Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1185(@200wpm)___ 948(@250wpm)___ 790(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1185(@200wpm)___ 948(@250wpm)___ 790(@300wpm)
Chapter 17
My mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Yeah.” Saion laughed again. “Fucking chaos erupted. We knew what that meant, especially Kolis. You see, Kolis supposedly pulled that shit all the time back when he was the true Primal of Death. Except he did it when someone pissed him off. But, either way, Nyktos had our souls. None of the other Primals could touch us. We belonged to him.”
Stunned, I rocked back. I knew that Nyktos could do that, summon a soul with a touch, but somehow, I’d forgotten just how deadly and dangerous he could be. “Can Kolis still do that?”
“I don’t believe so. If he could, I imagine he’d be doing it left and right.”
Thank the gods the bastard couldn’t. “What happened after he did that?”
“Well, Phanos was ticked off. Strangely, it amused Kolis. He saw it as Nyktos one-upping Phanos or something,” he said, and I thought about what Nektas had said about how Kolis believed Nyktos was loyal to him. “Either way, there was nothing to be done. Phanos went back to his Court super pissed, and we were taken into the Shadowlands.”
“He gave you back your souls, right?”
“If he did and Phanos ever found out, he could claim us once more.”
That wasn’t a direct answer, but I was willing to bet Nyktos returned them. Those who served the Shadowlands didn’t do so because they had to or because Nyktos had something as valuable as their soul. He would’ve returned it, and Saion and Rhahar were wise enough to keep that to themselves.
“He saved your lives,” I said, glancing up at him.
“We’re not the only lives he’s saved.”
I knew that, but still… Nyktos’s actions were a lot to comprehend. Even thinking what would have happened if I’d successfully killed him made my heart stop and my chest ache. I picked up the glass of juice, finishing it off, but it did nothing to ease the knot in my throat or fortify the sudden weakness around that crack in my chest. “I…I truly believed that my duty to kill Nyktos was the only way to save my kingdom.” I cleared my throat, my voice barely above a whisper. “No one—and I mean, no one—can hate me more for that than I do.”
“You know,” Saion said, “I actually believe that.”
The tips of my ears burning, I rose from my chair, suddenly needing the quiet I had fled not so long ago. “I think I will return to my chambers now.” I glanced at the young draken, who still slept. “Should we wake Reaver?”
“He’ll be fine.”
“You sure?” It felt a little wrong to leave him while he slept.
Saion nodded as he stepped out into the hall, waiting for me. “If you wake him, he’ll likely get a bit…snappy. With his teeth, not his words.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Then I think I’ll leave him be.”
“Wise choice.”
I walked to the back set of stairs similar to those at the end of the wing where Nyktos’s office was located and pushed open the door. The faint sounds of metal clashing with metal echoed in the stairwell. Saion showed no reaction to the sound, but curiosity sank its claws into me. I went to the exterior door.
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere.”
“It definitely looks like you’re going somewhere, and it’s not your bedchamber,” Saion muttered.
I cracked open the heavy door and peered outside. I immediately spotted Nyktos in the shadow of the Rise, lifting a broadsword. I told myself it was because he was taller than the dozen or so others with him as he met another’s blow. Or that it was the warming in my chest, the faint humming of the ember that belonged to him. I convinced myself it had nothing to do with the anticipation, the eagerness that sprang to life upon seeing him.
Saion moved in behind me, looking out over my head at the guards squaring off in pairs. “They’re training.”
“I figured,” I murmured, enraptured by how Nyktos moved. There was a predatory gracefulness in how he used his large body, springing forward and back as if he were light as air.
I watched, thinking of how he’d saved Saion and Rhahar through clever trickery. What price did he pay, though, once Kolis’s amusement faded? Because even though Kolis believed Nyktos was loyal to him, he had still impaled gods on the Rise.
Nyktos brought his sword down on his opponent’s with enough force to disarm the guard. He caught the other sword, then aimed both blades at the man’s throat.
A restless yearning swirled through me as Nyktos clasped the man on the shoulder. I looked away, quickly finding Rhain and Ector paired off with unknown guards. There’d been days in Lasania when I’d had to drag myself into the east tower to train. Days I’d wanted to spend doing only what I chose to do. But training had kept me occupied and maybe even helped to keep those moods I experienced at bay.