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)
Sotoria had never been his to lose.
That was the godsdamn crux of the whole issue.
“Do you know how I know he fears becoming me?” His tone turned sly as if he were sharing a secret. “I made sure of it.”
Fury surged through my veins and poured into my chest, stoking the Primal essence. It hit me so hard and fast there was no tamping it down. My skin tingled, seething—
“So, yes, I believe what you said about Nyktos.” That hollow smile remained. “Calm yourself.”
I jolted, only then realizing I had stood.
“Pull it back in.” He spoke softly as a fine sprinkle of dust and plaster floated from the ceiling. “Now.”
Looking down, I saw the glow of silver filling the veins of my hands. My heart stuttered with trepidation as my gaze flew to Kolis.
“Sit,” he ordered.
I sat, my heart pounding as I struggled to rein the power back in.
“The eather is a part of you.” His voice had thinned, the smile fading. “Show some restraint and will it back in.”
Show some restraint? He had no idea the level of restraint I was already displaying. My chest rose with a deeper breath, and I told myself to, well, to knock it off. The essence was a part of me. I could control it.
After a moment, the glow faded from my skin.
“Good girl.”
My narrow-eyed gaze shot to his before I could stop myself.
Kolis chuckled. “As I was saying,” he said with a smirk, “I believe what you said about Nyktos, but what I don’t believe is what you’ve claimed about how you feel. I know for a fact you’re lying, and it’s not only your behavior just now that confirmed it.”
“I—”
Kolis was suddenly in front of me, causing me to gasp and jerk back. I didn’t make it very far. He grabbed my wrist, lifting my hand so he held it between our faces—my right hand.
“This,” he sneered, forcibly turning my hand so the golden swirls of the imprint faced me. “This tells me you feel far more than fondness for my nephew.”
Oh, shit.
My heart started banging all around my chest. I hadn’t even considered the imprint.
“Only a union formed out of love can be blessed.” The wisps of eather slowed in his eyes. “You love him.”
Pressure clamped down on my chest. I didn’t know what to say. My thoughts raced, but nothing my mind spewed provided a way out of this.
“So, tell me something,” he said, that cold bitterness seeping back into his voice. “What are we going to do?”
“I…I don’t know what you mean.”
“With you. My nephew.” He paused, looking down at my hand. “With this.”
I swallowed thickly, the word fuck on a constant loop in my mind.
“Cutting off your hand won’t change how you feel.”
My eyes went wide. Had he seriously considered that?
“So, tell me, what am I to do?”
Acid churned in the pit of my stomach. “I don’t know how this imprint happened. It wasn’t something I decided on,” I said in a rush. “It just appeared.”
“Whether it was a conscious act or not is irrelevant.”
A tremor started deep within me, birthing an icy fear that had little to do with my safety and more to do with Ash’s. The only thing I could think about was the truth—and I thought I could make it work. “I don’t know you.”
He frowned.
“I don’t remember you or…or anything from my past lives, only what I’ve been told,” I continued. “But I know Nyktos. I got to know him. And, yes, I do love him, but…” My chest ached with what I was about to say next. “I’m not in love with him.”
Kolis’s eyes searched mine. “There’s a difference between the two?”
I hesitated, seeing that he truly didn’t know there was. “Yes, there is a whole realm’s worth of difference between the two.”
“Explain,” he demanded.
“It’s hard to put into words—”
“Then think very hard so that putting it into words will not be so difficult.”
“Loving someone isn’t…it isn’t less than being in love. It’s just not as strong or as irrevocable. Loving someone can change,” I rambled, my heart thumping as he listened closely. “It can grow into being in love, and it can fade. Being in love…it doesn’t do that. It only gets stronger, and you would do anything for that person. Anything.” My throat thickened as I thought about the dream I’d had. “Being in love is…it’s unbreakable.”
Kolis fell quiet and looked as if I’d spoken an unfamiliar language to him. Then again, this was the very same person who believed a prisoner could become a companion.
My anxiety ramped up. I felt as if I were standing on the edge of a cliff, my toes curling into the abyss. I had a plan to free Ash, and I knew what it would take to carry it out.
Breathing shallowly, I counted. Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. Hold. And as I did, I shut it down. All of it. My concern. The fear. My rage. Everything. Just as I’d done so many times during my life until Ash.