Total pages in book: 362
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Honestly, I hoped he and Attes were genuinely speaking to each other and talking things through. They may not have been friends before, but there had been mutual respect between them.
I looked around the office. “I need to be doing something…queenly right now.”
“I hope it’s not more pacing,” Reaver muttered.
I shot the little smart-ass a look, which earned me a boyish giggle. Grinning, I refocused. There had to be something I could be doing. I was Queen, right? I was to be this great Primal power—
“Wait,” I whispered, my lips parting. “Great Primal power.”
Reaver cocked his head to the side, his eyes alert.
“The prophecy,” I told him, although I doubted he had any idea what I was talking about. I hadn’t thought about it, not even when I was with Aydun. “Kolis said there is a whole other part. Something about great powers stumbling and falling—” My eyes widened. “It was about the Primal of Life and Death.”
“No such Primal exists,” Reaver said.
“Right.” I ran my fingers down my braid. “I totally forgot about that supposedly unknown part of the prophecy. The third part—the end—that wasn’t seen by Penellaphe but dreamt by the Ancients.”
Was it true, though? Kolis could’ve been lying, but I didn’t think so. So, who did that part reference if he was speaking the truth? The one who would basically wipe out the other Primals. Because that was what Kolis had said he wanted to do—well, he’d claimed that initially.
And what had Aydun said? That a war among the Primals wouldn’t be won until there was blood and bone. What the Ancient had said and the prophecy felt related. How, though? My intuition was unsurprisingly quiet, but I knew who’d probably know. Who could likely shine some light on what Eythos had been thinking when he devised his plan and would also know what could be done about Sotoria’s soul and why Eythos had ended her second life.
“Holland,” I announced, smiling. “And being the true Primal of Life, I can summon a Fate.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Reaver asked, sounding nervous. “Summon a Fate?”
“It’ll be okay,” I promised. “Holland is…he’s like family. The kind who spends your entire life lying to you, but still, family.”
My words didn’t seem to reassure Reaver, but I wasn’t worried about Holland being a threat. He may be an Ancient, but he was still, well, Holland. And since he’d already talked openly about the prophecy with Ash and me, it had to be something the Fates didn’t consider overstepping.
The question was, how did I summon him? Just…call out to him? The skin behind my left ear tingled. It wasn’t just calling out to him. Doing so also involved using the essence. My will.
Stopping between the chair and the couch, I closed my eyes and focused on the faint thrum of eather. As an image of Holland formed in my mind, complete with the single crease between his brows, the essence pulsed intensely from my chest. “Holland,” I spoke, my stomach twisting sharply as the resonance of my voice reverberated with the intertwined strands of power. “I would—” I shook my head curtly. “I need to speak with you.” Pausing, I opened one eye. “Please.”
Letting go of the eather, I felt it calm as I opened my other eye.
“Did it work?” Reaver asked as he scooted forward so his feet touched the floor.
“I’m not sure.” I swept the tail of my braid over my chin. “I suppose we will need to wait and find out.”
So, that’s what we did.
We waited.
And waited some more.
Holland didn’t magically appear before me.
“Maybe I did it wrong.” I started to ask if I should try it again, but a sound came from the hall. A series of soft thuds.
My head swung to the closed doors, eyes narrowing. Wait, was my…?
A knock came.
“Aha!” I shouted, shoving a fist into the air. “My hearing is finally improving.”
Reaver stared at me.
Grinning, I turned back to the doors. “Come in.”
Reaver shifted forward as the doors opened, positioning himself so he stood half in front of me. It was a clear, protective move and made me want to hug him.
My two shadows, Rhahar and Kars, stood in the doorway. The latter shifted to the side. A guard with short, spiky dark hair and a complexion that reminded me of a smoky quartz appeared in the alcove of Ash’s office. I was sure I hadn’t met her before, but the name Iridessa came to mind. More information started to form, but I thought about Rhain’s request not to use the foresight on him and stopped myself.
She bowed her head. “Your Majesty.”
Rhahar raised a brow at me as I started to speak. “It’s either that or meyaah Liessa,” he informed me, and I snapped my mouth shut. “One or the other.”
“Does it really have to be one or the other?” I countered, glancing between the two. “Because I’m not like Kolis. I don’t need my ego repeatedly stroked.”