Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 156210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156210 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 521(@300wpm)
“That must have been complicated. But at least the late Lord had someone to support him after his wife passed.”
The Marquise’s long eyelashes lower as she watches me. “The shadow bond is forever, but it’s not always based on love. In their case, the late Lord’s companion couldn’t offer him what he lost with his wife’s passing.”
I sense my cheeks warming with a flush as soon as I think about sharing a love bond with Kyran. It’s silly, since I know our relationship is one of convenience. We have great sexual chemistry, and we’re developing a friendship, but Kyran will one day find someone who can give him everything. Which shouldn’t sting as much as it does. Will he eventually call upon me for a reason of ‘grave importance’ only to introduce me to his beautiful elven husband on the day of their wedding?
Just imagining that hypothetical situation makes me sick.
Since I’ve fallen silent, the Marquise picks up the conversation. “I’ve heard that in the years before the Lord’s tragic passing, he argued a lot with his Companion. I don’t know the reason. Maybe there was too much affection between them, or too little? Now he’s lost in the shadowild. Whatever happened, his fate wasn’t as grave as that of those fallen in the battle against Heartbreak. They became part of the beast’s flesh, you see. We just don’t know if it devours their souls, or if they are somehow forever trapped with the other unfortunate victims…” She reaches out to Flap with a long nail, blood-red as her lips.
“Is it possible that the former Lord’s Dark Companion is still alive?” I whisper.
She exhales and pulls away her hand the moment Flap leans in to smell her skin. “Oh, no. It’s been seven years. Even if he had access to water and non-perishable food in our former Lord’s shadowild, he would have gone mad being there all alone. I suppose that’s why many Dark Companions always carry poison, or something else that can quickly end their lives.”
Something cold drips down my throat and into my stomach, tainting all the trust I’ve built with Kyran so far. He’s not mentioned this.
“Has anyone… looked for him?” I say in a voice lower than I intended. My throat tickles, and I have to clear it.
She shrugs. “There’s been a few divers over the years, but—”
The Marquise keeps talking, but the moment my ears pick up a familiar gait, it’s all I can hear. Even, confident, yet somehow almost too studied, as if Kyran is worried that if he were to make one wrong move, his secret identity would be revealed to all.
He walks out from behind a bookshelf as tall as a house, but the smile he’s carrying drops the moment he spots me sitting with the Marquise.
She follows my gaze. “Looking dashing today, Sire,” she says with the kind of familiarity I imagine she must have had with Kyranis.
I hate it.
I also hate that she’s stirred up some very reasonable doubts in me. Can I not live on Cloud Nine a while longer?
I don’t think Kyran is a devilish mastermind fucking me just to make me more compliant, but despite our growing bond, there are things he’s not telling me. Things I need to find out if I am to consider staying at the Nocturne Court.
“Like every day,” I say, and wink at him, because fuck it, we are courting after all.
I am surprised to spot Reiner trailing behind Kyran. He’s still in groveling mode around the prince, eyes cast down, face somber, but I ignore him for now, focused on Kyran, who stares at us as if he’s walked in on his wife and mistress having a friendly chat. I’m just not sure which one of the two I am.
He squeezes a small blue box topped with two roses in lieu of a ribbon and clears his throat. “You both look excellent too,” he says, and I can almost see the beginnings of a grimace, which he skillfully masks.
Is this a new kind of situation for him? He seems more than capable of wooing me or giving orders, but the courtly pleasantries seem to be as calming to him as a Mentos thrown into a glass of Diet Coke.
The Marquise slides off the table with grace, as if she’s made of liquid. “I thought I should acquaint myself with your promised,” she says with a courteous nod. “He is most charming. I cannot wait until he is introduced to more elves at the hunt. No need to keep him to yourself. I know I would always be happy to spend time with him,” she says, clearly making a point about being fine with some sort of polyamorous arrangement, unlike Kyran’s late mother.
I give a nervous laugh. “I’m still adjusting, but maybe it’s time to see more of your Realm, my prince. I haven’t even set foot in the village close to the castle yet.” And I’m dying to find out where the Dark Companion, Carol, lives. Until I talk to her, making any binding decisions feels impossible. Kyran won’t deny me in front of the Marquise, will he?