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)
“Where does the soul go, then?”
“I unmake it. And that’s what I did for Mertuk’s daughter.”
“Unmake it?”
“Her soul is simply no more.”
Nyssa’s face screws up slightly as if the idea is distasteful, but then she says, “That sounds awful, but it must have been a great comfort to him.”
“I’d like to think so.”
Silence ensues while we eat, but I can tell the questions are not done. She’s prioritizing.
“Did Mertuk love his daughter?”
I frown at her, trading my fork for my wine goblet. “Of course.”
“So, fae can love?”
“Yes, fae can love. Why would you think we can’t?”
Nyssa shakes her head and becomes engrossed in her pie. “Never mind.”
I reach out and grab her hand that has her fork lifted halfway to her mouth. “Why would you think that?” I repeat, and my tone lets her know I expect an answer.
Sighing, Nyssa tugs free and drops her fork to her plate. “It’s just something Truett said. He said you don’t have marriage here and you aren’t monogamous. I assumed it was because everyone is evil and thus there’s no capacity to love.”
“Interesting,” I muse, although it’s a logical conclusion.
“How come you rule differently from Kymaris?” She looks me right in the eye, and I blink in surprise. She’s like a journalist peppering a politician with all the hard questions.
I think about it a moment, take another sip of my wine. “I guess I’m just not as hard-hearted as she was.”
Nyssa’s gaze drops to her plate. “Truett said when Zora was a human, you cared for her.” I grit my teeth and make a mental note to knock Truett’s teeth out of his blabbing mouth. Eyes still downcast, she adds, “He said it was a complicated relationship. But if you don’t have monogamy, how were you even in a relationship?”
I don’t answer, waiting for her to find the courage to look at me first. As the seconds tick by and the silence grows heavier, Nyssa finally forces her gaze up to meet mine.
“It was complicated because Zora was a prisoner, and it was my job to watch over her while she was here. Kymaris was using her as a conduit to store immense dark magic for a spell she would later use to tear down the veil between our worlds. It was also part of my job to make Zora submit to the infusions of dark magic, which were most unpleasant.”
Nyssa’s expression tightens. “How long was she here?”
“Twenty-eight years… since the day she was born,” I reply, hating how Nyssa pales at that revelation. Might as well feed it all to her. “She was raised by a Dark Fae couple, and not well. They weren’t good to her. I protected her as much as I could and helped her move out when she was able to survive on her own.”
“You cared for her a great deal.” Nyssa’s conclusion is not wrong. “Even though you were her jailer, so to speak.”
“Of course, I cared for her. When she got older, we…”
My words dry up, and I don’t know why it’s so hard to talk about being intimate with another woman.
“You had sex,” Nyssa supplies, which isn’t the full truth. Zora offered me her virginity, and I gladly took it and kept taking for myself after. “But Truett said you’ve had sex with his sister, too, and that, well… probably a zillion others over your long life.”
“Are you jealous?” I ask with one eyebrow cocked.
“No,” she asserts far too strongly. “I’m well aware that I’m a diversion. Something new and interesting. I expect that will wear off soon enough, and I’ll probably end up back in my cell or in the river.”
My heart squeezes, because I know about Nyssa’s life and I know why she would feel that way. She expects nothing but rock bottom for herself.
I know all of this, but I want to hear her say it. So I poke a little. “Why would you think that? Maybe you’re not giving yourself enough credit.”
Nyssa rolls her eyes and pushes her plate away, barely a quarter of her food eaten. “Lay off, Dr. Phil. My life isn’t available for shrinking.”
“I have no clue what that means.”
She expertly changes the subject. “How did Zora become a god?”
“I let her leave the Underworld when her twin sister came looking for her. She played a part in a prophecy that resulted in Kymaris’s death. Zora sacrificed herself for the world and died. The gods decided—”
“Gods? As in, there are more than Zora and the same God that kicked you out of Heaven?”
“There are more, yes. Circe, the god of Fate. Cato, the god of Nature. Onyx, the god of Conflict. And Veda, the god of Humanity. At any rate, the former god of Life, Rune, was stripped of his powers for meddling in the prophecy, and Zora was brought back as a god.”