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)
The for now went unsaid.
I ran the tips of my fangs over my lower lip. “If we find out Millicent’s there, it doesn’t mean she’s there willingly.”
“I know.” He paused. “But if we find out she’s there, there will be no stopping Malik.”
I glanced back at him, and our gazes briefly met. “Would you still try to stop him?”
“No,” he admitted after a moment. “I wouldn’t be able to.”
That wasn’t true.
Casteel would definitely be able to stop Malik. The fact that Casteel was powerful enough to will himself to where I was without knowing where it would take him was proof of that. But it was likely already hard enough for him to demand that Malik do something he wouldn’t do himself.
“So, this is where it happened,” Casteel said, jarring me from my thoughts. “Makes sense you’d be curious about the place.”
“It does?”
“Yeah.” He shifted behind me, and I felt his shoulder brush mine.
“I…” Those silly words rose again, but I didn’t stop them. “I thought I would feel something coming here.”
“Feel what?” he asked after a moment.
“I don’t know.” I squinted as I lifted my gaze to the thick, gray clouds. “Sadness? Anger?”
“And you don’t feel that?”
I shook my head. “I should feel relieved that I don’t.”
“You should only feel whatever you feel,” he said, and I peeked over at him. He stood shoulder to shoulder with me, his gaze trained on the lake and elms below. “As long as you let yourself feel.”
“I am.”
His shoulders rose with a deep breath. “No, you’re not.”
Shaking my head, I looked away. “You’re wrong.”
“Tell me how I’m wrong.”
Staring up at the thick clouds, I searched for how to put my feelings into words. “I don’t feel anything right now. Just…numb. But…” I crossed my arms. “I knew where Isbeth kept The Star.”
When Cas didn’t respond, I continued. “It was in Wayfair’s Vault. I forgot about it until yesterday. There are a lot of coins and jewels there, too. More than enough to better the lives of those here,” I added. “We need to use it. All of it.”
“What about The Star?” Casteel asked, glossing over that I’d just told him there was unfathomable wealth stored away.
I exhaled roughly and stepped back. “I didn’t feel anything when I held it.”
“Did you think you would?”
“Shouldn’t I have?” I rubbed my hands over my arms. “If my soul was kept in it for hundreds of years.”
Casteel didn’t respond because, seriously, what could anyone say to that?
I turned to him, my gaze landing on the gold chain around his neck. “I destroyed the diamond. That was how angry I was,” I said. “Not because I felt something while holding it, but because I…”
“Because you what?” he asked quietly.
Something like this can’t be okay.
My eyes closed. “Because I didn’t choose this.”
“Poppy,” he rasped. For a brief moment, what he felt pierced my shields. Rage and sorrow washed over me—raw, intense, and so heavy it felt like my chest might cave in under its weight.
I didn’t want him to feel that.
He stepped toward me, and the prickly feeling returned, crawling across my skin. As the instinct to fight or flee kicked in, I shifted from one foot to the other. I wanted the flight. And I never wanted that—okay, if serpents were involved, then yes. But normally? No. And that irritated me.
Casteel had halted, his features stark and sharp as he locked his eyes on mine. I suddenly realized I had taken a step back.
I swallowed, my throat dry. I knew I needed to say something, but the sudden awareness of a draken somewhere nearby cut through me. I twisted toward the city and then looked up. “A draken is coming.”
“I really don’t care.”
“You should. If a draken is coming here, there’s a reason.” Sensing it was Reaver, I turned to him. “And you know that.”
“Just because you feel a draken doesn’t mean one is coming…” He trailed off as a large, winged shadow glided through the clouds over the Garden District, headed straight for us.
I raised a brow. “You were saying?”
His nostrils flared.
Reaver broke free of the clouds, his purplish-black scales glittering in the fractured sunlight. His wings stretched out as he descended, landing behind a cluster of elms.
“Why do you think he landed there instead of in the meadow?” I asked.
“It’s Reaver,” muttered Casteel. “Does anyone know why he does anything?”
I snorted as I turned and started toward the elms. I’d never been more grateful for Reaver’s impromptu—
I yelped as Casteel appeared in front of me. “Gods!” I shrieked. “Why do you have to do that?”
He smirked at me.
Rolling my eyes, I moved to walk past him, but his hand shot out and wrapped around my arm. My head snapped toward him as the essence pulsed through my veins. I knew he felt it. The eather flared behind his pupils—