Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1185(@200wpm)___ 948(@250wpm)___ 790(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1185(@200wpm)___ 948(@250wpm)___ 790(@300wpm)
Shadows bled beneath Nyktos’s flesh as he stared down at me. “We don’t. We survive instead. That is how we honor the sacrifice the draken never should’ve had to make.”
But that wasn’t enough.
Not for me.
Not for her.
“That’s not enough,” I told him. “It will never be enough.”
Nyktos’s eyes closed as he cursed. Then the shadowy eather rose around us. My heart lurched as I tried to pull away, but Nyktos held me tight to his chest. Only seconds passed, and then cooler air that smelled of the sea replaced the warm air.
My eyes flew open as I jerked back. I didn’t get far. Nyktos had a hold of me, but I twisted in his embrace, realizing that we were on some sort of white stone balcony. Stunned, I saw green—the tips of lush, dark pines sweeping over rolling hills that swept up and up to snow-capped mountains. I turned, looking past an ivory-hued Rise as tall as what surrounded the House of Haides and then out to the pale blue waters of a sea.
“Where are we?” I whispered.
“In a place of bad life choices,” Nyktos muttered.
Wind suddenly roared across the balcony, whipping my hair as something large and black swept up. Wings. Large, leathery draken wings. Nyktos hauled me against his chest as a horned tail glided a hairsbreadth from where I’d stood.
“What the hell are you two doing here?” Attes demanded. “Without invitation or warning, I may add.”
Vathi.
Nyktos had brought me to Vathi.
I almost collapsed with relief as we turned to the open doors. Attes was striding toward us, patches of his tunic burned straight through to exposed, raw flesh.
“The draken,” I said in a hurry. “Where is he?”
Attes drew up short. “Kyn took him to burn—”
“Stop him! You need to stop him right now.” I lurched forward, panic blossoming. “Please. Go get him and bring him to me. Please.”
A deep frown appeared as he glanced at Nyktos. “What the hell?”
“Go!” I shouted, causing Attes to blink.
“Do it,” Nyktos ordered. “Quickly.”
Attes hesitated for just a moment, then a silvery mist whirled around him. A heartbeat later, he was gone. Slowly, I turned to Nyktos. We weren’t exactly alone. Across the courtyard, a black draken perched on the Rise, eyeing us warily.
“Thank you,” I uttered.
“Don’t thank me.” Nyktos stepped away, scrubbing a hand over his head.
“I’m sorry. I have to do this.” Heart twisting as Nyktos looked away, I rubbed my bloodless palms over the bodice of my gown, jerking them away when I felt tiny holes there. The draken’s blood had burned through my gown but hadn’t reached my skin. Memories of his pale, resigned face appeared once more, and bile choked me.
Nyktos made a rough sound as he turned, reaching for me.
“No! Don’t—” Unable to bear the contact, I stepped to the side. A gods-awful sourness settled in my chest, curdling my stomach. “I need to bring him back because he didn’t deserve that—I mean, he was basically a kid. And I don’t understand why Kolis would do that to one of Kyn’s draken. Simply because he can?”
“He did it because he knew the draken are one of the few things Kyn cares about. Kolis obviously planned to demand that price, and summoned him for that very reason,” he said, and I wondered if that was why Kyn had been so intoxicated. “Kolis knew what he was doing. He was making Kyn our enemy.”
I’d seen the hatred in Kyn’s eyes. There was no doubt in my mind that Kolis had succeeded. “But that draken did nothing wrong—”
“You’re right. He didn’t.” Tension bracketed his mouth. “But that doesn’t matter to Kolis. I doubt it ever has.”
I inhaled, but the breath barely went anywhere. “Do you think we can trust Attes?”
“It’s a little late to ask that question now,” he said. “But I fucking hope so.”
I shoved a mass of tangled curls back from my face as that oily, insidious weight slithered through my veins again.
What if we were too late? What if this didn’t work? I’d never brought back someone with a dual life.
Pressure began to build, and I turned, grasping the railing. I felt…sick in my own skin. As if I couldn’t scrape off the ugliness even if I took a wire brush to it.
“He returns,” Nyktos stated as I felt a faint tremor in my chest.
I turned back to the room, almost crying out when I saw Attes laying the slender, fair-haired draken on a table inside. I rushed in, nearly knocking over a potted snake plant in my haste.
“Kyn left to find himself some whiskey before he got started,” Attes said, his brows pinched as he drew a hand over the draken’s bloodless cheek. He looked at us. “I really don’t know what either of you think you’re going to do.”
“Yeah, well, you’re about to find out.” Nyktos stalked in behind me as I reached the draken’s side. “No one comes here.”