Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“My Lady, what is it?” I asked gently, stroking her cheek, which was now wet with tears. “Have we hurt you in some way?”
“N-no.” She shook her head but she was still crying. She put her hands over her face, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs.
“What’s wrong with her?” Sel sounded almost as upset as she was. “What can we do?”
“Comfort her.” I put my own advice in motion. The Princess was turned on her side, facing me, and I put my arms around her and pulled her close to my chest.
Sel got the idea and did the same thing on the other side, putting his broad chest to her back and wrapping a long arm around both of us. Together, we held the Princess just as we had the night before when we were trying to warm her up. But this time it wasn’t physical pain that we were trying to assuage—this time the pain ran much deeper.
At last, after sobbing steadily for several minutes, her tears began to slow…and then, finally, they stopped. She sniffed and swiped at her face with her fingertips before looking up at me with wet, swollen eyes.
“I…I’m sorry,” she whispered in a soft voice, hoarse from crying. “I didn’t mean to, uh, break down like that.”
“Can you tell us why you did? Tell us the source of your pain?” I asked gently. As a Sin Eater, I have learned that when someone is hurting, it often helps them to speak about the pain.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “No…that’s not true.” She sighed. “I think it’s just such a long time since I’ve felt pretty and desired and it just kind of hit me that I’ve gotten used to feeling like I’m ugly and old and unwanted. So what we just did was…was…” She seemed to be groping for words. “I guess it made me feel bad because it made me feel good for a change. Which I know doesn’t make any sense.” She gave a sad little laugh and shrugged.
“But you’re not any of those things, my Lady,” I protested. “You’re not old or ugly and you’re certainly not unwanted.”
“In the human world I was.” She looked up at me shyly. “Do you know that just now was the first time a man ever made me come?” She blushed. “Or I guess I should say ‘men.’ God, I still can’t believe the three of us did what we did.”
“What? You mean to say your ex-mate never gave you any pleasure?” Sel demanded.
“Well, he tried at first.” Princess Lilliana sighed again. “But then he stopped even trying and, well…it just wasn’t very good. And I know why he stopped trying—he didn’t think I was worth the effort. He used to say, ‘what’s the point when you never get turned on anyway?’”
“It’s not surprising that you couldn’t feel sexual arousal for a human,” I told her. “Because you’re not human—you’re Fae. Even the human dross that had gathered around you wasn’t enough to allow your body to so completely betray your true self.”
“Really?” She looked at me, her eyes wide with surprise. “Is that why I’ve never really been, uh, turned on by any guy I’ve ever been with? I just thought they were bad in bed.”
Sel snorted.
“They probably were. But Krynn is right—your body was probably longing for the touch of another Fae.”
She nodded slowly.
“Yes…I guess that makes sense. I tried so hard to fake it for Christopher, but he could always tell. I think he hated me for it, near the end of our marriage.”
“He was an idiot who couldn’t see the jewel he held in his own hand,” Sel growled.
I agreed with my oldest friend wholeheartedly. How could her fool of a human husband not see how special Princess Lilliana was?
“You think that because your ex-mate didn’t value you, no one will,” I told her. “But that isn’t true, my Lady—you hold great value for us.”
“Because I’m supposedly this Lost Princess,” she said and I could tell she still didn’t completely believe in her own status. “But before that, I was just some washed up, middle-aged mom living in her minivan.”
“Your human life is behind you now,” I reminded her. “And Sel and I have always valued you—even before we knew you. We never stopped searching for you, ever since you were stolen away so long ago.”
“I know, but that’s so strange to think of—the two of you hunting for me while I was living the life of a stay-at-home mom, raising kids.” She shook her head. “If I’d known that two huge, muscular guys were searching all over for me, I might have felt more pretty and valued—even when Christopher was being an asshole.”
“You’re not just pretty—you’re fucking beautiful,” Sel growled. “Even when you were human you were adorable. Did this ex-mate of yours dare to make you feel otherwise?”