Total pages in book: 401
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
A low, menacing growl reverberated from Casteel, echoed by Delano. The former’s reaction came as no surprise. But the latter? Delano had never acted like that toward any of them before.
Emil paid the warnings no heed and just spun me around.
“Put her down,” Casteel ground out. “Or lose your arms. It’s your choice.”
I felt Emil’s quiet chuckle as he slowed and put me down a few feet from where I’d been standing. Sliding his hands to my arms, he pulled back with a grin that was all sharp edges and bad choices. “My Queen, you look even more lovely than before.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Casteel muttered as Delano prowled to my side once more, eyeing the Elemental like he wanted to take a bite out of his leg.
Emil squeezed my biceps, proving he had no fear of death. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m good.”
“But you will not be in a few seconds.” Casteel moved so damn quickly. He grabbed Emil’s hand and pried the Atlantian’s fingers back until I heard a sharp snap.
“Fuck,” Emil grunted.
My eyes went wide as I swung around. “Cas.”
“What?” he countered, letting go of Emil’s wrist as the distinctive huffing sound of a wolven’s laugh followed. There wasn’t even a hint of remorse on his features. “He had it coming.”
“Oh, my gods.” I smacked him hard on the chest. When I saw that damn dimple start to appear, I stepped toward him.
Casteel caught my hand, his eyes flaring to a heated gold. “It’s inappropriate to engage in foreplay with an audience, my Queen.”
“Oh, my gods,” I hissed again, pulling my hand free as I faced Delano. “And you’re not helping.”
His ears flattened.
“At least I didn’t rip his arms off,” Casteel said as if that were some sort of defense.
Ignoring that, I glared up at Kieran. “And you!”
His head drew back. “Me? I’m just standing here.”
“Exactly. You just stood there.”
Kieran raised a brow as Emil shook out his hand as if that would help the pain. “What was I supposed to do?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Stop him?”
“Not my ship to steer,” he replied, sounding bored.
I swallowed what surely would’ve been a shriek as I turned to Emil and started to apologize. The words died on my lips.
Emil was grinning.
“Are you smiling?”
“Kind of,” he replied, his golden eyes twinkling with amusement as he straightened his two broken fingers.
I blinked slowly. “You are all so dysfunctional.”
“Well, you know you can’t spell—”
I spun on Casteel. “Do not finish that sentence.”
He inclined his head, the corners of his lips twitching. “Yes, my Queen.”
Muttering a curse, I exhaled long and slow. “What’s going on?” I asked. “You were uneasy when you entered, and I doubt it was because you suspected Casteel was going to act like a child and break your fingers.”
“A child?” repeated Casteel.
“Yes, a child who got upset because someone else was playing with their favorite toy.”
Emil opened his mouth, then pressed his lips together as if fighting a grin.
“If he,” Casteel said, facing me as he pointed at Emil, “was playing with my favorite”—his gaze dropped to below my waist, then lifted—“toy, it would’ve been his neck I broke.”
My face heated. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I sure hope not,” Casteel replied.
Crossing my arms to keep myself from doing something regretful, I decided it was far past the time to stop engaging with him. I focused on Emil. “You felt uneasy when you arrived. Did something happen?”
All humor fled from his features. “Naill informed me there appears to have been another…incident. This time in Stonehill,” Emil said, speaking of the district overlooking the Stroud Sea. “I’m not sure what happened, only that there are multiple deaths.”
My breath snagged as Casteel’s nostrils flared with a burst of anger. “Only mortals live in Stonehill,” he said. “The Ascended had better be where they are supposed to be.”
“They remain on house arrest. But even if they moved about freely, given what Naill described, they would not be capable of…this.”
“Capable of what, exactly?” I asked as Delano leaned into my legs.
“I don’t know,” Emil said breathlessly, and I felt it rise again in him. That thick, choking unease. It was like the taunting, grinning Emil had never stood in his place. “But the way Naill looked? I’ve never seen him like that.”
Concern rose. “Where is he now?”
“He returned to Stonehill. I tried to get him to stay back, but he was…” Emil shook his head and faced Casteel. “You know we’ve all seen some shit, Cas.”
Casteel must’ve picked up on what I had because he stepped forward, this time to clasp Emil’s shoulder. And, yeah, that was odd to see after he’d just broken the Elemental’s fingers. “I know,” he said, his voice low.
“But Naill…” Emil closed his eyes. “Whatever went down there? Whatever he saw?” His chest rose with a deep breath. “It’s bad.”