
A cryptic warning. Yay. Determined to get through to him by any means necessary, I fiddled with the strap around my neck, lifting the compass from beneath my shirt.
He went stiff as a board. “Where did you get that?”
Whoa! Such passion, so quickly. If I had looked at Patch’s serpens-rosa with even half this intensity, I couldn’t blame her for going on the defensive. “It was a gift from a water maiden,” I replied, too afraid to lie. “Why?”
He scowled. “It wasn’t a gift, but bait.”
What, exactly, had Iris given me? A magical amulet of some sort, worthy of tornado-powered a fairy tale? “I’m guessing I have something worth trading now.”
Our gazes met. Held. His lids constricted to slits, and his intense stare bore holes in whatever confidence I possessed, draining it fast. No wonder people weren’t supposed to look at royal guards. Wowzer.
“You do,” he grated.
And confidence returned. Excitement prickled my skin, giving me the strength to break our stare. “What is it? What can it do? And yes, the answers are part of our bargaining process.” I’d learned my lesson well. You had to live with the consequences of your decisions, even if you made them in ignorance.
The muscle in his jaw jumped faster, but he didn’t look away. “It can do nothing but assuage a longstanding ache in me. It was my mother’s. She came from your world and brought it with her.”
Oooh. So much to unpack there. First of all, no wonder Iris had called the compass a ticket home. But how did she know I would oh, so conveniently run into Jasher? Second, he’d offered the information with zero inflection. The same deadness I’d witnessed at the execution, and yet, clearly the piece meant something to him. Third, he’d said ‘was.’ Past tense.
“Your mother died? Here, in this land?”
“She did.” Still no inflection in his tone. “I was a child.”
Sympathy squeezed my chest. “That sucks. I know how bad it is to lose a parent.”
He canted his head to the side in that curious way of his. “You lost one of yours?”
“Surprised the heartless executioner and the unwitting substitute have something in common? Yes, I was eight when my mother vanished.” Perhaps to visit this world. A thought too reactive to ponder now. “Unless I return home with the serpens-rosa, I’m going to lose my father too. He’s dying of cancer. It’s a terrible disease, and I will do anything to save him.” On that note. “Take me to Lux, protect me from bounty hunters, give me a serpens-rosa, let me look at you whenever I want, and I’ll give you the compass.” Start high, and as necessary, let go of what I could live without.
He flicked the tip of his tongue over an incisor. “Very well. A deal is struck.”
Wait. He wasn’t going to negotiate? I’d done it? Facilitated another quick turnaround? Yes! I opened up to thank him, but a yawn took over, nearly cracking my jaw. Now that I’d eaten and secured medicine and passage, there was no staving off fatigue.
“Sleep,” my companion muttered.
“No reason to look so gloomy, Jash. I’ll be an excellent addition to your team roster. I don’t mean to brag, but I’m like a houseplant.” I fluffed my hair. “I only need food and water to thrive.”
He appeared unimpressed.
Okay, how about this? “If you want, I can tell you stories about your mother’s homeworld along the way.”
Intrigue might—might!—have glinted in his sunset eyes. “There are already two bounty hunters on your trail, and they’re closer than you think.” He dug inside his backpack, withdrew a shirt, and tossed it my way. Then he stretched out flat, still clad in his armor, and used the pack as a pillow. “We’ll need to leave before dawn.”
I twisted each direction, examining the sphere of light for any hint of a coming invasion. “You can’t just say something like that and go to sleep. We should remain awake and alert.”
Minutes passed, but the quiet endured.
Well. Obviously this was going to be a long night—for me. Not only did I need to watch out for hunters, but I must also guard my compass. If Jasher stole it and abandoned me…
No, he wouldn’t risk the crimen. Would he? Did he own a stable?
I was just annoyed enough to mutter, “I would’ve agreed to give you the compass for an escort to Lux alone.”