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)
I whirled around, stomping away from Nylian to pull at my hair in frustration. Now that the words were pouring out, I couldn’t stop them, no matter how ridiculous they sounded. A harsh laugh broke from my throat and I threw my hands up in the air. “I don’t even know if Victor Montcroix had a hand in it.” I spun to face him and hit myself in the chest with both hands. “But I didn’t do it. You were already exiled from Wolfrest when I came to this world. I…I…” There was nothing left. I’d run out of steam, and I was sure he didn’t believe a single word of it. Why would he?
The idea of showing him the coin crossed my mind, but I shoved it aside almost as quickly as it formed. Nylian had enough trouble as it was. While the wizard had been of little help, he’d confirmed one thing for me—that coin was fucking dangerous. There was no way in hell I was making Nylian’s life worse with that coin.
“I know you’re not Victor Montcroix.”
Nylian’s quiet statement almost knocked my legs out from under me. I wobbled and barely made it over to the bed to sit before I tumbled straight to the floor. “What?” I croaked, confident my tortured brain had made it all up.
“You’re not Victor Montcroix,” he repeated, except this time there was the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips as he placed his dagger into its sheath.
“You knew?” I exhaled. The room was spinning. The absolute relief was making me light-headed. My heart was doing a weird dance in my chest. Was I dying? Having a heart attack? Hallucinating? Probably all the above. “Wait! You recognized this body as Victor Montcroix, but you knew I wasn’t him?” I demanded, still trying to wrap my brain around his words.
“Yes, to both.”
“You fucking asshole!” I roared. With a jump to my feet, I snatched up the pillow on the bed and pummeled the exiled prince of Wolfrest with it while using every curse word I could think of. By the time I was winded and swaying, I was pretty sure what was coming out of my mouth was pure gibberish, but I didn’t care.
“All right, I think you’ve gotten that out of your system,” Nylian declared after blocking every one of my frantic strikes. He plucked the pillow from my fingers and spun us so he could deposit me in his chair. “You need to sit before you pass out.”
“But I don’t understand. How?” My fingers curled, and I shook my hands out in front of me.
Nylian tossed my pillow to the bed and leaned his shoulder against the wall closest to me, his left ankle crossed over his right. “Because I’ve met Prince Victor Montcroix. It was the celebration of my father’s fiftieth year as monarch two years ago, and the various kingdoms sent representatives to take part. Edros sent Prince Victor and several other nobles. We spoke very little, but I watched him from afar. Prince Victor’s personality couldn’t be more different from yours. When I spotted you in Trengrave Woods, I was planning to kill you, but then you opened your mouth…” He left the rest of the sentence hanging, finishing with a small shrug of one shoulder.
“I opened my mouth and what?” I cried.
“It was obvious something was wrong. You didn’t talk like Victor, or act like him. The more time I spent with you, the clearer it was. At first, I thought it was simple amnesia, but there were random things you knew, yet shouldn’t. Besides, I couldn’t believe that amnesia would cause a complete change in personality. You crack jokes all the time. Horrible ones. However, I’m certain Victor Montcroix has never told a joke in his life.”
With a groan, I dropped my face into my hands. How close had I come to dying that first day? It was better if I didn’t know. “Why…why did you keep me with you?” I made another disgruntled noise and glared at Nylian. “Let me guess, even if I wasn’t Victor Montcroix, I was walking around in his body. Everyone would think that I was the prince, which you could use later to get information out of Edros.”
“Precisely.” The elf smirked at me, and my heart twisted.
It was never about friendship. At no point had I won him over with my sparkling personality and my loyalty. He’d kept me close because he thought he might have a use for me.
“Fine. Thanks for not killing me,” I muttered. Exhaustion poured over my entire body. All I wanted to do was kick off these disgusting boots and curl up in my bed.
“Lockhart…”
I winced. It hurt to hear him say my name now. I couldn’t explain why, but it was like shards of glass in my ears.