Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Just a figure of speech to up the drama, or was he saying he fed on fear? Did it matter? I worked to project—to feel—nothing. “You must need something from me. Why else would you be here, conversing with a girl more reckless than her parents?”
He flashed a humorless non-smile. “Your mother left me a note. In it, she claims you are the only one capable of opening the case, and then only if you are willing. I want those rings, Moriah.”
“Why?”
Another flash of that non-smile. “Now, that’s not any of your concern, is it? Because whatever the reason, you will open the case for me, or I will kill your friends.”
“I will do nothing for you, no matter what you threaten.” The moment I complied, he would kill me, too. My best option right now was to buy time and find out how he opened the portal.
“Ah, but I never threaten. Only promise.” He dug the hat square from my pocket, and my blood iced. I’d forgotten it was there. “Bring me the one who attempted to kill the princess,” he said as he freed the disc from its wrapping and dropped the dark cloth to the floor.
“Princess?” Leona mouthed, her eyes going wide. “I thought it was a term of endearment.”
I gave a violent shake of my head, locks of hair slapping my cheeks as the guards forced the protesting Patch closer to the Guardian. “Don’t do this. Please.” I glanced at Jasher.
Though he stared straight ahead, he lifted his nose in the air, as if he sensed my attention. A vein budged between his eyes, and the cords in his neck pulled taut. Fighting to remain still?
“Don’t do this,” Patch echoed. “I only wanted—”
Without hesitation, Ian shoved the disc into the redhead’s mouth and forced her lips to close. “Let’s find out what you and the water maiden planned for me, shall we?”
Dread skittered over my spine. No one moved for several seconds. An eternity. Color drained from Patch’s already pale skin, her freckles becoming stark. Tremors rocked her lithe frame. Eyes going wide, she began to gasp for breath she couldn’t catch. White foam bubbled from the corners of her mouth, and her knees gave out. She hit the ground, convulsed, and went lax.
The horror I experienced before? Nothing compared to what I felt now.
A screaming Leona struggled for freedom.
“Leave the corpse here,” Ian told the guards while staring at me. “If you refuse to obey when I return, the other female will die. Then I’ll go get your father from the otherworld.” He turned his glare to Jasher. “Talk some sense into her.”
Out the Guardian marched, the soldiers following him. He waited until Jasher shut and locked the cell door before leading his minions out.
Pressed against the back wall, Leona crumpled. I dropped to Patch’s side and felt for a pulse, hoping... But no. There wasn’t a telltale thump. Already the girl’s body cooled.
Remorse stabbed me. “Do you feed on fear, too?” I snapped, my gaze jerking to Jasher.
“I did. Once. Listen to me,” he said, a tinge of urgency in his tone. “I didn’t know about the disc. Had I, I would’ve destroyed it. We need to get you out of here or he will kill you, too.”
Scowling, I straightened. “I’m supposed to trust you now? You, the lying monstra?” He flinched, but it didn’t stop me from continuing. “How did he learn I’d put Iris’s disc in the cloth?”
“He watched you in the pool, I’m sure. But I was unaware he trailed us to the secret room. Couldn’t foresee he would take the ring and imprison you. Had I acted any way but loyal to him, I’d be dead or locked up with you and unable to render aid. What’s more, Anders and Reese would’ve been killed.”
A plausible tale. The perfect reason to use it. “Let me out, then. Right now.”
“I can’t.” Torment glazed his sunset irises. “I’m without a key in case I succumb to your wiles.”
Likely story. “So what can you do?”
“Tell you why he wants those rings.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “A royal’s actions represent those under his command. From what I’ve unearthed, Ahav’s ring acts as a piece of him. A symbol of his reign. Since he was innocent of all wrongdoing when he gave his life for his people, his sacrifice voids the crimen for each of them.”
So much to unpack. Truth or more lies? Either way, he wasn’t done.
“There are conditions to the wearing of the ring and actually making it work, as you did in the battle with the monstra, but I haven’t learned what those conditions are. I’m not sure the Guardian is aware, either.”
I turned away, giving Jasher my back. He’d given me a lot to ponder. Leona huddled in front of the wall where she’d crumbled, but she’d stopped crying. Thin sections of the greenery had wiped off as she’d slid to the floor, leaving small gaps. Something red glinted beneath them. Another painting?