Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 139662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
“Will they resent me for having the power of the crown?” I ask.
He blows out a breath. “Not if they think you’re with me.”
I swallow. “You want me to pretend that we’re . . . together?”
Ahead of us, Kane chuckles. “Can’t get anything by that one,” he snarks.
I toss a ball of shadow at his shoulder, knocking him off-balance for a beat. He looks over his shoulder and winks at me.
Finn squeezes the back of his neck. “I’ve thought this through. I can’t come up with any other way to do it. Since I don’t have the bond to keep you safe, this is the next best thing. We already know Arya’s after you. The last thing we need is my own people coming after you because they think it will help me in some way.”
“Why don’t you just tell them—”
“What would you have me tell them, Princess?” he asks softly.
I realize the problem and flinch as if I’ve been slapped. I can’t explain that I inadvertently gave the crown to the golden prince or that I broke the throne—the whole court—when I took the Potion of Life. They’d hate me, and rightfully so.
“I know why you bonded with Sebastian,” Finn says softly, “and I do not blame you for your decisions, but these people might. They had to abandon their homes and live in the caves beneath the Goblin Mountains during Mordeus’s rule. After all they’ve suffered, we would be wise to be cautious. If we’re together, they’ll sense the power, but they won’t question who it comes from. Anyone who’s tuned in enough to realize the power’s coming from you will believe it’s because I’ve bonded with you. They’ll assume they’re picking up on that bond.”
“Won’t they ask if we’re bonded?”
He shakes his head. “To question our relationship would be considered rude.”
I sniff. “Fine, then. If I pretended to like the queen those weeks in the golden palace, I can certainly pretend to find you tolerable.”
He chuckles, and the tension between us is broken. “I appreciate that, Princess. Now, let’s spend the next couple of hours working on using that considerable power of yours without leaking so much.”
I scowl at him. “Are you serious?”
He arches a brow. “What’s wrong? Embarrassed for me to see just how little you’ve been training in our weeks apart?”
I shoot out a hand of shadow and put it over his mouth to shut him up.
Chuckling, Finn nips at it. I shiver as I feel the scrape of those teeth on my own skin. After that, I choose other targets for my magic.
Spirits lift as we pass through the gates of a country manor and ride our horses right up to its wide stone steps. Dara and Luna run past us to sniff the flower garden and the stairs.
Finn jumps off his horse and tosses the reins to Kane before stepping over to help me off Two Star. I want to decline, but the last thing I need is a broken ankle before we venture into the mountains. And anyway, I have a role to play here.
The feel of Finn’s hands on my waist is an unwelcome reminder of what I’ve felt for him since the day we met. A reminder of how it felt to have his body pressed to mine when we kissed. A reminder that I unknowingly spent the last two nights sleeping in his bed.
He holds me too close to his body as my feet settle to the ground. “You okay?”
I nod, wetting my lips as I look up at him, at those gentle silver eyes. He’s so tall, and when I haven’t been close to him in a while, I forget just how broad he is.
“Are you sore?” he asks.
“I’m fine.”
“I know you didn’t do much riding in Elora.”
I try not to cringe at the reminder of my commoner roots. In Elora, horses are for the wealthy, and I was little more than a slave in my last nine years there. “I got a lot of practice in the Wild Fae Lands.”
The sound of boots on stone has our heads turning toward the house, and a woman with long, wavy brown hair appears on the front steps. She’s wearing a dress the color of cherries, which makes her cheeks glow a healthy pink. If she were human, I’d guess her to be my age, maybe a little older, but those elven ears peeking up through her hair give her away.
“About time you came back, Finnian.” She grins widely, then takes off into a run right toward us.
Finn drops his hands from my waist and turns, catching her just as her body collides with his.
She wraps her arms around him and squeezes tight, squealing. “It’s been an age. I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever see you again.”
When she pulls back, he smiles down at her, and unwelcome jealousy claws at my chest, replacing the warmth I felt when he helped me from my horse. “How have you been?” he asks. “Still making your mother crazy?”