Total pages in book: 362
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
A low growl rumbled from Nektas.
“Wait. You two know each other?” Ezra asked, her voice calm like usual. It was as if she wasn’t even surprised to see me barge into the dining hall. “I thought you only saw one another in passing.”
“Oh, we are well acquainted,” Callum drawled, winking.
The bastard actually winked.
Heat poured into my veins. The part of my brain that still operated as a mortal shut off. I shadowstepped from the top of the rounded steps to the side of the table. Lady Faber let out a little shriek of surprise and bounced against the table. Wine glasses toppled, splashing red liquid over the white cloth.
Callum started to rise, but I was faster.
Gripping the back of his chair, I ripped it out from under him and threw it across the chamber. It smashed into the wall, shattering into pieces as he hit the floor on his ass.
“Seraphena!” My mother found her voice then, clutching the ruby at her throat. “What are—?” She jerked back in her chair as my head cut toward her. The blood drained from her face. “My gods.”
Callum chuckled from the floor. “Well, not quite.”
“Shut up,” I hissed, grabbing him by the back collar of his tunic.
Hauling him to his feet, I flung the fucker in the same direction as the chair. He hit the wall with a satisfying thud and fell forward.
“My word,” Ezra murmured.
Callum caught himself before he face-planted on the floor. “Ouch.” He started to push up.
I was on him before he could take a step.
Slamming my hand into his chest, I shoved him into the wall, cracking the stone. Plumes of dust rose and shuddered to the floor as his head bounced off the stone.
“Sera,” Ezra spoke again. “Can you please tell me what is going on? Preferably starting with why you just tossed a god across the chamber.”
“He is not a god,” I snarled, smashing Callum’s head against the wall again just because I felt like it.
“Okay. Then can you tell me what is happening and, at some point, explain why your skin is…” She paused. When she spoke again, her voice sounded closer. “Actually, I don’t even know what your skin is doing, but you…you look like a god. Were you Ascended?”
“I’ll explain everything in a second, but I need you to get back.” I spared a brief glance at Nektas. “Protect them.”
“You are my priority.”
“Nektas.”
The draken sighed. “As you wish, meyaah Liessa.”
“Meyaah…Liessa?” mumbled Marisol, and then Lady Faber’s squeak told me that Nektas had moved closer to them.
I focused on Callum. “What are you doing here?” Streaks of essence swirled down my arm, and sparks crackled from my fingertips. “Do not make me ask you twice.”
Blood trickled from behind his ear. “You asked me to be quiet—well, you demanded that I do so.” He smiled, red smearing his teeth. “And kind of rudely, too.”
I pulled him away from the wall and then thrust him back, cracking more stone. “Don’t try to be clever, Callum, because you’re not.”
“Maybe not.” His head rolled on his shoulders in a way that made me think I’d done some damage to a few important muscles back there. “But I’m smarter than you.”
“The fact that you’re here tells me you’re not.” I pushed him back as he tried to gain his footing.
“I was just chatting with some old friends,” he said, his gaze darting down for half a heartbeat. “Catching up.”
“They are not your friends.”
“That’s not true,” Callum coughed out. “The former Queen and I go way back.”
“Yeah, you do.” I breathed in, attempting to quell my temper. “What were you chatting about?”
“You,” he whispered, the dull glow of eather flickering behind his pupils. “And what a lying whore her daughter is.”
“I’m really curious to see what kind of effect fire has on you,” Nektas growled. “So you’d better watch your mouth, you little fuck.”
Callum’s nostrils flared.
I smiled.
His arm snapped out, going for the dagger at my thigh.
I caught his arm. “Once again.” I twisted, breaking the bone. My smile grew as his eyes squeezed shut. “You’re clearly not clever.”
Spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor, he lifted his head. “You were much easier to deal with when you were caged.”
Fury gathered in the back of my throat, tasting of ash. I gripped his chin as the air around me charged.
“Sera,” Nektas called. “He wouldn’t have been able to shadowstep into this realm. He was brought here.”
I inhaled sharply. Nektas was right. I’d been too angry to consider that. “Who brought you here?”
Callum didn’t answer, his gaze focused on the eather singeing his flesh.
“Did he come with another?” Nektas demanded of those at the table.
“Not that we are aware of,” Ezra answered. “He’s been here for a couple of days, though.”
My brows raised. “You’ve been here that long? What the fuck, Callum?”
“There was a lot to tell them,” he rasped. “You know, like how you looked behind gilded bars.”