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)
“The same way I Ascended you,” he answered.
Another thing Kolis hadn’t lied about.
“As for the Rite, that’s how I thought you would answer,” Ash said. “That is also why I know you will do right by Iliseeum and the mortal realm,” he said. “I will not be the only one who sees this.”
I nodded slowly, my heart thumping. Perhaps now that there was a true Primal of Life, the other Primals would be more likely to end their support of Kolis.
His gaze flickered over my face. “But you have to see it, too.”
Gods. I wanted to believe that, as well as everything else he’d said, but it was hard. And I spent far too many years feeling like a disappointment to my family. It’d become what I expected. I wanted to have the kind of faith in myself that Ash had in me. I needed to try, though. If I didn’t, I would mess up.
I would be that monster.
“Liessa,” Ash called softly.
I turned my head toward him. “I know you said I shouldn’t say this, but I’m going to anyway. Thank you.”
Ash sighed.
I fought a grin as I tucked my chin against my knees, but I could feel his gaze on me. He was worried, likely sensing that I didn’t carry the same level of faith in myself and wanted to push. It was time to change the subject. “This was an entirely too-serious conversation to have while naked. Good thing none of that matters. You know what does?” I latched onto the first non-related thing that popped into my mind.
“I have a feeling whatever you’re about to say won’t matter more than what I have to say,” he replied.
“That’s rude. And you’re also wrong.”
“Prove it.”
“Your cock.”
Ash leaned away, his mouth open, though he was clearly at a loss for how to respond.
“It’s bigger when you’re in your Primal form,” I continued.
He blinked. “Is it? I never noticed.”
“Really?” I replied dryly. “It’s noticeably bigger, Ash. There’s no need for modesty.”
He chuckled, and I started to relax the moment I heard it. “Now I’m curious as to which cock you prefer.”
“I don’t know,” I teased, unfurling my legs. “I’ll have to think about that before I make up my mind.”
“You can do that.” Ash’s hand landed on my side, then slid to my hip. His gaze followed. His grip firmed. “But I have a better idea.”
“And what is that?”
Ash shifted onto his back and lifted me so I straddled him. “I can help you make up your mind.”
I gasped, feeling him harden beneath me. And then he helped. Or at least he tried. There was no choosing between his two forms.
Both were perfect.
I stood alone, eyes closed, taking in the silence of the bathing chamber after cleaning myself in the water Ash had reheated.
As determined as I was to be responsible, I had failed gloriously. Ash and I had spent most of the day in bed once again, and the only things we’d accomplished were sleeping and sex. The sky had darkened before we finally decided to get it together.
Ash had left to find some food—thank the gods. I was starving. Not much time had passed, but he hadn’t yet returned. I figured that whoever was currently present in the House of Haides wanted to know what had happened overnight and hear from Ash himself that I was not only awake but also fully aware of who I was.
Which was Seraphena Mierel, daughter of King Lamont and Queen Calliphe. A once-unnamed Princess and the savior of a kingdom that never knew I existed. A blank canvas—part assassin and part seductress. A figure of hope and of failure. But I couldn’t be her any longer. Now, I just had to be me.
A wife.
The Queen.
And the true Primal of Life.
Kolis must be infuriated.
At the thought of the Primal of Death, red-hot anger pounded through me, mingling with the eather. Energy surged, crackling and hissing through my veins like lightning. The intensity of the power caused my breath to catch. I’d gotten used to the ebb and flow of eather, and even its intense force the handful of times I’d tapped into the essence of the Primals, but what I felt pulsing through me now was something else entirely. It was a storm of near-absolute power, hot and endless like the very sun itself. The air in the bathing chamber charged, causing my skin to hum. The rush of energy felt destructive, capable of creating true chaos if unleashed.
But I didn’t think the Primal of Life was meant to be a being of chaos and destruction, so I drew in a deep breath and held it. I willed my heart to slow because far more dangerous, stifling emotions simmered beneath the fury.
“I’m not there,” I reminded myself, gripping the edge of the vanity. “I’m not Kolis’s willing prisoner any longer. I will never be that again.”