Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1185(@200wpm)___ 948(@250wpm)___ 790(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1185(@200wpm)___ 948(@250wpm)___ 790(@300wpm)
“Watch out for her—”
A wing smacked me in the face.
“Her wings,” Nektas finished with a sigh. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I leaned my head back as Jadis wiggled closer, her taloned fingers sinking into my hair. Her breath tickled the side of my neck as she made a soft, chattering noise. “Just don’t breathe fire on me.”
Wide, bright red eyes met mine. Jadis chirped.
“I hope that was an agreement,” I told her.
“She likes you,” Nektas said. “So, if she does happen to breathe or burp up a little bit of fire on you, it will be purely by accident.”
“Good to know,” I murmured, patting the center of her back. I glanced around the office. “You weren’t in the throne room.”
“I didn’t need to hear what I already knew.”
Because he already saw me as brave and daring? Warmth crept into my cheeks. Or because he was already prepared for me to attempt another escape? Probably the latter.
“Ash should be here in a few.” Nektas gestured to the table. “He had food sent in for you.”
Ash.
Nektas was the only other person who called him that. My appetite was nowhere to be found at the moment, but I went to the one chair placed at the table and sat while Jadis continued her low chattering. I glanced at Nektas. He watched me as he had after I’d been wounded in the Red Woods. Curious about what he seemed to see. I didn’t allow myself to think about how I’d seen him naked or how he’d borne witness to my utter failure of an escape.
Giving my head a shake, I shifted Jadis slightly as I reached for the pitcher of juice, pouring myself a glass. “Are you now tasked with watching over me until Nyktos or someone else is available?”
“I’m here because I chose to be.”
I arched a brow. “You don’t have to lie.”
Nektas cocked his head. He appeared relaxed as he spoke, but an undercurrent of energy brimmed beneath his flesh. “Why would I lie about something like that?”
I shrugged, wanting to believe that Nektas was here because he wanted to spend time with me instead of with everyone else.
“Orphine would’ve stayed with you if I were needed elsewhere, but I wanted to keep you company until Ash arrived.” Nektas’s head straightened. “Anyway, I figured I’d be better company than Orphine.”
I snorted as I picked up my glass, narrowly avoiding having Jadis’s wing knock it from my hand as she swung them down. “A carpet would be better company than Orphine.”
His chuckle was deep and raspy as I lifted the lid from the dish. Jadis’s little head immediately whipped around, her chattering growing louder at the sight of the bacon, the mountain of eggs sprinkled with sliced peppers, and the buttery bread. There was also a hunk of chocolate.
I glanced over at her father and thought of Davina. “Did…did Davina have family?”
“She had an older sister, but she died years ago,” Nektas said after a moment. “But other than her, none that I know of.”
“Will there be a burial rite? Or has it already taken place?”
“We do not hold ceremonies for the dead,” he told me. “We believe that forcing those who cared for the deceased to see them in their death does nothing to honor the dead. We know they know the soul has already left the body to enter Arcadia. When possible, one who was not close to the deceased burns the dead within hours of their death, and each one mourns how they see fit—either together or alone.”
Having not known that draken entered Arcadia instead of the Vale, I took a sip of my juice. “You know, I kind of like that. I wouldn’t want those close to me watching my body burn.” I thought about seeing my old nursemaid, Odetta, wrapped in linen and placed on the burial pyre. “Burial rites are more for the living than the dead anyway. And, sure, I imagine it brings some closure. But I imagine it also creates more pain in others.”
Nektas nodded.
My hold on Jadis tightened as she reached for a crispy slice of bacon. “I don’t think you can have any of that.”
She tipped her hornless head up at me, her eyes woeful and bigger than before. “Sorry. I’ve been told you’re not allowed to have bacon.”
Nektas snorted. “Did Ash tell you that?”
I nodded as I picked up a fork.
“Does he think I don’t know that he lets Jadis eat whatever she wants?”
Since that was basically true, I said nothing as I got a forkful of eggs. Jadis huffed loudly as I took a bite. “Can she have eggs?”
“If you can get her to eat anything off a fork instead of with her grubby little fingers, she can.”
Grinning, I scooped up a tiny bit of eggs on the edge of the fork and lifted it to her mouth. “Open up,” I said as she eyed the fork as if it were a serpent. “Just take the eggs. Don’t bite the fork.”