Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Once Callum lifts the curse, Cas tells Kieran to let Poppy heal him—for her, not for him—and then stands with them as a unit as they await what Isbeth will do. When she pulls a shadowstone dagger, he comforts Poppy. They can’t trust Isbitch, and she’s shown she’s nothing if not unpredictable, proven once again when she plunges the blade into Malec’s chest.
When Callum explains the real meaning of the harbinger and bringer of death and destruction bits of the prophecy, Cas reminds Poppy that he never thought she was death and destruction. Still, he’s shocked by what Callum reveals and incensed by what he says about the so-called “True King of the Realms.” The last straw, however, is when Callum says that he’s waiting to pick his pretty poppy and watch it bleed. Cas has heard enough and rips the asshole’s still-beating heart from his chest with his bare hand…just as Kolis makes his presence known.
The earth cracks open, the wolven run—something Cas has never seen them do—and dakkais spill out of the fissures. They battle with everything they have, but so many fall. Naill. Emil. Delano. He does what he can to avenge them, his attention split between the battle and Poppy’s transformation. It absolutely astonishes him, as does Nektas’s arrival, and he finds it hard to look away despite the dangers coming at him from all sides. He tries to shield Poppy from the horror of Isbeth’s destruction, but she watches—they all do—until Isbitch is no more.
Coaxing Poppy back to consciousness, Cas marvels at everything that happened. Somehow, none of their people are dead, and Poppy completed her Culling. When he informs her that she brought everyone back to life, Nektas corrects him and says that the true Primal of Life, the Consort, aided her, and that Nyktos captured their souls before they could enter the Vale or the Abyss.
When Nektas shares the full story of Sotoria and Kolis and Nyktos and his Consort, they’re all intrigued—if concerned. As Nektas continues, Cas pieces together that if Kolis hadn’t done what he did—killed his brother and stolen the embers—then Nyktos would have become the Primal God of Life, and Malec and Ires would have been born Primals. But they weren’t because it took a female descendant.
When Nektas says that Poppy is the Primal of Blood and Bone, the true Primal of Life and Death, and that those two essences have never existed in one, Cas reassures her that whether that’s good or bad, they already know that she is good.
Hoping things will start to look up now that they thwarted the Blood Queen’s plans and Malec still lives, Cas feels only anger and frustration when Nektas tells them that they stopped nothing and need to kill Kolis—something Nyktos and the Consort weren’t even able to do.
Later in the tunnels, Cas kills a vampry, even though they weren’t attacked. He says it was moving toward Poppy and that wasn’t okay. He’s not sure why she seems to be fading, but it greatly concerns him.
Nektas tells Cas he’s too much like the bloodline he’s descended from—Attes and Kyn’s.
The tunnels collapse, and Cas and Kieran move to protect Poppy. Nektas tells them that it wasn’t her, it was them. Meaning the gods awakening—primarily Penellaphe, who rests near.
Still worrying about Poppy, Cas’s thoughts must be pushed aside for a bit when they come upon Ires in his cat form, caged. He looks absolutely rough. They all see the bars and the wards, and Nektas says that nobody in the mortal realm should have that knowledge.
They tell Ires that Isbeth is dead, that they’ve come to rescue him, and that all will be okay. Poppy touches her father and he shifts into his god form, telling them about Jadis. Then, he passes out, going into stasis.
Poppy gets dizzy. Nektas asks if she slept, and she says a little. But that’s not what he meant. He’s inquiring about stasis after her Ascension. Before she can even really answer, she passes out, and Cas and Kieran catch her.
Nektas explains she needs the stasis to complete her transformation and says that the very earth will seek to protect her. He adds that he doesn’t know how long she’ll sleep but tells them to take her somewhere safe, watch over her, and talk to her. However, he adds that there could be unexpected side effects. She could awaken with no memories of herself, them, or anything that happened.
They take her to a guest room in the castle, and Cas tells Emil to make sure Wayfair is safe. He already planned to make sure they weren’t bothered but says the wolven are guarding the premises with Hisa and the Crown Guard.
He asks Cas what they should do with the Ascended and Cas’s first instinct is to say, “kill them all.” Instead, he orders them to be kept in their homes.