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)
“We need to get closer.” I stepped back and scanned the length of the balcony. There was a staircase at the end. Kieran pivoted toward it.
Casteel stalked along the railing, his eyes narrowed. He stopped beside Kieran. “Something is happening in the water,” he said.
My gaze snapped to the nearest steps in the Rise. Walking would take too long.
But we didn’t need to walk.
I didn’t give myself time to think about what I was about to do. I crossed the distance between us and grasped Casteel’s cheek. “Will yourself to the inner Rise.”
Confusion quickly faded into realization as the essence pulsed behind Casteel’s pupils. Then, a slow smile lifted the corner of his lips. “See you there.”
“Hold on,” I said, grabbing Kieran’s arm.
“What—?”
A rush of charged air stole his words as I pictured the inner Rise in my mind. Summoning the essence, I acted on pure instinct. Casteel hadn’t looked ready to vomit when I mentioned shadowstepping. Kieran had.
A single heartbeat.
That was how long it took before the wind swirling around us shifted and became laced with the much stronger scent of the sea. We were no longer standing on the balcony—
We were directly in front of an Atlantian guard.
“Holy shit,” the man gasped, his eyes flaring wide below the rim of his steel helmet.
“Sorry,” I said.
“What the fuck?” gasped Kieran, staggering back.
I spun and caught his arm before he fell off the battlement. He bent at the waist and clutched his knees.
“You’re the…you’re…” the guard stammered, his brown skin taking on a gray tone.
A shout of surprise came from our right. Another guard stumbled in mid-run as the air in front of him distorted. Casteel appeared in the blink of an eye. It was the strangest damn thing. The space was empty one moment and filled the next.
“Y-your Majesty.” The pale-skinned guard stiffened, his hazel eyes darting to where I stood. “Your Majesties.”
Both guards started to kneel.
“Please. That’s not necessary,” I said, still keeping a hand on Kieran while making a mental note to get a message to all the guards and soldiers, telling them to knock off the bowing thing. “Especially not now.”
They halted and stared at us with open mouths.
Casteel strode forward and glanced down at Kieran. “Are you okay?”
Kieran dragged in a lungful of air. “I don’t think I should’ve eaten that biscuit.” He slowly straightened and turned to me. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“Sorry?”
“You do not sound even remotely sorry.” He wiped a fine sheen of sweat from his forehead.
“Walking would’ve taken too long,” I reasoned. “And you’re fine. Still in one piece.”
“It feels like my stomach is still sitting on the balcony.”
Casteel snorted and turned to the two guards. “Can you tell us what is happening?”
“A ship went down in the bay, Your Majesty,” the guard I nearly shadowstepped on answered.
“That’s it?” Kieran asked, stretching his neck from side to side.
“That’s all we know,” the guard said.
“That can’t be it.” I turned toward the sea. “We all felt it. Can still feel it.”
“I’m going to run ahead and see what I can find out,” Kieran said. “And I’m going to use the two legs the gods gave me.”
I rolled my eyes. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“We will argue about that later.”
Casteel smirked. “I think you’ve traumatized him.”
“Possibly.”
“Come on,” he said, and we began walking toward the section of the Rise that overlooked Lowertown and the Stroud Sea. “Do you have any idea what we’re feeling?”
I shook my head. “Just that something’s here that shouldn’t be.”
A muscle flexed in his jaw. “Kolis?”
“I…I don’t think so,” I said. “We would feel him if he were here.”
“Here,” Casteel said.
I looked down to see the hair tie he’d slipped around his wrist earlier. “Thank you,” I said, taking it.
He winked.
Grinning, I gathered my hair, twisted it the best I could, and secured it with the tie just below the crown of my head. I had no idea how long it would last as several shorter strands had already slipped free, but I didn’t have time to braid the length.
We reached the westernmost section of the Rise. I looked down at the guards and soldiers perched on the parapets, each crossbow loaded with three arrows. The only difference was what they wore. The guards wore black, and the soldiers donned gold and silver armor. None paid us any attention; their focus was on the dark sea. My gaze followed theirs as the briny wind tossed my hair over my face.
“Fucking gods,” Casteel muttered at the same moment I saw what they were all staring at.
A merchant ship slowly sank beneath the eerily still water of the bay.
“What could’ve caused that?” I whispered.
“No idea.” Casteel’s stare lifted to the ships farther out, where men struggled against the wind to turn the sails.
I looked down. The streets of Lowertown were packed with mortals and guards. Many stood near the piers while others hurried among the wagons of wares offloaded from the ships at the port. The southern section of Lowertown, closest to the area of the bay where the vessel had sunk, wasn’t visible from where we stood, but I imagined the streets there were filled, too.