Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Mars.
Always protective.
“Silence,” I called. “It’s all right. Mars should probably hear this too.”
“Hear what?” he demanded.
“You can hear me?” I asked.
“I can hear you, but I cannot see you,” Mars answered. “And what I wish to hear is what you feel I should.”
“She’s right there,” Silence informed him, pointing at me.
“I can see you looking at glittering air, wife, but I cannot see Farah.”
“How odd,” Silence murmured.
They were being adorable, something I never thought I’d think about Mars, and it made me very happy to witness…for the both of them.
But as happy as it made me, I did not have time for this.
“Please hold,” I said. “I’m going to try Elena.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Mars muttered.
I watched Silence roll her eyes at me.
I ignored that (but did it smiling) and called, “Elena. Elena, we must speak. Are you there?”
When nothing happened, Silence queried, “Should I try too?”
“Perhaps that would help,” I told her.
We both called, and called, and when Mars was heard saying, “Bloody hell,” Elena started to form.
“Farah, Silence?” she asked.
“What the fuck?”
Cassius.
“It’s all right, Cass,” Elena told him.
“Elena, you have Silence and I and, well, Mars. I have something you all need to know. Please hold while we try to raise Ha-Lah,” I said to her.
“Bloody hell, why can I hear Farah coming from nowhere in your eyrie?” Cassius demanded.
“Just calm down, warrior, we have a link,” Elena said to the indistinct figure hovering over her shoulder. “I’ll call to Ha-Lah. I know what I’m doing,” Elena said to me.
“Excellent,” I replied.
She did that while Mars said, “Cassius.”
“Gods, Mars?” Cassius replied.
“I am here, with my wife, staring at glittering air and talking to a nothing, feeling like a bloody fool,” Mars told him.
“As am I,” Cassius replied.
“Would you two be quiet, I can’t concentrate,” Elena snapped.
Silence started giggling.
“By Medusa!” Ha-Lah could be heard.
“What the hell?” Aramus could also be heard.
“Please, do not be alarmed,” Elena stated quickly. “It is my craft. Farah is calling. She has something to tell all of us. And, as you should see, Ha-Lah, Silence, is also here.”
“Wife, why am I hearing Elena’s voice drifting about our cabin?” Aramus asked as Ha-Lah came fully into focus.
“She just told you,” Ha-Lah answered, appearing to be sitting on a bed, but looking to the side at something. “It’s her craft.”
“Aramus, I’m here too,” Cassius told him. “However that ‘here’ might be.”
“I as well,” Mars declared.
“Bloody hell,” Aramus muttered.
“Would you men be quiet?” Elena demanded. “Farah has something to say.” She looked between the women with an exasperated, “This is why I did not include the men in my spell. It’s bad enough they are linked to us so we can hear them. I fear it would be worse if we could actually see them.”
Silence giggled again, and I smiled.
“Is True well?” Aramus asked. “For I do not hear him.”
“He is of good health, but he is not well, and I think he wishes to deal with this amongst his men, though Mars will be receiving a bird very shortly,” I reported.
“Talk,” Cassius ordered.
“Carrington is raising an army,” I told them.
“Damn,” Cassius murmured.
“And the king has proclaimed a new tax for True and my wedding,” I shared.
“Fuck,” Mars muttered.
I suspected the message intended by this tax was not lost on anybody, so I did not get into that.
“And True and I are leaving imminently to make haste to Notting Thicket in an attempt to repair the damage. But I think we’re going to need all of your help,” I told them.
“What you need to be done will be done, little sister,” Mars declared.
“It will be asking much of you, and as I have asked so much already—” I began.
“You’ve asked nothing,” Mars stated. “What is it you need?”
“The bird will share, and I will further request that you make a donation in Silence’s name to some public service she enjoys in the Arbor.”
“What a lovely idea,” Silence murmured.
“It is,” I agreed. “But it also needs to be done in a way it is known Silence is True’s beloved cousin and the alliance between Wodell and Firenze will mean good things for the Dellish people.”
“This will be done today,” Mars replied.
Oh, but I loved my king.
“And you’ll be asked to go to Notting Thicket—” I began.
“We leave on the morrow,” Silence shared. “Queen Mercy has already requested we come.”
Mercy, as I suspected, was no fool.
But I was glad, as well as astonished, she was thinking on the same lines as me.
“Excellent,” I said. “But you’ll need to be seen amongst the people.”
“This will not be difficult. My bride wishes to show me her capital,” Mars returned.
That gave me relief.
All right.
Onward.
“Alfie thinks Carrington is in cahoots with the Go’Doan,” I informed them.
This was met with total silence.
Until Cassius asked bewilderingly, “What word is there from Chu?”
“Chu?” Elena inquired.
“He has made the Thicket,” Mars answered Cassius. “And as he will be engaged in his duties, I will not be able to contact him for fear of such communication being noted which might mean he’s discovered. But he will be in regular contact with me if he discovers anything.”