Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 213974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1070(@200wpm)___ 856(@250wpm)___ 713(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 213974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1070(@200wpm)___ 856(@250wpm)___ 713(@300wpm)
The water reached just below my breasts, and my sore muscles immediately got on board with the whole soaking idea, but I wasted no time. I bathed as quickly as possible, using one of the pitchers filled and left by the tub to cleanse my hair. Only a handful of minutes could’ve passed when I stepped out of the tub and pulled the plug at the bottom that allowed the water to flow down the drain beneath it. Grabbing one of the towels, I dried off as I stepped onto a rug, my toes curling into the soft material. I turned, looking at myself in the mirror.
Wide, green eyes stared back at me, and without the blood splattering my face, the freckles dotting my cheeks and nose stood out in stark contrast.
But something else snagged my attention. I leaned in closer, my mouth parting with a sharp inhale. “What the…?”
A faint silvery glow of eather formed an aura around my pupils.
How long had it been like that?
I hadn’t noticed it the day before. Granted, I’d been distracted by the state of my busted face.
I swallowed, drawing back. Did this mean that despite the ceeren’s sacrifice, I was even closer to my Ascension?
To death.
“Damn it,” I whispered, wrapping the towel around me. There was nothing I could do about it now.
It wasn’t like I was unbothered by the fact that I was close to dying as I left the bathing area of my quarters. Death was as common to me as it was to those Chosen.
I’d spent my entire life accepting that it would find me. That I wouldn’t have a long life, and there was no escape. It had only been that short span of time between when Ash had shared his plans to remove the embers and we’d learned what would happen that I had begun to think of a possible future.
I wasn’t thinking of that now—at least one that involved me.
Once more kneeling at the chests, I took a bit more time searching for something close to what I’d typically wear.
I searched some more.
There was nothing, but I already figured as much. I had just been doing…wishful looking.
Disgusted, I grabbed a white frock. The halter style of the gown left my shoulders and arms completely exposed, and the material was some sort of gossamer and lace fabric. But at least it was loose-fitting at the bust and below the hips.
Weary, I sat on the divan and began working the tangles out of my hair with the comb I’d retrieved from the vanity. The monotony of the act calmed me, allowing me to think more clearly about the idea of, well…everything, including Kolis delaying my Culling.
Kolis may not know the embers could not be removed without my death—something not even Ash had been aware of. After all, Primal embers had never been inside a mortal before.
However, from what I’d been told, not even gods always survived the Culling. And godlings, which I was the closest to, were even more at risk of dying during the process.
So even if Kolis could Ascend me, there was a high probability I wouldn’t survive. That was why he’d stopped. He could’ve tried right then to take the embers without killing me. He hadn’t.
Either way, there was a good chance Kolis had no idea that only Ash could Ascend me. Even more importantly, though? I didn’t think Kolis could Ascend me, even if I hadn’t taken Ash’s blood.
I thought back to the injuries I’d received when Veses freed the entombed gods in the Red Woods. I’d been pretty torn up. Ash’s blood had made it like those wounds never happened. Clearly, Kolis’s blood didn’t have the healing properties Ash’s did. He wouldn’t have had to take me to the ceeren if it did.
But what the ceeren sacrificed for me? Had it done more than just save my life? Had it also slowed the Culling? If so…
Could something like that be done again…and again? Basically, delaying my Ascension for months or even years?
Using the essence of others—their life force—to keep me alive didn’t seem all that impossible because I felt fine. Better than, actually—well, except for the ache in my face and throat. Other than that, there was no headache or weakness. I didn’t have that bone-deep exhaustion that had plagued me before.
But if I stayed alive, that meant the embers—
“No.” I shut down that line of thought before it could grow. I wouldn’t even consider the idea of sacrificing lives to save others. There had—
A strange noise startled me, causing my head to jerk up. A resounding whoosh from outside echoed into the silent chamber. The sunlight in one window suddenly disappeared.
The comb slipped from my fingers as a…a hawk flew in through one of the windows near the ceiling—an enormous silver hawk with a wingspan the width of my arms.