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)
“Why would he care what happens to you?” I asked.
She sent a smile over her shoulder in answer. Passing Attes, she looked him over once more. The throaty, sensual sound that came from her was so Isbeth it took everything in me not to rush after her, grab her head, and put it through the door.
The moment she was gone, Delano burst from the hall, running along the alcove. He leaped over several rows of pews and landed behind Kieran. He brushed past the larger wolven to come stand beside me.
I knew we needed to discuss Kolis and his demands as I watched Kieran prowl toward the staircase we’d taken earlier. My focus should be on that, but…
But I couldn’t.
Because every part of my being knew what Kolis’s request was and what he planned despite the claim of a Fate being present. I knew the moment they were mentioned. It wasn’t the vadentia telling me anything. It was a different kind of instinct.
So, for right now, I focused on something a little less horrific. Isbeth.
“Malik,” Casteel called flatly. “You can come out now.”
It should have concerned me that I hadn’t been aware of Malik’s presence. Blinking, I turned to the sound of footsteps. Malik appeared from the same hall Delano had been in.
Sorry, Delano leaned into my legs. He wouldn’t leave.
Malik looked unsettled as he stepped out from between two pillars, his features drawn. Gods, he did look like Attes.
“I’m just going to say what everyone is thinking,” Malik stated.
“That neither you nor Delano can follow a simple request?” Casteel crossed his arms.
“Other than that.” He walked between two pews. “That thing that was just in here? It really seemed like her.”
I sucked in a breath.
Casteel’s head whipped toward me. The eather was once more humming in my ears. It couldn’t be her.
“What if it truly was Isbeth? It did look like her.” My gaze returned to the door. “Sounded like her. Smelled like her.”
“What did Lady Hawley say?” Malik looked between Casteel and me.
“‘No one truly dies now,’” I bit out. A faint tremor went through the nearby walls, rattling the sconces. “She couldn’t have been serious.”
“Unless Kolis did bring her back,” Casteel said, a muscle flexing along his jaw. “Can he do that? Restore someone reduced to dust?”
“He is the true Primal of Death.” Attes walked forward. “As long as the soul remains intact, it is possible.”
“How, though?” Kieran asked as he came down the steps, feet bare but wearing his dark leather pants and carrying his tunic. He must’ve undressed before shifting. “Doesn’t Nyktos still rule the Shadowlands?”
Attes answered, but my thoughts were rushing too furiously from one thing to the next for me to listen. All I could focus on was the possibility that it had been her. That she was still alive. That after everything, she wasn’t spending an eternity in the Abyss, paying for her sins.
Where was the fairness—the fucking balance—in that?
Another tremor ran through the walls. Attes sent me a look.
“Seraphena said Kolis freed those in the Abyss,” Kieran mentioned.
The floor beneath my feet shifted slightly, causing Delano to lift a front paw.
“She mentioned creatures. Not people,” Casteel said, his attention on me. “And wouldn’t she have known if Isbeth was freed?”
One would think so, but… Seraphena had also just awakened, and they had their hands full.
It wasn’t impossible.
And there was only one way to find out.
I summoned the essence. The air crackled and hissed softly.
“Poppy!” Kieran lurched toward me.
Casteel was faster, firmly wrapping a hand around my arm. My gaze shot to his.
What are you doing? he said through the notam.
The essence pulsed hotly, pressing against my skin as the hissing grew. Silver flashed in the room, the scent of burnt air filling the cella.
I need to see if it was her, I told him. If it was, I will kill her after I kill Kolis. Again.
His grip tightened as he stepped into me and clasped my cheek. “You need to calm.”
“I am calm.”
His head tilted slightly, brows rising.
“I’m not going to Pensdurth,” I told him. “I’m going to Iliseeum.”
CHAPTER 52
POPPY
Kieran’s brows slashed together and then smoothed out. “Nyktos.”
“Nyktos has to know if her soul is still in the Abyss.” I spun toward Attes. “Right?”
HeAttes nodded.
I twisted back. “We can shadowstep there.”
Kieran tensed.
“It’s just stepping through—”
“We are not having this conversation again,” Kieran said.
I sighed and refocused on Casteel. “We don’t have much time and need to discuss this stuff with Kolis. But—”
“You’re right,” Attes interrupted. “We don’t have much time, and I’m not sure what we do have should be spent on this.”
“It’s a good thing no one asked your opinion,” Casteel replied as he smoothed a thumb over my cheek. Lowering his head, he brushed his lips over my forehead. “Let’s do it.”
The line of my mouth relaxed as Attes muttered something behind me. He understood, and the relief was instantaneous. It almost—almost—loosened the knot of dread in my stomach.