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)
Freed myself.
Most importantly, I was nothing like my mother.
And if the Queen of the Gods was disgusted by me, then…fuck her.
My chin lifted as the light receded, and then I saw her.
Well, I saw part of her since Casteel’s and Kieran’s enormous frames blocked most of her.
All I could make out was a cascade of long, silvery hair flowing over her shoulders in soft waves and loose curls—hair that was just like Millicent’s. I saw no crown. Did they even have crowns? Yes. Yes, they did. And so did we—and not the Atlantian crowns.
But none of that was important at the moment.
I leaned to the side to peer around Casteel, catching a glimpse of what she was wearing. My lips parted in surprise. Her arms were bare except for a gold cuff on her upper left biceps. Her gold-trimmed black tunic was fitted across the chest and waist before flaring out at the sides, ending at the knees of her breeches, just above her boots.
I didn’t know what I’d expected her to wear, but she was the Queen of the Gods. I supposed I’d pictured her in some sort of ethereal, flowing gown—not for her to be dressed like…well, me.
I really needed to stop thinking of her as her. She had a name.
Seraphena.
Willing the eather to calm in my veins, I stepped out from behind Casteel and Kieran. Every thought fled my mind except for one.
Millicent.
She looked exactly like Millicent.
The hair. The smattering of freckles across her nose, cheeks, and forehead. The slightly less narrow nose and wider, fuller lips. Millicent was leaner, whereas the Queen was full-figured, and her features were more mature than my sister’s. Still, Seraphena was nearly the mirror image of her. I searched for my features in her face and found a hint of them in her high cheekbones and slightly pointed chin.
A cloying sensation blanketed my skin. It felt an awful lot like…jealousy.
My head kicked back in surprise. I was…jealous. I knew it was irrational, but I didn’t take after her like Millicent did.
I looked like my mother.
And maybe my father. But when I thought about him, all I could see was Leopold’s face—
My stomach twisted sharply, and I shook my head. Gods, I was being silly.
Refocusing on Seraphena, I started to speak when I saw that she wasn’t even looking in my direction. Eyes the same shade of green as…well, part of my eyes, and pierced by silvery-gold streaks, were fixed on Casteel and Kieran. She stared at them so intently that I wasn’t even sure she was aware of my presence. My senses stretched out, but it was like coming up against a thick wall. Unease skipped through me as footsteps echoed from down the hall.
“Your Majesty,” Kieran’s low voice broke the tense silence as he lowered himself to a knee.
Oh, my gods. We were being so disrespectful. She was the Queen of the Gods, and we were just standing there. I started to kneel but halted as my attention focused on Casteel.
He was wary, very much so, and hadn’t so much as budged an inch.
“Please rise,” the Queen of the Gods requested. “Such formalities are not necessary.”
I was only vaguely aware of Kieran rising. It rattled me to hear her voice in the here and now instead of in distant impressions of a time long before mine.
But not as much as how she was staring at Casteel and Kieran.
Something was wrong.
The air in the chamber thickened as Seraphena stepped forward, the webbing of veins beneath her eyes lighting up with eather. “This is…” Her gaze darted between them. “This is impossible.”
Casteel angled his body so he was once more positioned partially in front of me.
Tension gathered in my muscles, and the essence throbbed. I so did not like how she was eyeing them. I sidestepped Casteel, or at least tried to. He mirrored my movement.
Seraphena lifted a hand. Without looking behind me, I knew Reaver had entered the Solar, and she was sending him a message to stay back. The tiny hairs on my nape lifted.
“Is there a reason my granddaughter hides behind you?” Seraphena asked.
“She’s not hiding,” Casteel replied.
“Doesn’t seem that way to me.”
“Then you’re mistaken.”
Hiding? I wasn’t hiding—
Feeling my chest and throat warm, I realized I was once more staring at Casteel’s back… and now Kieran’s, which meant I was sort of hiding. Unwillingly, but still.
“You should step aside,” Seraphena said, the eather continuing to fill the chamber with barely restrained energy. “Both of you.”
“Now, you see…” Casteel’s tone and stance epitomized someone unbothered, but I knew better. Especially when he spoke that softly. “You telling us to step aside makes me feel like maybe we shouldn’t.”
Clearly, he hadn’t been exactly truthful regarding what he’d said during his pep talk earlier.
“I’m not hiding,” I said. “They’re just being…them.”
A snort came from behind me.