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)
Well, that kind of explained why the awareness felt familiar. I had totally forgotten that Ash had said he would ask Attes to be here.
As we entered the left hall, I spotted Rhahar and Kars at the end, guarding the door near the back stairwell. Rhain stood with them.
The auburn-haired god turned as we passed Ash’s office. He waited until we were almost upon them to ask, “How did things go?”
“Other than finding an unexpected visitor with them? Good. My step—my sister is going to alert the other kingdoms of possible impact.” I stopped before them. “Do you know if the Revenant has come to?”
“I’m not sure, but we’re about to find out,” Rhain answered as Rhahar opened the door. “After we’re finished down here, there’s something I need to show you and Nyktos.”
I nodded as I entered the narrow, torchlit stairwell. The musty scent of the underground lair surrounded me as I thought about the underground pool and wished that was the source of my visit to the dank space as goldish-red flames danced off the damp walls.
That prickly sensation of unnaturalness returned as I followed the curve in the stairwell, our boots thudding softly off the stone. Remembering the steepness of the last step, I managed not to trip and fall flat on my face as my gaze flickered over the rows of bleached, twisted…bone.
The bones weren’t gold nor carved from those of an Ancient, but my stomach still roiled upon seeing them. I dragged in a breath, forcing my gaze forward.
Ash drew his booted foot off one of the bars and rose from the wooden chair he’d been seated in as Attes turned.
Ash was before me in an instant, his arms around me and his mouth cool and firm against mine. He kissed me as he had before. Fierce. Hungry.
A throat cleared, but Ash was in no rush. I gripped the front of his shirt as he slowly ended the kiss, drawing my bottom lip between his. “How did things go?” he asked, resting his forehead against mine.
I closed my eyes, soaking in the feel of him. “Okay.”
“Don’t mind any of us,” Attes drawled. “Take your time. We’ll just stand here and wait.”
“Shut your damn mouth,” Ash said, and I grinned. His hands slid over my cheeks and into my hair. “I’m going to need more details when we have time.” He tilted his head and kissed me once more. “I hope you’re not too angry with me over my interference with your mother.”
I may have been a little irritated by his unexpected presence, but the moment he’d said why he had come? How could I be upset with him? He’d felt that deep, cutting pain and defended me. I couldn’t love him more for that. “I’m not angry with you.”
His fingers curled into my hair. “I missed you, liessa.”
Gods.
Every beat of my heart was his. “Show me how much you missed me later.”
The deep, sexy rumble that came from him sent a heated thrill through my blood. “I can’t wait.”
Neither could I.
Pressing one last kiss to my forehead, Ash stepped back and turned. Down the hall, Rhain was studying the floor as if it held the answers to life.
I cleared my throat. “Has he woken up?”
“He did right after I got him here,” Ash said as we walked ahead.
“Huh,” I murmured, scanning a cell that looked like a tree bear had burst through it, leaving several rows of bars shattered. A rusty dark color stained the floor of what had to be Veses’ cell. I looked over the etchings in the broken bones. Primal wards. They were powerful, just as the bones were, and would even hold a weakened Primal, but they were not unbreakable. Veses was proof of that. “He’s a little too quiet to still be conscious.”
Attes snorted. “That’s because he started running his mouth, and Ash quickly grew annoyed.”
I glanced up at Ash as the faint stench of stale lilacs reached me. “What did you do?”
One side of his lips curved up as we stopped in front of a cell. “Quieted him.”
I faced the narrow cell. There were no cots or chairs. Just bone chains connected to the back wall—
I squinted. Something dark and wet was splattered on the back wall. My gaze lowered to where Callum lay sprawled on his back in the middle of the torchlit floor. The entire front of his gold tunic was drenched in blood, and there was a large puddle beneath him.
“Exactly how did you quiet him?” I asked, spotting a rather straight, pinkish-red line across Callum’s throat.
“Removed his head,” Ash answered.
I slowly turned to him. “You did what?”
“Decapitated him,” Ash said as if he were listing an uninteresting step in a recipe. “With a sword.”
“His head reattached itself,” Attes shared, folding his arms over his armor-covered chest. “It was quite disturbing to watch the tendons and muscles do their thing. They sort of crept and slithered across the floor until they reached his head.” He sent me a grin as the picture he painted formed in my mind. “You should’ve seen it.”