Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 42412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 212(@200wpm)___ 170(@250wpm)___ 141(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 212(@200wpm)___ 170(@250wpm)___ 141(@300wpm)
Dark-gray shadows tinged with crimson spilled from me, forming writhing coils. They lashed out, wrapping around limbs and necks, dragging them toward the thicker, heavier mass of Primal mist churning around me. The Craven writhed and shrieked, the sound of their screams amusing me as I whirled toward the remaining horde. The humor faded, giving way to a flicker of shock. They were doing something I’d never seen a Craven do before.
They ran.
Not toward the source of their hunger, but away from it.
Holy shit.
I laughed, the sound empty of warmth but full of smoke and shadows, and the echo of it pressed down on the Craven. They ran faster, scattering in every direction. Some ran for the trench, others headed toward the Rise, and still more darted east and west.
Tearing the Craven trapped in the mist apart, I shifted my focus to the fleeing creatures. The essence rose around me, spinning into funnels streaked with delicate tendrils of silver eather. They raced across the clearing, reaching the Craven.
The essence shredded them, tearing through flesh and splintering bone until the ground was soaked with their foul blood. Until nothing, not even broken pieces, remained.
The clearing was silent as I stood there, breathing in the scent of burnt wood and the copper tang of blood. My gaze lifted to the Rise, drifting over those who watched. They were as silent as the city behind them, and I…oh, I longed for more fragile things to break.
To drown in the ruin that I tasted on my tongue, and the wrath that coated my lips.
A GOLDEN CAGE
Kieran
The stack of parchment lay mostly untouched as I idly traced the gray veining in the broad desk’s white wood, my gaze tracking the large, silver wolven through the arched windows of the Council chambers.
It was one of the few areas on the first floor that still had intact glass.
At first, I had found it odd that this chamber had remained mostly untouched by Cas. Especially considering it was so close to the Great Hall and accessed from two corridors—one of which could be entered from the Hall itself. But I hadn’t known then that Cas—who I’d shared a crib with, grew with, and knew like the back of my own hand—was still in there. Now that I did, I no longer found it weird that he’d left this space untouched. Cas knew that I spent a decent amount of time here.
My father halted and gave a full-body shake, sending flecks of white flying from his fur.
It was snowing again.
In the dead of what was usually the hottest months of summer.
The snowfall wasn’t heavy, but a few inches covered the ground. A small smile tugged at my lips as I thought about the children I’d spotted from the Rise that morning, laughing as they flung the white stuff at one another. They hadn’t been dressed for such weather, their worn tunics far too thin, but they didn’t seem to mind the cold as they played. It amazed me that they could still feel joy despite the weeks of burning funeral pyres.
I didn’t remember what had happened after I heard the haunting song. Felt its melancholy in my blood and the promise of peace in my bones. My finger halted along the vein in the desk. I didn’t see what’d happened to Delano. To Valyn. To Hisa. To Lizeth. Part of me was grateful for that. Another part of me hated that Cas had had to see it all alone.
Thousands had perished in a matter of seconds, and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for which mortals heard the lure of the song and gave in to it. Some households lost one. Others were completely wiped out. And those of dual life…
We lost many that day—those alone with no one to stop them.
Sven was searching the tomes, trying to learn if anything could be done to prevent something like that from occurring again. He’d even sent missives home for our own archives to be searched. His son… My chest tightened. Perry wasn’t the help he had been before.
My father sniffed where the wall enclosing the Queen’s Garden had once stood. I wasn’t sure if it had been Kolis or Cas who’d laid waste to the stone wall, but I made sure the debris had been cleared before Poppy returned.
Coldness settled in my gut, heavy and leaden. My finger curled along with the rest. Nails dug into my palms as I closed my eyes. Poppy would return.
She had to.
I couldn’t let myself think anything else.
Opening my eyes, I saw that my father had moved on. My gaze remained on the garden. The weather had killed the night-blooming roses, and fuck, I hoped Poppy had no fond memories of them.
Lifting my hand, I rubbed my sternum, trying like a fool to ease the sudden, deep ache there. It wasn’t as strong as it had been in the Great Hall after Cas passed out. I hadn’t known then that what I had been feeling was Poppy weakening. I’d chalked it up to the inexplicable dread that had seized me, and it being related to what was happening to Cas. I didn’t even realize what it was when he woke, seeming to know in his bones that something had happened to Poppy. It made sense that he’d felt it first. Felt it stronger. They were heartmates, a bond more powerful than anything the Joining could create. I likely would’ve felt it more if there had been time. Or maybe that was why I’d been so susceptible to Kolis’s influence. Why the Deminyen Primal essence hadn’t protected me. I’d been weakened without realizing it. I didn’t know if that made a difference or not.