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)
“We need to talk,” I said with a heavy sigh.
“So I would gather.” His tone differed from what I’d heard from him since we’d first met. Yes, he could be stiff and haughty, but usually he was teasing with a touch of annoyed. But this was frosty to the point of him exhaling icicles.
With a grunt, I headed the way I’d come down the alley. If we were going to talk, it wouldn’t be in this smelly alley full of excrement and rotting whatever. My room at the inn was our best shot at some privacy. Especially since I wasn’t convinced my stalker had bought my performance as Prince Victor Montcroix.
As I reached the sidewalk, I hesitated, gazing left and right. After everything that had happened, I couldn’t remember the way to the inn. Had I mentioned that I had no sense of direction? Just none. It was embarrassing.
“Which way?” I grumbled, knowing Nylian was a step behind me.
The elf moved to stand beside me, his head tilted as he regarded me with narrowed eyes, as if he were still trying to decide whether I was being earnest with him or it was all an act. “To the left,” he answered slowly, his expression unchanging.
I tore my gaze away from him and turned to the left. At the next corner, I recognized where I was and could navigate the last couple of blocks on my own to the inn. Nylian walked beside me the entire way, neither of us speaking. I glimpsed my brown paper package dangling from his fingers by the twine, though. He was still carrying my purchase. The elf could have chucked it away, but he was holding on to it for me. It wasn’t like he didn’t know it was just soaps. He’d watched me shopping the past few hours. But he was still carrying it.
My confused and wounded heart clung to that stupid little thing as a tiny sign that Nylian might listen to what I had to say. I wasn’t dumb enough to let my hopes rise any higher than that. During our walk, I wracked my brain for what to say to him and was still coming up with nothing that would make sense. Was I left with nothing but the truth?
No one would believe the truth. I didn’t even believe the truth, and I was living it.
We tromped up the stairs after greeting the wigged goblin in the lobby, and I unlocked the door to my room. I placed my package on the table, hoping the stopper hadn’t come loose from the inkwell. Nylian slammed the door behind him and tossed my other package onto the bed. As he dropped into the one chair in the room, he pulled out a dagger and let the pristine silver blade catch the last tendrils of daylight coming through my window.
“Start talking,” he bit out.
“I will.” I snatched up the box of wooden matches and lit the lantern after three tries and two broken matches, thanks to my shaking hands. Once it was burning, I used it to light two more candles, chasing away as many of the shadows as possible, but it did nothing to thaw Nylian’s stony expression.
“I-I’m not sure what to say. Or even how to begin,” I stalled. This was all such a mess and so impossible. I paced the small space available between the bed and the window while trying to keep as much distance from Nylian.
“How about the truth?”
“I want to tell you the truth!” The words burst out of me in a shout. I turned away from him, shoving one hand through my hair. Was I scared of him killing me? Maybe. But really, I was more afraid of him not believing me. After everything we’d been through, all we’d shared while on the road, I couldn’t take the idea of him not believing me.
“But…” he prodded when I fell silent.
“You won’t believe me.” I sighed.
“Try me. If you tell me the truth, I promise I won’t kill you, no matter how bad it is.” Nylian held up the blade, letting the lamplight glance off the razor-sharp edge. “Lie to me, and you won’t leave this room alive.”
My hands balled into trembling fists at my side. “Fine! I’m not Victor Montcroix. I’m from another world and somehow, I got zapped into his body. My real name is Adam Lockhart, and I’m a writer. I fell off a bridge after finding this stupid coin. When I woke up, I was here, and you were standing over me. And since we’re being super honest now, I know that your real name isn’t Nylian.” I marched over to him and leaned down so that our noses almost touched, ignoring the fact that his dagger was pointed straight at my heart. “You’re Prince Xeran Elrich, twin brother of Prince Orian Elrich. The first sons of King Dorwynn of Wolfrest. You’ve been exiled and you’re searching for your brother’s actual killer. Someone is framing you, because you would never hurt Orian. You loved your brother. The problem is, you don’t know if you’ve been betrayed by someone in the court, your own family, or if one of the enemies of Wolfrest arranged it.”