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)
That was a whole lot of nope.
“Is it…waving at us?” I asked.
Ash grinned. “I believe so.”
I gave a short, awkward wave back. The lamaea made a deep, chortling sound before flopping back to the sand. Somewhat dumbfounded, I watched it make its way to the shore and then disappear into the dazzling water.
“Damn it,” Nektas growled, drawing my attention. He had one foot lifted, and the sole was covered in something thick and glossy. “I stepped in lamaea slime.”
My lip curled as nausea rose so violently that I had to clap my hand over my mouth while Nektas charged up a short hill to where some leafy palm trees swayed in the breeze.
“Maybe you should wear shoes,” Ash commented as he led me around the trail of…goo.
Nektas frowned as he dragged his foot over the grass. “Shoes are cumbersome.”
Ash snorted, glancing back at me. Concern immediately filled his gaze. “You okay?”
Nektas looked up when I nodded and forced a swallow. “Yeah, I just don’t need to be thinking of gooey stuff right now.”
“You and me both,” the draken muttered.
I trudged through the sand, a fine sheen of sweat breaking out across my forehead by the time we joined Nektas under the palms. I really should’ve worn one of those sleeveless tunics instead of the quarter-length-sleeve gray one. It was hot under the bright sun.
Wiping my forehead, I looked up and caught sight of the ivory-and-blue-painted limestone palace. The entire second- and third-floor walls were made of glass. “There’s no Rise?”
“Phanos once said he didn’t want his view of the ocean obstructed,” Ash said as we crossed onto stone pavers carved into the shape of bivalve shells.
I could understand that desire as I scanned the silent palace grounds. “He isn’t here.”
“I don’t think anyone is,” Nektas said, eyeing the thicker foliage crowding the back of Phanos’s palace. “Could they be on one of the other islands?”
“I don’t know.” Ash frowned as he released my hand and stalked toward the pillared veranda that appeared to circle the entire first level. Bright-red flowers lined the roof’s edge, trailing long stems of blossoms. “There should still be guards present here.”
As we followed Ash and stepped under the shade of the veranda, a sense of unease rose. A thin veneer of salt hung in the air as the wooden planks creaked under our steps. That gnawing sensation from deep within grew, sending a shiver of premonition down my spine.
“Something’s not right,” I murmured, almost to myself, but Ash caught the words and gave a curt nod, his jaw set in a way that told me he was on edge, too.
Beside me, Nektas’s gaze darted around as he sniffed the air. “I don’t like this. At all.”
Neither did I.
We reached the back of the veranda, where the shade gave way to a glaring sunlit expanse. The bay unfolded before us, a canvas of vivid blue. Across the water, the silhouettes of other islands rose like slumbering giants. The quiet should have been calming, yet it only served to amplify the disquiet—the wrongness—that whispered through the sea breeze.
My eyes swept over the docks that jutted into the bay like bony fingers. Where ships should have been lashed securely to the moorings, there was only the slap of waves against empty wood. My stare fixed on the ghostly dance of loose ropes in the water.
When I spotted the ropes remaining on the docks, their edges frayed as if they had been hastily severed, my unease turned to dread. “How many ships does Phanos have?”
“Roughly two hundred,” Ash stated grimly.
My heart sped up. Not all of Phanos’s forty-some thousand soldiers were ceeren. Some were gods and godlings who wouldn’t be able to take to the water themselves. My hands fisted as I lifted my gaze to the island, where I could see limestone buildings dotting the hills and valleys.
Eather throbbed intensely. “Phanos could be anywhere.”
Ash turned to us. “Two hundred ships would be hard to miss, though,” he stated, eather piercing his eyes like streaks of lightning. “Nektas, can you take to the air and see what you can find?”
“What about you two?” he asked as the breeze tossed long strands of hair across his broad shoulders. “I don’t like the idea of you two staying here.”
“We’re not,” Ash said. “We’re going to return to the Shadowlands in case he’s headed there.”
“We also need to get word to Theon to be on the lookout,” I said, and Ash nodded.
Nektas hesitated, clearly not wanting to leave us, but he nodded and turned, rushing toward the edge of the veranda. He leapt, a shimmery wave sweeping over his body as he shifted into his draken form. His massive wings cast foreboding shadows over the water as Ash came to my side. Dragging my gaze from Nektas, I reached for his hand—
I sucked in a sudden breath as an icy-cold sensation shot down my spine and spread throughout my limbs.