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)
Thalia steps into my arms, and I hug her.
“I love you,” she says, and my body tenses. It’s the first time anyone has said those words to me.
And for the first time in my immortal life, I give them to someone. “I love you too, Daughter.”
CHAPTER 18
Nyssa
Pacing the living area of Amell’s suite, I try to guess what type of mood he’ll be in.
So far this morning, I’ve felt humor and tenderness in bed, only to have him dismiss me without a backward glance, followed by fear over the fury that rolled off him when he saw my bruise, then confusion that he would even care that I was bruised, and…
Well, the last one is just very confounding.
He introduced me to his daughter, and that’s the thing I’m struggling to understand most.
The porridge I ate for breakfast sits like a lump in my stomach, and it makes me long for the days when my belly was so empty I’d go dumpster diving without a second thought just for some cold, cast-off french fries.
I’m expecting Amell to pop in at any moment, so when the door to his suite slowly opens, I’m not as startled as I’d wound myself up to be. Amell walks in and looks every bit the king of the Dark Fae. When he dressed this morning, he chose all black, including a fitted leather vest and wrist guards. It’s not so much the clothing, though, or the massive wings that set him apart from all other fae. It’s his bearing.
Regal, confident, and so powerful, he could crush a mountain of enemies if he wanted.
A slight tremor of fear—or maybe excitement—slips through me.
Without a word, he steps close and presses his fingertips to the bruising at my throat. I haven’t looked in the mirror to see the damage Sorcha did, but it’s painful when he touches me. I can’t help but flinch, and his mouth flattens into a grim line.
“You should have told me it was painful,” he chides.
“You didn’t give me an opportunity to do much of anything before you banished me to your suite.”
“That may be so.” He wraps his entire hand around my throat. For a split second, I think this is the end and he’s going to kill me, but then a delicious warmth spreads from his palm to my neck and then courses through my body. It feels like I swallowed liquid sunshine and when his hand pulls away, I know I’ve been healed.
I touch my throat, and there’s no pain. “Thank you.”
He doesn’t respond but moves to the sideboard that always holds a full wine carafe and pours a goblet. He offers it to me, but I shake my head, so he sips instead.
“Why did you intervene with Sorcha?”
He’s asking because he doesn’t understand the concept of mercy. He spends his days rendering harsh judgment on those who deserve to be in Hell, and with those he chooses for reincarnation, it isn’t so much a mercy as a sendoff on a journey that will be harder than their previous life.
No time to be coy, so I offer the truth. “I didn’t want your relationship with Truett to be harmed.”
“It wouldn’t have been. He understands and accepts my rule.”
“It would have,” I say, pushing my hands into my jeans pockets so I stop wringing them in nervousness. “He may understand and obey it, but he’d always look at you first and foremost not as his king or friend, but as the one who destroyed his own flesh and blood.”
Amell takes another sip of his wine and studies me. His eyes are penetrating, as if he’s trying to figure out a deep mystery. As if he’s searching for an all-important question to ask.
Instead, he apologizes. “I’m sorry that happened to you. I thought my rule would make you safe enough, but apparently not. As such, I can’t let you move about the castle on your own.”
I pull my hands free and hold them out beseechingly. “You can’t keep me in this room all day. I’ll go nuts from boredom.”
“I agree. You’ll accompany me wherever I go.”
The magnitude of that proclamation hits me hard. “Oh,” is all I can muster.
Twenty-four seven with Amell?
At his side during all his hellish duties? Not that I know what they encompass, but still… that’s a lot of time together.
And… an inconvenience to him?
“That seems like you’re going to a lot of trouble to keep me both safe and entertained.”
“Does it really?” he asks. “I sort of see it as averting future trouble, so it’s a wash.”
It’s not a wash at all. Everything he’s done concerning me has cost him something, whether it be time, conscience, or question to his rule.
He’s gone above and beyond what a king should do for someone as lowly and unredeemable as I am, even going so far as agreeing to Will’s release.