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)
Ash’s body seemed to vibrate as he took a deep breath. The frost retreated a few inches. “I know you tried to convince him you were Sotoria. I know…” His lids lowered, and the skin around his eyes creased. “I know you did everything you could to get him to free me.”
When he opened his eyes, they glimmered. “I know.”
But he couldn’t know everything. There was no way unless Kolis had said something…
My skin burned. I knew Kyn had told him what Kolis had offered, but Ash wasn’t talking about that. “What did he say?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“What did he say!?” I shouted, the robe slipping from my fingers. Panic blossomed in the pit of my stomach. “Yes, I pretended to be Sotoria. I told him I would consider things with him if he released you. He agreed but found every reason not to.” A jagged laugh crawled its way out of me, and then the words came out in a rush. “It didn’t matter how much I pretended I didn’t want to rip his throat out whenever I had to listen to him. He always found a reason not to let you go. You were too angry. I was too mouthy—too stubborn.” My hands opened and closed. “So, yes, I pretended to enjoy his presence and often failed at doing so because he—” I stopped. Kolis’s anger at me asking about Ash’s release after Ione confirmed that I was Sotoria resurfaced and struck like a pit viper. Just as his fangs had. I lifted my hands and then lowered them. “I told him you didn’t love me.”
Ash had gone quiet. His eyes never left me, but I didn’t really see him. I didn’t see anything. “He knew I cared for you. I…I think he knew it was more than that, even though I played it off.” The breath I took felt insufficient. “I told him you had your kardia removed. If I hadn’t told him that, he…”
“I know what he would’ve done,” Ash said, his voice sounding as pained as I felt on the inside. “He would’ve put me into stasis, and I may still be in it. But you protected me. You saved me.”
I had.
I had.
I’d saved him.
“You saved yourself,” he said.
I had.
I had.
“I saved myself before it was…” I trailed off, my mind flashing to Gemma, Aios, and all the other nameless, faceless favorites.
“Before what?” Ash questioned. “Before it was too late?”
“Yes,” I whispered hoarsely, backing up and then walking forward. “It doesn’t feel like it, though.” I turned, then stopped. “Why does it feel that way? Nothing happened.”
“Stop saying that nothing happened, Sera!”
“It’s the truth, godsdamnit!” I screamed.
And it was the truth.
Nothing had really happened to me. I was lucky.
Ash was on his feet in the blink of an eye, the faint outline of wings appearing behind him. “And I know that isn’t true!” he yelled back, causing every item in the room to tremble. Everything except me. “I saw the bruises, and I don’t give a shit how he controlled his anger the next time.” Shadows spun beneath the flesh of his cheeks. “He hurt you, Sera. He threatened you. He showed you off. And I know what Kolis said he’d do to you if you turned out not to be Sotoria.”
I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t.
“I know Kolis fed from you.” His lips peeled back in a low snarl. “And I know—” He stopped himself, his eyes closing again. “I know he is why fear seizes you when you feel my fangs—when you never allowed fear to stop you before.”
The breath I exhaled formed a misty cloud.
“He took that from you,” he seethed. “Whatever you experienced with him, Sera? It wasn’t nothing. Because I know a part of you is still there.” His voice trembled. “Still in that cage.”
The breath I took evaporated, and like flint struck against oil, panic exploded, stoking the Primal essence. It rose in response, flooding my blood.
A faint tremor rocked the chamber as my fingers began to tingle. And…gods, I could feel all these parts inside of me thinning, becoming fragile and brittle. A tremor ran through me.
Ash stiffened, and then everything about him changed. The hazy outline of his wings collapsed. The frost retreated. The temperature increased. But that…
That last part wasn’t him.
It was me.
“It’s okay.” Ash spoke, but he sounded a hundred miles away. “Everything is okay, liessa.” He stepped toward me, lifting his left arm. There was something on his skin—something bluish-red.
Blood.
Dried blood that had seeped from small, half-moon cuts in his arm. My mouth dried. My nails…
I’d done that.
I’d done that to him. I just hadn’t seen it until now.
Violent energy surged through me, seeping into the air. The glow of the wall sconces flared through the chamber, brightening until the entire space was filled with light. Bulbs exploded, one after another.