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)
And still, the bastard kept up with the lie.
The realization that I wasn’t going to get an answer from him drove me to my feet. Rhain had started to pace nervously in the hall.
“Sera,” Ash warned softly.
“I know.” Anger rippled through me as I once more knelt by Callum’s head. “You still conscious?”
“How can I not be?” Each breath was ragged. “When…someone keeps breaking my bones.”
I gripped his chin, forcing his head toward me. Two watery blue eyes locked on mine. “I want you to listen to me, Callum. If you go near my family again, for any reason, I will kill you. Eirini be damned. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” he gritted out between clenched teeth.
“Thank you.” I released his jaw and unsheathed the Ancient-bone dagger.
And drove it through the center of his forehead.
He didn’t say a word or even have a chance to blink. He died for the…who knew what time today, his eyes open wide.
Wrenching the dagger free, I cleaned the blade on an unstained section of his tunic. “I hope he wakes up with a headache. Otherwise, this was a giant waste of time.”
“You think he was telling the truth about his reason for being in Lasania?” Ash asked as he released Callum’s limp body from the chains.
“Who knows?” I muttered, sheathing the dagger.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was telling the truth,” Attes said, entering the cell. “He’s not openly disrespected in Dalos, but none of the gods who frequent the Court like him. They don’t like anyone they view as being favored by Kolis.”
“Poor him.” I turned to Attes. “Can you take him?”
Attes nodded. “I’ll drop him off somewhere.” He flashed a grin. “Somewhere really inconvenient.”
“As long as it doesn’t interfere with the eirini,” Ash said, “you can drop him off in the Lassa Sea.”
“Actually…” Attes’s smile grew as he picked up the Revenant’s lifeless body and tossed it over his shoulder. “That sounds like a good idea.”
I woke with a jolt, essence thrumming through my body, along with an overpowering sense of something off in the air.
Something wrong.
Something unnatural.
I opened my eyes. The cool weight of Ash’s arm remained around my waist, and his chest rose against my back as my vision adjusted to the darkness of the chamber. I lay there in silence, waiting for the sensation to subside. It didn’t.
Did I have a nightmare? I had no recollection of such, but it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if I had.
Scanning our surroundings, I didn’t see anything wrong about the space. I looked at the balcony doors, holding myself completely still. I heard and saw nothing, but the sensation of some sort of…shift in the realm continued to rise. Hair slipped over my shoulders, falling into my face and across my chest as I rose halfway onto my elbow.
The arm around my waist curled. “Liessa?” Ash’s voice was gruff with sleep. “Is it a nightmare?”
I was so fixed on the sensation, I didn’t have much of a reaction to his assumption. “No.” I peered at the heavy curtains blocking the balcony door. “Do you feel it?”
In an instant, Ash was sitting upright. When he spoke again, all traces of sleep were gone. “Feel what?”
“I’m not sure, but it feels like there’s something in the air that shouldn’t be—something that shouldn’t be here.” Confused, I shoved tangled strands back from my face. “You don’t feel anything?”
“I don’t feel anything.” Ash’s chest brushed my arm.
Confused, I searched the silence and stillness of the chamber. What was I feeling?
Ash leaned in, dropping a kiss on my shoulder. “Do you still—?” He stiffened against me, going so quiet that unease blossomed.
I twisted toward him, my stomach dipping when I saw streaks of eather lighting up his eyes in the darkness.
“Shit,” he growled, tossing the blanket aside. He swung his legs off the bed and was on his feet in a heartbeat.
“What is it?”
“I feel it now.” Moving to the wardrobe, he pulled on a pair of breeches. Two of the wall sconces flickered to life, casting a soft glow into the chamber. His skin had thinned.
My hands fisted in the blanket. “Is it Kolis?”
“No,” he snarled, shadows swirling across the hard line of his jaw. “It’s the Abyss.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Relief and concern whirled together as I scooted to the edge of the bed. “That was not at all what I expected you to say.”
“And I didn’t expect you to feel that before me.” Pulling the pants up to his hips, he looked up and over at me. “Your senses are continuing to progress impressively.”
“I’m going to hold off on bragging about that until you tell me exactly what I felt that involves the Abyss.”
“I’m not sure.” He tugged a tunic over his head. “I can only feel the unrest radiating from there, though that is not entirely uncommon. Sometimes, it’s an escaped soul.”