Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
When Poppy uses her eather to defeat the skeletons and then tells them they should get moving before more arrive, Emil shares his hope that they don’t. Gazing at the beautiful city of Dalos, he remarks that he believes the Vale probably looks just like it. Luckily, they heed my warning and don’t venture in. Those who do, don’t return.
As they continue toward the Temple and see the large draken statues, Emil remarks that if it comes to life, he is out of there; they will have never seen an Atlantian run faster. When Poppy touches one of the statues and the stone cracks, revealing a bright blue eye with a vertical pupil, Emil screams for everyone to run.
Back in the mortal realm, they have a dinner meeting to discuss their trip to Oak Ambler. The plan is to split into two groups, with Emil and Lyra posing as Poppy and Cas in the other group, accessing Castle Redrock’s eastern gates via land while Poppy and Cas and the others arrive by sea.
Unfortunately, the plan falls short for everyone, and Emil, Naill, Hisa, Vonetta, and Lyra are captured by the Ascended. When they all come together again, Emil tells Poppy that it’s okay to hug Tawny.
When the Queen gives her Revenant demonstration by killing Millie and having everyone watch her rise again, Emil disgustingly remarks that it’s an abomination to the gods.
He then watches in horror as Ian is murdered and witnesses Poppy’s Primal fury. Later, in the woods outside Oak Ambler, he tells her that Tawny is hurt but alive and that the bleeding has stopped. Attempting to deal with everything, he and Vonetta share a drink from a flask, and he asks what the plan is. When Poppy reveals that she’s a god and has confirmation, Emil reaches for the flask again.
Emil, Delano, Naill, and Vonetta accompany Poppy back to Oak Ambler to meet with Jalara. When they split off, Poppy tells Emil to be safe. Later, he tells Delano that he’s confident he can take out the twenty guards on the north wall. When he meets back up with the group, he openly shares his disgust and fury over what they found on the Rise. Naill drags his sword across the side of the barracks to get the guards’ attention, and Emil says, “Well, that’s one way to do it.”
Kieran asks when the mortals will stop referring to the wolven as overgrown dogs, and Emil replies that they don’t know the difference and then spits on a guard who was about to stab Netta.
The group encounters a bunch of Craven, and Emil asks why the Ascended would keep a stable of them. Poppy tells him what the mortals of Solis were led to believe and guesses that they probably let the Cursed out from time to time to terrorize the locals. Emil is shocked to hear that people would actually believe those kinds of lies.
When they eventually return from Oak Ambler, Emil escorts Vonetta to see Poppy and doesn’t miss his chance to tease her by bowing low and calling her Your Highness. When she asks if he’s going to keep doing that, his only reply is, “Probably.”
After her mission to spread the word about Poppy and the Atlantians, Vonetta relays that it went well. She tells them they told scores of people about Poppy and Casteel’s marriage and Poppy’s godhood, and Emil states how he wishes he could have been there to see their reactions. Poppy says that she doesn’t deserve any credit for the way things went because it was Casteel’s idea to reveal the Ascended’s lies, but Emil reminds her that it was her idea to put out the word that she was a god and thus deserves credit, as well.
As they talk more about what it means now that the truth is out, Vonetta goes to grab a piece of bacon, and Emil swipes it up first. She is utterly affronted—I would be, too. Bacon is the answer for everything, and that answer is always yes—but he offers to share it with her. When she asks him why he’s there at all, he tells her it’s because he missed her. She clearly doesn’t believe him, and he tells them all that he came because they received a missive from Duke and Duchess Ravarel. The only words: We agree to nothing (in response to Poppy’s hope for negotiation).
Emil walks in on a screaming woman he calls the widow, and Poppy tells him that her name is Vessa, but the crone just tried to stab her. She then asks for the woman to be put somewhere safe. Emil wonders why she isn’t being put in a cell, and Poppy tells him that she’s worried about Vessa’s advanced age and wants to make sure she doesn’t get hurt.