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)
Attes went quiet. For a second. “Did you…?”
I peeked up at him.
He looked utterly dumbfounded. “Did you just laugh?”
Figuring it would be wise to stay quiet, I kept my mouth shut.
“I would love to know what’s funny about…actually.” He held up a hand. “You know what, I don’t think I do want to know.”
I arched a brow as he stepped back, turned sideways, and thrust a hand through his hair. My chest warmed with something that reminded me of…fondness. Had we been friends?
“Do you have any idea…?” A muscle throbbed in his temple as he faced me. “What you would have done if I hadn’t shown up?”
“I would’ve done what I did in front of you.”
“Didn’t look like you were anywhere near doing that,” he gritted. I had hoped he’d somehow magically forgotten that. “I cannot believe you were out here—”
“Look, I already have a husband—” I stopped myself before saying and a… I frowned, unsure what to call Kieran. I shook my head. It didn’t matter at the moment. “—who feels entitled to lecture me on my so-called recklessness. I don’t need—”
His brows lifted in an incredulous arch. “So-called reckless?” He stepped forward. “There’s no question about it. That’s exactly what this was. And where is your husband?”
“He’s…” My mouth snapped shut when I felt him—his presence—throb in the center of my chest. My shoulders slumped as a streak of crackling eather lit up the space behind Attes. I really wished he couldn’t shadowstep. Or was afraid of it, like Kieran was. “He’s not in bed, sleeping.”
“No,” Casteel growled, stepping from the tear in the realm. “He is not.”
Every muscle in my body tensed as I watched Casteel prowl forward. He must’ve pulled on the tight leather breeches in a hurry because they were unclasped and hung dangerously low on his hips. He wore nothing else besides fury-filled eather that settled over his flesh as thick as any cloak. His skin revealed the deep gray-and-crimson shadows beneath it. Tendrils of essence slid through the flesh of his arms and across his chest, swirling along the packed, taut muscles of his stomach and disappearing under his leathers.
The moment I heard his voice, I knew I was in trouble. And it was confirmed the moment my eyes met his.
I had no one to blame but myself.
Swallowing a sigh, I stepped toward him.
“Cas—”
Casteel was in front of me in less than a heartbeat, his fingers, cold as a winter morning, curled around my chin. I sucked in a gasp as he tilted my head back and to the side. “You’re bleeding.” The veins beneath his eyes darkened. “You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “It was just a nick—”
“Just a nick?” Crimson-laced shadows lashed through his irises and filled his voice.
“Yes. I’m sure it’s already healed. I’m…” I trailed off as his hand slid to the nape of my neck. The shadowy eather deepened in his flesh as it flowed up the sides of his neck.
Casteel pulled his hand away and turned it over slowly, revealing the smear of crimson across his fingers. “Just a nick, too?” he asked, his voice cold.
“Yeah, it’s just a…bump.”
“Glad to see she was left in good hands,” Attes’s voice came, low, flat, and hard.
Casteel’s gaze lifted, and he slowly turned his head toward Attes.
“Do you have any idea what she was doing?” Attes demanded.
“I can only imagine.” Casteel’s words sliced through the air with the sharpness of frostbitten bloodstone. “But why don’t you tell me?” His head cocked. “Great-grandfather.”
My eyes widened.
Attes’s inhale was swift. “Well, I see that horse has fled the stable.”
“Indeed.” A muscle flexed under the eather rolling along Casteel’s jaw. “What are you doing here, Attes? With her?”
“Apparently, making sure she doesn’t get herself injured too badly,” Attes replied. “Since you weren’t cap—”
“Don’t,” I warned, twisting my neck to shoot the Primal a look of warning, “finish that sentence.”
“No.” Casteel’s voice dropped with that one word, sending a chill crawling up my spine. “Please, do.”
“Please, don’t,” I said, placing my other hand against Casteel’s chest. His skin had cooled even more. He stepped to the side.
Attes fell silent. Thank the gods.
Casteel, however, did not. “Or did you just realize what a fucking idiotic thing that was to say?”
I matched his steps, staying in front of him. “Cas,” I tried again.
“What did I tell you last time, boy?” Attes growled, and I felt more than heard him approach.
Boy? I grimaced. Hearing Vikter call Casteel boy was amusing. Coming from Attes and being said to Casteel’s face? Not so much.
Casteel’s lips curved into a tight smile. “You might need to refresh my memory.”
“He doesn’t need to,” I cut in, pressing more firmly against Casteel’s chest.
“That is,” Casteel continued as he wrapped his fingers around my wrists, “if you can even remember what you said in your incredibly advanced age.”