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)
“Tell me.” My voice was a scorching whisper. “Tell me what you see in my eyes, Veses. It’s not life, is it? It’s death.” The essence swelled inside me as I swung my right hand down—
“Sera.” Rhain caught my arm, and my head jerked toward him. The glow of gold-and-silver eather danced over his angular cheeks. “Don’t kill her.”
Veses swung her arm, eather spitting from her fingertips. The heat of the energy stung my cheek as I caught her wrist an inch from my face. I twisted until I heard bone break.
“Bitch,” she gasped.
“And exactly why should I not kill her?” I asked Rhain.
Rhain still held on to my arm. “You know why.”
Fury dug its claws into me as I met his stare. “And you know why she deserves nothing less than death,” I hissed, my voice low.
“You’re right,” he said. “She deserves nothing but death.”
“Then don’t stop—”
You won’t do it.
My gaze flew back to Veses’. That voice… She hadn’t spoken out loud. It had been inside my head.
Not because you’re better than me or Kolis. Veses’ lips curved into a bloody smile. It’s because you’re weak. So godsdamn weak. That’s why you’re not any better. Claiming to be so is nothing more than an act.
I sucked in an unsteady breath as I was thrust back to when I was caged, and Veses had been on the outside. When she said we weren’t that different.
And she had been right.
We both reacted violently when it came to the ones we loved. It was the monstrous part of us both. And she was right about me not being a better person.
But she was wrong about why.
“I know what she’s doing. She’s in your head. Don’t listen to her.” Rhain’s grip on my arm firmed as he knelt beside me. “You don’t want war, Sera, but if you kill her, that’s exactly what you will start.”
It would absolutely start a war. What had I said to Ash? I didn’t want us to be the ones who started the war. But as the anger pumped hotly through me, I couldn’t give two shits about what I’d said. The hairs all over my body rose as a strange, shivery heat ran down my spine and arms, shocking my fingers.
Veses winced.
And I smiled, wanting to strip the flesh from her bones and then break every one. Slowly. I wanted to kill her over and over. My hold on her shattered wrist tightened as my fingers—my nails—cut into her skin, drawing blood.
Is vengeance worth the price?
I stiffened, feeling another draken’s echo or imprint. It was…earthy. Wild. In the back of my mind, I knew the sensation was unique to only one draken, but it was Rhain’s voice that intruded, mingling with my thoughts. I stared down at Veses, the rose-scented breeze tossing wisps of my hair across my face.
Was vengeance worth the price?
Yes.
Yes, it was.
“It’s more than vengeance,” I said. “It’s justice.”
“The difference between the two is a fine line.” Another voice, a deeper, gravelly one, reached me.
My gaze shot up as Nektas crossed onto the road, the ridges on his shoulders fading as loose pants manifested.
Wind whipped his hair as he knelt behind the Primal goddess’s head. “And no one walks it without stepping over that line.”
No one? Nektas was wrong. Ash would walk that fine line. He’d done so with Kyn. He always had. It was me who couldn’t.
The true Primal of Life.
The Queen.
“Ash sent me,” Nektas said, his voice gentling as Rhain released my arm. “He was worried.”
It took a moment for what he said to break through. Ash must’ve picked up on my emotions while at the Pillars. A shudder went through me.
“How sweet,” rasped Veses.
My lips peeled back, and a sound I didn’t recognize came from deep within me. Before I knew what I was doing, my head snapped down, fangs bared. I tore into Veses’ throat, and there was nothing clean or quick about the bite. I wanted to cause pain.
And I did.
Veses screamed, her back arching as thick blood poured into my mouth and down my throat. Her blood was sweet—too sweet—and tasted of roses.
Tearing through the delicate flesh of her throat, I reared back and then spat a mouthful of blood in Veses’ face.
Bele laughed.
Veses fell back against the stone, panting.
I forced myself to lift my fingers from her wrist, catching a glimpse of the deep, crescent-shaped slices in her skin that my nails had left behind. Then I made myself stand and back away from her as the strange tingling sensation faded from my skin.
I dragged the back of my hand across my mouth, wiping away the blood as Rhain and Nektas rose. “Get up and get the fuck out of here,” I bit out. “And do not ever come back looking for Nyktos. If you do, I will prove you right.”