Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 111898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Needing to touch her, he slid a knuckle along her jaw. “Harpy children experience illness?”
“Not usually, but sometimes the different mix of species takes time to harmonize.”
“Look at you now. Perfectly harmonized.”
Neeka gifted him with a soft smile and leaned into his touch. The heat of her skin sent arcs of electricity through him.
“I once heard someone say parents know how to push our buttons because they’re the ones who sewed them on,” she said. “That might be why I prefer zippers.”
He snorted, then frowned. A snort? From him? Amid such a serious topic?
Confused—not vulnerable, never vulnerable—he focused on the meal, eating the fruit off his plate. But every bite settled with the finesse of a lead ball. He thought the same might be true for her. She no longer ate with gusto but stared down at the remaining morsels.
He shouldn’t have initiated this conversation. Something else had shifted between them. Something major. He just didn’t know what it was or what it meant.
He—sensed a presence. “We’re about to receive a visitor,” Rathbone informed her, jumping to his feet. His chair slid behind him, scraping over the floor.
Neeka stood as well, clutching daggers he hadn’t known she carried. Impressive.
Between one blink and the next, Erebus appeared in the doorway of the dining room, his spirit bound by chains once more.
“Enemy!” the oracle shouted, her adorable wings accelerating to warp speed.
“No need to attack,” the god said with a patient smile. “I’m not staying long. Just thought you’d like to know the Astra have hired the Unwanted’s mother to search for the remaining bones. She’s homing in on one now.”
Neeka went still and pale. “They did what now?”
Rathbone stiffened. “Anything else?”
“Oh, just a minor detail, nothing to concern your pretty head with,” the god added, his tone casual. “But in less than an hour, the warlords will breach your new defenses and steal Lore.”
15
Well. Talk about a mood ruiner. Neeka waited for Erebus to vanish before concentrating on Rathbone. Only seconds ago, her surprisingly nuanced king had displayed such heart-wrenching vulnerability, and yes, okay, he’d somehow cut her defenses like a hot knife through butter, reaching her ooey, gooey center. How she’d yearned to hug the boy he’d been and praise the man he’d become. Strong and determined. A warrior to his core.
Now? That warrior was not happy. Fury glittered in his irises. “You are my oracle,” he said, a muscle jumping in his jaw. “Did he speak true?”
“Unfortunately, my senses indicate he did.” Erebus lived to screw over the Astra. Allowing the nine to hijack Lore wasn’t an option for him or Neeka. “Let’s grab the goddess and hit the bricks.”
Rathbone balled his hands. “I cannot just grab her. She’s mystically bound to the throne, and the throne is mystically bound to the floor.”
“Then we’ll take the entire floor with us, buying me enough time to figure out a better solution.” Neeka would tap into every brain cell and premonition she possessed.
He hesitated before offering a clipped nod. “Come. I wish to check the barricades I have in place to understand how they’re going to do what they do so it never happens again.”
He took her hand without waiting for a response. Blink. Suddenly they stood before a starway atop a snowcapped mountain. He stepped through it, tugging her behind him. They entered a—huh. A duplicate of his kingdom? They stood in the exact same spot as before but...not.
Her gaze darted from one terror to another. From this vantage point, she could see the entire realm. A ring of eternal fire acted as a boundary fence. The first obstacle to overcome. If someone managed to survive the flames, they’d come to a circle of slithering, thorny branches and snapping vines. Many immortals had perished there, their remains dangling from limbs. And just beyond that was a bubbling mote of acid where a school of monstrous fish swam.
If anyone managed to survive all that, there was a seemingly bottomless chasm to cross, a maze with disfigured dragon-like creatures lying in wait. No, not dragons. Gargoyles. A horrifying species she’d considered extinct.
Neeka’s wings whirred as she recalled the occasion she and Taliyah had fought off an entire pack. They’d torn off two of her limbs and turned half of her organs into stone.
A cold rush of wind wrenched her from her thoughts. Locks of hair danced through the air. Hooking the strands behind her ears, she glided her gaze up Rathbone’s body to read his lips. Maybe he’d already given the answer to her question, maybe not.
Her heartbeat thumped when she noted the mátia staring at her. Others scanned their surroundings. “What is this place?”
“The spiritual heart of the Kingdom of Agonies. And me.”
His heart too? “One cannot exist without the other?”
“That’s how every immortal kingdom operate. The word itself means a king’s dominion, after all.”