Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 111898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
She rushed to Rathbone’s side, eager to read his lips.
“Big mistake, warlord,” he stated as the males faced off once more.
“I won’t fail my brothers or my task,” Azar intoned. “I will take the rest of Lore’s remains from you, revive her and end her for good. Nothing will stop me.”
Rathbone arched a brow. “Are you sure you won’t be too distracted?” Smiling coldly, he chanted, “Forget, forget, forget.”
With a hiss, the warlord stepped forward. Disciplined to the core, he stopped himself midway. “You are an excellent spy. Noted. Whatever you think you’ve learned matters not. You’ll be dead soon enough.”
“Astra, I will eat your armies for breakfast and your comrades for lunch. You, I’ll save for dessert.”
Okay, trash talk time was over. “Time out, everyone.” Neeka took a post between the pair, dodging Rathbone’s arms as he attempted to grab her. “Let’s get real for a sec. Imma be honest, okay? You’re both fighting for a losing cause.” The truth spilled from her at last. They needed to hear this.
Foresight whispered, Yes! There’s no better time. They were both major players in this living rom-com—romantic tragedy?—and they were finally ready to hear what she had to say. Or somewhat ready. Mostly not ready at all. But it was a risk she must take, even if it meant losing everything she’d come to crave. Nothing else had changed the future for the better.
Now or never. “Lore is evil, and she plans to kill us all.” There. The information was out there. No going back. “As soon as she comes to life, she is the one who unleashes the horde of ravenous shadow monsters with glowing golden rings in their eyes, who eat everyone but Erebus. She births them, and he cheers her on. They are lovers. Heck, he might even be the dad.”
Azar glared at her. “I know Lore is evil. Once, she was called Jezebel the Destroyer, her list of conquests legendary. But I’m onto your tricks now, oracle. You mix truth with lies. I’ve traversed countless realms, and I’ve never come across any such thing as shadow monsters able to eat gods.”
“Maybe they’re a new species.”
He shook his head. “Grenwich warned me you’d weave some kind of tall tale to aid your male.”
Wait. Grenwich wasn’t an oracle. How had she known the future? Or had she simply taken precautions as a just in case?
Neeka balled her hands into fists and looked to Rathbone. He was as stiff as a board, aggression pouring from him. Ugh. Did he doubt her, too, or already hate her? Both?
“I’m telling the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth,” she vowed, solemn. Though she couldn’t blame either male for his suspicions. She’d brought this on herself. “Look. Why else would I seem to betray the General, a woman I dearly love? I’m doing everything I can to change the future and save us all, but so far I’ve proven unsuccessful.”
“I choose to believe your actions rather than your words,” Azar snapped. “To me, you are as treacherous as the goddess.” He must have summoned the other Astra; they appeared behind him, one after the other.
Scowling now, Rathbone lunged, grabbed Neeka by the pinner, and teleported her—hmm. They were still in Harpina. A place called Last Stop Island, in the middle of the Broken Sea at least a hundred miles from civilization. A strong wind blustered, whipping tornados of sand through the air. Icy raindrops trickled from a cloudy gray sky.
Rathbone released her as if she were toxic and peered out at the choppy waves beating upon the shore. For a long while, neither of them spoke. Dismay began to fray her nerves. She wasn’t going to enjoy what happened next.
“The Astra was right? You lied to aid me?”
She read his lips in profile, and she knew. He was deciding her consequences.
Hope withered inside of Neeka. But she squared her shoulders and marched onward, unwilling to backtrack. She’d chosen a path, and she would walk it out. Moving in front of him, she said, “I’ve never lied to you. I’ve always told the truth.”
A muscle ticked beneath his eye. “Have you ever used truth to misdirect me?”
Raindrops splattered over her face, and she swiped them off. “Yes. Often. And I’m not sorry I did it, only sorry I hurt you. So very sorry.”
A long while passed without a word from him.
“Say something,” she beseeched.
He did. The death knell. “You’ve forced me to agree with my enemy. I cannot trust you. And if I cannot trust you, I cannot keep you.”
Her heart and stomach traded places, both curdling. “In my defense—”
“You have no defense,” he interjected.
Oh, but she did. “I’m trying to save our lives! That’s the best defense there is.”
“You’re trying to save harpy lives, and you’re doing it while scheming to cause the eternal death of someone I considered my fated.” Absolute, utter rage glinted in his eyes.