Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Whys and what-ifs don’t matter now, the facts do. And the fact is she and Nico were alone in this cell with no other way in or out. Look around you, Xander. She eviscerated him!”
Yelling? Oh, yes. Jason was rattled.
“She is now a threat to us and anyone who tries to transport her.” He nodded grimly. “The jailor is waking up the magistrate. He will oversee her execution right here in this cell. No one will say we didn’t take appropriate measures within the bounds of the law.”
I was listening to him, though I wasn’t looking at him. My eyes scanned every inch of the scene, and the small figure sitting quietly in the corner. They noticed something, and narrowed.
“Give me the keys.”
“Excuse me?”
“Keys, Jason. Now.”
“You can’t go in there.”
“What I can’t do is repeat myself nicely.” I flexed my fists in clear warning. “Give me the keys.”
Jason did not fear me. He was an old soldier who fought giants and dragons while I was mewling in the nursery. No, he handed me the keys for the simple reason that he didn’t report to my father. He’d still keep his job if I up and got myself killed by a hundred-pound girl with too-blue eyes.
Is that what you plan to do? I wondered, stepping over the biggest pile of Nico. Do you want to kill me, little traitor? To take your chance when you didn’t at so many opportunities.
So why did you now?
“When was Nico’s watch?” I asked Jason.
“Midnight till we found him an hour ago.”
“Meaning you and Castor got through your shifts without a scratch, but it’s Nico she decides to kill?”
“The mind of a murderer is a labyrinth. You’ll lose yourself trying to understand their motives.”
I fixed on the reddish-blue bruise that caught my attention. Those looked like fingerprints on her jaw, and a handprint on her cheek. My study continued down, noting her ripped tunic, seeing the unbuttoned pants, and taking in the belt that lay untouched on the hay pile.
Nico and his clothes were ripped to shreds. The only way the belt could’ve escaped the massacre... is if it was taken off before it started.
The girl studied me as intently as I studied her. Her gaze was a drill in my head, bringing my attention up to those porcelain cheeks now uneven in color. Those full, Cupid’s bow lips now puffy and swollen. Those long, harp-string lashes now painted in blood. And those flowing waves of golden hair now mangled from rough handling.
“I’m in the business of killing monsters,” I murmured, drifting to the remains of Nico Xenakis. “Looks like you are too.”
Our eyes met, and passed the only understanding there would ever be between us.
I made up my mind.
“Jason, tell the jailor he can send the magistrate back to bed. Then, scrape Castor off the sidewalk and have him put in his next daily report to my father that we’re not bringing this one back to Trono City or Kuna.” I got to my feet. “He can send the missive to Headmaster Drakos instead. He’s got a new novice reporting to Deucalion Academy this year.”
“What? No!” the pretty paper screeched, speaking for the first time since I discovered the true beast inside. “You can’t— I won’t go!”
“Don’t mistake this for mercy.” The growl blew her back. “It is now painfully clear that you were humoring us. Pretending you were our prisoner when we were actually your escorts to the afterlife. You chose either to escape from Olympia or die in it as if either is your decision to make.”
I smiled at her falling expression as I shut and locked the cell. “There’ll never come a day when I won’t see a traitor punished. You’ll go to Deucalion Academy because that’s exactly where you don’t want to be. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something of duty, honor, and sacrifice while you’re there.” I laughed. “Though, I admit I don’t care if you do. Just promise me you’ll hate every minute of it.”
“Fuck you! You steamy pile of griffin shit! The only thing I’ll promise is to wipe that smirk off your face!”
I headed out, guffawing to split my sides.
“Come back here! Come back, you—”
An impressive string of obscenities followed me up the stairs. Who knew the meek little thing had it in her? This summer turned out to be much more fun than I thought.
Sirena
My reflection twirled for me, blowing kisses whenever our eyes met. Dresses woven by the imperial seamstress Zelenia herself, and I was to leave them behind in my closet in favor of boyish pants and restrictive cuirasses.
“It’s completely ridiculous that the academy is mandatory for members of the Imperial Palace too.”
“You’re so right, Sirena.”
“Ridiculous.”
“As if you need the training.”
I barely heard the fawning agreement of my attendants. Frowning, I surveyed my cleavage. Didn’t I ask these to be cut lower? The woman dropped my neckline a fraction of an inch—if that.