Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
I’m in a whole lot of trouble.
chapter 9
Lizzie
Biting the selkie was a mistake. She tastes even better than I could have dreamed, her blood as full of mystery as her inky eyes. Even thinking about it now, hours later, my fangs throb in wanting. Worse in some ways, she came so sweetly. Desperately. With cute little whimpers and shudders that tempted me to let things get out of hand.
I need her help for a prolonged period of time; otherwise, I’d already be planning a full seduction the moment we find a bath and bed.
I’m such a fucking liar. I am planning a full seduction the moment we find a bath and bed. We’re adults. We can enjoy each other and go our separate ways at the end of this. Sex is a perfectly natural outcome when desire sparks so fiercely between people. There’s no reason not to give in to it.
No reason except Maeve acting skittish ever since she came back to herself. I can’t quite decide if her racing heart is because she wants more . . . or because she’s afraid of me in a way she hasn’t been since we met.
To distract myself, I nod at the bag she tucked away. “Why did you have a go bag packed when you’d already escaped the island once?”
Maeve makes a face, but we have nothing better to talk about. There’s nothing to look at but the endless blue of the sea, and that is not something I want to focus on for any length of time. I’ve historically enjoyed the sea—from shore. The soothing crash of the waves, the early morning mist that kisses my skin, the way the sun glints off the surface as it sets behind the horizon. It’s so much different on the water. The sun is unrelenting, the surface creating a mirror that means there’s no escaping the bright rays. Salt is everywhere, crusted on my clothes, my skin, my hair. I hate it.
Better by far to focus on Maeve.
She finally sighs. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“Then would you rather talk about how pretty you are when you orgasm?” I’m not flirting with her. I just want information, and this is the best way to get it. There’s no way she wants to discuss what happened between us when I bit her. Which means I’ll get the information I’m seeking. That’s all.
Sure enough, her skin deepens to a bright crimson and she looks everywhere but at me. “You are incredibly frustrating.”
“People have said worse.”
“I can only imagine.” She pokes at the rudder, but unless she dives over the side of the boat, she’s not getting out of this conversation. Finally the selkie sighs. “The bag isn’t mine. It’s a community thing. We have them stashed all over the island.”
I examine her words from several angles. “To escape the Cŵn Annwn or monsters?”
“Monsters.” She makes a derisive noise that wrinkles her cute little nose. “My people have been in Threshold since before the Cŵn Annwn showed up. So have the peoples of all the islands. Do you know what stories we pass down?”
This anger feels like it’s following a known path, the way a river carves its way through a mountain. “What stories?”
She clenches her fists. “Cautionary tales to give predators wide berth. Because that’s what these so-called monsters are—predators acting according to their nature. The Cŵn Annwn have killed more than any predator they hunt, and they’ve done untold damage to communities who tried to push back against their rule. No monster has done that.”
Earlier, she said that the selkies have no use for ships and boats because they do their own hunting in their other forms. Which means that there is no easy escape from the island unless they want to swim. If I were hunting selkies, I would merely wait on the surface until they ran out of air and then pick them off like fish in a barrel. They are still mammals, after all. They have to breathe air.
“The go bag?”
“Viedna isn’t very large, so people think that what they can see is all there is to see. There are caves that stretch for miles and miles. There is fresh water, but not much in the way of food if you’re not a fan of mushrooms. Some of the caverns have actual supplies, but near the other entrances, we keep bags. Just in case.”
Interesting. I’ll admit that I fell into the same trap of assuming that the small island is exactly as it appears to be. “Do the stashes belong to the rebellion?”
“Some of the smaller ones, but that’s only because the village elders gave them permission to hide people passing through.”
I still have a lot of questions about the rebellion. I know what Nox says. I know what Evelyn and Bowen say. But in their own way, they each occupy a privileged and unique position within the ecosystem of Threshold. They are part of the Cŵn Annwn. The boogeyman that terrifies communities and monsters alike when they sail into port.