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)
“Come, Poppy.” Momma pulled on my hand—
Everything fragmented around me as I cried out, falling into darkness filled with cold, aching whispers.
CASTEEL
“She needs to wake.”
Blocking the doorway to the chamber, I forced myself to remain calm and collected before I did something some would consider most unfortunate.
Like starting a war with the draken.
Because I was this close to ripping Reaver’s fucking throat out.
The only thing stopping me was knowing it would upset Poppy, because, again, for some godsforsaken reason, she was fond of the draken. It sure as fuck couldn’t be because of his personality. Because that was about as sparkling as a piece of half-burnt coal smeared in shit.
Reaver stared at me, the vertical pupils of his eyes contracting and expanding. “And, yeah,” he continued, “I know you don’t like hearing that. Neither does that wolf of yours.”
That wolf? One side of my lips curved. It wasn’t a smile. More like a low snarl. “And yet, you stand here, saying what you know I don’t want to hear. That either makes you an idiot or a fucking idiot.”
The ridges of his scales became more prominent across his bare shoulders. Good. I was pissing him off.
“I’m going to be the mature one in this situation and ignore what you just said.”
I held his gaze. “I applaud you on your maturity.” I paused. “Reaver-butt.”
A low rumble radiated from Reaver’s chest. “And here I thought the wolf was the most annoying creature I’ve had to deal with. I was wrong.”
“Thanks for sharing.” I stepped back, gripping the door as the need to return to Poppy’s side rode me hard. “Now, if you’ll excuse me—”
“No. You’re not excused.” Reaver caught the door with his hand, his gaze flicking over my shoulder. “We need her awake.”
A wave of prickly anger swept up my spine. “Why don’t you finish that sentence? You need her awake for your own personal reasons.”
“Correct,” he said without even a hint of remorse. “And that personal reason has a name. Jadis.” Those slitted pupils thinned. “I’m not the only one who needs her freed, Casteel. Or have you forgotten that she has a father, who also happens to be the first draken ever created? One who gave his blood to help break Kolis’s hold on Poppy. One who will not hesitate to adjust your attitude.”
My skin heated as pinpricks of sharp pain erupted across my fingertips. “I haven’t forgotten.”
His upper lip curled as he glared. “Then…what? You just don’t care?”
“I have a feeling you’re not going to like my answer, so I’m going to remain silent on that.”
Wisps of smoke drifted from his flared nostrils. The draken looked like he was about to blow a gasket. Several seconds passed, and my patience waned with each one.
“She has been held in captivity for two centuries,” he said in a low voice. “You, of all people, should know what that means.”
I did.
And I really wasn’t going to take a walk down that memory lane for shits and giggles.
I was already angry enough.
“Only the gods know what has been done to her,” he said, briefly closing his eyes. “But for her to be in the state she is in now, it can’t have been good.”
Knowing the Blood Queen the way I did, he would be one hundred percent right on that assumption. In fact, Reaver likely couldn’t even imagine what had been done to the female draken, and I wasn’t that much of a dick to tell him that. Then again, I probably didn’t need to say anything.
But I wasn’t sure what Reaver expected right now. Because it was two days later, and Poppy was still unconscious.
She hadn’t woken once since we left Attes in the cell, and I carried her back to the chamber we’d been in since the new quarters weren’t ready yet. And, as Attes had warned, she had fallen into an even deeper stasis.
This time was nothing like when she first slept.
“—need Jadis to wake,” Reaver was saying. “I need to know that she is—”
“I really do not give a fuck about what you need at the moment,” I cut him off, my grip on the side of the door tightening. Wood splintered, drawing Reaver’s gaze. “All I care about is Poppy.”
“Yeah. That much is obvious,” the draken sneered. Chips of wood fell to the stone floor as my flesh began doing that humming thing again. “Did you know there were more Ascended found dead this morning? Drained of their blood?”
I knew.
Emil had updated me. Eight more. Kolis had gotten in like he had before, unseen.
“Got nothing to say?” Reaver spat. “This realm is shit out of luck with a King who can’t even bring himself to rule the kingdom he just conquered and instead has the Crown’s Advisor doing so.”
A cold, cutting laugh scraped its way up my throat as more flakes of wood drifted to the floor. “You’re going to think less of me as a King when I say I don’t—”