Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“Why would I?”
“Would you be willing to try?”
“But why would it respond to me?”
“Isn’t all water, essentially, the same water? It gets lifted up from all water sources and dropped back down onto the earth, refilling the ocean, streams, lakes…”
“Oh. I never thought of it that way. I suppose I could try.”
“Then try. Tomorrow. When you’re back to your full strength. I will send Nira out to the lake first thing in the morning before you wake. Then I will send Vishen when she gets back. You will have more than enough to hold you over. And we have all these other water sources,” I said, waving to all the flasks and jugs, “to test your skills on.”
“I can do that. In here?” she asked, glancing around.
I hadn’t considered how unusual it was for her, being in a palace, behind thick walls that kept out the nature that had been her home for so long.
“For the time being, it is the safest place for you. At least when you only have Nira for protection. As I know more, I will feel more comfortable with you moving around more freely. Besides, I’m pretty sure if you left here alone, the redcaps would follow you.”
A full-body shiver coursed through her.
“Why do they smell like that?”
“It’s the blood.”
“Blood?”
“That’s what smells. The blood on the tops of their heads. They just keep adding to it, and the smell intensifies.” Serin turned a certain shade of green, her eyes going round and panicked—like she might get sick. “The reality of the Unseelie court is not always pleasant,” I admitted. “The redcaps are a tool of my father’s to control me. When I am in charge, they will be gone.”
“At least they’re relatively easy to outsmart.”
“I’m not entirely convinced they have a brain. Or if they do, they somehow share it between the twenty of them.”
“Your quarters are spacious, but what if I’m craving fresh air?”
“I can take you outside if you need it.”
What?
No, I couldn’t.
I had shit to do.
Alliances to make.
Rats to find and figure out what to do with them.
I didn’t have five minutes to spend on anything frivolous, let alone an hour to take my wife outside for fresh air.
“Really? That would be great.”
Fuck.
Like it was possible to change my mind when she was looking at me like that?
And what the hell was wrong with me that some stranger was starting to have any kind of sway over me?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Serin
“Well, that was refreshing,” Nira said, wiping a hand down her face, swiping off the water that had just splashed up at her. “Seems like progress. I mean, nothing like how your lake water responds to you, but still workable.”
It’d taken an immense amount of concentration just to make the water spatter Nira, and she’d only been standing a foot away.
“I guess.”
“I think now that you know you can, you will be able to do more. Confidence will make all the difference. The first time I picked up a sword, I felt like my shoulder might fall off, it was so heavy. But once I learned how to hold it and swing, there was no stopping me.”
“It must feel so powerful to know how to defend yourself like that.”
“It does. I worked hard to make myself a weapon. Trust me, it’s necessary out there…”
“Could I become a weapon?”
“Well, being able to drown a man on dry land seems pretty badass. But if you mean learning to fight, yeah, I think any woman can learn. Even scrawny ones like you.”
“Scrawny?” I asked, looking down at myself.
I’d never given my body much thought before coming to the palace. It was on my mind a lot now. Mostly because of the new sensations I’d been feeling. The pain, sure. But more than that, the unfamiliar fluttering and pulsing and heat. That said, I was also more aware of my shape than I’d ever been. I was taller than the average servant at the palace. But I was long and willowy compared to Nira’s curves, strong arms, and thick thighs.
“I guess it’s all that swimming. And all that duckweed or watercress you must eat.”
“I’ve come to love bread,” I admitted, gesturing over to the half-eaten loaf Vishen had brought up for breakfast.
“That might help put a little weight on you. But, sure, I think you could learn to fight. Maybe even wield a light sword.”
“Could we start?”
“Today?”
“Now?”
“Sure. I might have to lend you something to wear. You’d trip over that skirt.”
With that, I was led into Nira’s room—which was nothing like I’d anticipated. It was smaller than Jet’s, of course, but in just a few days, she’d made a home of the place. There were plants in crocks along the windowsills. Fresh flowers were in vases. She had some handwork sitting on a table in the middle of the room—brilliant pinks, yellows, and purples creating some sort of beaded tapestry. Perhaps most telling of the space, though, were the many pillows and blankets on the bed, and the overflowing piles of fruits and vegetables on her dresser.