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)
Gagging, I started to rise just as the entire dock heaved, the planks buckling. Seawater exploded upward in a towering spray of foam as a ceeren erupted from the water. Another appeared behind it, coming down on the dock and causing the structure to dip.
“Shit,” I hissed as I started to slide.
Twisting sideways, I grabbed a board. The last thing I needed was to fall into the water. My fingers curled around the rough plank as a ceeren reached for me. I swung out with the blade, catching it in the side of its neck. As it broke apart, a hand gripped my calf and pulled. Muscles screamed in my arm and side as the dock heaved and sank. Water rushed over my legs as the ceeren used me to climb its disgusting—
The scent of citrus and snow enveloped me as a bloodstone sword arced above my head, slicing through the ceeren’s neck.
“Are you trying to take a swim?” Casteel put an arm under mine and hauled me from the water. “Or are you trying to play with dead things?”
“Neither,” I gasped, once more on my feet and racing back toward the shore. “Thank you.”
Giving me a wink over his shoulder, he grabbed my hand and picked up speed as the dock collapsed behind us. For once, I kept up with him.
The moment we reached the wharf, we spun back to the pier and watched it fall into the water—the violently churning water. Narrow geysers appeared as the sea seemed to spew forth creatures from its very depths. Ceeren came ashore all along the coast—not dozens but hundreds of them, either swarming the ships or emerging from the sea on horseback.
“Fuck,” Casteel muttered, yanking me to his side as we turned back to the city.
I saw Kieran knock a rider from its saddle. Naill was on the street with him, Emil on horseback nearby. Malik was closer, along the lower streets, his jaw hard as he lifted his sword and used his knees to urge the horse forward. Delano and Sage were behind him, the larger white wolven casting worried glances in our direction before a rider cut off my view. I turned my attention to the remaining piers. A sickening knot of dread balled in my stomach. The ceeren had swamped two more ships farther down the dock. And the riders…
They were everywhere. Six circled us, the hooves of their horses cracking the wood.
I snapped forward, driving my dagger into a seahorse’s chest. It’s dead. It’s already dead, I kept reminding myself as Casteel took care of the rider.
“I really wish you’d grabbed a sword,” Casteel commented as he decapitated the beast. “So you wouldn’t have to get so close.”
I dipped under his arm and sprang up in front of the fallen rider. It swung its sickle blade as my eyes locked with its pitch-black ones—
A faint glow sparked within, silver with the faintest hint of crimson.
Kolis.
Every part of my being knew he was staring back at me.
The rider jerked its sword back, leaving itself wide open. I sprang forward, shoving my dagger into its chest.
I spun as Casteel slid under a rider, splitting the seahorse across its belly. My mind flashed to how the first wave of riders had run past me. How the ceeren had grabbed for me but hadn’t attacked.
Just like the grul, once it tasted my blood.
My heart thumped as the rider dropped to the ground. Our eyes met, and the same thing happened as before. Through the limp strands of its hair and seaweed, that glow ignited.
“I see you,” I whispered, and Casteel turned in my direction. “I hope you feel this.”
The glow turned pure crimson. Its mouth opened, revealing serrated teeth. “So’—”
I shoved the dagger into its forehead. “Fuck off.”
The ceeren splintered as my gaze lifted to Casteel’s. “Kolis,” I snarled. “He’s peeping through them.”
Eather pulsed in his eyes, and his flesh thinned. Faint traces of shadows moved under his skin as he spun, driving both of his swords through the closest rider.
Water sprayed, signaling another group of riders. I cursed and stepped back. A moment later, Casteel’s voice reached me through the notam.
I don’t yet know if I can control the essence like you can. He leapt, twisting in the air as he sliced outward with both swords in a deadly arc, cutting down two riders with one fluid motion. And you just awakened.
I knew what he was saying as I jumped off a pile to gain height, striking a rider as it came ashore. I couldn’t keep using the eather. It would weaken me. But as the ceeren riders raced across the shore, I didn’t think I had a choice.
They weren’t heading for Wayfair’s open gates. They were going straight for the city, and the outer walls along that portion weren’t taller than a home. They would be no obstacle. They’d reach the most heavily populated section of Lowertown first, where the fishers and tradesmen lived, the one where the homes were tiny but bursting with families—people who were too young or old to run. And if they made it past there? Dear gods. They’d swarm Croft’s Cross and the Garden District.