Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
I definitely wasn’t in the mood for rehashing that night.
I sighed. “The product of a flower. My favorite flower, if that makes you feel any better.”
“I wondered why you gave in to a stranger coming out of the shadows.” He paused, expectant. “Don’t you want to know why I did it? Why I walked out of those shadows to you?”
“Honestly, no, I don’t. If it’s okay, I’d like to just have a few quiet moments together and then go to bed. I’m sorry for the things I said—“
“Don’t do that,” he replied, his voice so soft, his gaze pointed at his feet. He took a big gulp of his wine. “Don’t say something you don’t mean. Not to me.”
My heart hurt even though it shouldn’t. I looked away. “Okay.”
“I am sorry, Aurelia. I am sorry for everything. I am sorry for how your life has gone up until this exact moment and I’m sorry for whatever will follow. I’d thought the demon dungeons were my penance for decisions I’ve made, but maybe it is this situation with you that is my true punishment.”
I furrowed my brow, now trying to read his face. “I don’t understand. Why go through with it if you don’t want to?”
He slouched a little, the first time I’d seen him do so. “Because it is the only way I will be able to live with myself.” He drained his cup dry and then held it up. “I am assuming your products didn’t suddenly become dangerous, correct? Will this kill me?”
I stared at him with a slack jaw, then I was back to stammering. “I— That’s just— What?”
“Will it?” he whispered. “I will need to write out instructions for the others if so, and you’ll need to hurry. I assume Hadriel told you the best way to get out? He’s been watching me pretty closely. It’s no secret that he likes you and thinks my treatment of you is unjust. He’s not nearly as mediocre as he likes to claim, he just has to want to do a job to do it superbly.”
I was struck mute. I’d been so careful, so sneaky.
His smile was sad. He put his hand to my cheek, his thumb stroking my skin. “I watch everything you do, Little Wolf. Every movement, replaying every detail when you’re not near me. I can’t help myself, I’m a man enraptured. You’ve been more calculated these last few days. I knew the storm was coming, and tonight was the final straw. I saw it in your face, in your bearing.”
He could read me so easily.
“You took product the other night, right?” he asked. “You’ve been keeping it on your person? Or in your bag?” He waited for my nod, not much more than slightly tilting my head. “Will it kill me?”
“You took it without knowing that answer? How’d you know it was even in there?”
“It is not tasteless, whatever it was. I’ve been expecting your retaliation. I have a lot to answer for. You’re a woman who needs help, needs kindness. I felt that the first time I met you. I have given you neither. I’ve torn into your life and told you to shoulder the fallout while I marched you to your doom. My actions have been unforgivable. My wolf is no longer speaking to me. But please, I need to make preparations if this will kill me. There’s the pack to think about.”
I shook my head slowly, recognizing the sadness in his tone, his eyes.
I set my wine down. “It won’t. It’s just a sleeping agent. Why are you letting me go?”
“I’m letting you go because it is the right thing to do. You’re right, things aren’t adding up. I am certain you are telling the truth and your journals are further proof. Product is definitely coming out of your village, but it is getting a makeover. How and where, I don’t know, but Granny must have changed the properties of the product. With Hadriel’s prompting, several people have tried your creations in those crates. They informed me of this earlier tonight, after you cut your finger. I think Hadriel wanted to prove your story and as the others got to know you, they wanted to help. No one has felt sick or even dizzy. No one has had a craving for more. Someone took it yesterday while we were traveling and I didn’t even notice. That is not the case with product sold at market.”
“Honestly, they might crave it if they keep at it. It can be habit forming if they do it enough.”
“That’s the thing—in the market, it might take just twice before people begin chomping at the bit. Or they die. It is those scenarios that brought me to your village, but you are naive to both. I can’t, in good conscience, hold you any longer. I won’t, in good conscience, deliver you back to that village, for your sake and theirs. You need to be set free.”