Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
“He is a god and gods do not do something for nothing.”
“We have no choice but to move forward,” Cassius pointed out.
Aramus opened his mouth.
But Cassius spoke first.
“The sprites and pixies fly, and Lahn rides with True and Farah as they drive their demons here,” Cassius bit. “The gnomes and Tor ride with Elena and I as we drive ours here. The Mer ride with you and Ha-Lah as you drive yours here. And the fairies fly, and Apollo rides with Mars and Silence as they drive theirs here. All our captains will already be here to offer might and magic. Frey uses the dragons to keep them here. We unleash all hell on them with the Mer in the depths at the ready to force them into that underground cavern if we fail to do nothing but shove them over the edge. At the least, in the end, they will be contained. This is our plan. It’s a shite plan, but it’s a plan. We chuck everything we’ve got at the bastards and hope like fuck it works.”
Cassius moved closer to his friend.
And he spoke on.
“I’m uneasy too. Everyone I love, save my daughters, will be here.” He pointed to the rock beneath their feet. “I don’t wish to lose a single one of you. I definitely don’t want to lose all of you. And I for one am going to fight like hell to make sure none of that happens.”
Aramus’s stare was intent.
He then grinned.
“Just to note, I love you too.”
“Always a pain in my arse,” Cass muttered, looking away.
Aramus clapped him on the shoulder and held.
Therefore, Cass looked back.
“If there’s loss, if the good we accomplished in our realms remains despite that loss, it was worth it,” his friend said quietly.
Cassius drew in a deep breath, shifted his eyes to the side, and saw his wife standing, staring out at sea, hands on hips, the sunshine of her hair blowing in the sea breeze.
And he determined he wasn’t going to lose shite.
Regardless, he looked to Aramus.
And said, “Absolutely.”
King True
The Beach, Keel Castle, Nautilus
MAR-EL
“She’ll be fine,” True assured.
Mars scowled at the lapping water that, not long ago, Silence and Jorie waded into.
And then disappeared.
“She’s with Jorie,” True reminded him. “She’ll come back, pink in her cheeks, delighted with her adventure.”
Mars looked into the horizon. “Two years ago today, you and I faced each other on a battlefield.”
True’s body locked.
Gods, he was right.
“And now you are my brother,” Mars went on.
True said nothing.
“They will not take her from me,” he told the horizon.
“No,” True replied.
Slowly, Mars turned his head and locked eyes with True.
“They will not take you from me.”
True drew breath into his nose.
And he repeated, “No.”
“I know she will be all right, True. But when she is away from me, I will always, always worry.”
“All right, my friend,” True whispered.
“Worry with me,” Mars invited on a murmur, then he bent his knees and fell to his arse in the sand.
True followed him.
They sat, wrists to their knees, and stared at the sea.
Two men who loved a woman.
Waiting for her return.
Queen Silence
THE DEEP
The swim was long, and this was good, for it took me quite some time to get used to the many, many Mer that swam at our backs, not all males, there were a good many females.
And they all carried tridents.
There were a great number of us.
My people.
With me.
I loved that.
However, the swim was long, and I worried, for Mars would worry after me.
These were my thoughts when I saw it.
A warm, blue glow that rose out of the depths.
Jorie, beside me, struck lower, swimming toward it, and as he had instructed, I remained close to his side.
But I could not stop myself from rearing back when, from where the glow emanated—what looked like the mouth of a cave—the beasts formed out of the shadows on either side of it.
Angmostros.
Two of them.
I had never seen one.
They were colossal.
And terrifying.
Jorie stopped with me and drifted close, his long tail coiling about mine.
This felt like a hug, a mermaid embrace, and it was a thing of beauty.
“Steady, my little sister,” he murmured, also winding his arms around me. “We are of royal blood. She will make them let us pass.”
“The others…the…the others won’t be coming with us?” I asked, ignoring my hair floating about my face, running along my neck, under my jaw.
He shook his head. “They have swum with us solely in case the Beasts that have risen on land could get to mischief in the depths.”
I nodded.
“I have gone to her,” he said comfortingly. “Our father has gone to her. His father before him. She is our benefactress. She is a friend to all Mer. But others could seek her for reasons she does not wish. So she guards herself. Regardless, you need not fear the beasts of the sea.”