Total pages in book: 401
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I think we can do whatever we like.”
“I’m not sure it’s as simple as that,” I said quietly.
“Why not?”
“I don’t think doing whatever one likes makes for a good King and Queen.”
He eyed me for a moment, and then a small smile played across his lips.
I tilted my head. “What?”
“I was just thinking about the irony. You know? I was raised by a King and Queen and attended my brother’s training, yet you are better prepared to rule than I am.”
I snorted like a little piglet. “I don’t know about that.”
“It’s true. When I was held captive, you kept it together. You didn’t…” He looked away. “You didn’t neglect your duties. The same can’t be said about me while you were in stasis.”
“What do you mean?”
“It took a lot of convincing for anyone to get me to leave your side for any reason,” he admitted.
“Am I supposed to be disappointed to hear that?” I asked. “Because I’m not. And it sounds like you took care of things when you needed to.”
“Yeah.” He exhaled. “Either way, where, when, and how long we live somewhere isn’t something we need to decide now.”
I nodded. “Why aren’t we staying in this chamber?”
“We need something a bit larger and more secure,” he said. “Preferably somewhere pieces of a Revenant weren’t scattered about.”
I stiffened, unsure if I’d heard him correctly. “Pieces?”
“Let’s just say I lost my temper and left him in many, many small pieces scattered across the floor.”
I slowly turned my head to him as I felt the essence pulse within him. An aura of eather pulsed behind his pupils as small red flecks appeared in his golden irises. “He tried to touch you.”
My breath caught, and my body—well, it had a completely inappropriate response to the sound of his voice and the growing flecks of crimson. It was smoky, cold, and full of power. Neither of those things should be arousing.
A low sound rumbled from his chest as he ran his teeth over his lower lip. “Get your mind out of the gutter, my Queen.” He paused. “Or should I say get your mind out of Miss Willa’s journal?”
The flush that hit my cheeks was immediate and spread down my throat. I lifted my chin and breathed in deeply, regretting it as I took in his scent. “I’m going to choose to ignore that.”
“You do that.”
“Anyway,” I said, “has this Revenant…pieced himself back together?”
“No. He’s dead,” Casteel shared, and my lips parted. “And, no, it wasn’t a draken. Either tearing a Rev to pieces prevents them from regenerating, or something else was at play.”
“That should be impossible, though.” I eyed him, feeling a crease forming between my brows. Casteel shouldn’t be able to kill a Revenant, but… A faint tingling erupted along the base of my neck. “Maybe it has to do with…what you’ve become. I mean, with the essence that was transferred to you.”
“Maybe so,” he said after a moment. “I wonder if that means you’ll be able to kill them, too.”
“I couldn’t before.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “But I…I think so.” I lowered my hand, unsure of why I thought that. “Do we know how many Revenants are still out there?”
“Millicent and Malik hunted down all they could locate in the city,” he said. “But we don’t know how many are still out there or in cities ruled by the Blood Crown.”
“Cities like Masadonia and Pensdurth,” I said under my breath, my thoughts racing. “Not to mention the smaller towns scattered between the capital and the north, ones isolated by the Blood Forest.”
Casteel nodded and then drew in a deep breath, taking my hands. “There’s something we need to talk about before we get too deep into the shit with the Ascended and the kingdom.”
I tipped my head back, unease immediately springing to life. “Well, that sounded…foreboding.”
I’d expected him to say something teasing, but he didn’t. “Remember how I told you that you’d woken up briefly?”
The unease grew. “After the Revenant attack.”
He swallowed. “When you lent your power to me, it interfered with your Culling—the Ascension itself.”
I stiffened. “Casteel—”
“I’m not saying this as an expression of my guilt,” he quickly said. “It’s just a fact.”
The essence pulsed through me, my frustration rising. “And how do you know it’s a fact?”
“Because it made you vulnerable.”
“To what?” I demanded.
He smoothed a thumb over the top of my hand. “You woke up a second time, Poppy.” He watched me closely. “You don’t remember that at all, do you?”
“I don’t…” My brows drew together. “Was it for a couple of moments like before?”
“No.” He squeezed my hand. “You were awake for about two days.”
“What?” I inhaled sharply as I jerked back. “I was awake for two whole days?” My voice rose as the eather stirred within me. “And I don’t remember it?”