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 chest squeezes that Thalia would offer such a kindness. She doesn’t know Nyssa and shouldn’t care about a degenerate soul who’s stuck in Hell for eternity. But she’s doing it because it’s more than obvious I’ve got a soft spot for this woman.
She’s offering her a bit of normalcy… one human woman to another.
“Thank you,” Nyssa says softly and pulls away, walking out the door.
I sigh, shoulders slumping slightly. This has been a shit show of a morning.
“Bastien,” Thalia says, turning toward her husband. “I want you and Heph to return to Vyronas.”
I blink in surprise at the request. Bastien erupts, and I expect no less. “No way I’m leaving you here alone.”
“She’s not alone,” I say with a smirk. “She has me.”
Bastien doesn’t even look my way as he knows I’m just poking fun. Thalia moves to him, puts a hand to his face, and says, “I’d like to talk to my father alone, and I won’t be long behind you. I promise.”
I avert my eyes the minute my son-in-law’s face softens. He knows Thalia wants to talk to me about Nyssa, and that implies I’m soft and not the hardcore asshole he wants to make me out to be all the time.
Heph moves to me and we clasp arms. “Sorry we didn’t get to share a pint,” he says. “Maybe next time.”
“You’re welcome here whenever,” I assure him. I grew fond of the old blood magic practitioner when I was in Vyronas.
Bastien offers me a chin lift, and I tear an opening in the veil between my receiving room and the throne room in Thalia’s own castle in the capital city of Clairmont. Bastien and Heph step through, and I close the seam.
Thalia moves back to the chair she’d been sitting in and picks up her wine. She gives the adjacent couch a pointed look, her silent order for me to sit my ass down and spill everything.
“I don’t know what you’re looking for me to say.” I do take a seat, ignoring my own wine.
“Well, obviously, you have feelings for her. And obviously, you wanted to talk to me about it or else you wouldn’t have brought her into this room to begin with.”
No sense arguing the truth. “Fuck, I wanted to rip off Sorcha’s head. And then that frail human who swears she has no heart or redeemable soul begs me to spare her. She’s confounding, to say the least.”
Thalia’s laugh is musical, and I roll my eyes that my daughter finds humor in the king of the Underworld being confused by a dead human.
“Start from the beginning,” she says as she settles into her chair, as if she knows this is going to be a good story.
“She caught my interest when she called me a big old, winged bat just as I was about to throw her into the river,” I say.
Thalia grins. “Oh, I like her already.”
My daughter listens attentively as I tell her everything, including that I’m fucking the human. Although I don’t say it in such crude terms, I don’t sugarcoat it either. It’s enough that she knows Nyssa sleeps in my bed.
“I like her,” Thalia says after I finish. “I mean… I’ve only observed her beg you for mercy for someone who didn’t deserve it. Speaks a lot to her nature and is at odds with the fact she killed someone so brutally.”
“She had a rough life.” I’ll never divulge the details I learned through the crystal Zora gave me. “She definitely doesn’t deserve a one-way ticket to the Crimson River.”
“So reincarnate her,” she says. “You know that’s the right thing to do.”
I don’t respond, rather pick up my goblet and swallow what’s left of my wine.
“Ahh,” she drawls, and I glare at her. “You don’t want to give her up.”
“She’s a great fuck,” I growl, intentionally trying to be crude so Thalia doesn’t pick away at my feelings by using reverse psychology on me.
She takes a delicate sip, waiting for me to say something else that is more conducive to honest communication.
“Fine,” I mutter, slamming the empty goblet on the table and slouching back into the couch. “I want to keep her. I like her. If I reincarnate her, I lose her. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Is it the truth?”
“You know it is,” I say, my eyes locked on hers.
“Then keep her. It’s as simple as that.”
“And what… dress her in finery and let her rule at my side?”
Thalia shakes her head, holding out her arms. “Whoa, that’s above my pay grade. I can’t tell you how far to take this thing you have with Nyssa. You’re going to have to figure that out on your own.”
“Gee, thanks, kiddo,” I drawl sarcastically, yielding a grin from Thalia. “You’re my favorite child.”
“I’m your only child.” She stands and sets her cup on the table. “Now, I’m going to head home while you figure out your stuff. I’ll come back to visit when I can.”