Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 132582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Willow draws in a deep breath and exhales, and I glance down. I try listening to her thoughts, but I can’t hear them. My brows dip. I can’t hear her. That’s a first.
“I think you’re doing it,” I say after trying to hear her again.
She lifts her head to eye me. “Doing what?”
“You’re blocking me out. You’ve built a wall around your mind.”
“Really? How can you tell?”
“I just tried to read you. Nothing came. It was like knocking on a door and not getting an answer.”
She grins. “Really? That’s how it feels when I try to hear you.”
“How’d you do it?”
“I don’t know.” She pauses, rubbing the tip of her nose. “I just kept thinking to myself, ‘I don’t want him to hear that.’”
“You don’t want me to hear what, exactly?”
She sighs and sits up, bringing the quilt with her to cover her bare chest. It takes some willpower to not move the blanket so I can see her naked, but I know that’ll lead to another round and right now isn’t the time. “I can’t stop thinking about that book I read. And then you saying Juniper went to Beatrix again. Do you think we should go and see Beatrix ourselves? Find out what’s really going on?”
“I’m not sure I’d trust her after going through all of this.”
“Are there any other Mythics who’d be able to help?”
“There’s Manx, but I don’t think he knows much about Cold Tethers—not as much as Beatrix. Doesn’t hurt to ask and see if he can dig deeper, but with him caring for those in Whisper Grove, I’m afraid he wouldn’t have the time.”
She twists her lips. “I think there’s more that Beatrix isn’t telling us.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, but…” She lowers her head and grabs my hand. “I like this, Caz. I like how I feel when I’m with you. And when I went back, I couldn’t get you off my mind. Sure, it’s terrifying being here again. I don’t know what to ever expect, but when I’m around you I feel safe. Protected. To think that one day this could all end because of this Mournwrath thing…” She sucks in a sharp breath. “I don’t want that for us. There has to be a way we can beat this.”
“I like this too.”
She looks me all over. “I’m sensing a but…”
I work hard to swallow and pull my eyes away from hers. There has been a tidbit I’ve left out, but only because I wasn’t sure about this. Us. Is there even an us? We’ve kissed, yes, and we’ve had sex. I killed someone I was never supposed to kill (and trust me, Rami’s demented ass deserved it) and it will result in some sort of punishment from The Council. She’s been inside me mum’s cabin, a place that’s sacred to me, for the love of Vakeeli.
“Fuck,” I groan, rubbing the wrinkles from my forehead. “There is an us.”
“What?” She tilts a brow.
“Nothing. Listen, there is one thing Juniper told me.” I sit up with her, pressing my back to the wall, and she locks on me, waiting with anticipation for me to continue. “She says there’s a couple who were in a Cold Tether before. Apparently, they survived it and are still together.”
“Really? Well, that proves it then! Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Because there’s a downfall to it.”
“Well, what is it?”
My eyes flicker up to hers. “They live in a place called The Trench.”
Her face turns a bit ashen. “I remember Juniper telling me about it.”
“Yeah. It’s a terrible place. People who are there don’t choose to live there. They’re banished there. It’s one of the darkest, lowliest places, Willow. And most times, when you go there, you may not come out. I’d have to bring an army and all my guns with me if we went there.”
“Is there a way this couple can come out of The Trench to meet us?”
“No. Once you’re banished there, you’re bound there. There’s no escaping it, and it’s assumed the Regals made it that way as a punishment for the worst people. That place is practically hell on Vakeeli. There’s hardly any food, water, and there are no youth elixirs. You go there, work in dirty fields that provide corn and wheat once or twice a year, and eventually die. There are no authorities, no good people. There’s no one to save you. That’s why, if anyone like us entered without an army, they’d rob us on site. Wouldn’t even hesitate. It’s a terrible place.”
“Yeah. It sounds like it.” She bites on her bottom lip, and a hopelessness fills her eyes that tugs at my heart. I can’t let this be it. She’s right…there is something here. Something worth fighting for, at least. Even if we don’t last, at least I won’t regret the fact that I tried.