Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Well, she’d pretty much died when she’d thrown her body on Gladys in order to prime her. My sword—technically it’s called the Sword of Light—was a gift to the Amazons long, long ago. She’s good at killing assholes, but her real talent is sucking in all the power of whoever she kills. Or doesn’t kill. All she really needs is a little blood. At the time we’d been surrounded by witches and things were pretty dire. Apparently at some point Myrddin had bled on her, and she’d been able to infuse me with his power.
It had been a heady experience, and a bloody one since in order for Gladys to work, a royal Amazon—now known as companions—had to sacrifice.
Evan was the one to sacrifice and I was in battle, unable to get her father’s blood to her in time. We had the king’s blood, but it was too far away for Fen to get it. So another vampire stepped in and offered his blood. A primal. Sometimes things go wrong when a primal shares blood.
We’re all still waiting to see what changes it would bring in Evan. I couldn’t deny the darkness that shrouded her now.
At first we thought she was simply getting over the trauma of what we’d gone through, but now I wondered if there wasn’t something more.
My son loves Evangeline Donovan-Quinn. He plans to marry her. I’ve seen how in synch they are, and now she flinches when he touches her. She tries not to, but it’s there, and I know it kills Fen.
“I’ll make sure to keep Liv in her room while she’s here in Frelsi,” I admit. I’d been planning on taking Fenrir with me, and taking Fen meant taking Evan. If I left Evan here, Fen would stay with her. I wished I could put this trip off, but I doubted Liv being here in Frelsi was going to get any easier. “Liv is important to this war we find ourselves in. Duffy made that plain. I need to find that piece of her soul and shove it back in before you find Mia Day. As you intend to leave for Faery soon, I’ve got to get moving. And let’s not forget that Gray was willing to take her with him a few days ago. The king wanted to talk to her.”
“She hasn’t exactly been forthcoming,” Donovan admitted. “The two times I’ve tried to talk to her she’s managed to ignore me.”
“A little torture could fix that,” the queen murmured.
“I told you no.” I had to stand firm. “I don’t care what she’s done. I’m not torturing her.”
Not that she hadn’t accused me of it. I already mentioned the dog crate, right? She hadn’t been the only one in a crate. Puff the Magic Hellhound had been right beside her in his own crate, and sometimes he got gassy.
I turned to the king. “I need to know if you intend to start fighting like Myrddin. He does torture people. He manipulates and uses his skills to get people to give up their souls, so he has an army of soldiers with no real will of their own. That is not Liv, but she is in there somewhere. She was in there when she saved Sarah. She was in there when she didn’t kill me. I’m going to find my friend and then we’ll have taken a massive weapon from Myrddin. She knows everything. Mia might be his intended bride, but Liv has been close this whole time.”
“Yes, which is why I have a hard time believing she doesn’t know what he intends to do,” Devinshea argued.
“Liv was a member of the Profane.” Sasha was our expert when it came to the war we found ourselves in. He’d been the one who’d taken in Trent and the kids when they’d shown up on his doorstep. Well, Marcus’s doorstep, but it didn’t matter. In his human life, Sasha had been both a soldier and a spy. He’d taken those skills and used them to keep the resistance—and our kids—alive. “They were his strongest witches, but I do not know how closely he holds them. I suspect he would trust them with his life since he allows them close physically, but I don’t know if they would fully understand his plans. Much of our knowledge of what he is planning has come from the demon side. I actually think losing Nimue made him pull back significantly. The Profane were weapons. I’m not entirely sure they were confidantes.”
“Do we know if they were his lovers?” the queen asked. “After he beheaded Nimue, did he take the Profane to his bed? Although Nim probably wouldn’t have minded. She’s a sexually liberated woman. Goddess. Whatever she is. All I’m saying is he might be more talkative with his lovers.”
I didn’t like to think about Liv sleeping with Myrddin. It kind of made me want to throw up. It’s not that the dude is unattractive. He’s gorgeous. He’s also evil as fuck, and I know how much it kills Casey to consider the thought.