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 don’t need his gratitude,” I said before Rhain could say something that would likely irritate me further.
“Well, you have mine.” Ector opened his deep amber eyes.
“And mine,” Rhain grumbled. “Thank you.”
I snorted.
“That sounded as if it pained you.” Ector shot him a look I couldn’t even begin to decipher.
“It did. A little.” A muscle ticked along his jaw as he glanced at Ector. “What? Why are you looking at me like I’m being an ass?”
I arched a brow, for once keeping my mouth shut.
“Maybe because you’re being an ass,” Ector responded. “To the person who had your back out there. Who has had all our backs. Who also carries the embers—”
“I think he gets the point,” I interrupted. Ector’s defense surprised me, even with Nyktos’s speech. I’d had no idea where I stood with him. Then again, I hadn’t known before. Ector was an…odd one, joking one moment and somber the next. He was also far older than Nyktos, having known Eythos and Mycella fairly well, which I guessed played a role in why Nyktos had sent him to watch over me while I’d been in the mortal realm, along with the godling, Lathan.
“You’re coming at me?” Rhain demanded, taken aback. “In her defense? She plans—”
“Planned,” I interrupted. “Pretty sure we already covered this.”
“Does your change of heart erase the intentions that came before that?” Rhain challenged. “Does running off to get yourself killed somehow change it?”
“I didn’t say it did.”
“It doesn’t. No matter what you supposedly planned to do about Kolis or what embers you carry.” Rhain unfolded his arms and stepped forward. Ector sat up, alert. “You’re not the true Primal of Life. You’re a foster to the embers, and none of that makes up for plotting against Nyktos, no matter your reasons,” he said, and my face began to sting. “You have no idea what Nyktos has had to give up. What he’s been through. What he’s sacrificed for you, and then for you—”
“Rhain,” Ector warned.
I stopped pacing. “What has he sacrificed for me?”
“Other than his sense of security in his own home?” Rhain spat.
“Other than that,” I demanded.
“Nothing,” Ector said, rising. “Rhain is just being overdramatic. He’s prone to being so.”
My eyes narrowed. “Really?”
“It comes from a good place,” Ector reasoned, going to Rhain’s side. He placed a hand on the god’s shoulder. “She’s not the enemy at the end of the day. You should know that. But if you don’t, all you have to do is go back out onto the Rise and look at the lives lost.”
Rhain looked away as the annoying embers suddenly came alive, wiggling like a puppy greeting its owner. They might be happy for Nyktos’s eminent arrival. I, however, wasn’t.
The doors flew open, stopping midway as if invisible servants had caught them before they slammed into the walls. A ripple of icy-hot energy tore into the office first, tickling my skin.
“Daddy Nyktos is not happy,” Ector murmured.
No, he was not.
“At least it’s not in response to something we did.” Rhain looked pointedly in my direction with a raise of his brows.
“This time,” Ector added.
Nervous energy buzzed through me as Nyktos blew into the office with the force of a storm. Swirling, silver orbs locked on me as he crossed the room, unsheathing his swords.
“Did I not tell you to remain inside?” Nyktos stopped in front of me, slamming the swords down on the desk behind me. “To not push me on that?”
“You did.”
His chin dipped. “And yet you did exactly what I asked you not to do and went out onto the Rise, risking not only your life but also Saion’s.”
“You didn’t ask that of me. You demanded that of me.”
“Same thing.”
“It absolutely is not the same thing, and how did I risk Saion’s life? He chose to follow me—”
“He had no choice in the matter, as he was tasked with keeping you inside,” he said. Over his shoulder, I saw Rhain and Ector steadily slinking toward the doors. “He’s lucky I’m not in the habit of punishing another for someone else’s misdeeds.”
Frustration rose, joining the anxious hum. “The only one committing misdeeds at this moment is you.”
Nyktos’s brows flew up. “I cannot wait to hear your rationale on this. I’m sure it involves something along the lines of: I do what I want because I can and fuck the consequences.”
Right then, something shifted from deep within that crack. Something absolute. I didn’t reach for the veil of nothingness as a raw, volatile mix of anger and determination pounded through me. “From the moment I learned that I no longer had to answer to a duty I never had a choice in accepting, I became my own person. Someone who gets to make their own choices. I will not be ordered about and told what I can and cannot do as if I have no power or control over my life, no matter what risks I may be taking. I am done living like that.”