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 essence pulsed in his eyes. It wasn’t the only thing I saw in him, though—in the part of his lips. There was also interest. Lust.
“How vengeful?”
Less than a foot. I curled my fingers around the dagger’s hilt. It immediately warmed to my skin. “Trust me,” I said. “You don’t want to find out.”
“I don’t know about that.” His gaze slipped over me as crimson shadows appeared in his flesh. “I think it would be quite enjoyable.”
No, you won’t, I vowed silently.
Kolis’s smile returned, widening. “Attes?” he said, erasing the space between us.
I held myself still as he stared at me. I didn’t breathe in his scent. I didn’t flinch as he folded an arm around my waist. I didn’t vomit in his face as he tugged me against him. I didn’t let myself dwell on the feel of him against my stomach.
“You may want to look away,” Kolis instructed.
I focused only on the dagger as his head lowered. I was so focused that I didn’t feel his lips on mine. I was nothing but a weapon—the blade I withdrew as my lips moved against his. His groan was ragged, and I let my lips curve into a smile right before I bit down hard on his lip in the same instant I thrust my right hand out.
Kolis jerked.
Letting the eather rise, I slammed both hands into his chest and shoved him.
He flew backward, crashing into the side of the dais. He hit the floor on his ass, bracing himself with one hand as his other hovered over his chest—near the dagger I’d shoved straight into his heart.
My heart racing, I wiped the back of my hand over my mouth as Attes shot to my side, the bone dagger in hand. His attention was on Kolis as I lowered my hand. Black and crimson streaks rippled out and spread across Kolis’s chest.
“Ancient bone,” Kolis rasped, lifting his head. There was nothing in his expression. Nothing at all.
“Not just any Ancient bone,” I said. “You should recognize it. After all, it is the dagger Seraphena promised you she would hand to me. Too bad she’s not here to see this.”
“Yes.” Blood trickled from his mouth. “Too bad.”
Kolis gripped the hilt.
I tensed.
Attes stiffened.
“I would’ve loved to see her face.” He yanked the dagger free, his gaze flipping to mine. A wave of shadowy eather washed over the dagger, collapsing it.
My lips parted, and that buzz returned to my ears.
“But your expression will do.” Kolis rose, and fast—too fast for someone who should’ve been mortally wounded. “Ouch.” He ran his hand over his chest. “That stung.”
Had I missed?
No.
I hadn’t. I knew where the heart was.
“Did you really think, Penellaphe, that you knew what I wanted?” He smiled, and there was nothing practiced about it. It was wide and gruesome, blood smeared over his teeth. “I may be, as some would say, unstable. Perhaps even desperate.”
I felt Attes circle an arm around my waist and draw me back.
“Do you really think I’m so desperate, so insane, that I would still love the bitch who helped entomb me for over a thousand years?” Kolis demanded. “I had a lot of time to think things over. To get over it. I’ve moved on, so’lis.”
Oh, gods.
Casteel had been right. He’d been right about Kolis.
I felt the essence rise in Attes as the scent of burnt ozone reached us.
“Where are you going?” Kolis asked. “I still want you—well, I want what’s inside you, Poppy.”
The crackle of the realm starting to open tore through the air. A strange scent reached me, a mixture of citrus and lilac—
“And when I’m done with you?” Crimson and midnight swirled through his flesh as it thinned. “You know where I will go,” Kolis hissed.
I summoned the eather, letting it rush to the surface even as the tear in the realm opened. The scent of…citrus and fresh air grew, and I knew Attes wasn’t taking me to Carsodonia. He was taking me to Iliseeum. Because he could cross with the wards. Kolis couldn’t. The tear would seal behind us, and I knew Kolis would go where he threatened.
To Carsodonia.
To Casteel.
And to Kieran.
I dug in my heels and shoved my elbow into Attes’s stomach, tearing myself free. I locked gazes with Kolis as Attes shouted—
The realm exploded in crimson and night.
What sounded like a clap of thunder came from within me, sudden and sharp, and then…then there was nothing.
CHAPTER 56
CASTEEL
Somehow, someway, Poppy had done something.
“Is there a reason you wanted to come here?” Kieran asked.
Besides that, being in the Solar made me feel like the walls were closing in on me? No. I had no good reason for being in the Great Hall. I just didn’t want to stray too far from where Poppy said she would return.
And she would return.
She had to.
And when she did, she had a lot to answer for. After I held her.