Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 229266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1146(@200wpm)___ 917(@250wpm)___ 764(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 229266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1146(@200wpm)___ 917(@250wpm)___ 764(@300wpm)
“I doubt that will happen,” I muttered.
Casteel moved then, catching my hand. He pulled me down beside him, and I didn’t really fight him. The sleeping arrangements were awkward, but Casteel was my…he was my husband.
And it wasn’t like Kieran hadn’t already been in far more awkward situations with us.
Like when he’d seen me naked in the tub when we barely knew each other.
Or when he’d heard me screaming and walked in on Casteel and I, only to discover they were not shouts of fear or pain.
Or when Casteel had needed to feed.
I told myself to stop thinking about all of that as Casteel drew the blanket over us and then settled beside me. There was space between the three of us. Not much. Maybe an inch or so, and I so hoped I stayed still during the night.
And I really hoped that what Casteel had said about Kieran wasn’t true—that he kicked in the middle of the night.
I wanted to turn toward Casteel. I liked…using him as a pillow. Okay. I just liked being close to him, but he was lying on his back, actually behaving himself, and so I stayed where I was, watching the mist as it moved in slow waves above us. After a couple of minutes, I tilted my head, and it seemed to do the same, tipping to the same side.
I glanced at Casteel. I thought his eyes were closed. When I looked at Kieran, it appeared to be the same with him. Could they really be asleep already? I drew a hand out from the blanket and lifted it a few inches. The mist dropped and stretched like before, forming wispy fingers.
“What are you doing?” Casteel asked.
The mist fell apart.
“You scared it,” I grumbled.
“Scared what?” he asked.
“The mist—or magic. Whatever.”
Casteel shifted onto his side. “You can’t scare it,” he said. “It’s just magic. It’s not like it’s alive.”
“Seems alive to me,” I replied.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Kieran said tiredly.
“It interacts with you,” I told them.
“It’s your imagination.” The wolven rolled, and I felt his knee brush my leg.
“It’s not my imagination.”
“The magic can play tricks on you,” Casteel said, taking my hand and drawing it back under the blanket. “Make you think you’re seeing things you aren’t.”
I frowned.
“You should sleep,” he said. “The morning will come too soon.”
Not soon enough for me.
In the quiet, my thoughts wandered. I thought of Renfern and how I wished I’d done something more, something different to change what’d happened to him and Elijah and all the others. I wondered if Phillips and Luddie, the guard and Huntsmen who’d traveled from Masadonia with us, had known the truth about the Ascended or if they had been a casualty of a quiet war. Just like Rylan and…and Vikter. My heart ached as I watched the mist slowly move above me. I missed Tawny, and I prayed that she hadn’t gone through the Ascension. Then my mind veered to how the wolven had surrounded us. Could that have been me? Had I projected something, and they simply answered?
I looked over at Kieran again. His eyes were closed. Did he really think it was me, calling to them?
I hated moments like this, when sleep evaded me and all that existed was things better not dwelled upon. I forced my thoughts away, and something occurred to me. “Are there any gods asleep under the Blood Forest?”
“What?” Casteel murmured, his voice thick with sleep.
I realized I’d woken him, though I didn’t feel even remotely bad about that. I repeated my question.
“That is possibly the most random thing that’s ever come out of your mouth,” Kieran grumbled. “And I’ve heard you say some pretty random stuff.”
“There are no gods under the Blood Forest—as far as I know,” Casteel answered, his eyes closed. “What made you think of that?”
“The trees here remind me of the Blood Forest. Though gold instead of red.”
“Hmm,” Casteel murmured. “Makes sense.”
“Maybe to you,” Kieran grumbled.
“Do you know where Penellaphe sleeps?” I asked about the goddess I’d been named after.
Kieran sighed. “Not here, I can tell you that.”
A small smile played across Casteel’s lips. “I believed she slumbers under the Great Atheneum in Carsodonia.”
“Really?” When Casteel nodded, I decided I didn’t like the idea of the goddess of Wisdom, Loyalty, and Duty sleeping there, at the heart of the Ascended. “What about Theon?”
“The god of Accord and War and his twin Lailah rest beneath the Pillars of Atlantia,” Casteel answered.
I opened my mouth—
“Please, don’t,” Kieran interrupted.
“Don’t what?”
“Ask where every single god or goddess sleeps, because that will lead to more questions. I just know it will,” he said, and I rolled my eyes. “You should be asleep like them, Your Highness.”
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped.
“Then go to sleep,” Kieran ordered.
“I can’t just fall asleep,” I muttered. “I’m not like you two.”