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)
Only silence followed.
Then a voice.
“Hear me, Poppy.” The softly spoken command echoed through every bone. “It’s time. Wake up.”
The flash of intense golden light tinged with silver left me numb, and then…
Sensation slowly returned, bringing a prickly wave that started in my feet and moved upward, tingling and creeping up my legs. The pins-and-needles sensation turned into a blazing fire, spreading throughout my body and increasing in intensity as it reached my stomach—my empty and aching stomach. The flames surged toward my throat.
Despite the burning inside me, I was cold. I was…
What was I?
Seeds of panic sprouted as I tried to pry my lips apart to call out, but they felt as if they had been sewn together. I couldn’t open my eyes either. It was as if they had been sealed by plaster.
Thoughts fluttered through my mind like a hummingbird, most disappearing quickly before I could grasp them as some kind of material scratched my skin. I didn’t like the feeling. I wanted to tear the cloth from my body, but I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t think.
A thick fog clouded my mind, leaving room for only the pain: the sharp stabbing invading every limb. The thumping in my temples and behind my eyes. The dryness in my throat. The gnawing hunger in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t figure out what had happened to me or where I was.
Or even who I was.
My chest hummed feebly as I concentrated on my arms and legs, but all I managed to do was curl my toes against something soft. Maybe I was lying on a bed. But whose? I wasn’t sure that mattered.
Gathering what strength I had, I managed to part my lips. A shallow breath lifted my chest as I breathed in. Pine…I smelled pine, lush spice, and something else. The scent was amazing.
I…loved that smell.
It comforted me and made my skin feel too tight at the same time, my body aching with a need as all-consuming as the razor-sharp hunger. My chest felt like it rumbled as the inside of my mouth tingled. I wanted to be surrounded by that scent. To drown in it. My fangs throbbed, and I…
I needed to feed.
That was the source of the hunger and the bone-deep, cold ache in my chest. Desperation bubbled up, stroking the strands of eather coiled in my chest. The essence flared weakly as sound slowly returned. The distant call of birds. The soft whirl of a gentle breeze. The low hum of conversation. Two males spoke in hushed voices. I zeroed in on one. At first, I couldn’t make out what was being said, but…his voice was deep and melodic. Eyes like heated honey and hard, sandy-hued flesh flashed in my mind. That ache pulsed hotly, more intense now.
What they were saying became clearer. “How many?” he demanded, his voice thin with barely leashed displeasure.
“Right now? Looks to be about the same as before. Eight more,” the other answered. His voice also sounded familiar to me. “The Ascended were all in one manor in the Luxe this time. Situation identical to the incidents from earlier.”
A feeling…of bitterness and disgust churned through me, but I couldn’t pinpoint why. My stomach cramped.
“Is Kieran there?” he asked.
Kieran.
That name felt familiar. Important. I tried to grab on to why, but a fog still cloaked my thoughts.
“No. He’s actually passed out in the Council chambers,” the other said. “I can go and—”
“Don’t wake him,” he interrupted. “Let him sleep.”
I couldn’t recall exactly what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was hungry. Starving. But some feeling in the back of my mind told me that whatever I’d overheard should have concerned me. That it would.
But I was so hungry.
I heard the soft click of a door closing, and that scent increased as footsteps neared me.
The whispers of warning picked up as a strange taste gathered in the back of my throat. Thick, like heavy cream, and tangy, with a trace of hot acid—lingering anger. I dragged in another breath, this one deeper.
The footsteps halted.
“Are you…?” He went silent, having only spoken those two words, but I knew it was him. The one whose voice strangely captivated me. “Have you returned to me?”
CASTEEL
Hope.
Hope was such a fucked-up, powerful emotion. It had the power to make the most cynical among us believe in miracles. But it also had the power to unravel the realm.
And that was where I stood, teetering on the cusp of believing in miracles and the brink of unraveling the realm as seconds turned into minutes. I didn’t move as I watched Poppy’s chest rise and fall in the shallow pattern I’d begun to love and loathe. I couldn’t. I didn’t blink. I couldn’t. It didn’t feel like I was breathing, but my heart pounded.
Poppy’s chest rose as she took a deeper breath.