Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Poppy argues that it’s nonsense that no one can talk about—or really even know about—who the Consort is. She calls it sexist, patriarchal bullshit. Nektas tells them that it was the Consort who chose for it to be that way. She wishes to remain unknown, and Nyktos honors her wishes because of everything they did and sacrificed to prevent what just happened at the Bone Temple.
Nektas adds that if Poppy chooses to have children, they will be the first Primals born since Nyktos. If Kolis hadn’t stolen Eythos’s essence, Nyktos would have become the Primal of Life, and Ires and Malec would have been born Primals, but only if a female was born first.
He tells Poppy not to apologize for existing and adds that Malec and Ires were already well on their way to being born when the plotting that led to Poppy started. What was done to stop Kolis meant that Malec and Ires could never risk children, but Malec did it anyway. The risk, creating the cosmic restart, would allow for what was done to Kolis to be undone.
He then tells them that Callum knew what speaking the Consort’s name would mean. They realize the Revenant is missing and agree that he must be dealt with.
Nektas says that Poppy is the Primal of Blood and Bone, the true Primal of Life and Death, and adds that the two essences have never existed in one being.
When Poppy reveals that she knows where Ires is, he tells her to take him there. He then sees that they all think they’ve stopped things and tells them they’ve stopped nothing. What happened at the Bone Temple freed Kolis, and they’ve only slowed the inevitable, preventing Kolis from returning to flesh and bone and power, but he will rise if left unchecked.
Nektas tells them they must kill Kolis, though he doesn’t know how—I assume they can now since Poppy is the balance of life and death. For now, Nektas says he needs to get to Ires, find Jadis, and return to Iliseeum.
He mentions that the Consort and Nyktos no longer sleep, which means other gods will awaken, too, and not all are loyal to the Primal of Life.
War has just begun.
Nektas leaves to take Ires home, knowing he will return for his daughter.
REAVER
Draken
Court: The Shadowlands
Click here to see a full-size image of Reaver by art.bymikki.
Hair: Blond. Shoulder-length.
Eyes: Crimson with vertical pupils in the time of the gods. Blue with vertical pupils in recent times.
Body type: Long legs.
Facial features: Sand-colored flesh. Sharp, strong, chiseled jaw. Wide-set eyes tilted down at the inner corners. Full, bow-shaped lips. Not classically handsome but interesting and striking.
Distinguishing features: Faint but distinct scale pattern on the skin.
Preternatural appearance: Purplish black scales. Large but not as big as Nektas. Smooth, black horns starting in the middle of the flattened bridge of his nose and rising up to the center of his diamond-shaped head. The ones around his eyes are smaller but lengthen into sharp points that jut out from his frills as they travel up his head.
Other: Gruff voice. Can change his teeth and breathe fire while in his god form.
Personality: Aloof. Sarcastic. Easily irritated.
Background: Was young when news of what Kolis did came out. Was hidden away with the other younglings. The first draken to emerge after Poppy summons Nyktos’s guards.
REAVER’S JOURNEY TO DATE:
Reaver first entered my visions as an adorable, precocious ten-year-old draken just learning to fly.
He spends a lot of time with Sera after she gets to the Shadowlands, pestering and being pestered by little Jadis and getting into trouble.
When Sera brings Gemma back to life, it affects Reaver—and the rest of the draken.
In the throne room, after Sera tries to go after Kolis on her own, Reaver lets out a staggering, high-pitched call when Nyktos says her bravery is unmatched.
Reaver waits with Jadis, Bele, and Aios when the Cimmerian arrive. After the battle, he joins Nektas, Sera, and Jadis, and the two younglings play. He insists he doesn’t like Nektas’s daughter, but he’s so sweet with her. Like when he brought her favorite blanket to her while she was napping in her mortal form.
As time passes and Sera’s embers grow stronger, Reaver becomes closer and closer to her—and more protective. He even issues a warning to Nyktos at one point, even though he knows the Primal won’t hurt her. He just doesn’t like Sera being upset at all.
When Veses attacks Sera in her chambers, Reaver tries to protect her and gets thrown into a wall by the Primal. His death is imminent, but Sera is able to save him. When he opens his eyes, they shift from blood-red to brilliant blue, and he calls her liessa.
On coronation day, Reaver stays in the mountains with Jadis.
The next time I saw Reaver in my visions, he was a huge and gorgeous, purplish black draken in Iliseeum. He’s the first to erupt from the ground, roaring and breathing silvery-white fire.