Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
I wave a hand over the water to cool it before reaching in to take out the wet cloth. The coolness against my flesh is more than welcome as I press it to my forehead, cheeks, then across my collarbone. A sigh leaves my lips and I close my lids.
“You cannot continue like this.”
I jump a little. Opening my eyes, I turn toward my sister’s voice. Yanique stands beside me with her watchful gaze. Concern fills her orbs as they bounce across my face.
I groan internally. I call her the pest. She will badger me for answers if she gets it into her head she must.
“What are you talking about?” I ask innocently.
“This is dangerous for you and the baby,” she hisses out in a whisper.
My eyes widen, and I take a step back. Quickly, I turn within to reach for the barrier I’ve so carefully built. My brain races, wondering if I’ve allowed it to slip.
How often have I lost control? Have I done so around Kendrick? Is that how he sensed the change in me?
That would certainly explain the look in his eyes. So many questions and I don’t want to know the answers. I’m too tired and drained to handle the fallout of what this could mean.
“How do you know?”
“I am your sister,” she says softly, running a hand over my braids. “I think I know you best, but what I don’t understand is why you are keeping this from him.”
“I must,” I reply.
“Why? He is so in love with you. This would please him greatly,” she says with an encouraging smile.
“His love has no guarantees.”
“Why would you say that? He literally moves the earth for you. I’ve watched him stop storms from raining down until you are inside the warmth and safety of your home.”
“It is more complicated than that,” I huff.
“Then uncomplicate it for me, sister. I’d like to understand. You cannot keep doing this. That child may be part god and from a bloodline of the original warlocks, but it is too small for the strain you are placing on it,” she says pleadingly.
I close my eyes and exhale, feeling the weight of my own secrets. She’s right. I can’t keep going like this, but she doesn’t understand.
“When he told me of the bond mates, I thought I could accept it. I was ready to. We were never supposed to become what we have,” I explain.
“But things are so amazing between the two of you, sister. He has remained with you out of love,” she says with bright eyes.
I shake my head, moving to the hidden entrance of the caves below. This is not a conversation we should be having up here in the open. The bookshelf slides back, revealing the stairwell. The sconces on the stone walls flame to life as we begin to descend the winding stairs.
I wait until we clear the descending cool stone passage, entering the first portion of the caves where the Book of Paths rests. The Book of Paths is said to be where our family’s power resides and the source behind the caves’ power.
I spin on my sister, looking her in the eyes in the dim lighting surrounding us. She’s watching me through a gaze filled with the desire to understand. Closing my own eyes, I release a long breath.
“You don’t know how hard it is to love someone who you will end up losing. Never knowing when or how. Just knowing that you will.” I pause, opening my eyes to focus on hers again.
She nods for me to continue.
“I needed to know if it was true. I hoped it was just another tale, but I summoned the scrolls. The ones of the ancients—”
“Venus,” my sister groans.
“I did not use dark magic for this. It was a pure heart’s desire for knowledge. They came to me willingly. There are just so many. I’ve been reading through them for months.”
“But you have not been with child that long,” Yanique says, her brow creasing.
“No, I read his tea leaves one morning after he left to train with his soldiers. They said his love would change,” I say to the ground.
“Oh, Venus,” her voice softens. “You shouldn’t have. First, my sister, he is a demigod. You cannot trust a thing the leaves say about him. His life spans centuries you and I will never see or know. Misinterpretations are inevitable. You know this.”
“Yes, I do, but I couldn’t get the bond out of my mind. I had to know more about it,” I reply.
Her brows draw deeper. Her thoughts playing across her face. Though our training was interrupted, our quick minds for learning and absorbing information have remained with us.
Yanique just needs discipline. She has the potential to wield power as great as mine. She and I were marked at birth, unlike my other sisters. To be marked at birth by the enchantresses before us is a great honor. Our training started earlier than most.