Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“Straight from Blackwater,” I answer, tucking it into the inside pocket of my coat. “And no, I don’t plan on shooting you, though I’m sure you could dodge a bullet if you needed to.”
“Sure, I could. But do you really think an item like that will kill Decius?”
“No. But it’ll protect us for now from whatever vessel he uses on Earth.”
“Ah yes, vessels.” Korah runs a finger over the wooden table next to her. “Have you encountered any yet?”
“One. A snake,” Willow answers, then visibly shivers.
“When was this?” Korah asks, tapping the table with one of her claw-like nails.
“Last night,” Willow responds.
“There will be another soon. If there’s one thing I remember about Decius, he becomes very impatient when he’s close to his targets.”
Korah sighs and faces the table, and I wait for her to speak—to address this colossal elephant in the room about Decius—but when she picks up the container, opening it and plucking out a berry for herself, I can’t help the question that slips out of me. “Why are you here?”
She looks me up and down. “In my own house?”
“On Earth.”
She bites into the berry, and juices trickle from the corners of her mouth. “I’m certain you heard the rumors while you were in Vakeeli. What are you, around one hundred and twenty years old? Yes, about right. Anyway, if you’ve heard them, then you know about Decius overthrowing Selah.”
“So, you just left her there? Didn’t even try to set her free?” I ask.
Korah stands tall. “I warned Selah not to create the Tethered. Hassha and I both did, but she didn’t listen to us. Now she’s paying for that mistake.”
“Why didn’t you want her to make them?” asks Willow.
“Because we knew it would disrupt so many things. Creating land, animals, and other creatures was simple. They can’t overthrow us because they have no mind of their own. But creating beings who can think for themselves, and who also carried more energy from Regals, well…it was bound to go horribly wrong. Selah gave the original Tethered too much freedom—too much power. She thought they’d all worship her and stay in their place. She was wrong, and now they’re all dead, and they continue to die because of it. All but one, anyway.”
“Isn’t there a way to wake her up? We heard that she’s the only way to defeat Decius,” Willow goes on. She cuts her eyes at me, and I’m glad she doesn’t mention that it will require me to wake her. If this woman really is Korah the Regal, she either knows for a fact who I am, or she has another solution to waking her sister that she hasn’t tried yet.
“I don’t know anything about that, so I can’t help you.” Korah moves across the room, plucking items from the shelves and placing them on the center of her table. Feathers, jewels, rocks. Pointless things. “I will be having after-hours customers soon, so you need to leave and never come back.”
“So that’s it?” I step closer to her. “You’re just going to send us off to die like the rest of them? Why are you so afraid of him?”
She whirls around to face me, and her eyes glow an electrifying purple. Ah. There she is. Korah the Regal with her energy brimming to the surface. She narrows her eyes as she points a stern finger in my face. “I am not afraid of him. I no longer wanted to tolerate him, or the disgusting place Vakeeli has become. You’ve seen it. Look at you. I can feel it all over you—the agony that place has put upon you. You reek of it, you sad little boy. Why would anyone ever want to go back to that retched world, especially someone like me? Someone they’d hunt down just to harness my power?”
I clench my jaw, refusing to look away, even though I feel prickles in my brain, like she’s prodding it with her sharp nails, going through the crevices and searching for all my truths.
“I have family there. I’m monarch of Blackwater,” I inform her.
She scoffs, turning away again. “Look, you may cherish your precious Blackwater and all its…well, black water, but I don’t care. I can’t help you, end of story. I suggest you stay on Earth and keep killing whatever vessels come after you. That would be much easier than going back. Decius will likely tire of it eventually…at least until you both die and a new Cold Tether couple is reborn.”
“And if he doesn’t?” I counter. “If he finds a way here?”
“He won’t.” She peers at me over her shoulder. “He has no way here unless it’s through corrupt vessels, I and Hassha made sure of it. And with the corrupt, I cannot control that because I don’t use my energy for wicked things. Only for good. Now leave.”