Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“You will.” The wind promised. “You will find me when the time is right. All princesses have to wait for their princes.”
“Are you a prince?”
“No, but I know who your prince is, and he’s waiting for you, too.”
“He is? What’s he waiting for?” Alanna hurriedly asked, hearing Mrs. Fields and her caseworker opening the back door.
“What do you want me to tell her?”
Matthew stared at Silas as his brother talked to the girl who was destined for him, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn’t change the path set ahead for them.
“For you to call out my name.”
“How am I supposed to know his name?” Silas repeated what the young girl had said.
“You will know without me ever having to tell you.”
“What am I supposed to do until then?”
Matthew stared at Silas in agony, not wanting to give the answer he had no choice to give.
His brother stared back at him in understanding, well aware of the turmoil he was going through.
“We wait.”
Chapter One
Alanna was jerked awake by the light being turned on in the corridor outside of her jail cell. Groggily raising herself up onto an elbow, she looked to see why the lights had been turned on in the middle of the night. If the deputy who was usually on duty had come to annoy her in the middle of the night, she was going to file a formal complaint for cruel and unusual punishment.
Blinking to clear the sleep out of her eyes, she saw two deputies maneuvering a large man inside the opposite cell. At least, she thought the person was a male. From her viewpoint, she couldn’t really tell. All she could discern was, whoever it was, they were large enough that the deputies were having trouble carrying him, and a hoodie hid the back of his head from her.
Tossing the person onto the bunk, the deputies exited the cell, slamming the door closed behind them.
Seeing she was observing them, the deputy who was too young to have such shockingly white hair spoke to the other deputy, whom she had only seen a few times before. “You go on, Larry. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Walking closer to her cell door, Deputy Porter gave a backward nod of his head. “He won’t be bothering you none. Had too good of a time at the fair tonight. You need anything before I turn the lights off?”
“No, I don’t need anything, but I’d feel more comfortable if you put him in the other cell and leave the lights on.”
“I’m not chancing putting more of a strain on my back than I already have. He weighs a ton. The lights are bright enough to keep you awake and won’t do his head any good if he wakes up. If I were you, I’d prefer him sleeping. Only person on duty tonight is the dispatcher. The rest of us are out and about on patrol, or stationed at the fairgrounds.”
Alanna swung her legs off the side of the cot. “I don’t exactly feel comfortable knowing that I’m sleeping within six feet of someone who has done something illegal to get arrested.”
The deputy rattled her cell door. “Hear that?”
“Yes,” she gritted out between clenched teeth.
Taking a step back, he rattled the other cell door. “Here that?”
“Yes,” she muttered angrily.
“Then you’re all good?”
“I guess so,” she forced out. At this point, she just wanted him to leave.
The deputy walked back to her door. “Reckon I’ll see you in the morning. Want anything in particular for breakfast?”
“Pancakes with a nail file inside would be appreciated.”
The deputy shook his head, as if he was taking her sarcastic joke serious. “Sorry, my misses would have my ass if I lost my job when we just found out we’re expecting.”
“Then no, I don’t want anything.”
“Suit yourself.” He shrugged.
Alanna lay back down as the deputy moved away from the cell. At least he did make one concession by not turning the light off in the corridor.
Turning to her side to stare toward the other cell now that the deputy had moved out the way, she could see the man’s tall form lying on the bunk, on his side, with his back turned toward her. The cell had sat empty since her arrest. Owen had been placed in another cell further down the corridor.
There was no way she was going to be able to go back to sleep, regardless of there being two metal doors separating the cells. She had never been able to sleep with someone else in the room after she had been taken in by the Fields. Owen and Kate had made nights a torture to endure.
The shadowy interior of the cells escalated her fears that came out to play in the dark. Sitting back up, she scrunched herself into a ball, in the corner of her bunk, to stare unblinking at the figure on the other bunk. Hitching her head upward when she nearly nodded off numerous times, she almost screamed out loud when she saw the man suddenly roll over to his back then sit on the side of the bed to look toward her cell.