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)
I wheezed, shaking.
Eyes burning like pools of gold, he dipped his head. “Eythos always hated me. Do you know why? Because he loved Mycella, and Mycella loved me. It didn’t matter that I didn’t return those sentiments. That I never acted upon what she felt. He still hated me, and that was why he refused the only fucking thing I ever asked of him.” Kolis’s chest rose sharply. “If he hadn’t, it wouldn’t have changed any of this. The Ancients still had their dreams. Their visions. He still would’ve needed to die, but he could’ve saved the lives of so many others, including his precious Mycella—and all the lives his son had to take in place of him.”
I clawed at my throat, my veins bulging as my vision darkened—
The pressure released suddenly. I sagged, falling to my knees and palms. Gagging, I dragged deep gulps of air into my aching throat.
“But here we are.” Kolis knelt. “Just as promised.” He cupped my chin. Even though his handling was gentle, I flinched as he tipped my head back. “Do you know what’s about to happen, Seraphena?”
My throat was too raw to form words as I met his stare, but I knew exactly what would happen.
“I am about to drain you. I will take every drop of your blood. Even the last,” he said softly. “Then I will take the embers of life, and I will rise. I will complete my final Ascension. I will become the Primal of Life and Death. Those who do not bow to me and relinquish their Courts and kingdoms to me will die.” He leaned in, stopping when his face was mere inches from mine. “And I think you know what that means for my nephew.”
I shuddered.
“Yeah, you do.” His thumb swept over my cheek. “I will have what I want. What I deserve. Finally. Because…nothing”—he began to rise, forcing me to my feet—“absolutely nothing will be forbidden. Impossible. Not even what has been hidden from me.”
Sotoria.
He spoke of her.
“Seraphena Mierel,” Kolis murmured, bringing his mouth to my temple. “You kept the embers safe. You dared to use them. You made sure they were ready for me. Words can never do justice to the gratitude I feel. But thank you.”
Kolis struck.
There was no other warning.
He turned me so my back was to him, and then his fangs were at my throat, tearing into my flesh just above the band. A scream tore from me as pain exploded. My body went rigid, eyes wide, and the pain…good gods, it was absolute.
I clawed at the arm around my waist—at the air. Kicked at him, at nothing. The agony was too much. With each deep draw he took, a fire ripped through me, tearing my bones from my skin and leaving flames in their place. Spasms of agony seized my chest, my throat, and this—oh, gods—this was it. This was how I would die. He was going to drain me and take the embers. I would be the first to burn, and then the rest of the realms would follow.
I was dying.
I wouldn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Ash, to tell him that I loved him. There was no saving him or any of the gods or realms. I wouldn’t fulfill my destiny. I jerked, my fingers curling inward, nails digging into my palms—into the imprint—
Ash could sense my pain. Feel it. Gods, could he feel this from where he was? He would know, though, when the imprint vanished from his palm. He would know then.
Kolis’s chest swelled against my back as he drew even harder, deeper—
Heat poured into my chest as the embers began to flare faintly, weakly, but the heat kept building and building. And that presence seized me again. That awareness. That voice. The voices.
No. No. No. No.
It wasn’t just my voice screaming. It was hers. Sotoria. All the lives she’d lived. And it was ours that moved my tongue.
“You’re killing me,” I slurred, eyes heavy. “You’re killing me again, after all these years.”
Kolis’s head jerked up. “What?”
My tongue felt useless. Bulky. The ceiling flickered in and out. There was no pain. The only thing I felt now was her anger—our rage.
“What did you just say?” Kolis turned me in his arms. His face blurred. Blood smeared his lips, his fangs. He shook me, rattling my head. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“It’s me…” A laugh that didn’t sound like mine at all parted my lips. “Sotoria.”
Kolis went completely still as his eyes searched my features, looked over my hair, my body. He shook his head, his lip curling, mouth dripping with blood. “Liar,” he snarled.
“It’s…not a lie. Eythos had her soul…” My heart felt as sluggish as my words. “And he placed it with the embers, to be…born again in me. I’m her.”