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)
Whatever the hell Kolis wanted with Poppy didn’t matter. Because instead of getting what he wanted from her, he would get me.
And I would destroy him.
Kolis may be the true Primal of Death, but I was a Deminyen Primal of Death, whose bloodline descended from destruction and war.
Kolis had said he would take everything from me? Well… A low, smoky laugh left me. Wherever he was would become a battlefield that I would reduce to ash, leaving the air thick with the scent of the blood of those who stood with him.
Kolis would not simply fall to me.
No. That would be too merciful. I would break him. Erase and unmake him.
And I would make sure all the gods bore witness to the only warning I would give them.
Come for what’s mine, and I will undo your very existence.
A faint cracking and popping sound drew my gaze upward and then down. The white curtains along the top of the bed’s canopy and the sides had been swaying in the breeze generated by the two overhead fans. Now, they were covered in a thin layer of frost.
Fuck.
A hollow, dropping sensation hit my gut. Fuck. That was me. My will—or, more appropriately, my manifested rage.
Watching the icy vines swirling down the bedposts, groaning softly as they thickened, a slow, dark, and heady satisfaction slid through me. One side of my lip curled while the frosted vines spread across the foot of the bed, their thin, feathery tendrils and jagged, fractured edges glistening as they spread outward, creeping over the blanket—
Poppy drew up her legs, shivering.
The breath that punched out of me formed a faint, misty cloud. Shit. I tamped down the fury, mercilessly quelling the throbbing essence inside me. The icy vines retracted, slipping into the shadows until they disappeared. The air warmed by several degrees but still remained cooler than it should be.
I rolled onto my side and wrapped my arm around Poppy’s waist, tucking her close to me and breathing in her sweet jasmine scent. I pressed a kiss to her shoulder.
She wiggled the curve of her ass, and my dick immediately hardened. I ignored it. She needed to sleep. So did I. Forcing my mind to empty, I closed my eyes. I must’ve finally dozed off because the next thing I knew, my arm fell against the bed, and my body tilted forward into the empty space in front of me.
My eyes snapped open and immediately went to the gap between the curtains. The bedchamber was cast in shadows as Poppy walked through slivers of moonlight, as naked as she’d been when we got into bed. For a moment—okay, maybe several—I got distracted as she stopped at the wall of windows, angling her body slightly to the left. My gaze drifted over the sweet swell of her breast and the tangled waves and curls of her hair to the thick curve of her ass an inch or two below the ends. It wasn’t my fault. Standing in the moonlight, she looked like the goddess she was.
And fuck, she was gorgeous.
But she was also just standing there, staring out the glass wall. A slight frown pulled at my lips. Had she heard something?
“My Queen?” I called out, rising onto an elbow.
She didn’t respond.
I sat up. “Poppy.”
Still no response.
Concern took root. I tossed off the blanket and swung myself to the edge of the bed. Stepping down from the platform, I quickly crossed to where she stood.
“Poppy?” I repeated, stepping in front of her.
She only stared out the window with unfocused eyes. Was she sleepwalking? If so, it would be a first. I followed her stare to the grayish rocks of the Elysium Peaks high above the forest of elms, the jagged edges softened in the moonlight.
I didn’t see shit.
Turning my attention back to her, I placed my hand on her shoulder.
Poppy’s eyes shot to mine, the flecks of blue and brown so small and still against the green of her irises that I almost couldn’t see them. “I can almost see myself there,” she said, her voice thin and distant.
“Where?”
Her gaze slid from mine, and she lifted a hand. “There.”
She was pointing at the Cliffs. My brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
She didn’t respond; she just continued staring at the Cliffs of Sorrow with her arm raised.
She had to still be asleep. Possibly dreaming. And only the gods knew what her mind was showing her after the night we’d had in Stonehill. She’d been quiet from the moment we left the streets that seemed to be owned by death. Tension curled through my limbs. I dipped my head and searched eyes that were now focused on mine. The skin under my hand was warm, and there wasn’t even a hint of crimson in her eyes. I let out a small breath of relief.