Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 112500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Her determination—her steadiness—caught him off guard. For a moment, she looked every inch a Berserker warrioress, the kind he’d once imagined at his side.
“Yes,” he heard himself say. “You’ll remain with me. Let’s find my cousin. We need an honest reckoning.”
But first, an apology. I’ve awakened, my cousin, my brother. I can see—
Agony ripped through him.
He looked down, stunned, as a golden blade burst through his heart.
Chapter 55
Lia
Arctos’s body bowed, face slack with shock. Blood bubbled from his lips as a gold sword punched clean through his chest.
Lia froze. Her mind refused to understand. Until the scent of incense struck her like a curse.
Coștin.
He yanked the blade free, holding it aloft as crimson dripped down the gleaming length.
Always him. Always fucking Coștin.
With a scream, Lia caught Arctos as he fell. “Ah, no, Arctos!” She lowered him gently, palms slick with his blood. Too much. He was still mortal. He couldn’t survive this.
Her friend. Her husband.
“Berserker life suits you, little sister,” Coștin said lightly. Sweat streaked down his temples, and his right hand was gone. “Once you’re tamed, perhaps I’ll let you drill with my army. But for now, come along. I have a crown fitting. You’ll love what I’ve done with the kingdom.”
“You monster.” Her voice broke with fury. “I’ll kill you for this.” Her promise to herself: I’ll never not fight again.
Arctos rasped her name, lungs rattling.
This time, she didn’t run from her brother. She drew her sword and lunged.
Coștin barely deflected the strike, tracing out of reach. Teleporting with ease, he reappeared across the den, sword spinning lazily in his grip. Blood spattered the stone walls as he taunted, “Little sister fell for a bear. I’ll break you of that.”
Despite the haze of blood, she detected the queen’s unique scent. Realization hit her like fire. “You’ve been working with Yrsa!”
His grin turned obscene. “Not my fault the queen loses her wits whenever I sink my fangs into her. She quivers like a lovesick whore every time.”
Choking back nausea, Lia demanded, “Whose blood marks you?”
“Before your husband’s? His cousin’s,” Coștin said with casual malice. “Torben lost his head tonight.”
“You’re lying.” But he couldn’t lie without a burn. “You’re lying!” Dagny. The baby. No.
Arctos groaned, struggling to rise, reaching for his sword—too weak.
“A beautiful cycle, isn’t it?” Coștin’s voice was oily and victorious. “I drank this one’s parents and brother to the quick. And now I’ve eradicated the last of their line. I try to be thorough when pulling roots.”
“You led that hunting party,” she whispered. “Yrsa spared you.” My brother killed their family, and she covered it up.
Despair clawed at Lia, but she forced it down. I can try to atone. I can end this! She screamed and charged, but he vanished again, reappearing against another wall.
She attacked again, faster. Their blades clashed—sparks flashing, metal singing. Coștin’s strength dwarfed hers, but she’d learned from the best. She used every trick Arctos had taught her.
“Not bad,” Coștin said between strikes. “These bears train well. Some of them already fight in my army.” His next strike forced her back toward the fire. “I don’t want to hurt you.” He grimaced, dragging his severed wrist across his throat. “Now that was a lie. I don’t want to hurt you—yet. You’ll come to depend on me first. You’ve no one left in the world but me. This one’s dead.” He nodded at Arctos, who lay shuddering in a spreading pool. “And before I came, I beheaded Father and fed your maid to the strigoi. In time, you’ll learn to appreciate me as Yrsa did.” Lowering his voice to a rasp, he vowed, “You’ll quiver too, little sister.”
Nadje was dead? Coștin was a plague that devoured everything he touched. Rot disguised as royalty. She could stop him. Tonight.
Arctos was somehow crawling toward her, Berserkerage shimmering in his eye like molten silver.
She focused on Coștin, scanning for an opening, and struck. He met her blow with brutal force; her sword juddered in her grip.
“Return with me as my queen. You belong with me. In our home.”
Lia gritted her fangs and held her ground. “I’ll never be your queen. Never. I want you dead. When will your depraved mind accept the truth? I’m not your godsdamned Bride!”
And then she heard it.
Not her pulse.
Not Arctos’s ragged breaths.
A faint, alien rhythm.
“No.” Lia faltered. “Not possible.” Coștin’s heartbeat had stuttered to life.
He grinned with blood-tinged teeth, as if he’d just told the punchline to a joke. “No one believed me, but I knew.” His shoulders rose as he inhaled deeply, crimson gaze locked on her. “From the first moment, you were mine.”
Mine.
Her stomach twisted. I blooded him.
Dark spittle flecked his lips as he laughed. “It was always you, soră mea. My sister.” His expression turned lecherous as his heart beat faster, his body awakening. Resurrecting.
She froze, horror flooding her veins.