Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
My skin prickles at the thought. Yes, I know Will is here as a sacrifice, but he wasn’t killed. Merely sent to the Underworld as a gift. He’s going to age, and at some point, he won’t be useful anymore.
“Can you go back to the First Dimension?” I ask.
“Of course.” He glances at me before going back to his peeling. “But chances of finding a way to escape through the veil are nil.”
“Maybe I could find a way for us to escape,” I muse.
Will’s hands still and he turns to me. “You can’t escape, Nyssa. You’re dead. If you go back through the veil into the First Dimension, you’re nothing more than a spirit. You only have a body here by the king’s good graces.”
“Oh,” I murmur. I knew that, actually. Or, I should have known that. Just because I have a body now and can feel everything doesn’t mean it’s mine to keep.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember that I’m dead, and my life there is over.
“Well,” I say, sawing another hard bump, “I can probably help you escape.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Will says hesitantly. “I mean… if we get caught, it’s the Crimson River for us.”
A wave of anger hits me, not because I’m trapped here—I deserve this—but for Will, who did nothing and is stuck here.
It’s not fair.
I lean into the table, trying to saw harder but my knife slips. Luckily, it angles down away from my hand and lodges in the wooden top, but the round vegetable squirts free of my hold. It shoots across the table, dropping over the edge and rolling down the length of the kitchen where it stops at Rhynda’s boot.
“Fuck,” I curse under my breath as her head whips our way. She focuses in on the fact I’ve got no vegetable before me and my knife is lodged in the wood.
She bends over, picks up the vegetable, and walks toward us. I cringe inwardly. I don’t know how this is going to go.
Rhynda sets the vegetable in front of me, then clasps her hands behind her back. “It helps if you lay a thick towel under it for stability.”
My jaw sags and I stare at her in disbelief that I’m not getting a tongue-lashing.
I dip my head. “Noted. Thank you.”
To my shock, Rhynda bows reverently. When she straightens, her eyes move to something behind me. “Your Highness.”
I spin around to find Amell standing there. He’s imposing due to his height and those massive wings. But after all the time we’ve spent alone in his bed, he doesn’t inspire fear in me anymore.
“Were you standing there the whole time?” I ask him.
His lips twitch. “Only appeared as Rhynda was walking toward you.”
Relief surges through me that he didn’t hear my conversation with Will about escaping. Such thoughts could land me in the river. “What are you doing here?” I ask.
“I’m going on a trip, and I thought you’d like to come along.”
I can’t help the excitement. “Yes, I want to go. Now?” I turn to face Rhynda. “Is it okay if I leave early?”
Rhynda looks bewildered I’m asking her permission. She stammers, “Per the king, you’re free to come and go as you please.”
Pivoting back to Amell, I reach out and take his hands in mine—a move that causes Rhynda to gasp behind me and has Will backing away warily. “I can’t wait. Can we go now?”
Something flashes in Amell’s eyes. Not quite lust. Not quite amusement. But something that tells me he likes my exuberance very much. He leans in, bending low to put his mouth near my ear. “Watch yourself, Nyssa. I’m trying very hard not to take you back to my room.”
It’s a threat that would be wasted because if that were truly an option, I’d vote for that rather than a trip, and I’m sure he would too. But I pull away to put space between us.
Amell chuckles and advises, “We’ll bend distance to get there.”
He holds out a hand, and I start to reach for him but then change my mind. I turn to Will, grab his arm, and haul him toward me. My gaze goes back to Amell. “This is my friend, Will. He’s human.”
“Yes, I can see that,” Amell says dryly, his eyes on Will. “But I’d advise you not to touch, Nyssa.”
Will jerks away from me, taking a few steps back as he stammers, “My apologies, Your Highness.”
I glare at Amell. “That’s not nice.”
“I’m the king. I don’t have to be nice,” he says just before lunging to grab my hand.
Then things go dark, and I’m spinning out of control, only to suddenly straighten up when it brightens again.
I’m standing before a large stone mansion. The midnight sky is above, laden with stars and a possible sunrise on the horizon that will never actually come. I glance around and see we’re on a butte above a valley of sorts. It looks like a functioning town below with roads and buildings, and farther out what might be farms with planted crops. The hills are rocky and other than the green of vegetables poking from the fields, it lacks any type of life.