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)
A shudder went through me.
“It would be impossible for that to happen.” He shifted so his forehead rested against mine. “Because even if we weren’t mates of the heart, what you made me feel from the moment you stood in the Shadow Temple years ago to every moment between then and now, would’ve still made me fall in love with you. Your courage and strength, your beauty and utter fearlessness, your humor, and most of all, that softness of yours you share with me. It would’ve made sure my kardia somehow came back. I believe that—I know that—because you’re the first person I have ever felt has truly accepted me, no matter what I’ve done in my past or what has been done to me. You’re the first to refuse to allow any more drops of blood to be inked into my flesh. You were the first to ever make me feel anything that mattered,” he swore. “You’re…you’re simply my first, Sera, and you will be my last.”
My eyes stung with tears. “You’re going to make me cry.”
“I’m not trying to.” His hand squeezed mine. “But it’s okay if you do. I wouldn’t think less of you if you did. There isn’t anything that could make me think less of you.”
“I know,” I whispered hoarsely. And I did. The reasonable, logical, and unfortunately very small part of my mind knew. “And I know what you’re getting at. I do. You’re talking about my time with Kolis.”
“I’m talking about things in general,” he said. “And about that.”
“It was nothing,” I said in a rush, my insides twisting, causing my breath to catch.
It was nothing.
Veses had said the same thing. She had spoken the same lie.
Ash’s lips brushed the curve of my cheek, and then he pulled his head back a few inches. His hand left mine. A heartbeat passed, and I felt the tips of his fingers on my chin. He tilted my head back. “I want you to know that when you’re ready to talk about everything, whether it’s nothing or not, I’ll be waiting. I’ll be ready.”
I squeezed my eyes shut so tightly I saw white for a few seconds. A flood of words crawled up my throat, but a wall of emotion and sheer will as strong as shadowstone choked them off.
Veses had lied.
I didn’t.
I wasn’t.
“By the way,” Ash said, his gruff voice reaching me. “Rhain is going to gather some food for us. He’s positive you’re starving.”
Gods, the way he’d changed the subject and the moment he chose to…
I loved this man.
I would always love him.
Counting the beats between each breath, I opened my eyes. “That’s nice…” I cleared my throat. “That’s nice of him. Which is kind of strange, isn’t it? Rhain being nice.”
Ash arched a brow. “Rhain is known as one of the kindest gods in the Shadowlands.”
“I’ll have to take your word for that.” My eyes widened when I saw an icy hardness creeping into his features. Shit. “I mean, Rhain had a reason not to be all that welcoming toward me.”
“I’m not sure I agree with that.”
“Rhain is loyal to you—”
Eather seeped from behind his pupils, stirring the energy inside me. “He is loyal to you,” he stated in a low growl. “His Queen.”
“Okay, he is loyal to both of us,” I amended, half-afraid for Rhain’s safety. The other half of me was, well, kind of aroused by Ash’s protectiveness. “But before, he was loyal to you. And since I had been planning to kill you, his initial response to me was completely understandable.”
Ash said nothing to that, but I could practically see him plotting out his next…conversation with Rhain.
“Don’t say anything to him about it,” I stated.
“I won’t.”
“I’m serious. If he still harbors any ill feelings toward me,”—which I truly didn’t think he did—“or if anyone does, I will handle it. I need to. Especially if I’m going to be their Queen.”
“If?” Ash chuckled. “Liessa, you are their Queen.”
My stomach dipped. Gods, I was having a really hard time processing that.
“You’re right, though. You need to handle it,” he said as he picked up my hand. “I won’t say anything. “
“Wow,” I murmured, surprised.
“But if you handling it doesn’t actually handle it? And they still show you disrespect?” Wisps of eather churned through his eyes. “I will fucking destroy them.”
I blinked.
“No matter who they are,” he promised.
My lips twitched. I didn’t think smiling would help, nor would telling him that his fierceness when it came to me had to be more potent than radek wine. For once, I listened to that voice of reason.
“Speaking of Rhain,” I said after a moment. “Thought projection? That’s a nifty talent of his I was completely unaware of.”
“Many don’t know he can do that. You weren’t told about—”
“There was no reason for me to know then,” I interjected, understanding that sharing that kind of knowledge with me, who in the past had sought to betray Ash and hadn’t shown much interest in ruling the Shadowlands alongside him, would’ve been a risk. “So, all those times I could’ve sworn Rhain was communicating with you, even though I didn’t hear him speak, he was?”