Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78886 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78886 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Her identity wrenched a gasp from my deepest depths. Valkara, freed from her bounds and without wounds. “How did you get free? Is the fight over?”
She motioned to the prisoners, ignoring my question. “This is what happens when an original slays a firebrand. The beast embraces hatred and takes over.”
Forget them–for now. “Where’s Juniper?”
“She remains with Deco. Lucky girl, she gets to enjoy the show. I decided to speak with you alone.”
Suspicions sharpened to razor points, becoming certainties. “You’re working with the shifter king,” I stated in a flat tone. Knew it! She’d never been in danger. Had lured Viktor here under false pretenses.
“I am. But only until I acquire Viktor. He’s proved most stubborn. But in the end he’ll do it. He’ll slay you and turn.”
The casual statement knocked the air from my lungs. “The prophesy…you didn’t foresee me killing him at all. You wanted him to kill me so that he would finally shift.”
“Yes, and I thought I’d covered all my bases. If you betrayed him, boom. He would’ve welcomed evil into his heart and killed you. That’s the first thing every shifter with a firebrand does, after all. If you didn’t turn him, but fell in love with him, you would sacrifice yourself when I convince you it’s the only way to save him.”
Find, destroy, happy.
The words Viktor had repeated like a broken record since our meeting filled my head. I’d known their sinister meaning already, but this proved they’d been Plan A, B and C from the beginning.
Find me.
Destroy me.
And finally be happy.
She’d played chess while the rest of us played checkers.
All grace and gloating, she strolled closer. When she stopped outside of the strike zone, she smiled. “Do you know why King Malachi asked such a terrible thing of you? Why he promised you an introduction to your parents?”
“Let me guess. You convinced him it needed to be done for the greater good.” Just as she’d tricked Viktor.
“Actually, he did it for access to his firebrand.”
“So you manipulated us all.”
“And yet I must still go the backup route.”
“Let me guess. I’m supposed to convince Viktor to kill me.”
“You will,” she said. “You made him fall in love with you. It’s time.”
Apprehension crept down my spine, new suspicions dancing across my mind in a sinister ballet. She was going to make me choose: Viktor or Juniper.
“You can’t know I made him fall in love. He’s never professed his feelings.” But I was pretty sure I’d fallen totally, completely, and utterly in love with him. “Why don’t you kill me and ignite his turning yourself?”
“I’ve learned from trial and error. The only way to ensure the transformation from sentinel to primordial sticks is for the king to do the slaying.” Another smile flashed. “Since you won his affections, I’ll give you a reward. At least in part. Allow me to introduce you to your mother.” Spreading her arms, she announced, “Me.”
“No you are not,” I grated. I hadn’t wished to meet this woman for my entire life. Not her, the one who’d planned my death centuries before I was even born. But, as I studied her with a more critical eye, I began to notice our similarities. The gray in our eyes. The shape of our chins. The single dimple in one of our cheeks.
“I promise you, I am.” With languid, unhurried steps, she stalked a circle around me. I moved with her, not letting her stand at my back. “Did Viktor not tell you? I’m a dreamseer, able to peer into the future through my dreams. I can even reveal snippets to others in their dreams. Once upon a time, I foresaw your importance to him. Well, yours or Juniper’s. I only see in pictures. From the beginning, I knew only three facts. Who I must seduce to produce you, one of you would be Viktor’s firebrand, and the other must be used as bait. Too bad I chose wrong. Had Juniper ended up with him, he would have killed her, you would have attacked him, and he would have killed you too. Alas.”
Such cold, callous words from the woman who might have birthed me. It was an invisible dagger to the gut. But now I had confirmation. She had indeed shaped my dream. “Who is our father? Why separate twins?” No doubt Juniper would’ve been even stronger bait if we’d stayed together.
“Your father is irrelevant. A griffin of no importance. He was of zero use to me once you were born, and I couldn’t allow him to try and save you from your own mother, now, could I?”
The response hit its target: my heart. She’d killed him. All these years, what had I imagined? A mother and father unable to take care of me, who still loved the child they’d created. Now I knew my father wasn’t given a chance to get to know his twins, and our mother hadn’t cared about us. I pressed my fingers to the fluttering pulse in my throat. Anguish spread through me. I didn’t bottle it, but I looked past it, because I must. I hadn’t missed her avoidance of my other question. Why separate twins, weakening a bond she planned to utilize? Only one answer made sense. We were stronger together.