Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Rhys must know that as well since he stays calm when the evil king takes his mother’s hand.
“You would betray me to save yourself?” Bris asks.
I hope he’s acting because he sounds so forlorn.
“You know I always take care of myself first,” she says quietly.
Oh, she does not. That woman never left a person behind if she wasn’t forced to.
Two more guards show up to take Ostara into custody.
She looks pale and fragile as they place her in chains. And then her eyes change and for the first time I truly believe she is ascended. Her goddess takes control of the body.
Searing green eyes find Sasha, and I feel a wind whip against me, the promise of a storm. The whole room smells of rain and electricity.
“I charge you, Oleg Federov,” she says in a deeper voice than before. “I look deep in her soul and I see you there. You. Oleg. Save her. You couldn’t the first time. You lost her and…” She seems to think, to hunt a mind that is not her own for some knowledge she needs. “You lost her and Natasha. Marta. Her name was Marta. She dreams of you at night but cannot quite remember. She did everything she could for you, for her husband. She gave her life for your daughter. Save her. You might have found other soulmates, but you owe her. I will keep her alive. Come for her.”
For the first time since I have known that vampire, tears fill his eyes as they cart out Ostara. He takes a single step toward them but Zoey holds out a hand, and a slight shake of her head makes Sasha stop. His jaw tightens, and I know it’s taking everything for him to be still.
But Daniel Donovan is out there, and that means we have to stay alive. It means we have hope.
I feel Rhys’s ear against my lips. “If he is the same as my uncle, he can only hold ten. We will only need to deal with six more. I will get you out of here and then we will find my dad and save them.”
I nod, praying Rhys remembers his way around this palace.
“I thought she meant Daniel,” Zoey says. “When she asked about the vampire, I thought she was talking about Daniel. It’s why she thinks you have soul mates. She doesn’t understand how long you have been waiting.”
“Well, I didn’t expect that.” Myrddin watches Sasha warily. “Did you find her again? How very sad for you. To look all this time only to find her soul again right before I devour it.”
A low growl comes from Sasha’s throat, and it’s easy to see he’s ready to attack. It’s also easy to see that would be a mistake.
The room feels tense with anticipation of what awful thing will happen next.
So I pull the focus to me. “Do you destroy the souls or do you keep them somewhere as fuel for your magic?”
Rhys goes stiff, and the whole room turns. Out of the corner of my eye I see Ostara and Bris being taken from the room, magical bindings holding them tight.
Myrddin stares for a moment, pinning me with those pitch black eyes of his. There’s a long moment where I swear he’s trying to look into my soul. “Fuck me. I missed one. How did you get away?”
“I wasn’t home that night.” I don’t pretend to misunderstand. We’re past that, Myrddin Emrys and I. “The night you torched my home, I was at a friend’s house.”
Myrddin’s head shakes. “It was a school night. You should have been… I will kill the dark prophet. I will eat his soul and that of his children. You. He saved you. Guards, take her into custody. I will speak with her in the dungeon. Devinshea, take the rest out and kill them. We need to find the King of All Vampire and his wolves. And then I want to talk to your witches. No one told me there was a seer in the group.”
The words threaten to turn my stomach.
He did it. He torched my mom, my sister, my aunts and uncles and cousins, and is mad he didn’t get us all.
Something dark opens inside me, and I feel power roll through me for the first time. Not a medium’s power. This is ancient. This power inside me is as old as the hills. As long lived as the oceans.
It feels right. Like waking after a long slumber.
The wizard turns, and his eyes widen. “No. No, it can’t be. Kill it. Kill it now.”
He’s pointing at me.
Six guards form, all male and sidhe, with long swords or bows.
Sasha takes his shot and jumps the one closest to me.
All of Lee’s guards begin to fight, and I hear the clash of swords and whips of crossbows.