Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Then, I see her. Maeve's smaller frame stands alone on the balcony, her head turned to the side. Her long hair is pulled into a knot that highlights the sleek lines of her shoulders. She's wearing a dress, and she looks so beautiful and vulnerable that my heart stutters in my chest.
She's here. She shouldn't be, but she's here.
The sight of Maeve, unprotected as she stands on the open balcony, sends a hot panic through me. It would take nothing for someone to push her over the side, all because they don't like humans. All because they want to get back at me. Or at Rem, for daring to marry a human. There's any number of reasons why someone would attack her, and all of them race through my mind at once, sending me into a panic.
I rush out onto the balcony, snatching Maeve by the arm and slamming the doors shut behind me as I do. Maeve yelps in surprise, jerking in my grasp. She flails, fighting me—and then her eyes focus on my face.
"Zhur," she breathes, and it's the sweetest sound ever. "There you are."
Her eyes are scanning my face, noting my restored white fur, and her gaze is soft. She smiles at me, and she's so keffing beautiful I want to kiss her all over...or choke her. I just give her a little shake, instead. "Keffing hells. What are you doing here, Maeve?"
Her expression becomes falsely bright and she beams at me. "I hitched a ride with Lord and Lady va'Rin to come be with you."
She gestures over to the side, and for the first time, I see another human—a very pregnant one in an ornate dress—leaning against the railing. She gives a girlish little giggle at the sight of us and points at the door. "Unless we want to see my very proper husband flinging himself out here in the next moment, I'm going to go inside and join him for a bit. Come find me if you need anything, Maeve."
With that, she opens the door and slips inside, past Uba, who's trying desperately to peer out at us.
I wait for the doors to shut again, and then I give Maeve another little shake. Why isn't she panicking? Why doesn't she realize how much danger she's in? Why, by all the stars in the galaxy, did she come here? Her staying on Risda was the only way I could protect her. "Why are you here?!?"
She reaches up and pats my chest. "I came to be with you. You look really nice, by the way."
She's not understanding the gravity of the situation. I want to shake her again—or hug her. "This isn't safe."
Maeve scoffs. "Oh, like it's safe for you?"
A growl starts low in my throat. "It is, because Rem wants me alive, at least for a while. He will have no such compunction with you."
"Are you kidding me?" Maeve grins, even as she reaches up and strokes my whiskers—and the small touch sends heat racing up my tail. "He's going to love that I'm here. I'm totally selling his story."
"What do you mean?"
She does this little brow wiggle that means she's confident. "I've told everyone—not that many have bothered to speak to me, mind you, so I'm mostly gossiping to servants—that you and I have been a thing for a long time. That you've secretly been in love with me for years and we've been hiding it. We wanted to start a family and I have no desire to be in the public eye, so you left Praxii Minor behind to be with me. Then Rem stepped up to take control of the situation, and once you heard he was marrying a human, you decided to come forward with your human wife at your side."
I stare at her in surprise. That...is surprisingly good.
"Plus, the story makes Rem look like a dependable guy and you like a lovestruck flake. It's selling the handover of the throne, and promoting the whole “marry a human” thing. Mark my word, give it a few weeks and you'll have started a trend. People are going to want to be just like good ol' Rem."
"But...you wanted me to save the human woman."
"And you tried." She grimaces. "While I feel really bad for her, it's not like she's going to be working in a mine. She's marrying a prince, more or less. There are worse fates in the galaxy. And if the choice is saving you or saving her, I choose you."
Her words are touching...but her story is also filled with half-truths, so I don't know that I can trust what she's saying. "Setting yourself up to be the shy one? You love being in the public eye, Maeve."
She wrinkles her nose. "Eh. Not this public. They're kinda dicks."
Wait. Someone has been cruel to her? I growl.