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)
“Nah. I’m good.”
“I can feel the eather building in you—eather you should not have. Eather that doesn’t feel like anything I’ve ever felt, and I’ve lived a long time. There’s very little I haven’t felt, and that makes you dangerous.” He held my stare. “To her.”
My chin dipped as I bit out, “She has nothing to fear from me.”
“I didn’t say she did,” he replied. “And you know that.”
I did.
I worked hard not to prove him correct. “Since you know Kolis, what can we expect from him?”
“You’re not going to like the answer,” he drawled.
“Try me.”
“Beyond attempting to return to a corporeal form—a process that would take ages of deep rest unless he knows of another way?”
“I think I know how he’s doing that.” My mind flashed to the Luxe. “We’ve found several dead Ascended drained of their blood.”
“Fuck,” Attes spat. “That will do it.”
After what he said about Kolis being linked to them, I figured as much. I wasn’t at all thrilled with that confirmation, considering we had a city full of Ascended. “And beyond returning to his full form?”
His brows furrowed. “He’s been entombed for an incomprehensible length of time, much of it he would’ve spent conscious.”
Conscious while impaled in a dark hole in the ground? Fuck. I knew what that could do. “He could be crazed.”
“He was already that before he was entombed,” he said wryly. “Kolis never went to rest. Never sought to clear and reset his mind. He was unpredictable before, and he will be even more so now.” He shifted against the wall. “He must be dealt with permanently.”
“You got any tips on how to carry that out?”
Tension bracketed his mouth. “She’s in this room.” Attes’s eyes narrowed on me as anger surged. “She has the power within her.” His expression smoothed out. “But I…” He dragged his good hand over his jaw. “You should really find out what you and the wolven have become. But especially you.”
“Why?” I leaned toward him. “You think I can take him? That we can?”
He stared at me for a moment, then laughed. “He is the oldest of all the Primals. That should be impossible.”
“Should?”
“Only the Fates would know. And they…? They are even more vague and unhelpful than the common draken.” He dropped his hand. “Find out what you’ve become.”
I sighed. “I’ll add that to my to-do list.”
“I’m sure that won’t happen until she wakes.”
I said nothing to that.
“You and her?” His head tilted toward Poppy, his features softening. And I swore to the gods… “You’re mates of the heart, aren’t you?”
The question caught me off guard. “Heartmates?”
Attes nodded.
I slid an arm under her. “What gave it away?”
A rough laugh parted his lips. “A lot.” His gaze returned to mine. “The power in you mixed with that temper is a dangerous combination.”
“And you would know?”
“I’ve leveled entire cities in my anger. Inspired families to turn against one another for no other reason than I lost my temper.” His nostrils flared as he pitched forward, supporting his weight on his good hand. “And I paid dearly for it. Others paid dearly. I had to learn the hard way. Don’t make the same mistakes I made, because Kolis will do everything in his power to get you to do exactly that.”
Lifting Poppy, I cradled her to my chest as I rose. “Good thing I’m not you.”
He huffed out a dry laugh. “Yeah, I guess so.” His stare lifted to mine. “But you are mates of the heart. Your lives are not the only things linked. It means your actions will determine hers, and vice versa. If Kolis hasn’t learned that yet, he will. Don’t become the fatal flaw in her armor.”
A caustic retort snapped to the tip of my tongue, but I stopped it from passing my lips.
“She doesn’t…” Attes drew his lip between his teeth and clenched his jaw.
I held her tighter. “She doesn’t what?”
His inhale was sharp. “She doesn’t know how he fights,” he said after a moment. “But you do. It’s in your blood.”
Eyeing him, I felt myself nod but couldn’t shake the feeling that hadn’t been what he’d been about to say. It was a feeling I’d experienced multiple times.
“You need to go and take care of her.” Attes returned to his position against the wall. “I will see myself out.”
Sounded good to me.
Gathering her close, I turned to the door, then stopped before turning back to the Primal. His eyes were closed, and while sweat no longer broke out across his face, shadows had bloomed under his eyes.
I’d heard Poppy’s pain. Felt the agony. It had to be what being burned alive felt like, and she hadn’t even taken the brunt of it.
Attes had.
My chin lifted. “Thank you for what you did.”
“I’m sorry,” he breathed, his brow furrowing. “I think you were right, and my hearing has failed me in my old age.” His eyes opened to thin slits. “Because I didn’t quite hear you clearly.”