Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
The Duchess Helena Covington’s private manor was called Stonewill Chateau and sat beside the lake because it was the home of the black-winged cobra—a creature I was not looking forward to facing in person.
Traveling south didn’t take as long as I’d hoped it would. The route was over flat plains and farmlands that had flourished after centuries of peace between Lockeheim and Wolfrest. Seeing the people tending to their fields and bringing in their harvest made me even more eager to keep this trek as private as possible. If the government of Lockeheim was interested in going to war with Wolfrest, so be it. It was the lives of their people they were throwing away.
But if this was one power-hungry bastard out for themselves, there was no reason to ruin the lives of thousands by escalating this disaster even further.
While on the road, we caught Adeline, Jasper, and Master Binx up on the news that Orian was still clinging to life and that we needed to get an antidote to the poison coursing through his blood. Adeline had at least spent some time in Ashbourne and had used the road that cut through the Hissing Marsh. While the black-winged cobra preferred to stay at Lake Mallomar, there were plenty of other snakes and aggressive plant life that called the Hissing Marsh home. The lake and marsh were the leading reasons Lockeheim had become renowned for its poison. There were countless venomous creatures living within its borders that could be raised and harvested for their toxins.
Not to mention, the Hissing Marsh provided an excellent border to keep out would-be invaders. There was no point in attacking a kingdom if you were going to lose most of your soldiers in a swamp.
To my relief, the path to Stonewill Chateau didn’t require us to spend much time in the marsh. On a hill overlooking the home, we stopped our horses and tied them to a nearby tree. Adeline and I took care of removing the gears, rubbing them down, and feeding them. I caught her glancing over her shoulder at Jasper several times as he sat with his head bowed next to Nylian while talking about the Widow’s Spite poison and the black-winged cobra.
“We can leave him here at camp,” I said, breaking the silence.
“What?” Adeline’s head snapped up, and she blinked at me, as if her brain were still trying to comprehend my words. After a second, she frowned and resumed brushing Jasper’s horse. “No. He has to go with us. I mean, I’d love to knock him out, tie him up, and leave him here, but he’s the only one out of the four of us who knows squat about poisons and those damn snakes.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I might have been the idiot who’d created them, but Jasper was the one who knew all the rules that had developed without me.
“Well, if things go sideways on us and you see an opening to get Jasper out of there, I want you to take it. Nylian and I can look out for ourselves.”
A harsh bark of laughter jumped from her throat, and the horse startled, stomping a hoof in the dirt. She cooed at it and rubbed its neck, calming it before turning her attention to me. “You really are an idiot sometimes.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Like we would leave you two behind,” she scoffed. “As if my brother would let me leave you behind.”
“I—”
“He’s got a thing for you, you know?”
I choked on the rest of my sentence, and Adeline rolled her eyes at me. “Not like that. I mean, he admires you. Looks up to you.”
“I doubt that.”
She finished brushing Jasper’s horse and stuffed the brush in a small bag that she dropped on the ground. “Why wouldn’t he?” She lifted one hand and ticked off each item as she strolled toward me. “Magic brought you here, which automatically makes you the most interesting person in all the world to him. You are constantly getting things wrong, but you never let it stop you from getting back up and trying again.”
I frowned at her. This list wasn’t sounding all that flattering.
“And you believe in him without question. It’s like you look at him and you can see that he’s going to be a great wizard. No one has ever believed in him like that.” She pressed one hand to her chest and stared at me with wide, sparkling eyes. “I love my brother with all my heart, and even I have trouble believing that some days.”
I smiled at her. “He will be a great wizard. We’ve just got to find him the right teacher. That’s all.”
Adeline drew in a somewhat ragged breath through her nose and nodded. She focused on petting the neck of Nylian’s horse while I finished rubbing him down after our long ride that day. “Addie, you’re a great mercenary, too, but you’re an even better big sister.”