Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 145704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
My hope surges. “Help him!”
The three Islorians rush toward the pile of rock.
“Over there!” Zander points to an enormous boulder, and as one, they heave, their powerful bodies straining from the effort. Finally, it rolls.
And out pops Pan, crawling through a tunnel on all fours. He clambers to his feet with a bewildered expression. Aside from a scrape across his forehead, he appears unharmed.
I struggle to stand, using a nearby tree for support. “How are you okay?”
He takes in the debris with wide eyes before shrugging. “The boulders formed a little tunnel where I could crawl through.” He lifts my ring and dagger.
“I hear thanks are in order for your heroism.” Zander holds out his hand. “I will take those.”
“Yes, right. Here you go. I mean, Your Highness.” Pan gives my belongings to Zander and then bobs and bows awkwardly, reminding me of a duck.
Zander presses his lips together to keep from laughing as he strolls toward me. “What did I say about keeping this on you at all times?” He wipes the bloody blade against his pants before tucking the dagger into my holster. “And this.” Collecting my hand in his, he slips the ring on my finger. “Try not to lose this again.”
Flutters stir in my chest as his thumb strokes my palm, but I tell myself it was an accident. It meant nothing. “I didn’t think you’d be able to find us.”
“I wasn’t sure I would. Not until I heard the screams. But before that, I will admit, I was panicking.”
Because he thought he’d lost his key caster, that little voice reminds me. You two are nothing more now. My disappointment flares with the reminder. But I mustn’t be blinded by my lingering feelings and his gentleness, that I know my worth to him.
“What happened here, boy?” Jarek asks.
“I don’t know, exactly.” Pan scratches his curly brown mop. “One minute, my lady was screaming, and the next, the ground was moving and the whole gosh darn thing was coming down.”
Jarek’s expression is calculating as his attention flips from me to the mountain of rock, back to me and the ring. As if he’s piecing together things he shouldn’t be. Couldn’t be.
“Get the horses to Abarrane,” Zander commands.
Another beat passes and then Jarek mutters, “Aye,” and takes off.
“Zander, he—”
“Do not worry about Jarek. Let’s get you to Gesine.”
I reach for his shoulder, intent on using him as a prop, but he gathers me in his arms instead, much like he did the day Tyree smashed my face against the bars.
“Ready?” he asks softly.
Despite my better judgment, I settle my cheek against his shoulder, reveling in this tender moment, however fleeting it may be.
Behind us, Pan hangs back, his furtive glance on the trees in the opposite direction. Now that I’m safe, he’s remembering that he’s not.
“No one’s going to hurt you,” I assure him.
His big brown eyes flip to Zander, full of doubt.
Zander surveys my neck. “That first scream I heard, it wasn’t you, was it.”
My instinct is to lie—to protect Pan—but the truth will come out, anyway, and very soon. “We don’t need Gesine’s testing method.”
He sighs heavily.
“Pan protected me tonight. He tried to convince them to release me, he lied about who I am—”
“He doesn’t know who you are.”
“That’s beside the point. He wouldn’t leave when he had his chance. He even went back for my ring and my dagger, which is how he got trapped.”
“But I gave Rengard my word—”
“I don’t care! You told him you’d pass swift judgment, not necessarily swift execution. We can mark him like Wendeline marked the others.”
“That didn’t work out well for them. Atticus ordered their deaths immediately after.”
I wince, the memory of those terrified children still in my mind. But I can’t help them anymore. I can, however, help Pan. “No one is laying a hand or a blade or an arrow or anything on Pan unless I say it’s okay. I mean it, Zander.”
The corner of his mouth twitches. “Is that an order, Your Highness?”
I roll my eyes at his mocking. “I’m serious.”
“I can see that.” A pensive look flickers across his face. “Pan, you will not be harmed while you remain with us, as long as you promise me two things. One, you will never allow anyone to take your vein.”
Pan’s head bobs before changing his mind and shaking it furtively. “I won’t. I promise. I only took it because Oswald is a mean bugger who sold off my sister to a horrible keeper. Broke my ma’s heart. And then she died, and a peddler was sellin’ this stuff, and he told me it would make my blood taste bad—”
“We’ll get those details later,” Zander cuts off his rambling. “That’s the first thing. The second”—he considers the crumbled cave—“you never repeat what you saw happen here. To anyone. And if someone should ask, you inform me.”