Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Micah steps in front of me, and without a word, captures my hand and rifts us to the door of my room. His hand lands on the doorframe beside me, and the way he looks at me turns me inside out, mostly because I can’t read his expression at all, but I can feel him without even touching him.
Without him touching me.
“What we are doing right now, what we are preparing for, is bigger than either of us, Ember. What matters is you being ready. It’s all that can matter.” He catches my arms and drags me to him. “You have to believe that fire saves us. Doubt is a weakness, and it’s already old. Get rid of it.”
His words stab at me with truth I don’t want to realize. “I know.”
“You don’t know. You need to know.” He cups my face and leans his forehead against mine. “Damn it, Ember,” he whispers. “It has to be this way.” He leans back to look at me, his eyes as unreadable as minutes before. “Go to bed and think about how to make fire in the morning.” But he doesn’t release me, and I think he wants to kiss me. God, I want him to kiss me, but he doesn’t. He releases me and walks to his door, pausing only a moment before he disappears inside.
The Sacred Book of Nephilim
In the darkness, the beasts do hide.
Chapter forty-four
Ireplay that exchange with Micah over and over in my head and nearly reach out to him through our mental link what feels like a trillion times. Instead, I do all I can do but that. I drink ridiculously rich hot cocoa as comfort and scan the book Micah has indicated as a necessary read.
The text references another volume, The Sacred Book of Nephilim, that doesn’t seem to be a book at all but something living in book form. Apparently, this “book” presents itself as a source of rather simple information, but once the Aza picks it up, the magic beneath the disguise is exposed. The path to the light or the darkness is then illuminated. I’ll be presented two spells, and I must choose to read one of them. Choose right, and I will become the light. Choose wrong, and I will become the darkness.
Much later, as I lay in bed, I swear my blanket smells of ocean and land, earthy and whole, but I do not feel whole at all, not even a little bit. My mind goes to the winged man, and I will him to show up and tell me why he asked where I belong. But as I drift off to sleep, I find nothing but darkness.
The next morning, I’m feeling awkward and unsettled with Micah and decide to avoid one-on-one time. I shower and dress in fatigues before rifting to the cove, where I luxuriate in the scent of honeysuckle and watch a glorious sunrise illuminate the inky sky—streaks of orange, yellow, and then blue following. Once the clouds float in a sea of overhead blue, I sit on a rock and allow the butterflies to flutter around me, relaxing on my arm and hand. Only then do I reach out to Micah through our mental link. I’m at the cove.
He doesn’t answer, nor does he immediately appear as I expect, and in fact, Gabriella arrives first, looking as gorgeous as ever with her hair pulled back from her perfect heart-shaped face. Her green eyes are alight with greeting and shock as she watches me with the butterflies. She inches closer, and when she sits next to me, the butterflies scatter and fly away.
She pulls her knees to her chest and pokes her lip out. “They hate me.”
“You’re impossible to hate.”
“Back at ya,” she says with a lift of her lips. “Though Silas thinks you’re mad at him since Micah reamed him and all.”
“I’m mad at Micah for making Silas the enemy when he was just preparing me.”
“You kicked his ass pretty good,” she comments. “He was impressed.”
“How is he?”
“Oh, he took soto and he’s all good. He felt bad he didn’t give you any, but he said he was bleeding like a stuck pig when you parted ways.”
“That was an accident. I feel bad that I cut him and got him in trouble.”
“I heard Micah agreed to let you train with him again. I was shocked. He’s very protective of you.”
“I could end the world. I’m surprised he allows me out of his sight.”
“I’ve already told you it’s much more than that with you two. You’re linked. We know that. Elysium knows. The butterflies know.”
“I don’t want him to feel stuck with me.” I hug myself. “That’s a pretty horrible thought.”
“Oh, please. Back in the day, couples were paired together by rank and status, much like humans in the olden days. Being pushed together doesn’t make you want and need each other. That comes from within.” She squeezes my arm. “You hungry?”