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)
A coldness creeps up my spine. “Which is?”
“Throw her in the river and be done with it.”
The god has rendered me speechless. I’m shocked at such a brutal suggestion because although Zora is a god, she’s not without compassion or mercy. It’s why she wants me to evaluate souls for reincarnation.
“Not going to happen,” I growl.
Or, at least as long as Nyssa doesn’t piss me off so much that my rage gets the better of me.
Zora shrugs, clapping her hands on her thighs before rising from her chair. “Well then, I guess I should be going since we have nothing else to discuss.”
I don’t stand but incline my head at her. “Good to see you.”
“Good to see you too,” she says but then shocks me even more. She holds out her hand and sitting on her palm is a long, cylindrical crystal. It’s opaque white and quite ugly in a bland kind of way.
“I thought you might want this,” she says.
“My décor is already complete, but thanks,” I reply dryly.
Zora rolls her eyes. “It’s from the Hall of Histories.”
“And that means something to me?”
“The Hall of Histories is where every life—mortal and immortal—are recorded in the form of memories. This is Nyssa McKnight’s crystal.”
It’s a gut punch to know that all the answers to my questions about this woman are sitting in Zora’s palm. Answers Nyssa refuses to provide.
“I can see you warring with yourself over whether you should take it. Afraid to be intrusive?”
I snort as I reach out for the crystal. “If you think I’ve got a conscience over poking into her life, you’re sadly mistaken.”
“The question is,” Zora drawls, “do you really want the answers?”
I examine the crystal, turning it over in my hand. “You must think I do or else you wouldn’t have bothered to bring this to me.”
“Maybe it was a peace offering,” she suggests.
“Or bribery?” My eyes move from the crystal to her multihued eyes. “I’m not helping Maddox.”
“Even if I opened your prison doors and said you could leave the Underworld?”
Damn her for dangling such a sweet carrot.
But I’m a principled evil Dark Fae. “No, not even then.”
Zora nods once, a graceful acceptance of my refusal. “Be well, then, old friend.”
That twinges a little. Her declaration that I’m her friend. Maybe she truly does forgive what I’ve done.
I hold up the crystal. “Thanks for this.”
“All you have to do is open your mind and it will show you all. Use the information wisely.”
She disappears before I have the opportunity to assure her I will.
Staring down the crystal, I don’t have a moment’s hesitation about peeking into Nyssa’s life. I wrap my hand firmly around it and open my mind as Zora ordered. The crystal glows bright, and the information comes in powerful torrents. Not just flashes of a story but deep understanding of the meaning behind what I’m shown. It takes no more than a few seconds to receive the memories, but when the crystal goes dark, I know every intimate detail of Nyssa’s life from her point of view.
And I wish I didn’t.
“I wouldn’t think it possible, but you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Nyssa walks into my suite, and I’ve gotten used to the way my body tightens when I see her.
She’s beautiful, of course, but it’s the fact that she’s got flour smudged across her forehead to which she’s completely oblivious that makes her so appealing.
She’s just so… anti-Underworld.
Nyssa brings a freshness to an otherwise stale and mundane life.
Even though she’s had a hard day of labor in the kitchen, she’s got a smile on her face. When I don’t smile back, she asks, “What’s wrong?”
I shake off the memories I just watched in the crystal and attempt a smile. “Nothing’s wrong.” Then I redirect. “In fact, Calix went to get you more items from the First Dimension.”
Nyssa follows me into the bedroom, and I nod toward the bed. When she turns that way, I drop the crystal in the top drawer of my dresser and watch as she paws through the clothes. She holds up the same black bra I had been checking out and cocks an eyebrow.
“I’d be very pleased if you wore that so I can take it off you,” I say.
Nyssa flushes and drops the bra, then utters a squeal of excitement. “Books,” she exclaims, picking them up one at a time and reading each title.
I move beside her. “Were you a big reader?”
She shakes her head. “Not in recent years, but I used to enjoy it.”
I know every bit of that to be true based on what I saw in the crystal. “I’ll get more for you when you finish those.”
“Thank you,” she says, and then shocks me by throwing her arms around my waist to hug me.
It must shock her, too, because before I can react, she scrambles back. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to—”