Total pages in book: 362
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Claws come out…?
I jerked to a stop, only realizing then that I was just feet from Nektas, and my hands…felt weird. They tingled. I looked down, and my eyes went wide.
My nails had lengthened and sharpened. “What the…?”
“I know you’re angry. I know you’re scared,” Nektas said, and that last part caught my attention. “But you go at that fucker over there and you know what will happen.”
“Fucker?” muttered Aydun while I stared at Ash and Nektas. “That was uncalled for.”
Whatever was happening with my hands fell to the wayside as a great sense of foreboding rose. Tiny bumps broke out across my skin. If Ash attacked Aydun, the Ancient would strike back. Nektas would defend Ash. So would I. But the Ancient…
Dread built as I looked at him. He would kill Nektas. My stomach pitched. He could kill Ash because, as Aydun had said, Ash was now the Primal of no Court. His death would impact Iliseeum and the mortal realm, but nothing as severe as what a death of any other Primal would cause.
Fear slammed into me, nearly taking my knees out from under me as the lights flickered wildly. “Ash,” I whispered. “Please.”
Ash’s pure silver gaze shot to me. Our eyes locked. A tense heartbeat passed, and then the shadows under his flesh thinned out. “I’m good.”
“You sure about that?” Nektas still held him back. “Because I’m going to be really disappointed if I let go of you and you go at him.”
“I won’t.” His eyes never strayed from mine. “I’m level. I just need to talk to Sera. Alone.”
“The summons needs to be answered—”
“A couple of minutes isn’t going to hurt anything,” Nektas cut the Ancient off.
Aydun’s jaw hardened as he looked away. “They have five minutes. That is all.”
I bit my tongue, focusing on Ash. The dark tendrils of eather had mostly disappeared.
Nektas released Ash and slowly stepped back. He didn’t take his eyes off the Primal as Ash pushed away from the wall. Neither did I as he stalked forward and clasped the nape of my neck. He pulled me to him, dropping his chin to the top of my head. My arms encircled his waist, and I held him tightly as tremors coursed through him.
“Outside,” Nektas ordered.
There was a pause, and then the Ancient let out a deep sigh. “The only reason I’m following you is because it will only delay things further if I don’t.”
“Yeah,” Nektas drawled. “That and the fact that you know I will rip your arms off and beat you over the head with them.”
My eyes popped open.
Aydun chuckled, and it sounded different. Warm. Real enough that I lifted my head from Ash’s chest. “You know, I’ve seen that happen before. Laugh every time I think about it.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Nektas muttered, the door swinging shut and muting whatever else he was saying.
“I don’t even know what to say about that,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I wonder how Nektas got to be on a first-name basis with him?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care.” Ash’s fingers sank into my hair, and his chest rose sharply against mine. His features were stark—too stark. “I don’t like this, Sera.”
“Neither do I.” I swallowed, but my throat felt dry. “But it is what it is.” I tried to will my heart and mind to calm down so I could focus. “We know what Kolis will say. He’ll demand our loyalty and, I imagine, command that I relinquish any claim to the throne. Is that even possible?”
Ash didn’t answer as he stared at me, but the vadentia told me it was. Kind of. Instead of the true Primal of Life ruling, it would be the true Primal of Death. A first.
But a Queen of the Gods was also a first.
My fingers curled into the back of Ash’s shirt as I exhaled slowly. “And I…I guess I’ll tell Kolis to go fuck himself but in a more appropriate way. Then I’ll—”
“I don’t think I can allow this to happen,” Ash said, speaking so quietly I wasn’t even sure I’d heard him right.
But I had heard him.
I ignored it. “While I’m gone, you should go to Attes and tell him about Kolis. When I return, we will summon the Primals. Our plans haven’t changed.”
“I can’t,” he repeated. A faint glow of eather lit up the network of veins in his cheeks. “I can’t let you go through with this.” His eyes were full of so much essence the pupils were no longer visible as his gaze drifted to the doors behind me. The light in his veins ratcheted up. “I won’t.”
My heart stopped. “You have to.”
His diamond-bright gaze swung back to me. “The only thing I have to do is keep you safe.”
Letting go of his shirt, I grasped his cheeks. “If that’s true, then you must let this happen.”