Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“I’ll see to it that he’s locked in a bloody coffin made of Trench wood too. It’s all I can do for now. Without Selah, I can’t kill him, but I can keep him contained. She’s his creation, so she has to be the one to officially end him.” Korah blinks, then her throat shifts up and down. I feel there’s more she wants to say, but she doesn’t say it. Korah and Hassha…they’re lying. Something isn’t adding up about Decius and Selah and I honestly don’t have the energy to demand the truth.
“Caz!” Willow runs my way, her body crashing into mine as she throws her arms around my neck. “Oh my God, are you okay?” She clutches my face, looking me all over. “You scared me!”
“I’m okay.” I smile, cupping the back of her head and bringing her face to my chest. She nestles her face into the center, sighing.
When I look up again, my family appears, still clinging to their weapons. Willow steps out of my arms, and the first person to run to me and replace her hold is Juniper. She throws her arms around me, holding on tight and smashing her cheek against mine. Her touch burns like hell, but I allow it and hug her back. When she pulls away, Rowan and Killian move forward, clapping me on my shoulders and smiling.
“We almost died in that forest because of you,” Killian grumbles.
“Ah, wouldn’t be the first time you almost died because of me, would it?” I smirk.
“Nah. About the thousandth, more like,” Rowan responds, and it feels good to have them here, to know they’re alive and healthy.
But nothing tops Maeve who approaches me with a tearstained face. Everyone steps out of the way as she rushes toward me and instantly wraps me in her arms. “I love you, Caspian. I love you to the ends of Vakeeli,” she whispers.
I nod, holding on to her as long as my body will allow.
Decius was wrong, you see.
I may miss my mother, but these are my people too. They’re my family, Willow too, and they mean more to me than anything in this world.
“To the ends?” Killian rumbles, gripping my and Rowan’s heads and pressing his forehead to ours.
I smile and nod. “To the ends, brother.”
Chapter 61
WILLOW
To our favor, Korah doesn’t have us go through Rukane Forest again. Using her energy, she transports us to the front of Blackwater Manor—all of us, including our wolves and Onyx. Before doing so, she kept Decius wrapped in her light and told us we’d likely never see her or him again.
Now, the first thing Caz and his family do is run to find Della’s body. Caz snatches the quilt away, as if she’ll be awake now that Decius’ reign has been annulled, but no. She’s still dead, her skin ashen, old blood caked in her gray hair.
Rowan sniffs, Killian shakes his head, and Juniper presses her knuckles to her mouth, fighting tears. Maeve presses a hand to Caz’s back as he stares down at Della.
“Before you go blaming yourself, just know that it’s not your fault, and that Della loved you,” Maeve says in a hushed tone.
Caz continues staring at the body a few seconds longer, his jaw clenching. She’s gone because of me, I hear him think. I’m no good. No fucking good. Couldn’t even keep her safe.
“Caz?” I grab his hand, and he finally pulls his gaze away from Della to slide those glistening blue eyes to mine. “What do you want to do?”
His chin inclines as he puts his focus out the window. “A proper send off,” he says after some time. “We change her clothes, wrap her in black silk, and send her off with the ocean. It’s what she would have wanted.”
“On it,” Killian says, then he taps Rowan’s shoulder. They bend down to pick up Della’s body after wrapping it in the quilt and carry her out of room.
“We’ll find some clothes for her,” Juniper murmurs, turning away with Maeve.
When they’re gone, Caz stomps out of the room too.
I follow him into his office and find him yanking a drawer open and snatching out a silver case. He cracks the case open, plucks out a bloom, then scrambles around another drawer for something else. When he doesn’t find whatever he’s looking for (I assume a lighter), he opens another drawer and shuffles around it chaotically until finally he slams it closed and yells, “FUCK!”
He launches the silver case across the room, and it crashes into a wall, thudding on the floor. Several of the blooms escape, rolling toward a floor vent. Slumping down in the desk chair, Caz drops his head, and his face falls into his palms.
“Oh, Caz,” I whisper. His chair faces the window, and I drop to one knee in front of him. His face is red behind his hands, veins visible and throbbing on his neck. The room goes absolutely still until he unleashes a gut-deep sob. The sob wracks through his body, and he removes his hands to place his head on my shoulder. My throat closes in on itself, but I fight my tears, rubbing circles on his upper back.