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)
“You’re fine, Odin.” Ash sighed. “They’re nowhere near you.”
I grinned as Crolee turned his large head toward the warhorse and let out a huffing laugh as Odin slammed his hoof down again.
“What’s his problem?” I asked.
Ash looked over at me, his hair more of a deep brown in the starlight. “He feels upstaged.”
I laughed as I glanced at the other onyx-hued draken. Ehthawn was slightly larger than his cousin, and his horns were thicker but not as numerous as those on Nektas. He watched me curiously as if wondering what in the world I was doing.
Poking at my other fang, I refocused. The feeling I had probably wasn’t delusions of grandeur. It was foresight. The heightened intuition that told me life didn’t just exist in mortals and gods. Life was all around us, in the trees and the ground. I studied my hands, thinking about how I’d healed the wounded hawk in the Red Woods—the chora, an extension of a Primal that takes the form of their Primal notam. Unbeknownst to me, the hawk had belonged to Attes.
There had also been Gemma.
The embers had healed the wounded. Was the land here not wounded? While I’d tried to use my touch before against the Rot and failed, it was different now. The Rot was gone, and I was no longer a vessel for the embers. I was the embers.
“It might work the same way as it does when I heal someone,” I said, lifting my gaze from my hands as that tingling sensation returned. “It’s worth a try.”
A moment passed. “You really feel like you have to do this?”
“I do.”
Ash opened his mouth but then closed it. He nodded, and I had a feeling he wanted to talk me out of this.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured him.
Ash inclined his chin, but the tic in the muscles of his jaw said he saw right through that assurance.
Hopefully, I would be okay. Healing hadn’t really taken that much of a toll on me before, but this was obviously different. And it was a risk, and possibly a foolish one.
But it was also a gift.
Lowering myself to my knees, I placed my palms against the dry earth of the bank. Soil crumbled at my touch, slipping between my fingers. Feeling Ash getting closer, I closed my eyes and did what I’d done before.
The essence throbbed within me, heating my skin. I opened one eye just as an aura of gold-streaked silver eather pulsed from my palms, spilling onto the dirt.
I waited.
And waited a few more moments.
“Nothing’s happening, is it?” I said.
“Not yet.” Ash knelt behind me. “Maybe it takes some time.”
“Or maybe I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“There is that.”
I slowly turned my head to him.
His silver eyes were the color of the stars above as they met mine. “What are you thinking when you try this?”
“What I’ve done before,” I answered. “I’m wishing for water to return.”
A dark eyebrow rose. “And that is what you did before? You simply wished to heal wounds and give life?”
“I know it doesn’t sound exciting, but yes, that’s what I did.”
“What about when you used the embers to fight?” he asked. “When you freed me?”
“I did the same.”
A lock of hair fell against his cheek when he cocked his head. “I don’t think that’s all you did.”
“Well, if you know what I did, then why don’t you tell me—?” I snapped my mouth shut as it suddenly occurred to me. “It was different as the embers grew stronger. I didn’t wish. I willed it.”
Holding my gaze, Ash nodded. “Remember what I said earlier? The essence is tied to your will. Not your wishes. That is what it responds to.” He paused. “Then again, maybe you’re not capable of bringing water to life.”
My eyes narrowed.
Ash grinned.
“Shut up,” I muttered halfheartedly as I turned to the river channel.
Taking another deep breath, I once more flattened my hands against the arid soil. I didn’t close my eyes this time. I stared at my fingers and the golden swirl on my right hand. Focusing on the pulse of eather inside me, I held on to it, coaxing it to the surface. My skin grew even warmer. A faint golden glow appeared beneath the skin of my hands, slowly traveling up my arms. I felt it flowing across the skin hidden beneath my cloak as I lifted my gaze to the river channel.
In my mind, I pictured fresh, clear water filling the waterway, rolling over the parched earth and soothing its cracks and scars. I willed it. Holding the image in my mind, I demanded it. Water would come. It would. Water would come.
The glow around my hands intensified, flaring with brighter pulses. Water would come. It would rush through this channel, healing this land. Bring life back to it. Water would. I would restore life—