Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
I sat on the couch with a blanket on top of me, the curtains still drawn. All our hard work had led to this moment, the first step in securing a future without the threat of Necrosis, but it felt like a defeat.
My bedroom door opened and revealed Ryker.
I shifted my gaze to his, saw the horror on his face, and looked away.
I couldn’t take that look, not from him, not after I’d let him down.
He came into the room, Effie in tow.
He pulled up a chair and took a seat, and Effie sat on the couch beside me, looking at me with tender eyes that showed her empathy. Silence ensued, a long stretch of silence packed with anguish.
I couldn’t look him in the eye. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.” My eyes filled with tears.
“Girl…” Effie grabbed my hand.
“He promised me…” I let the words escape as a whisper, my heart broken for several reasons. “I trusted him…”
Ryker stayed quiet.
“I’m the reason we made it this far. I’m the reason we have two dragons in our army. I’m the reason they weren’t defeated by Necrosis. I’m the reason they took back Delacroix…and I’m the reason he’s dead.” The tears continued to well up until they were so thick, they streaked down my cheeks. “I know he did terrible things. But the Rolfes did terrible things too. He said he would consider apologizing to Queen Rolfe, even said he would help us against King Rutherford. We could have moved on from this. We could have started over. But now, we’ll never get that chance…” I finally found the strength to look at my brother and accept his angry stare.
But he wasn’t wearing one. He was defeated—just the way I was. “Yeah…it’s pretty fucking shitty.”
“I’m sorry, Ryker. I should have listened to you.”
“It’s not your fault,” he whispered.
“Yes, it is. I trusted him.”
“You were trying to make the world a better place. Your heart was in the right place.”
He was being so good to me, better than I deserved. “I’m not sure what to do now…”
“I have an idea.” He sat with his forearms on his knees. “We flee to the Capital. You’re close with one of the dragons. Take him with us.”
“They won’t be separated.”
“Then take them both.”
“And then what?” I asked. “We attack Delacroix? That will negate everything we’ve worked for.” I shook my head. “You’ll be named duke. The lottery will continue. Nothing changes. And I promised the dragons I would help them, and I can’t do that until all the Kingdoms are united and Necrosis is defeated.”
“She’s right,” Effie said. “Everything up to this point will be for nothing. Your father’s dead. That’s the only thing that’s changed. Ryker, you talked to him about altering the way things were, and he made it perfectly clear he had no interest in that. Maybe if he had, things would have been different.”
Ryker shook his head. “We made a deal—and that motherfucker broke it.”
My heart hurt every time I thought of him. A man I wanted nothing to do with.
“He’ll pay for this—eventually.” Ryker stared at his hands. “I’ll never support a king who can’t keep his word. I’ll never support a king who uses other people to get what he wants.”
I didn’t defend Huntley, not anymore.
“We take the Kingdoms, kill Necrosis, and when everything is said and done, we kill him.” Ryker lifted his chin and looked at me. “Agreed?”
I kept my mouth shut, my eyes still blurry with tears.
Ryker pressed me. “Ivory.”
“And then what?” I asked. “Who rules?”
His eyebrows furrowed together. “You.”
“Me?” I whispered.
“You just said you’re the reason they got this far. You. Not Huntley. Not Queen Rolfe. You.”
When I inhaled my next breath, it burned all the way down.
“Are we in agreement?” he pressed.
Effie stared at me.
Despite all the pain in my heart, that thought had never crossed my mind. “No…” I shook my head. “I can’t do that, Ryker.”
Now he looked angry. “You can’t be serious—”
“I just can’t, okay? Drop it.”
“I’m not going to fucking drop it. He killed our father—”
“And Father would have killed him if he’d had the chance, even if I begged him not to. The cycle never ends. Now we’re talking about killing him, and if we did, his brother or mother would avenge him. They would kill you, and then I would avenge you. It’ll never stop, Ryker. I know it’s hard, but we have to let this go. Nothing we do will bring Father back. We need to continue on our mission, which is bigger than any of us.”
Ryker dropped his chin, releasing his anger in a drawn-out sigh. “Alright.”
“So don’t try to take down Huntley yourself. He’s a strong fighter.”
“Really? I find that hard to believe…since he refused to fight me.”
I should have known Ryker would go after him. “I know it’s hard to let this go, but we must.”