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)
“Nylian…” I choked out, but stopped, unsure what to even say.
“I don’t know how long this is going to last. I expect to be killed long before I can present my proof to my father. However, if these are my last days, I want them filled with you. I want you with me when I find the truth, because when you’re near me, I don’t feel as if the task in front of me is impossible.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you,” I declared, and it had nothing to do with the damn book or my reckless plotting. This man, somewhere along this journey, had become my everything, and I wasn’t ready to let him go.
“As for others…” He paused and smirked. “You are my harem of one. My one and only. I need no one else, and that is how it will remain.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. Everything felt too big, too overwhelming in that moment. Thankfully, Nylian didn’t seem to need a response. Smiling to himself, he helped me get cleaned up and pulled together so that I could at least fake being a normal human being and not some mindless creature who’d just had his entire world upended.
“While you were napping this afternoon, I discovered that King Beldroth’s offices are on this floor but in the opposite wing,” Nylian said as he walked toward our door.
That snapped me out of my fugue state. “Hey! You said you wouldn’t leave our rooms.” And I’d napped for barely an hour. The damn elf was sneaky and fast. If I tagged along, would I be holding him back? There was little question that he’d be able to move faster and quieter without me.
Nylian glanced over his shoulder at me and winked. “It was some preliminary sneaking.”
“Maybe I should stay here. We already caused a scene in the ballroom because you were jealous. I don’t want to get you caught now.”
The elf caught my hand and pulled me out the door. “But you have to come with me. If we get caught, we’re each other’s alibi.”
Yeah, I didn’t want to know more. The idea of sneaking into the king’s private offices and going through his papers was enough to send my stomach into knots.
“What about the party?” I whispered as we walked down what appeared to be an empty hallway. There was always a chance that servants or guards were hiding in some niche or alcove that I had yet to spot. “Are the king and queen going to be pissed that we left so early? You were the guest of honor.”
Nylian snorted, his grin growing wider. “They might have been if we didn’t give them the greatest gift of all as we left—something to gossip about.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t argue with him. He was right. They had been happy to talk about me while I was standing right there. Now they had a chance to talk about Nylian and me.
As we strolled casually through the hall, Nylian made a show of wrapping an arm around me and holding me close. We kept up the show of being lovers, meandering through the corridors as though we were lost. The servants we passed were few, since everyone’s focus was on the hundreds of people who filled the ballroom below us. Once, he even spun me and pinned me to the wall. I opened my mouth to ask what the hell he was doing, only to have it filled with his tongue. I started to push him away, when I heard a surprised gasp followed by a low snicker.
A guard.
The asshole had spotted a guard on patrol, and he’d kissed me to throw the guy off our trail.
Nylian ended the kiss, and I scowled at him.
“You could have warned me,” I stated as I shoved away from the wall.
“Not enough time.”
I didn’t believe that one tiny bit. “You’re enjoying this too much.”
“Too much? Is that even possible?” Nylian threaded his fingers through mine. “I think I’m enjoying this just the right amount. I enjoy being able to kiss you whenever I want. It will keep you away from those women you like to flirt with.”
A groan rattled up my throat, and I turned my attention to the hallway we were walking down. There was no point in trying to tell him yet again that I’d only been talking to those women in the hope of setting him up with his next great love.
We were definitely away from the guest chambers as the decor shifted from light and airy so something heavier, as if we’d stepped into a shadowy forest. The landscape paintings on the wall shifted to enormous, towering portraits of men in crowns and holding swords. The white marble that had filled the other hall now became a river of black.