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)
His eyes finally shot to mine, burning with unholy hatred.
“She will be free of you,” I said. “She will never have to fear you again.”
“So’lis will be reborn,” he seethed, blood and spit trailing down his chin. The sheen of red bone beneath his flesh was visible. “Mark my words. The Fates will decree it. They will reset the balance, and nothing—absolutely nothing—in this realm or beyond will stop me from having her. I will rise again as the Bringer of Death and Destruction.”
I stilled.
Ash yanked the bone chains tighter, pinning Kolis onto his back. “If that day comes, we’ll be waiting.”
I shook my head, rising so I stood over his legs.
Kolis snarled, his fangs snapping at the air, his gaze dropping to the bone dagger and then lifting to mine. “Do it. I dare you, Seraphena.”
I laughed, and high above us, thunder rolled. “You don’t have to dare me.”
Attes tossed another section of chain over Kolis’s groin, drawing out a hiss of pain. “My bad,” he said. “They slipped.”
Kicking his head back against the stone, Kolis laughed. “I’m going to beat those babes from your stomach and dine on—”
Ash moved fast. He slammed his fist through Kolis’s throat, tearing tendons and shattering bones in one wet, crunchy-sounding punch. “As my wife just said, you aren’t doing shit.”
Eather flared weakly around Kolis’s form as his mouth moved wordlessly.
“What?” I leaned over, curving a hand around my ear. “I can’t hear you.”
His eyes turned, becoming black pools. My body immediately went cold, and the nape of my neck tingled. The nothingness of his eyes swirled around a pinprick of red. Blood not yet spilled. And in that burning crimson, I saw…
Sucking in a breath, I jerked back. Ash’s gaze flew to mine as he shook the gore from his hand. “Liessa?”
I blinked, my heart pounding. “It’s okay.” I swallowed hard, glancing at the second dagger Ash had gifted me that I clutched tightly, and then I looked over my shoulder to where Attes stood, his hand tight around the shaft of a bone spear. “You partial to that spear?”
Attes’s head cocked, his eyebrows furrowing. “Not exactly.”
“Good, because I’m going to need this dagger,” I said, turning back to Kolis. “I’m not going to waste it on you. It’s too pretty.” I held it between us, wanting him to see it—wanting him to remember it. “Besides, if you do come back? And she is reborn?”
Kolis went still.
“I will place this dagger in her hand myself,” I whispered. “And it will be she who drives it through your heart.”
Leaning back, I held his gaze as I sheathed the dagger. Without taking my eyes from Kolis, I extended my hand.
Attes walked the spear to me. I took it and rose, adjusting my grip on the leather band down the center. My muscles trembled with the need to drive it through Kolis’s heart and into the blood-soaked stone below him, but…
I raised my eyes to where Ash stood on Kolis’s other side.
But the pain Kolis had caused me was nothing compared to what he had done to Ash.
Taking a deep, cleansing breath, I handed the spear to Ash.
His gaze dropped to the weapon and then returned to mine. “You sure?”
I nodded.
He froze for a moment, his chest still, and then he reached across Kolis’s prone body and clasped the nape of my neck. His fingers curled into the braid there to guide my mouth to his. The kiss was fierce and hard, an expression of both savage gratitude and a promise that he would show me just how thankful he was later as he took the weapon from me.
He slowly lifted his mouth and pressed his forehead to mine. “I love you, liessa.”
“I love you,” I whispered.
His hand slipped from my braid, and I stepped back. I could feel Kolis’s unwavering stare on me now, full of hatred. I didn’t look at him. He wasn’t worth it. When Ash turned back to Kolis, he didn’t speak. Again, he wasn’t worth it. Ash folded his left hand under his right and lifted the spear. A heartbeat passed. That was all.
Ash sank to one knee and plunged the spear into Kolis’s chest. Ribs cracked and gave way. I exhaled roughly as the spear struck true. Kolis jerked, his fingers clawing into the stone beneath him.
I looked at Kolis’s face, and hairs rose all over my body. Our eyes met. His mouth stretched wide in a silent roar. A bright, ruby glow rippled over his body, sparking and sputtering against the floor and then quickly retracting. His skin thinned and vanished, revealing the churning, crimson-streaked black vines etched into the bones beneath.
The air stilled.
The realm went silent.
Kolis’s…presence eased away from me.
“Here we go,” Attes murmured.
Ash’s head bowed as the spear hit stone and then sank into it. The impact was a shockwave, shaking the floor and rattling the damp-looking walls. A stale-lilac-smelling wind blew the wisps of hair back from my face. Dust and dirt fell from the ceiling, and red-and-black eather erupted from where the spear had been plunged deep into Kolis’s chest. Streams of essence snaked out, filling the air with a thousand screams. The twisted mass of energy streaked to the north and south, then to the east and west, slamming into the walls and crawling up them. I tensed, realizing his energy was…was seeking a way out. If that happened, the city would be leveled.