Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
This meant more to Mars than even Nyx’s instincts.
“And Saturn and Faunus?” Mars asked. “Have you spoken to them?”
“I have not, but Nyx reports Faunus, especially, took to him.”
Faunus, like Saturn, was a whore. He’d fuck anything. If he was not so good with a broadsword, he’d be a popular attraction in the Heden District of Fire City.
But he tended to veer toward hole and it wasn’t unknown for him to take a lover for a time if something struck his fancy.
He also desired to be a Trusted.
As did Saturn.
And perhaps this was a way for them to begin to earn their place amongst that elite.
“I want him continued to be played,” Mars decided. “Draw in Faunus and Saturn.”
“Nyx will not like it,” Lorenz warned him.
“It is a command of her king. But if he is what you sense he is, or if he is not, in the end, either way, it’ll be as it should be.”
Lorenz lifted his chin and moved away.
Mars drew breath into his nose.
He did not wish to deal with unknown machinations of the Go’Doan when he had the weakness of the Dellish king and the pomposity of the Airenzian one to handle.
But mostly what he truly wished was to think of nothing but the woman who would soon be his wife and where he would take her teachings in his bedchamber that night.
But his father would juggle all of that, with seventeen more dire problems, and still smile and kiss his wife like nothing was amiss when he sat beside her at dinner.
This would be the king Mars would be.
And it would be the husband he would be.
So this was what he set about doing.
31
The Choice
Queen Mercy Axelsson
Catrame Palace Lofts, Northeastern-Most Corner, Catrame Palace Grounds, Fire City
FIRENZE
The raven flew, and Mercy instantly turned her head and nodded.
The tall man beside her lifted the small green flag and waved it before he quickly withdrew it.
And thus the man on a horse two hundred yards away went galloping.
This meaning the raven would be shot from the sky before it left the Fire City, the rider then would lay in wait for the messenger on his mount which was sure to follow.
Lamentable.
Ravens were noble, wise and full of magic. If she were queen in more than name only, she would make harming a raven a punishable offense.
However, she must do what had to be done.
And Mercy did that.
She waited.
The man at her side waited.
And the men on horses in the distance waited.
But so sure was he that he had immunity to do anything, Carrington dashed down from the raven lofts, and without a glance around, made his way back to the palace.
“Wait here. If a man loyal to Carrington arrives to dispatch another bird, send the signal. And have Carrington closely watched. I want reports on all his closest associations with my husband’s men. And I’ll have all his communications, Bram. However he should send them. The instant you can get them. I don’t care if it’s delivered to me during a royal wedding.”
“Yes, my queen,” Bram murmured.
She moved from her secluded position back toward the palace.
It really didn’t matter what the message was that Carrington sent. Even if it was treason, her husband might not care. Carrington seemed to have the disturbing skill of being able to talk his way out of anything.
And Wilmer would wish to know why Mercy was using his men (or True’s men, she could not trust Wilmer’s men were actually Wilmer’s) to shoot his closest advisor’s birds from the sky.
However, matters were progressing at an alarming rate, and for Wodell, her beloved husband, and her beloved son, they weren’t heading in the right direction.
It may be she’d have to make a choice.
Her king.
Or her son.
It was no choice really.
She loved her husband. She very much did.
But he was weak.
She tired of standing behind a man who was weak.
Being his wife, it meant a lifetime of holding him up.
And she intended to see her son seated on the throne of Wodell.
Even if she died doing it.
No, there was no choice.
Mercy picked True.
32
The Offer
Princess Elena
Grand Stairwell, Catrame Palace, Fire City
FIRENZE
“I’ll have your ear, if I may, Your Grace.”
I turned to see the Go’Doan calling to me.
What was his name?
G’Liam.
I stopped where I was on the landing and dipped my chin.
“Of course, Liam, how may I assist you?”
“Do you have a moment to speak privately?”
I studied his face.
It was bland.
Giving away nothing.
But one did not waste the opportunity of getting at least something from a Go’Doan.
Or I didn’t as I found fascinating each tidbit of the puzzle that was them.
“Perhaps one of King Mars’s informal rooms,” I murmured.
He stepped to the side and lifted an arm, the long alabaster sleeve of his robe falling nearly to his knee.
And he was tall.
He was also handsome. Fair. Prominent features that were manly, but not aggressive. Hazel eyes with spiky lashes.