Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 117167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Sky’s explanation would have made sense if Yichen’s brain hadn’t gotten caught on two words: dead realm.
“He’s…he’s in the dead realm. You mean the underworld? But he can’t be dead.” Yichen stumbled, his knees trying to give out as he pressed on.
“Whoa! No! Not dead! Not the underworld!” Sky shouted, tightening his hold on Yichen’s neck. “Winter has the ability to go through this, like, limbo region. Sort of like the antechamber or vestibule for the underworld. It’s a place where a lot of ghosts get hung up before moving along to the actual underworld. Winter is just sneaking him through there. He’ll be safe with the vampire.”
“Fuck, yes,” Yichen exhaled, his legs trying to wobble beneath him. “My clan told me about this. My brain sort of shut down when you said ‘dead realm’ in relation to Rei.”
He wanted to ask more, but his throat tightened too much to get the words out. There was only one other person he’d ever heard of being able to do such a thing—his maker, Jiang Chong. Thinking of that bastard chilled the blood in his veins. When he’d been stuck in the fae realm, one thought had kept him sane. No matter how bad King Ash and Queen Belladonna were, they were nothing compared to Jiang Chong.
But it was okay.
Everything was going to be okay.
If this Winter Varik was anything like Jiang Chong, there was no way Shixiong would have continued associating with the Varik clan, nor would he have deigned to call them friends.
They traveled for another fifteen minutes, Sky talking about how he’d raised the dead and sneaked them through the forest to the meeting place. Yichen hadn’t expected to discover that corpses contained a residue of the former living person’s personality, resulting in some very salty and lazy corpses, according to Sky. While the witch on his back was interesting, Yichen was relieved to reach the break in the trees and the road where they found a human and Moon waiting beside a small powder-blue vehicle.
“There they are!” Sky shouted in Yichen’s ear, causing him to wince. The necromancer patted him on the head. “So sorry about that,” he whispered.
“Sky!” the human cried out, charging toward them with Moon a step behind. “What happened? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine! I’m fine! Just out of shape.” Yichen kneeled, allowing Sky’s feet to touch the ground. As he stepped away, Sky fell into the human’s arms. This had to be Sky’s boyfriend, Nolan, considering the way the man was alternating between kissing, chastising, and checking over Sky.
“I told you yoga wasn’t enough. You need to add cardio,” Moon said as he moseyed over to Yichen’s side.
“I do cardio!” Sky snapped at Moon while still leaning on his boyfriend.
Moon lifted one eyebrow and smirked. “Acrobatic sex with Nolan doesn’t count in this instance.” Sky flipped Moon off.
Yichen jumped in before this could continue. “Rei? What about Rei? Have you heard from Winter?”
Moon’s smirk turned into a soft smile, and he placed a hand on Yichen’s shoulder. “Rei is fine. I got a call from Xiang. Rafe and Winter got Rei loaded up in the car. Meimei has Rei’s neck all bandaged up. I’m guessing the fae heal fast, like vampires. She said the cut wasn’t deep and already closing. They’re headed to the clan home now.”
The news was the best he’d heard in what felt like forever. His knees attempted to buckle under him, but Moon was right there, grabbing his arm and slinging it across his shoulders while wrapping an arm around his waist.
“Speaking of,” Nolan interrupted, “shouldn’t we get going? I’d rather not wait for the fae to tire of fighting Sky’s skeletons.”
“Shit! Yes! Let’s go!” Sky jerked away from his boyfriend and scurried off to the car, jumping into the passenger seat while Moon and Yichen climbed into the back.
“Sky, is it a good idea to leave your dead army running on its own?” Moon inquired while Nolan started the electric vehicle.
The necromancer waved a hand at them and sighed. “It’ll be fine. They’ll run out of magical steam as we drive away. The spell needs me close by to keep powering it.”
Moon rubbed his forehead, lines digging into his face as if he were in pain. “And you’re not worried about people stumbling across a shit-ton of old corpses in the woods?”
Twisting to face them, Sky stuck his head between the seats. “Normally, yes. But first off, humans aren’t going into the woods right now because of the fae. And second, there’s so much weird magic shit happening right now, no one is going to think ‘Oh, no! A necromancer is raising a dead army with my old meemaw and peepaw!’ I’m the least of anyone’s worries.”
“Sky, babe, the map,” Nolan thankfully interrupted before Yichen had to worry about what Sky was doing with the locals’ dead ancestors.