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)
They’re jumping…
The singing.
“Watch out,” Hisa shouted.
My father’s head cranked back as Hisa launched over the railing. A body fell, their arms spread wide. They hit the glass, punching a hole straight through it. I couldn’t look away as they fell into the hall, smacking into the stone. Blood immediately stained the light-brown uniform. It was a mortal, responding to the…call of Death. To Kolis’s will. What had Poppy said? My father jumped as another crashed through the dome. It affected mortals and those of—
Another fell toward the dome.
Hisa’s scream darkened my soul as the body hit the floor with a sickening thud. It shifted, still limbs replaced by brown and white fur. That kind of fall…not even a wolven would survive that, no matter what form they were in. The scream echoed what I already knew. What I had seen in the brief moments as she fell silently. Short blond hair. Skin reflecting the scars of battles fought and won. My father staggered to where the wolven lay, and Hisa darted across the hall, falling beside my father. Her hands trembled as she reached for her.
“No, no,” she whispered. “No. Oh, my gods, no.”
My father looked up, and I would never forget the horror on his face. The disbelief.
Seeing it snapped me into motion.
“It’s Kolis! He’s calling them to their deaths!” I shouted as I spun, locking my gaze on Kieran first and then Delano.
They were still, their faces blank as the haunting song grew closer. Another body came through the dome, landing on the dais.
I saw both wolven reach for a weapon. Kieran went for the one strapped to his chest, and Delano’s eerily steady hand lowered to his hip and the bloodstone dagger.
I heard Poppy’s voice. If he’s the cause by hand or will, the Joining won’t protect either of you.
I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t think. I shot forward as I shouted for my father, knowing I could only make it to one of them. Knowing I was making a choice.
I slammed into Kieran and took him to the floor again. I shouted at him as the bodies kept falling like leaves in the northern parts of Atlantia, one after another after another—some mortal, others wolven. I grabbed his wrist and wrenched his arm back as my father raced past me. Kieran fought. The fucker was strong. He pulled against my hold, trying to lift the dagger to his chest. Driving my knee into his stomach, I twisted his arm as I saw Delano turn the bloodstone blade inward, his hands gripping the bone hilt.
“No!” I shouted, putting pressure on Kieran’s wrist as my father collided with Delano, ripping the wolven’s dagger from his grip.
There was no time to feel relief. “Sorry,” I grunted, snapping Kieran’s wrist. “It’ll heal.”
He didn’t make a sound as the dagger fell from his fingers, didn’t even flinch as he reached for the second dagger, unsheathing it with startling quickness.
“Motherfucker.” I shifted over him, grabbing that arm—
The glass dome shattered, drawing my gaze upward as Kieran yanked at my grip. Crimson-laced eather streaked through the clouds, and the presence poured into the Great Hall.
Kolis was here.
My gaze shot to my father. He was still fighting with Delano, who was trying to get to one of his swords. I looked over my shoulder to see that Hisa held her cloak.
“Hisa!” I yelled at her. “He’s here!”
“There’s no honor,” she whispered, but I heard her as I saw the cloak become a death shroud. “There’s no honor in this.”
I felt my grip slip.
My head swung back to Kieran. He had the blade at his chest, piercing his tunic.
Fuck.
I didn’t have time for this.
Not holding back, I jerked Kieran’s arm back and snapped that bone, too. As the dagger clattered off the floor, I didn’t have time to root out all his weapons or fight him like my father did with Delano. I gripped Kieran’s head and slammed it into the floor. The crack of his skull off the stone was lost in the shock of the gilded doors swinging open and slamming into the wall.
Kieran’s body went limp as a mass of midnight and crimson whirling mist entered.
The singing stopped.
The Primal mist unfurled, revealing Kolis. His face was more bone than flesh, his eyes burning like hot coals. And he was a fucking mess.
His throat had been torn open, leaving strips of flesh hanging from fresh, pink skin. A chunk of it was missing from his shoulder. His chest was ripped open, exposing fractured ribs, and his stomach hadn’t fared much better. Something had clawed at him. Blood and clumps of tissue stained the front of his white pants.
Please, gods. Tell me Poppy had done that to him.
Kolis’s head lowered, and the mist contracted as I rose.
It happened so fast, yet it felt like time slowed to a crawl as his blood-red gaze flicked to Hisa. Bone cracked as her neck twisted sharply to the side and kept cracking. She jerked as blood leaked from her nose and mouth and then didn’t make a sound as she tipped forward, her body falling across Lizeth’s.