Total pages in book: 207
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
Something was fucking wrong.
And he had to do something before it was too late.
The thirty-minute carriage ride to the Baron of Woodmere's townhouse was reduced into ten with Mihail riding his horse in neck-breaking speed. After leaving instructions to the stable boy to have his mount watered, he swiftly ascended the steps and within moments was being escorted to the breakfast room.
"The Marquis of Sangre," the butler intoned.
"Milord, welcome..." The three Orpheline sisters, despite their visible surprise, greeted him pleasantly.
"How the hell did you know I was here?" Ilie Marcovici, the Marquis of Lunare, on the other hand, did not sound as welcoming, but this was belied by the wicked gleam in his silver eyes.
"It's nice to see you, too."
It was Mihail's usual dry tone, Ilie observed with a frown, but at the same time, it wasn't.
Soleil, too, noticed the weariness that outlined Mihail's chiseled features. Something must have happened, she told her husband through their blood bond.
Aurora straightened in her seat when the Marquis of Sangre turned to look at her. Uh-oh.
"May I speak with you in private? It is about Lady Norwood."
Ilie glanced at his heartkeeper. I never told you, did I? And I suppose your sister would not do so either.
Soleil blinked. Tell me what?
Ilie nodded at his sister-in-law's direction. Mihail's heartkeeper is one of Aurora's patients.
When Mihail saw the Marchioness of Lunare suddenly looking at him with wide-eyed curiosity, he shot her husband a glare. "Stop gossiping about me behind my back."
"You are right," Ilie drawled. "These things are more interesting when discussed in the open."
The words had his marchioness coughing to disguise her laughter while Mihail cursed him fluidly in Daemoniu.
"I believe you already know this, milord," Aurora said apologetically, "but I cannot speak of anything that Lady Norwood—-"
"It is not that," Mihail interrupted grimly. "I wish instead to ask you about heartkeeping. My sister Maricha tells me that you have recently been helping her with her research."
Aurora's expression cleared. "That, I can most assuredly give assistance to."
"We can be of help as well," Ilie offered. "You know this is true," he said innocently when he saw Mihail's scowl. "Soleil and I are still discovering new things about heartkeeping even now."
And so it was how Mihail ended up reluctantly recounting last night's events to two ladies and a gentleman, and of course just when he had reached the halfway point, Lady Fleur, the youngest of the Trois Belles Lames, arrived, and at the lady's insistence, Mihail found himself back at the beginning. This time, he made it as far as three-fourths of his story when it was the baron himself who walked in, and of course out of respect, Mihail recounted - hopefully for the last time - what recently transpired between him and his pet.
By the very end, Ilie, seeing that a muscle was already angrily ticking at Mihail's jaw, decided against his original intention to ask his friend to repeat the whole thing one last time.
He glanced at his heartkeeper instead, about to ask her thoughts through the blood bond—-
Blood bond...
The Marquis of Lunare jerked in his seat.
"What is it?" Mihail demanded, having recognized the look in his friend's eyes.
"The blood bond," Ilie said abruptly. "It might be the missing component in the heartkeeping process, and why your demon half is still able to assert itself."
Aurora frowned. "Maricha and I haven't read anything about blood bonds being a critical requirement, but it would make sense if it were."
"Ilie and Soleil share a blood bond, and—-" Fleur almost ended up throwing the Duke of Brimstone's name out loud but managed to catch herself in time just as five pairs of eyes swung to her in sharp warning.
Sorry, she mouthed wryly.
"Point still taken." Soleil, ever the protective oldest sister, quickly spoke up to smooth over the awkward silence that followed Fleur's near verbal mishap. She turned to her husband, asking, "Has anything similar happened to you in the past?"
Ilie shook his head. "We had a blood bond almost soon after I learned about you. Mihail, on the other hand, has had to live without it for years."
The baron had been studying the other marquis in thoughtful silence for a while now, and there was one thing which he could not help puzzle over. "Forgive me for asking this, milord, but why was it that you have not bonded with your heartkeeper by blood?"
"We had a misunderstanding two years ago," Mihail said edgily. "It made me realize that the least I could do for her was not to take for myself the privilege of reading her thoughts...if things did not work out."
The silence that followed Mihail's revelation was grim.
"Mihail." Ilie's voice was brooding. "Do you love her?"
Mihail's jaw clenched. "It is not something I have ever allowed myself to answer."
Aurora struggled to keep her shock from showing. Was the marquis even aware that was how Rhapsody thought of love as well? The girl couldn't even make herself say the word out loud, and it was the same for the marquis.