Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
“I have not forgotten,” says Alwar, “but perhaps you do not recall the fact that I swore fidelity to you—even if it meant never bedding another woman again.”
He also said something about winning me over. I still don’t know why. My best guess is that he wants me to think he’s loyal to me. I know he’s not. He’s only loyal to his throne, power, and people.
“Well,” I say, “you made your bed. But that doesn’t exclude Gabrio and Bard from helping or caring about me.”
Alwar laughs into the air. “They are weak and disloyal, just like my mother and sister.”
Ooh. Someone sounds jealous. I stop walking, and Alwar halts, too. “Yet, I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for them. Can’t say the same for you. You repeatedly put me in harm’s way.”
Alwar suddenly looks flustered—bunched brows and crinkled lips. “Well-well, that does not change their nature, Lake. Even a fool can prove useful every now and again.”
“So if you don’t trust them, then who? Tiago?” Now it’s my turn to laugh.
Alwar bends down, putting us nose to nose. His nostrils flare, and there’s a stern look in his eyes. I’ve definitely hit a nerve. “I trust no one. Not even you, wife.”
Ouch. The sting is instant. Then again, he’s right. He can’t trust me. “Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you forced me to stay here and be the new ruler.”
“I did think of it, because as king, that is my job. Never forget it, Lake.”
“How could I? Being king is all you talk about. So sad that you’re not even a good one.”
He stands straight up and snarls down at me. A delicious vein pulsing in his temple. He probably wants to thump me over the head with his fist right now. I just want to bite him.
“Oh, did I hurt your feelings?” I say spitefully. “Well, maybe next time, think about not handing over an eight-year-old little girl’s parents to die so she has to be raised by her grandma. And when that little girl grows up, having missed her mom and dad every single day of her life,” I raise my voice, “perhaps reconsider taking her from her fucking home and using her as a fucking pawn for your fucking political gain. And while you’re at all this ‘thinking’ of yours, don’t force her to marry you and then start telling her what to do,” I yell, “after she’s been turned into a fucking vampire!”
Alwar looks away, toward the pack of vampires marching far ahead. His chest rises and falls rapidly with agitated breaths. “We should pick up the speed. We are losing time.”
He starts walking.
I’ve hurt his feelings? No, that’s not it. His expression was more stunned or disturbed than anything else.
Is it possible that all this time, he’s never once stopped to consider what he did to me? I’m broken in so many ways, I can’t even begin to count. And every fracture, every scar, every hole in my heart was caused by him.
How could he not know this?
CHAPTER SIX
The Scholar People’s “temple” is not at all what I imagined. For starters, there is no temple, and the entrance is literally a massive hole in the ground, situated on a small mountainside. The terrain around us is covered in round, spiky bushes that remind me of tumbleweed armed with stakes. Very angry-looking bushes.
To our backs is a forest of tall trees that look like willows until you get up close. The drooping branches are more like tentacles, complete with tiny suction cups. Alwar warned me not to get too close.
“Some eat meat; some do not. You can never tell which is which,” he said.
I walk up to the edge of the hole and peek in. It’s a straight drop down, and the opening is barely big enough for someone like Bard to squeeze into.
“I have to jump in to get to the temple?” I ask Alwar.
“Yes.”
“How far down does it go?” I ask.
“It is only a short fall. You will not die.”
“Hmmm…while that sounds super reassuring, I’d appreciate a bit more elaboration.”
“It is a twenty-foot drop. Once you are down there, you must get past the thorn serpents and the ten-foot-long mud leeches. They do not eat mud, in case you were wondering. After that, you are halfway there.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“I lived in the temple for ten years. I assure you the journey going in is far less harrowing than the journey coming back out. It is why I did not leave until my studies were over.”
He stayed in there for a decade because he, a Wall Man, was too afraid to leave? “God, I hate this world. So after the leeches, what next?”
“It is anyone’s guess. The tunnel is known for its tests of the mind.”
Oh great. I’m assuming this isn’t one of those ink-blot tests.