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)
Energy swelled, pressing against my skin. I’d gotten used to the ebb and flow of eather I used to only feel in the center of my chest, 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.
A low trilling sound came from Ehthawn. Eather pulsed from my palms, rippling out in dozens—no, hundreds—of fine streaks. Arcs of eather went in every direction, covering the riverbed in a network of silvery-gold radiance that beat back the encroaching night. The spiderweb of luminous brilliance throbbed rapidly. One. Two. Three. Then slapped into the dry earth with a shocking, thunderous clap.
Sucking in a startled breath, I jerked back. Ash caught me by the arms, stopping me from toppling over.
“Sera?” Concern filled his voice as he cupped my cheek. He started to turn my head to his.
The ground trembled beneath us. All around us. Dirt beaded and clumped, rolling down the sides of the riverbank.
“Shit.” Ash stood, lifting me as Odin whinnied nervously. He urged me back a step.
Crolee lifted his head, letting out a low-pitched, staggered cry as the riverbed shuddered.
My stomach dipped. “Is it possible that I created an earthquake?”
“I’m beginning to wonder that myself. We should probably move—” he cut himself off with a sharp inhale. “Fates.”
“What?” I scanned the land, not seeing what had caused him to stiffen.
“Look,” he whispered hoarsely.
“I’m looking.” Panic and frustration crashed together. “Where?”
Ash curved his fingers around my chin and guided my gaze down to the center of the channel, where he pointed with his other hand. “There.”
I didn’t see what he was talking about at first. It was just the ground vibrating hard enough to cause the pebbles to bounce. But that…
“That’s not pebbles,” I gasped.
A short laugh burst from him. “No, liessa, it is not.”
Slipping free of his grasp, I went to the edge and bent slightly to get a better look. What I thought had been pebbles dancing in the vibrations were thousands of waterdrops. I looked down the riverbed a ways, stunned to see small puddles forming.
“It’s like it’s raining from the ground.” I laughed. “Gods, that sounds silly.”
Ash was right behind me. “But that’s what it looks like.”
Clasping my hands together, I tried to fight a smile but lost as I looked back at the palace. “This is…wow.” I glanced up at Ash. “It’s going to take forever this way, but this—”
I jumped back as a geyser of water erupted from the center of the riverbed, spraying the air with dirt and cold liquid. Ash caught me with an arm around my waist as the water expanded and grew, forming wings.
He all but picked me up and dragged me back to where Odin and the draken waited as another funnel of water broke through the ground, stretching high into the sky and sprouting water wings. Then another and another—
“I feel like the eather heard your complaint,” Ash stated dryly.
“I didn’t mean to complain.” Wide-eyed, my focus remained on the riverbed. The winged geysers curved forward, crashing back into the bed. “I was just pointing out how long it would take.”
He brushed dirt from my cheeks. “But not any longer.”
“No,” I whispered. “Not any longer.”
Fresh, white-tipped water covered the ground now, flowing down the deeper grooves in the earth as it rushed toward the riverbank, lapping against the sides.
Crolee shifted closer, his head tracking the spouts. Ehthawn reared, lifting his head to the sky. The low trilling sound came once more.
“Am I seeing things, or does the water look like it—?”
The air all around us charged. The essence in me pulsed as the draken lowered themselves until they were almost on their bellies. Energy built and built, constricting—
Ash spun toward his horse and ran his fingers along the silver cuff on his upper arm. “Odin, return to me.”
The horse’s form rippled as I stepped back. Odin turned to smoke, crossing the distance between us and returning to the cuff.
Ash’s hand found mine as a jet of water erupted again, this time behind us. All of us looked at the other side of the road. Fountains of water gushed into the air like moving, winged pillars. They arced, slamming into the riverbed.
“What the…?” Ash hauled me against his chest.
Tiny silvery lights appeared in the empty air before us, then over the riverbanks, the road, and then everywhere. I sucked in a startled breath. It looked like the stars had descended to the land, and in a way, they had.
“It’s the essence,” Ash rasped, shuddering. “It’s the eather of the realms—of the air and the land.”
The lights flickered, becoming gold. Pure, Primal energy flashed from all the stars above and around us, casting the entire Court—the entire realm of Iliseeum—in bright, golden light streaked with silver.