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)
“Thank you,” I said. Jadis pushed my hand away, letting me know she was done.
Meeting my gaze, Rhain gave me a small smile and nodded. Jadis peered over my shoulder, watching him leave. I patted her scaled back.
Ash shifted his attention to the oneirou. “You think you’ll be able to do your thing?” Ash asked. I’d told him about what I had thought of when I spoke with Thierran in the library.
“You get Kolis alone?” A lock of black hair tumbled over his forehead. “I will do my thing and then some.”
Ash’s smile was tight as he looked at the twins. “Theon, I want you in the Bonelands while we have this meeting, just in case.” Jadis turned in my lap, stretching her arms toward him and letting out a little chirp. He reached over and placed her on his lap.
“I feel so unloved,” Nektas remarked as his daughter pressed her head against Ash’s chest.
Ash snorted. “Lailah, I want you at the Black Bay.”
The siblings nodded, and Nektas handed a blanket and what appeared to be a nightgown to Ash. As they rose to leave, Lailah sent Attes a worried glance.
He didn’t even seem to be aware that they’d left.
“Saion, Rhahar, you will remain here,” Ash continued, attempting to pull the nightgown over Jadis’s head, but she kept lifting her wings. Nektas grinned.
“Sounds good to me.” Saion looked at his cousin.
Rhahar nodded. “You really think any of them will come at either of you?”
“They’d have to be very foolish,” I commented, scratching Reaver under the chin. Ash finally got the nightgown on Jadis and covered her with the blanket. “They may not have known what I was capable of before, but they do now,” I said without the hint of smugness that would normally fill my tone. But that was before. Now, I knew this was nothing to boast about.
Bele was silent for a moment, surprisingly not responding with one of her customary quips. “They’re not going to be here, right?” She jerked her chin toward Reaver.
The draken narrowed his eyes.
“I will take the younglings to Mount Rhee before the meeting,” Nektas said, propping a bare foot up on the edge of the desk.
I didn’t think I’d ever seen Nektas in shoes.
“I doubt anything will happen,” Ash said, adjusting the little draken in his arms. Jadis was already asleep. “But I don’t want you near the throne room, Aios.”
Aios frowned. “I am not happy with that.”
“I am.” Bele smiled at her, and the look she gave the Primal immediately erased the smile. “We done here for now?”
Ash nodded. “Stay close.”
“Will do.” She rose and took Aios’s hand. “Let’s go so you can yell at me in private.”
Attes actually chuckled at that as he started to stand.
“Attes,” I said. “Can you stay for a few moments?”
“Of course.” He settled back.
“Come, Reaver.” Nektas stood, taking his sleeping daughter from Ash’s arms. “We need to go.”
The draken hesitated, his cerulean gaze darting between Nektas and me. I don’t want to leave you.
Even his voice in my mind was filled with dread. “It’ll be okay.” Bending at the waist, I cupped Reaver’s jaw and kissed the top of his warm head between the horns that would soon grow. “Go with Nektas.”
His heavy sigh echoed in my thoughts, bringing a grin to my lips. He rocked back, extending his wings and taking to the air.
Once it was just the three of us, I got up. As I passed Ash, I briefly stopped to kiss his cheek. His gaze tracked me when I sat in the chair Nektas had occupied.
Attes’s wary gaze slid to mine. “Don’t look at me like that.”
I arched a brow. “Like what?”
“Like you’re worried about me,” he replied. “It makes me uncomfortable.”
“It shouldn’t, considering you saw me having a complete breakdown.”
“Are you going to say that doesn’t make you uncomfortable?”
“It does,” I admitted and felt Ash’s hand on my lower back. “But I am worried about you.”
A ghost of a smile appeared. “There is no need, Sera. I know why you wanted to speak with me in private, and while I appreciate the thoughtfulness, I’ve known this day was coming, even when I didn’t want to know.” He inhaled deeply. “Kyn will not survive this.”
I wanted to look away, but it felt wrong. Weak in a way I couldn’t be.
“No,” Ash said from behind me. “He will not.”
Attes nodded, his lashes lowering. “He…he truly wasn’t always like this,” he said roughly before clearing his throat. “He once lived for times of peace. He had a heart. He laughed and loved. He lusted for life and not cruelty.” His gaze turned distant as if he were seeing far into the past. “His care for the younglings remained through the centuries, the only thing that reminded me of who he used to be. The only hope I had that he could still be saved. Kolis took that when he had you kill Thad,” he said, and my eyes closed. “When I could finally tell him that his youngling draken still lived, it was too late. My brother was gone.”