Temporal Gifts by Whitney Hill

Author:Whitney Hill [Whitney Hill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Benu Media
Published: 2023-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

Something smelled delicious. Incredibly delicious. I nuzzled closer, wanting a taste. Salt and blood, rosemary and sage, and under it…Troy.

I inhaled sharply, coming all the way awake.

“You’re okay. We’re home. In bed.” Troy’s arm tightened around the small of my back, keeping me pressed against him.

“Did I hurt you?”

“No. No dreams either, as far as I could tell.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Couple hours. Longer than I’d thought it’d be. But we both needed the rest.”

“Hours?” I reached for my callstone. “Did Duke—”

“Nobody’s tried to reach you.”

He would know if we were touching like this. He’d get at least the echo of the call.

I glanced at the window. Sundown was almost here, a day past my deadline.

My heart twisted, grief for the outcome that was apparently too much to hope for. “They’re not going to agree, are they?”

Troy hesitated, but he was too much a realist—and he would never lie to me. “I don’t think they are. Keeya was desperate to start fresh. The others think this is just another power game.”

“And I’ve thrown my weight around too much in the last few days for them to be comfortable bowing.”

“That’s my read.” He hugged me closer to his side. “At least I’ll have my work cut out for me while you’re away. Staying busy will help.”

I swallowed against the lump in my throat and blinked against the hot tears forming. It wasn’t just grief; resentment was in there as well. I’d really thought this would work. And I’d really been arrogant enough to think my raw magical strength had given me the power Callista had amassed over centuries of fear-based rule.

Troy squeezed me again but said nothing. He was too well-mannered and considerate to say “I told you so,” but I knew it was there. He had told me. Allegra and Omar had told me. Terrence had told me. Duke had mocked me more than once for being a pushover.

I kept thinking that, finally, with this or that example—killing the queens, forcing Maria to give up her hostages, severing the Eads, the whole Wild fucking Hunt—I’d shown Otherside what I was capable of. Clearly, they still saw an up-jumped child with ambitions bigger than what she was willing to do to achieve them.

In a way, my decisions might have made it worse. I was trying to show Otherside that there was another way, one that didn’t involve killing each other. But it had only been two years since I’d stepped into my power, and I was still only twenty-eight. Most of the people I was up against were two or three if not dozens of times my age. My power base was entirely made up of people like me as well. The young and the gifted but also the broken and the fearful—those who’d fled situations elsewhere and had nothing else left.

How could I protect people like this?

Troy’s kiss to my temple freed one of the tears. “I know this isn’t the outcome you wanted, cariñamí. I’m sorry.”

“They’re the ones who’re gonna be sorry.

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