Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 213974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1070(@200wpm)___ 856(@250wpm)___ 713(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 213974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1070(@200wpm)___ 856(@250wpm)___ 713(@300wpm)
“I know of one. It’s large and irregular,” he said. I might’ve stopped. breathing. “I believe it also has a silver sheen. It’s a…rare diamond.”
Slowly, I faced him. “You do?”
“Yes.” He was still staring at my hands.
I returned my palm to his chest. “Can I…can I see it?”
Whirling gold and silver eyes lifted to mine.
I bit my lower lip. “I would like to see it. Hold it.” I made my tone turn breathy, likely sounding ridiculous compared to how Veses naturally spoke. “Touch it.”
The swirling of his eyes went crazy. “Will it make you happy?”
“Yes.” I nodded, withdrawing my hand again. I clasped them at my waist. “It would.”
“Then come. I’ll take you to it.”
My chest and stomach were still wiggling as I followed Kolis back into the sanctuary. Part of me was lost in disbelief. Could he truly be this easy to manipulate? Really?
But Ash hadn’t known about the diamond. Attes had never mentioned it.
Delfai had said it was not to be known to any other than the Fates. Obviously, an Arae had shared the knowledge with Kolis. I’d asked Delfai how a Fate could’ve done that since they weren’t supposed to interfere, and he’d claimed that when Primals started to feel emotion, so did the Arae. Therefore, they could be exploited, too. Who knew? Other Primals could know of its existence and what it was capable of, but there was a good chance it wouldn’t even cross Kolis’s mind that I was asking to see The Star.
That was if he was actually taking me to it.
I began to seriously doubt that when we ended up back outside, Elias trailing behind us on the pathway. When Dyses came into view, my hands fisted.
The door to the chamber opened, and Kolis led me inside. When he passed his throne and unlocked the cage door, my steps slowed.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “I thought you were showing me a diamond.”
“I am.” He stepped inside the cage, waiting for me at the threshold.
Forcing myself forward, I joined him. He didn’t leave much room for me. My body brushed his as I passed him.
The door swung shut as he came to stand behind me. Like right behind me. “Look up.”
Anger simmered as I did what he said. I looked up. “Yes?”
“You see it, don’t you?” Kolis said.
“I don’t see…” My gaze landed on the cluster of diamonds at the center of the cage. “That’s a cluster of diamonds. And the sheen isn’t silver.” It was a strange, streaky, milky color.
Kolis chuckled. “It appears that way now, only because I’ve willed it to be so.” Reaching around me, he lifted an arm and opened his hand. “Vena ta mayah.”
Recognizing the words as the language of the Primals, my lips parted as the cluster of diamonds at the ceiling of the cage started to vibrate, making a high-pitched whirring noise.
They shuddered free of the gold, and I realized that it wasn’t a cluster of several but only one. The shape changed as it floated downward, pulsing with a milky streak of light and silver.
When it reached Kolis’s hand, he held a single diamond the size of his palm, its irregular shape vaguely forming the points of a…
I couldn’t believe it.
The damn diamond had been above me the whole time.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
I stared at The Star in silence, absolutely shocked that the all-powerful diamond had been above my head for weeks.
“What do you think, so’lis?” Kolis asked. “Is this more or less than the one you once coveted?”
“More,” I whispered as he turned the diamond in his hand. The sharp angles glimmered silver. “It looks like a star.”
“That is what it is called,” he said. “The Star.”
“Oh.” I feigned surprise. “It’s a fitting name.”
“That it is.”
The heat of his chest bore down on my back as I turned slightly. “How was such a diamond created?” I asked, already knowing the answer, but I was interested to see how Kolis would respond.
“From what I understand, it was created by dragon fire.” As he spoke, he drew his thumb over the diamond, and I could’ve sworn the sheen of silver retracted from his touch. “Long before Primals could shed tears of joy. I came upon it by pure chance.”
That was exactly how Delfai had said it was created, but I knew Kolis hadn’t stumbled upon it. “It truly is beautiful.” I watched the milky light ripple through the diamond as he turned it once more. “Why would you change its appearance and keep it here, where it’s hidden?”
“Because where else would I place such a beautiful stone than where I keep what I cherish the most?”
My stomach churned at his response, but I managed a smile. “May I hold it?”
“Of course,” Kolis purred.
I swallowed the sourness gathering in my mouth as he moved the diamond closer. My fingers folded around it—