Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
The silence after the deadly storm seemed all the more sharp. The grasslands churned and in disarray from the brutality of his magic.
For the longest moment, no one spoke. No one could understand what they’d witnessed. But then awareness had trickled through shock, and some hunters backed away in fear while others dropped to their knees, whispering protection prayers to the fire to save them from Darro’s wrath.
I’d wanted to tell them not to be afraid.
That Darro had acted because he had no choice.
I’d guessed what would happen when Aktor ran toward the herd.
He would die.
I would die.
We would all die.
I’d braced myself for it.
I’d sucked in my last breath and tried to link with the bull, drowning beneath thoughts of all the things I wished I’d done.
But Darro had saved me.
He’d kept me alive.
And our eyes met across the now flattened rise just before my legs gave out, dropping to the dirt as agony ripped through my form.
I retched as the swarm of bison spirits flowed through me. En masse and overpowering, their dreams tangled with this life and the next.
Their shells in this world were now nothing more than useless bone.
But they didn’t understand where to go.
They lowed and nudged, searching for things they recognised in a ghostly existence that was so terribly new.
I touched each and every spirit.
I felt their confusion of suddenly being ‘unalive’.
I cried at their acceptance that their time in this incarnation was over.
And I blacked out as sixteen cows and calves stepped through me, followed by the majestic bull who’d travelled the endless grass seas and icy wintery tundra. Who’d fought off interlopers, wore his scars and responsibilities proudly, and done his best to protect his herd.
When I’d come to, I’d been cradled in Darro’s arms.
No one said a word as Darro carried me to a flattened area of grass where the other hunters had set up camp.
Niya and Leca returned to the valley, appearing at dusk with bloody hands and two hastily woven baskets full of dripping meat. Tral had ordered his people into action, gathering scant sticks from the sparse glade in the distance, and skewering the marbled, juicy meat to spit and hiss over the fire Solin summoned.
The scent of cooking flesh made my prior sickness return, and I couldn’t sit there anymore.
I needed fresh air.
I needed time to accept that Darro hadn’t lifted a finger, yet he’d slaughtered so many.
Tears ran silently down my cheeks.
I wish I never divined this hunt.
I wish the fire never chose me.
I wish—
“You wish for things that cannot be changed. You are what you are, Life Bringer. Accept it.”
I flinched. “Get out of my head.”
“We will leave you be if you do not go after him.”
I scowled at the fat dripping meat spluttering in the flames.
Ever since Darro had carried me into this temporary camp beneath the stars, he’d lingered just long enough to ensure I wouldn’t be sick again, then left.
Slinking into the grass with Zetas at his side.
I didn’t care Quelis had read my mind. That I’d sat here for this long because I warred with the same deliberations. The flames knew I teetered on the brink of leaving, and it knew better than to ask if my reasons were to get away from the scent of charring meat or to find him.
“Leave him alone,” the fire hissed. “He kept you alive today, which makes us grateful. But you do not owe him your life in return.”
I kept my eyes trained on the flames. “He already has my heart. That is the same thing.”
“No. It is not.” The fire where everyone was huddled around suddenly hissed and blazed, making Solin’s eyes snap to mine, questions raising his eyebrows. So many nights we’d sat side by side in his lupic, studying history and sharing tricks on fire gazing and trances. He always knew when Quelis spoke to me privately. Before, he would ask what the flames had wanted. But these days, he knew better than to pry. These days, it was getting too complicated.
Ignoring the Spirit Master’s pointed stare, I shouted internally, “I’m not yours to control, Quelis! I can make my own choices.”
“If you make the one you’re contemplating, we can no longer save you. Tonight will mark the end of your safety within our light.”
I swiped at my tears and sniffed.
Rebellion filled me. “So be it.”
For too long, I’d been warned of death and despair. Of some huge event that would come full of heartache and tragedy.
But...today had been its own brand of tragedy.
Lives had been lost.
My own life was intrinsically linked with a male who I no longer viewed as totally nasty. Aktor had run into danger to protect his kin. He’d acted with decency, sacrificing himself to protect his father and clan.
For that alone, I let go a little of my hate toward him.