Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“Exactly.” Lady Bittlebum smiled brightly. “But also because, by the time this night is over, I’ll have something every bit as damning on you as you have on me.”
“What are you talking about?” J’are growled. “We’ve done nothing you can use against us in court.”
“Oh, but you will. Before the night is over, you most certainly will.” Lady Bittlebum smirked at them unpleasantly. “You, Nightwalker, are going to commit the ultimate crime—the crime of penetration. And if my research about your kind is correct, you’ll be committing the crime of impregnation at the same time! And all with that pretty little Defender of yours.”
“What are you talking about?” Imani demanded. “J’are’s not going to…to do that to me!”
“And I’m not one of those damn morphids you order around. You can’t make me rape my Defender,” J’are growled.
“Oh yes he is and oh yes I can,” Lady Bittlebum said, speaking to both of them. “Don’t you recognize this room, Nightwalker? It’s the simulation area my foolish aunt, Mistress Hownow, made for you so that you’d feel more at home in her house.”
She snapped her fingers and suddenly the blank white walls and floor and ceiling were gone. In their place was a tropical jungle, complete with trailing vines, tall trees, bushy ferns, and sweetly scented tropical blooms. It was night in the forest, Imani saw, but there was still light coming from over head.
Looking up, she saw three round, pale moons in the sky. One had a slightly reddish cast and the other two had a blue glow.
J’are had looked up too and when he looked down again, she saw horror and fear in his pale green eyes.
“No,” he said hoarsely to Lady Bittlebum. “You can’t do this to us! Don’t make me do this—please, just let us go and I swear we’ll never say a word about what we know!”
“I’m afraid your oath isn’t good enough for me, Nightwalker,” Lady Bittlebum spat. “I don’t want to kill the two of you—it would invite entirely too many questions, especially since you would be last seen at my party. But I can’t have you blabbing either. So I require assurances.”
“I…I don’t understand.” Imani shook her head and looked at J’are. “What assurances? What is she talking about?”
“This is the room I told you about—the one Mother Hownow made to simulate my home world so I wouldn’t get homesick,” J’are said tightly.
“Okay. So?” Imani shook her head again, still not getting it.
“So, the three moons are in the sky,” J’are growled. “The Water Twins and the Blood Brother. If they converge, my feral side will think it’s Claiming night. Or worse—Bonding night.”
“Bonding night?” Imani put a hand to her throat. “J’are, we can’t—”
“I know!” he exclaimed. “I know that—which is why we have to get out of here!”
“You’ll get out when the deed is done—not until,” Lady Bittlebum said coldly. “And don’t forget, I’m recording all of this.”
She made a motion with one hand and the morphid beside her scurried to slam the door. There was a loud click and Imani knew they were locked in.
“Oh no,” she whispered, looking up as the three moons got closer together. Their edges were touching now, forming a kind of triangle in the night sky. The pink moon was at the apex of the triangle with the two blue moons forming the base beneath it.
“Fuck,” J’are muttered hoarsely—he was also staring at the moons. “Blood over Water.”
“What?” Imani stared at him, her heart pounding. “What does that mean?”
“Water above leads only to Love
Water above and below, Claiming in the moons’ glow.
But Blood over water, get ready to flee
If you enter the jungle, it’s Bonded you’ll be.”
J’are sounded like he was quoting some ancient piece of wisdom as he recited the strange poem. Imani felt a chill go down her spine.
“J’are, please—you’re scaring me,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “What does all that mean?”
“It means that Lady Bittlebum is playing the simulation of Bonding Night.” His deep voice was rough. “And I’m afraid when the three moons converge, my feral side will come out and try to Bond you, Imani.”
“But you won’t let that happen, will you? You told me you could control your feral side!” Imani said quickly.
“I’ll try.” He looked up at the sky again, where the three moons were now merging into one. The light they cast was no longer only reddish and bluish, a purplish tingle had entered the mix.
“You’ll try?” Imani whispered. That didn’t sound good to her.
J’are nodded grimly.
“I swear by the Goddess I will. I’ll try with all my might to hold on to my thinking mind.” He looked down at his hands and then back to Imani again. “But I have to tell you, I’ve never heard of a Nightwalker who can hold back his feral side on Bonding Night when the three moons converge.”