Total pages in book: 295
Estimated words: 282090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1410(@200wpm)___ 1128(@250wpm)___ 940(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 282090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1410(@200wpm)___ 1128(@250wpm)___ 940(@300wpm)
Oh. Gods. His eyes have been bloodshot for so long. When did it happen? Before the fall. It had to have been before I wielded that first time. Back in the gym that day…
And I’ve thrown the wrong dagger.
“Baide,” Tairn growls, and I glance up to see his silhouette block out the stars far above us.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Magic requires balance,” Nolon argues. “It does not give without a price!”
“Does it?” Jack inhales, and the stones around him turn from a dark, slate gray to a dusky beige. “Do you understand how much power is beneath your feet?”
One block pales, then another, and another.
“Xaden—”
“I know.” Shadows shoot forward, knocking Jack backward and driving him across the floor before lifting him from the ground, pinning him in midair with an X across his torso. “When did you turn?” Xaden asks.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jack fights the binding, but Xaden closes his fist and the shadows snap even tighter.
“I know you’re going to tell me.” Xaden walks forward. “Because I have nothing to lose by killing you. So tell me when. Earn yourself a little good will.”
“Before his challenge against me,” I answer when Jack refuses to. “He forced power into my body. I just didn’t recognize it for what it is. How? The wards—”
“Do not block all power like the dragons want you to think they do! We can still feed from the ground, still channel enough to survive. Enough to fool them. We might not be at full strength, capable of wielding greater magic under your protections, but make no mistake: we are already among you, and now we’re free.” Jack gestures at Baide, his glare alternating between Xaden and me. “I’ll never know why it’s you he wants. What the fuck makes you so special?”
“This changes everything,” Tairn urges.
“You have no idea what’s coming for you.” Jack grasps at the shadows, his feet kicking against only air, but Xaden wraps another band around his throat, and he stills. “They’re faster than you think they are. He’s coming with a horde of greens. They all are.”
“Might take them a minute to read the map.” Xaden’s tone shifts to taunting. “And you’ll be long gone before they arrive.”
“We need to keep him alive for questioning as long as possible.” I shift my weight carefully to avoid Jack’s attention.
“And what’s your solution for that?” Xaden asks.
We have to cut him off from his power. My gaze swings wide, and I see Nolon creeping up on the left. He’s kept him under control all these—
“The serum,” I tell Xaden. “He must be why they developed the signet-blocking serum.”
Motion near Mira makes me glance her way as Dain edges past her.
“They don’t need a map. Not when I showed them the way. While you were busy smuggling weapons out, we were busy smuggling them in.” Jack’s motions grow weaker, his breaths more labored, just as Liam’s had been. “This whole place will be ours in a matter of hours.” He splays his palms wide and reaches the wall, then shudders as color leaches from the stone.
My heart jolts. We’re underground.
Xaden pulls his alloy-hilted dagger and strides forward, but Dain gets there faster.
“Not yet!” Dain grabs hold of Jack’s head and closes his eyes as stone after stone loses its color.
One. Two. Three. I start to count heartbeats as the desiccation expands.
On the fourth beat, Jack wrenches his hands from the wall and grasps Dain’s forearms.
“Xaden?” It’s a request, and we both know it, but he doesn’t act.
Dain begins to tremble.
“Xaden!” I shout. “Jack’s draining him!” Power ripples up my fingertips,
ready to strike.
Only when Dain screams in pain does Xaden take the final step and slam the hilt of the dagger against Jack’s temple, knocking him unconscious.
I rush to Dain as he stumbles backward, ripping at his flight jacket, tugging it off and shoving the fabric of his uniform up his arms to reveal a matching set of gray handprints burned into his skin in the same place where Jack grabbed him.
“Are you all right?” Gods, the skin is crinkling.
“I think so.” Dain runs his hands down his arms in turn, then flexes his fingers in appraisal. “Hurts like a fucking ice burn.”
“I’m assuming you know what to do with him? Seeing as you’ve been doing it since May?” Xaden shoots Nolon a withering look.
Nolon nods, reaching Jack and pouring a vial of serum into his mouth. Xaden withdraws his shadows, allowing Jack to crumble to the floor, then leans over and cuts away Jack’s First Wing patch.
“How many riders are here?” Dain asks Nolon, who stares at Jack with a mix of disbelief and horror. Suddenly, I understand why he was always so exhausted this year. He wasn’t mending a soul in the figurative sense, but the literal. “How many riders, Nolon?” Dain snaps.
The mender lifts his tired gaze.