Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
A haze billowed over the area, disorienting and dark.
A veil that tried to cloak my perception. To push me toward the surrender Ambrose had demanded.
But I wouldn’t give in.
I forced myself to sit up, but a sob ripped from me when a shearing pain suddenly tore through my thigh. A wild throbbing that nearly dropped me back to the ground.
I reeled when I realized a broken piece of wood was sticking out of my upper leg.
Nausea rolled through my gut, and my hand was shaking out of control as I wrapped it around the blunt end of the plank.
Then I yanked.
Hard.
A scream tore out of me as I pulled it free. The wood was bloody and sharp at the tip. Hand fumbling, I dropped it to my side, gasping for air, for resilience, for the strength to get back to my feet when everything hurt so badly.
I made it to my hands and knees when my gaze traveled, and it landed on Pax, who was coughing as he climbed to standing at least a hundred feet away.
Thrown across the park as well.
Then my attention jerked away from my heart and slanted back to Ambrose.
Ambrose, who stood at the base of the gazebo, staring at me.
Death in his eyes.
Lightning flashed above him in the toil of clouds, and a clap of thunder shook the heavens and rumbled across the ground.
Footsteps suddenly pounded up beside me, and a hand darted out to my shoulder. “Oh my God, Aria, are you okay?”
It was Dani.
Dani.
I struggled to speak. “I think so.”
Dread carved Dani’s brow when she noticed the blood saturating my pant leg. I shook my head to cut off her worry. “It’s fine.”
We didn’t have time for it not to be.
“Okay, but you’ve got to get off the ground. Right now.” Dani fumbled around in front of me and stretched out her hand.
A moan rolled from my throat at the rush of pain that clawed across my thigh, but I managed to stand.
Pax rushed up and held me in those strong, unrelenting arms.
“Aria. Baby,” he wheezed at my temple.
Torment seeded in the words.
I wanted to sag into his care. Into his embrace. Into the promises I knew he wanted to make.
But this wasn’t about my well-being.
So I gripped him for one second, relishing the warmth, his scent and ferocity and everything that he was, before I peeled myself from his hold and straightened.
With my chin lifted, I slowly swiveled toward Ambrose, who still hovered by the gazebo.
Dani and Pax were on either side of me.
It was the first time I noticed that the sounds of the battle no longer resounded, and I became aware that Laven had begun to gather.
A force that had assembled from every direction of the earth.
Surrounding me as they began to amass.
Timothy stepped up to Dani’s opposite side, and Ellis and Josephine were on the other side of them.
Then all Laven who remained standing, one after another, pressed in to create a vibrating throng that faced Ambrose.
The Kruen and their hosts had been destroyed.
Relief gushed out of me with the realization that Ambrose was the last one.
The beast who stood in front of us, his face twisted in wickedness.
The sky swarmed above him, vicious swirls that churned and howled. The fissure that cut through the realms throbbed, pulsing with brutality.
And on a thunderclap, it began to crack wider, a splinter that stretched wide across the heavens.
Horror ripped through me when at least a hundred Ghorl jumped through the crack, falling through the chaos that whirled from above and landing on the ground to gather around Ambrose.
Soldiers that assembled.
Enormous and obscene. My insides shuddered as I took them in on this realm. They were as big as buildings, towering high over Ambrose where they’d come to protect him.
Massive beasts.
Bodies of char and flame.
Radiating dominance and debauchery.
They were the strongest, oldest of the Kruen. So powerful that we’d barely been able to stop the one who’d hunted me, the one who’d sought my end through my father.
The one.
Now there was a host of them, standing whole on this plane, their mouths gaping open as they raged.
Smugness filled Ambrose’s expression, every vile thought he’d ever possessed so clear on his face.
The greed.
The thirst for power.
For recognition and adulation.
To be greater than those around him.
His jealousy of Abigail was so distinct that I nearly choked on it. The hatred it’d bred, the way he’d opened himself up to the greatest of evils.
Because of it, Kreed had so easily been able to use him for his endgame.
And the goals of Kreed’s endgame were right there, the monster taking human form so he could stand and rule this world.
No longer from the bowels of darkness, though there was no question that the darkness would spread to stain everything.
“It’s time to meet your end, little Valient.” Ambrose’s voice was low, thunder that rolled across the field. “Just like the rest, though you will be the last—because with you, Valeen will die, as well as every Laven in existence. There will be nothing left of your kind.”