Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
“What does that even mean?” Blythe demanded.
Her sister shrugged.
This sucked. She rubbed the aching spot between her breasts. “What am I going to do?”
“That’s easy. You do whatever you want. Either you pick one and ditch the other or keep both. Yeah, that’s probably the better plan. Keep both.”
Hardly. “Juggling one possessive alpha male is tough enough, thanks.”
“Okay, so which one do you prefer to juggle?”
That, she didn’t need to ponder. The answer, as shocking as it was, remained clear as crystal.
She chewed on her bottom lip and craned her head to peer at Taliyah through lowered lids. “The one who’s going to cause all kinds of problems.”
“Wow. Him? Truly?” her sister asked, wide-eyed. “Gotta say, I totally didn’t see that one coming.”
Blythe, either. “He’s difficult, complicated, harsh, vexing, frustrating, punishing, hard to read at times, and maddening always. But he’s also gentle, wonderful, lusty, and supportive. He lives for me, T. Like, I’m his everything.” Roux hadn’t wanted to, but he’d given her time with Laban. Because he cared for Blythe. “I don’t feel as if something’s missing when we’re together.” Something she’d often forgotten after the manticore’s death.
“But?”
“But. It’s too fast. In the big scheme of things, I’ve basically only known him for a matter of minutes.”
“You’ve only known the other one a matter of minutes, too, there are just more of them. But let me tell you a secret. With the Astra, it’s easy to feel fast and fall hard. It’s their intensity. It sucks you into their orbit and there’s no chance of escape.”
No desire to escape. “Also, Roux isn’t the father of my daughter. Oh, yes, and he’s supposed to kill me to save his people.”
“And yet it sounds as though you’ve already made up your mind. So what are you here pondering?”
“How to break the news to Laban and Isla,” she admitted, her shoulders slumping. She’d made so many mistakes lately. She couldn’t afford to make another.
“Well, that one’s easy, too. Do it swift and firm. But do it tomorrow. Tonight, we celebrate your return.”
Leave Isla wondering what Momma would do? Leave Roux hurting longer than necessary? No. He’d endured enough heartache in his endless life. “Forget the party. I’m solidifying my future tonight.”
“Fine. But you owe me big time. I mean it.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Come on.” Taliyah jumped to her feet, took her hand, and tugged her from the bench. Arm in arm, they strolled through the door, exiting the garden. They entered the bustling market in the town square, near the street Blythe had occupied the day the Astra invaded.
Her gaze landed on a familiar sight, and her breath caught. Roux. He was waiting for her.
He stood outside Chop Chop, the at-home guillotine store, leaning one shoulder against a window display and radiating a wealth of ragged emotion. Regret. Guilt. Shame. Resignation. Fury. Several harpies eyed him as if he were a hot fudge sundae on a sultry summer night, but he didn’t seem to notice them.
As soon as their gazes met, he straightened and stalked over. “Leave us,” he commanded the citizens around him. His hands remained balled as the others scrambled away as fast as their feet could carry them.
“This is my cue, I guess, though this is the first and only time I’ll take an order from a subordinate. You’re welcome,” Taliyah muttered and branched off in the other direction.
Blythe closed in on her consort, meeting him halfway. Her heart skipped several beats. “Hey.”
“There is no easy way to tell you this.” He lifted his chin. “I killed Laban. I used trinite. He won’t be coming back.”
Wait. What? Her stomach twisted into knots. “That isn’t funny, Warden.” Roux would never do such a thing for real, knowing the anguish she’d endured last time. He just wouldn’t.
“This is no joke. He is dead by my hand. Before turning him into a phantom, Erebus gave him the heart of another clone. Laban was never your consort. He was always your father’s puppet. He—”
“Wait!” What was happening right now? “I know Laban was a phantom,” she cried, things cracking in her chest. Laban was truly dead now? Gone forever—again? Taken from Isla a second time? “Why? Why would you do this? He was my consort.” Heart or not. “How could you hurt me like this? How? You saw what it did to me after the invasion.”
If Roux had cared for her, even the slightest bit... Stinging tears welled, and there was no stopping them.
She’d chosen this male, and he’d dared to betray her trust in the worst way? Had broken her heart again, rending the organ in two.
Neeka’s words chose that moment to drift through her mind. Your heart is your heart, whether it’s this one or that one, so you can toss it and keep it.
“I did what I must to protect you and Isla—I did what the warrior asked me to do.” His words were broken at the edges. “He was under Erebus’s control, with orders to murder the girl. He couldn’t fight the compulsion, and he knew it. I did what I must,” Roux repeated, “exactly as I promised you in Ation, even if it means the end of us.”