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 would assist with this, obviously.
As would Silence, as was her way.
And if Farah could forgive her, True would as well, so she would have Elpis.
But his mother would be there for his bride too.
He knew Queen Mercy had no respect for his betrothed.
She also had no reason for her intolerance.
She would need to find her way past that.
Immediately.
Or she’d find herself without a son.
For True would soon have a wife, the mother to his children, the future queen of his country.
He’d realized that night that she was the most important thing in his life.
And she always would be.
His mother would know that, and she’d know it soon.
As would his Farah.
King Mars Laches
King’s Study, First Floor, East Corridor, Catrame Palace, Fire City
FIRENZE
When the door closed behind Lorenz, the last one out, Mars turned to his Silence, still curled in his lap.
“Amore,” he called.
She tipped her head back to look up at him.
He ignored her garments. The skin of her arms crusted with blood. The visions in his head of her being dragged to the open window by her glorious hair.
And he especially ignored the bruising at her neck.
He had to ignore these things, or the rage would return, and the fullness of his vengeance would not be meted out for he’d set her aside and find the men still left and dispatch them far more quickly than they deserved.
Instead, he looked into her silver eyes.
“We need words,” he murmured.
“I’m quite all right, Mars,” she assured.
But she was not.
Her demeanor had changed, and it was not due to shock or fear.
Or perhaps it was, as she was locked away.
He’d seen her like this only once before. When she’d walked in his thronal room the moment he first saw her.
Except then she had been guarded and locked away and it took but a few words to draw her out.
Now she simply seemed…
Extinguished.
“You have endured a lot, my monkey,” he reminded her. “And now, alone, just you and I, I will know your feelings about going to the pits.”
“I’m going.”
“You’ve said this,” he replied. “This is not what we’re discussing. As I noted, I will know your feelings about this and then I will decide if you will go or you will stay.”
“Will Queen Elpis go?” she asked.
“She will. But you are not my mother,” he answered.
“I will be queen,” she returned. “And thus, it will be expected.”
“Silence—”
“I’m going,” she repeated.
Mars allowed his gaze to roam her face.
She was there, in his arms, but he could not shake the sensation that she was gone.
“When things such as this happen,” he started carefully, “it’s important to talk about them.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are changed.”
“I will likely change a lot over the course of our years together, battling the Beast, you besting coup attempts, clan clashes, tribal wars. It’s the nature of being, especially in Firenze.”
“And we will talk about it,” he declared.
“Yes,” she agreed instantly.
“Honestly,” he added.
She hesitated before she repeated, “Yes.”
He did not like the hesitation.
Her light was out.
“Silence—”
She pushed against him to start to get up, asking, “Should we not go?”
“We have something else to discuss.”
She settled in and gazed at him patiently.
He fought grinding his teeth at the loss of inquisitiveness, attentiveness and what he now knew, since it was gone, was constant awareness of and interest in him that was no longer a part of her expression.
“What else must we discuss?” she prompted when Mars did not speak.
“I’ll have your vow, right now, if aught like this happens again, which it will not, but if it does, when you are made safe by a warrior, and told by that warrior to run, that you bloody do as you’re told and run.”
She stared up at him, a mercurial shifting of the silver of her eyes the only indication she gave she did not like his words.
“They’re still counting body parts, but at least a hundred men attacked this palace,” he went on. “If it was not for the might and skill of those who were close to your chamber, you could have easily been killed.”
“Earlier, you bragged about me taking up a dagger,” she remarked.
“Earlier, my barons and chieftains were here, and you desire to impress them, so I bragged of something that would mean something to you as it would mean something to them. However, it means something entirely different to me.”
She shook her head. “I’m not certain it was safe for me to escape.”
“Serena reported Elena told you to run, something she would not do if it was not safe for you to run. Instead, you attacked an opponent Elena easily dispatched.”
“I was right here, Mars. I heard Serena report that. And just to say, I was there, and it wasn’t that long ago. I remember what happened.”
“It is not wise for you to be flippant in this moment, piccolina,” he warned.