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)
My heart felt like it twisted in my chest.
No one had ever told me that. I’d been taught it was a sacred thing between witches and demons, proof that we help each other.
Evan was lying.
Well, of course she was. It’s all they did. They lied. They had nothing better to do with their time than to lie and make me feel like a fool. And they were doing it for…why? It would have been so much easier to simply murder me. So they were doing it because they lived to torture creatures or they wanted to see if they can save me.
At least Kelsey and Casey.
Or they wanted to turn me so I would tell them all of our secrets. Yes. My mind caught on that thought. That was an excellent explanation.
I longed for a time when I wasn’t constantly fighting in my own head.
“Can you tell me anything about what I’m turning into?”
I glanced back to where the princess stared at me, her arms around her chest as though she needed protection.
She didn’t. What could I do to her? Well, I could always be cruel.
You’re going to be a big bat, Princess. With wings and fangs and a hunger for blood you’ll never be able to fill because you’re not really a vampire and you’re not just a girl anymore. But it’s cool because in a couple of months, like eight or so, you won’t be the biggest freak in your family because I know why Myrddin would fear the queen’s child.
“Whatever happens, you’ll be able to handle it.” I wasn’t sure why I chose to go that way. It felt…better than cruelty. Besides, if I was going to get out of here, maybe it was time to see if I could catch more flies with honey. “What are your symptoms like and what did Lucifer say to you?”
She studied me for a moment. “Why are you being nice to me?”
It was the question of the day. “Why are you helping me?”
“Because I need something from you.”
“Then you know why I’m being reasonable around you.” It was more than that. I didn’t actually want to hurt her. Why should I? “Do you have an update on Dean?”
I was feeling so much better with Eddie’s blood running through my system. I felt more…me than I had in forever. Like I could make decisions, could do what I needed to do.
Which was to get out of here. Eventually.
“He’s stable. The cooling spell seems to be working, but I don’t know how long it will. And Lucifer apparently knows he’s here.” She sat down across from me, in the rocking chair I’d thought about breaking up and staking Casey with.
Damn. That would make everything harder, but it wasn’t my problem. “That was inevitable. He’s got a couple of days. He’s stronger than any other witch I’ve met beyond his father.” I sat down on the bed I’d made when Casey had brought me back to the big house. “It’s likely he’s handling the magic better than he should because his magic recognizes it. I would be interested in who his mother was. A witch?”
“A woman Myrddin met at a music festival, believe it or not,” Evan explained. “It was somewhat random. It happened during the years between when he healed my father’s heart and when he showed back up at the Council House to mentor him.”
Myrddin had taken a decade to walk the Earth with Nimue. I would bet there had been many random encounters. “So she was human? That would make Dean half human and a quarter angel and demon. Incubus, to be exact.”
“I’d put a little more on the angelic side,” Evan mused. “Turns out the mom was a companion. When he sent her off plane, she ended up on a vampire plane married to another version of the man she’d loved here on this plane.”
Oh, that was interesting. DNA was playing a part in all the discussions of the day. “That’s a lot of prime DNA.”
“I have to wonder if Dean’s unique parentage is why he resists the dark side so well. He cured my uncle.”
“Zack? He cured Zack?” I tempered my reply because that had almost sounded like I was happy. I mean, I knew Zack Owens. I knew Kelsey would be happy he was healthy. I’d had dinner at his place and watched little Courtney, who was the sweetest baby wolf I’d ever seen. “I mean, I’m surprised. Myrddin cursed him. The only reason he’d survived so long is all the king’s blood he took.”
Donovan’s blood was some good shit. It could work miracles, and as the king’s servant, Zack had a lot of it over the years. But even king’s blood should have failed eventually. The curse had been so dark it would have driven Zack mad at some point.