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)
Gods, how had I not thought of them until now?
I strode down the alley. Behind me, Malik cursed, and then I heard his boots pounding stone. I quickly passed a small backyard and stepped onto a street untouched by death.
Except that hadn’t been the case not too long ago.
Because when I looked down the silent road, I saw the remains of Descenters’ homes: shattered foundations and half-standing walls. Until the ones near it came into view.
“Penellaphe.” Malik’s steps slowed behind me.
“What’s going on?” Casteel’s voice came next.
“I don’t know,” Malik answered. “She just came back here.”
Casteel moved to my side and touched my arm. “Poppy?”
“Look.” I pointed across the street.
He looked. “Shit,” he muttered. “I thought this area of Stonehill looked familiar.”
“You two are just now realizing this?” Malik asked.
Casteel looked over his shoulder, and Malik muttered, “Whatever.”
As he walked off, my gaze moved back to the foundations. Anger rose when I thought of how coldly Isbeth had ended Clariza’s and Blaz’s lives. There really hadn’t been a reason to. I had already agreed to her deal, but she still killed them to show she could. Sort of like Kolis, killing these people because he could. But there had been another reason.
Isbeth had wanted to provoke me.
And she had.
The ruins were what remained of my reaction. It had happened so quickly. And, gods, the eather had spilled out of me then, a mass of silver-pierced shadows. Within a heartbeat, I had brought the home and the ones next to it down. And I would’ve done far more if Casteel hadn’t calmed me.
“Cas? Poppy?” Emil’s voice reached us. “You okay over there?”
“Yes.” Casteel turned, his eyes meeting mine before flicking to Emil. Kieran appeared behind him. “This is where Malik brought us after I was freed.”
“Damn.” Kieran stared at the ruins. “That can’t be a coincidence.”
A chill swept down my spine. No, it couldn’t be. Somehow, Kolis knew about our ties to this area. And I could think of only one person who could’ve told him. A certain annoying Revenant.
“Has Callum been found?” I asked, recalling when I’d last seen him at the Bone Temple.
“He’s missing in action,” Kieran stated.
Casteel took my hand. “Let’s return to Wayfair.”
As he led me through the alley, I felt a faint charge and looked behind me. Kieran stared straight ahead, but I had a feeling he and Casteel were communicating again. I started to ask what they felt they needed to speak privately about but was interrupted.
“Hey,” Malik called from the mouth of the alley. “You all back there?”
“Yeah,” Kieran answered. “We’re heading back now.”
Casteel squeezed my hand. You okay? he asked in my mind.
I nodded.
Malik hadn’t gone far when we walked out from between the homes, but he wasn’t alone. Naill had returned. Somehow, he looked even more disturbed than he had earlier.
Casteel sensed it, too. “Do I even want to know?” he asked.
“Something…is happening.” Naill pivoted. “I’m not sure what. But you have to see.”
Without saying another word, we followed Naill into one of the homes we’d first investigated. I quickly looked down as we passed through the small entryway. Three pairs of shoes. One set small. Gods. I didn’t want to see them again.
Casteel squeezed my hand and stopped just inside the dark hall. “I can take you back to Wayfair,” he offered. “Kieran and I can deal with whatever is going on here.”
“We can,” Kieran confirmed.
“No.” I pulled on my hand.
Casteel held on. “I know this is getting to you,” he said, his voice low as Naill moved ahead of us. “It’s getting to me.”
“It’s getting to everyone,” I said. “And I’m no different than anyone else.”
“I beg to differ.”
My chin lifted as I met his gaze. “I don’t expect you or anyone else to do what I am unwilling to do myself.”
His mouth opened and then snapped shut, his nostrils flaring. “That’s the most idiotic ideology ever.”
“Really?” I said dryly. “Because I learned it from you.”
A quiet, low laugh came from Kieran, drawing Casteel’s glare.
“Hey.” I tapped his chest with my other hand and waited until his golden gaze returned to mine. “This is one of those moments when you need to remember that I don’t need to be protected.”
Kieran’s earthy mark brushed against my thoughts. I don’t think such a moment exists for him.
He was right, but I ignored him, thankful he hadn’t said it aloud.
“I’m not trying to protect you in that way,” Casteel said. “I’m trying to prevent more nightmares.”
My breath caught as my fingers curled into the chest of his cloak. I wanted nothing more than to throw myself at him, but that would be really inappropriate, all things considered. “Thank you for thinking of that,” I whispered.
“But?”
I didn’t need to say anything else.
Casteel sighed. “Let’s go.”
I squeezed his hand, and we trailed behind Kieran, who followed Naill to a bedchamber.