Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
“Calm yerselves, would ye? Listen to the lotta’ya. Here, Nessa, have one of these. It’ll help calm the nerves.” Niamh motioned behind her.
Edgar jogged up, doing that strange, lurching, high-kneed lope of his, and held out a beer wrapped in a doily. It was only then that Sebastian noticed the cooler behind them.
“Earl gives Jessie a lotta grief over her oul pair bringing a cooler everywhere,” Niamh said, watching Jessie plow into the dome a little more violently, like she was starting to get seriously pissed. Seriously, horribly, terribly pissed. At Sebastian. Which was crazy, because she had done this to herself.
Did she really want to sic the alpha on him? Because that would certainly make a statement—at his expense.
“But if ye ask me,” Niamh went on calmly, “her oul pair know what they’re about. Drink that down, Nessa. Yer nothin’ but a spectator.”
“Wha—what?” Nessa asked, ignoring Edgar’s outstretched hand and attempting to work her magic with Sebastian. They worked very well together because they’d been doing it forever, but Nessa didn’t have a third of his power. She wouldn’t be of much help if an enormous, angry shifter charged him without warning.
“No one is goin’ta kill ye, ya donkey,” Niamh told Sebastian. “They like ye for some reason. Jessie needs ya, in any case. No, no, yer safe. But ye heard Ulric. The town needs to know they are safe, and to do that, they need to know Jessie can combat mages. Mouse, meet hawk. Go on, now. She’s waiting for ye to go in and meet her. She wants a magical duel. Here, Nessa, take that beer. Don’t you worry, I got plenty. I brought two twelve-packs in case this dragged on. Go on, ye might as well. Go on, take it. Go on.”
Her confusion evident, Nessa hesitantly took the doily-wrapped beer.
“Now.” Niamh nodded and looked back toward Jessie.
“How do you know all of that?” Sebastian asked, his body starting to shake. “Are you sure the alpha isn’t going to come for me?”
“I know all of that because it is my job to know all of that. Also because her call to arms, as it were, has reversed. See how the gargoyles have backed off, letting her be? She’s sending out a sorta all-clear. And I can feel her impatience through the bond. In just a minute, that gobshite Earl will be down, wondering what is keeping Jessie waiting.”
“But why wasn’t I told?” Sebastian whined, lowering his hands.
Trying to get around that spell was no good. When Jessie did a spell like that, correctly and putting all her power behind it, he was sunk.
A gargoyle broke from the others, flying in their direction.
“See? What did I tell ye?” Niamh chuckled and shook her head. “He’s like a mother hen. It’s a good thing Jessie doesn’t mind being fawned over.”
Mr. Tom landed somewhat gracefully before shifting.
“Ye weren’t told because Jessie didn’t know herself,” Niamh told Sebastian. “Ye were here—I had to basically yank that gargoyle to the surface. It’s taking point now, and a good thing, too. She made a show of that bird a moment ago, and now she will prove she can handle a mage. That’s what’s needed to cement her position as alpha. Sure you must see that.”
“But why would she pretend to be stuck?” Sebastian asked. “Isn’t that undermining her?”
“She’s showing how strong ye are, giving the people what they most fear, and then she will show that she can best ya. She will show them that she can overcome it.”
“What is happening over here?” Mr. Tom said once he’d regained his human form. “What is the holdup? The miss is impatient— No, Edgar, I do not want a— Why is there a doily around that beer? Your obsession with doilies has gone too far. Go back to the flowers. At least that was useful. Old woman, are you distracting Sebastian from doing whatever it is the miss needs him to do?”
“Me, old? I’m not the one with his bollocks dangling down around his ankles,” Niamh replied.
“I’d really rather not die today,” Sebastian said softly.
He knew he sounded like a coward, but he couldn’t help it. Usually, Jessie was his security blanket around all of these very dangerous and somewhat unpredictable magical types. Unpredictable to him, at any rate. The idea of her turning on him, even for show, crushed any sort of courage he’d thought he possessed.
“Come, now. We all must do our part.” Mr. Tom patted Sebastian on the back, getting much too close for his level of undress, and began forcibly shepherding him toward the dome. “She won’t kill you. She likes you for some reason.”
“I think they’re right, Sabby,” Nessa called, cracking open her beer. “She didn’t kill you when she thought she hated you, so it stands to reason that she won’t now. Like they said, she likes you for some reason.”