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 that means most of those Fates expect all that is said in the prophecy to happen,” she said softly. “I don’t know why they would want that, but their involvement ensured it is still possible.”
My heart started pounding. “I don’t understand how it can be possible. If Sotoria were reborn, she would be as she was before. A mortal.”
“Unless the Fates intervene once more,” she said. “It’s imperative you follow through with what you plan regarding Sotoria. She needs to be freed as soon as it is safe to do so.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we already planned to do that,” I said. “But what will stop the Fates from intervening even then—?” Then it struck me. “Because what is shown in the prophecy happens in the future. That is what Penellaphe said. If Sotoria were reborn now, she would live and die as a mortal long before what Penellaphe saw in the future could happen.”
“Correct.”
Something big still didn’t make sense, and that came back to her. Sotoria. “Why Sotoria? Why would the Ancients dream of a mortal becoming such a powerful being? It’s not because of what Kolis did to her. That dream happened long before that.”
“That, I don’t know,” she said. “And if Eythos knew, he never said.”
Closing my eyes again, I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I needed to release Sotoria’s soul the moment Kolis was entombed and not a second after. If not?
Opening my eyes, I looked at her. “Do you believe the future is already written? That the threads that last cannot be unbroken?”
“I do not know,” she said after a moment. “I hope to know the answer once I reach Arcadia.”
Gods, I hoped so. Because if I failed now, and the threads of Fate kept stretching and expanding, Kolis wouldn’t be the only problem Ash and I would one day face.
Lost in our thoughts, the Primal and I sat there briefly until Keella patted my arm. “It’s time.”
And it was.
Ash and Ione joined us while Nektas quietly crossed the veranda to walk the manicured lawn. I forced a smile when Ash sent me a curious look. As Ione moved to a divan across from Keella’s, I pushed all I had learned to the farthest corners of my mind while Ione knelt, swearing her allegiance to us. Because as long as we didn’t fail, I would not have to burden Ash with this.
I drank from Ione’s wrist and took what I knew, building a wall of shadowstone and Ancient bone in my mind to place it behind. As my fangs pierced my skin and Ash let out a low growl at the sight, I built a shield. As Ione drank from me, I made myself forget what I had learned until I needed to remember it. And while I knelt at Keella’s side and drank from the wound she had created herself, I prayed to the Fates—to the Ancients—that I would never have to remember.
When I felt Keella’s last sluggish heartbeat, I lifted my head. Her breathing was shallow as she stared at the sky of her Court. Not once since we’d begun had she taken her gaze from it.
I still held on to her hand as I felt the warmth leave her. “Thank you,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I was thanking her for this sacrifice or for what she’d warned me about. Maybe both.
Ash knelt beside me, folding his arm around my waist. He placed his hand over mine and Keella’s. “May the next journey bring you peace.”
Tears blurred my vision as Keella’s eyes fluttered and then closed. Her chest rose once more and did not fall, and then my chest flared with heat. I released the breath I held as a draken let out a mournful call in the distance.
“She looks so peaceful,” I whispered. There was a smile on her lips and a tranquil ease to her features.
“She was ready,” he said, catching a tear with the swipe of his thumb over my cheek.
I nodded, wanting that to make me feel better, but it really didn’t. Letting go of her hand, I started to rise when it happened.
It started with one below her left eye. Then, two more on her chin. Ten along her throat. A dozen appeared on her forearm. They were like freckled stars, starting out as tiny pinpricks of light until eather seeped from her pores. The shimmery, silvery-white wave of light swept over her entire body, pulsing with a blinding intensity that forced both Ash and me to stand and move back.
Strands of eather unfurled, weaving delicate ribbons that stretched with an ethereal glow. I turned to where Ione sat, tears glimmering on her cheeks as she rose and stepped forward. Tendrils of eather illuminated the space between Keella and Ione as I stepped back into Ash’s arms. I rested my cheek against his chest as the Primal energy threaded itself with Ione, and I felt the oath Ione had made lodge itself deeply within my chest.