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)
As I neared the second floor, I decided to check in on Lailah really quick. Aios had awakened this afternoon and immediately wanted to go to Kithreia to inspect its current state, but it wasn’t safe for her to do so yet. Phanos’s ships had moved toward Dalos, but that was still too close, and our forces wouldn’t have arrived yet. Instead, she had left for Sirta, and despite knowing that Bele would keep her safe while she was in a vulnerable state, I hadn’t wanted her to go. Bele’s Court was also at risk if Phanos went after her.
Our armies were rapidly thinning as we attempted to protect the Courts. Which meant we would have a battle on our hands if Kolis brought Phanos’s armies to the Bonelands, along with those who’d fled to Dalos—which he most likely would. We could lose more people.
No wonder my heart kept racing.
Exhaling roughly, I walked the second-floor hall, picking up on Attes’s presence. I stopped for a moment and then forged on. Quietly, I cracked open the door.
Lailah rested on the bed, her mass of tight braids lying on a chest that rose and fell steadily. My gaze shifted to the Primal sitting at her side.
Attes sat with his feet resting on the edge of the bed, slumped a little in the armchair, sandy-brown waves tumbling over his forehead and cheeks. He looked asleep. I started to close the door.
“You’re not going to say hello?” Attes said without looking up, the tone of his voice flatter than it had been when I saw him earlier.
I stopped. “I thought you were sleeping.”
“Nah.” Attes lifted his head then. His scar stood out starkly against his paler-than-normal skin. “I’m just meditating. Never tried it before. Thought now was as good a time as ever.”
I arched a brow. “How’s that working out for you?”
“Not particularly well.” One side of his lips curved up. There was no hint of a dimple. The grin was empty. “The whiskey I tried to take from your husband’s office would’ve probably helped, but instead, I was lectured by a Primal significantly younger than me that the last thing I needed was to drink myself into a stupor.”
I probably wouldn’t have stopped Attes, but then again, I had a history of not making the greatest life choices. “Have you slept at all?”
He shifted in the chair, draping an arm over the back. “Yeah.”
I had a feeling he was lying. “Have you eaten? Fed?”
A soft laugh rumbled from him. “I’m fine, Sera.”
“No, you’re not,” I said, and his gaze finally met mine. “I don’t expect you to be. No one would.”
He stared at me for a long moment. “You sound like Nyktos.”
“If he said something like that, he was speaking the truth.” I leaned against the doorframe. “I’m sorry, Attes.”
Thick lashes lowered. “So am I.”
Neither of us said anything for several moments. We both just watched Lailah, which I doubted she would be too happy to discover if she woke up. It was Attes who ended the silence.
“It’s not like I didn’t know what he had become.” There was a roughness to his voice now, and as much as hearing that made my chest ache, it was better than the flatness. “Or that I held on to any hope that he could be saved. I accepted he couldn’t. Knew the Kyn I grew up with and loved was long gone. But you know what I saw in the seconds before I…before I ended him?”
“What?” I whispered.
“I saw the Kyn who sat beside me after my children were killed. Who was there for me when I felt like my world had been destroyed.” His head tipped back, and his gaze went to the ceiling. “That’s the Kyn I keep seeing.”
“Maybe…maybe that’s the Kyn you should remember and mourn,” I said.
“But is that right? Considering everything he’s done?”
“He was still your brother, and you still had good times with him.” I lifted a shoulder, searching for something that felt like the right thing to say. “How he turned out doesn’t erase who he once was.”
Now, it was Attes who raised a brow as he looked at me. “You really believe the shit you’re saying?”
“Well, not for me. I only knew him as the asshole he was,” I admitted, and a wry grin tugged at his lips. “But regarding you and what you know? Yeah, I believe it.”
Attes seemed to consider that, then nodded. “I guess I should be thankful for his attack. Because of him, we now have enough Ancient bones.”
Ash, Nektas, Aurelia, and apparently Attes, had raided Kyn’s palace last night with success. “We do.”
“I’m guessing your Fate hasn’t returned yet?”
“No.” I straightened, feeling the ball of anxiety growing.
“Phanos will try to talk Kolis out of it. So will Varus,” Attes said, referencing the once-entombed god I had yet to see. A muscle ticked in his jaw. “But Kolis won’t listen to them. He will agree. Sotoria is his weakness. He’ll risk anything while ignoring common sense and every red flag to get her.”