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)
“That whole usher-in-the-end part still sounds as bad as it did the first time I heard it,” I said, even more confused. “How can you be sure that’s the end of the vision?”
“Because all that occurs after our awakening, and we haven’t gone to sleep yet,” she said. “That is when the realms are remade. Not before.”
I shifted closer to Reaver. “You saw yourself sleeping? Going into stasis?”
“I saw most of the gods going into stasis. A long one,” she told me. “I didn’t elaborate on that part when Holland and I first spoke to you and Nyktos. I didn’t think it was an important detail.”
My stomach twisted. “And when does this happen? Why would it happen?”
“It won’t happen for quite some time. When? I can’t say for sure, but I know of things that have yet to occur. Things that will.” Her right hand fluttered to her stomach. “And why? That, I also can’t say. But it didn’t feel bad. It felt natural. Like it was time.”
Now, it was I who stared at her.
She laughed lightly. “I know that going into stasis for hundreds of years can sound frightening.”
“Hundreds of years?” I mumbled.
“But I’ve heard it passes as quickly as a handful of nights.”
“Uh-huh,” was all I could say.
Ward turned his head but not quickly enough that I missed his grin.
“But what’s important is that Kolis is wrong. What he thinks is the end—that it’s him rising? He’s wrong,” she repeated, her voice steadying and becoming more confident. “He is.”
Maybe… “Or you’re both right.”
Her brows pinched. “What do you mean?”
“You believed that the great conspirator was Kolis, right? I always thought it sounded like he would reawaken.” Unnerved, I resisted the urge to rise and begin pacing. “And you said the gods go into stasis. Who’s to say that Kolis doesn’t, too? And the end you saw is when he awakens.”
As soon as I said that, I thought about Ash’s and my original plan to entomb Kolis, and the unsettled feeling grew. “The Ancient who brokered the meeting between Kolis and me—Aydun? Do you know him?”
“I’ve only seen him a few times in passing,” she said. “I do not enter Mount Lotho, where they live. Not even with Holland.”
“Well, he said something before I spoke with Kolis. That war between the Primals could only be won once there was blood and bone. And I can’t shake the feeling that it ties into the prophecy.”
A slight frown appeared. “Why did he say that?”
“I honestly don’t know, other than it seemed like he was urging me to find a way to prevent war.” I brushed a crumb from Reaver’s foreleg. “He said that, in all the threads he’d seen, war wasn’t prevented. But that me Ascending as the true Primal of Life was changing some threads.” My head tilted. “Which is strange. Why would I be that unexpected considering you,” I said to Ward, “were made a viktor because you helped create my bloodline?”
“But that was just the thread that started yours,” Penellaphe said.
“And yeah, it seemed like I wouldn’t Ascend, but…” I shook my head. “The whole fate and thread stuff makes my head hurt.”
“Same,” Ward murmured, looking at Penellaphe as she fell silent.
Her honey-hued hair swayed as she shook her head. “That part about the bearer of two crowns? He believes that is referencing you. What about the great Primal power rising? He believes that is him? But it can’t be. The phrasing—giver of blood and the bringer of bone doesn’t make sense. It would mean that he brings about—or brings into creation—the Primal of Blood and Bone. Not that he becomes that.”
“I could be repeating it wrong.” Frustration rose. “That’s completely possible.”
But if I hadn’t?
“That could be the case.” Ward leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “But it sounds like someone may know exactly what that part of the prophecy states. Someone other than Kolis.”
My gaze darted to Penellaphe, and I knew the moment she realized the same thing I did.
She smiled. “Keella.” Excitement glimmered in Penellaphe’s ocean-blue eyes. “She’s old enough that she could’ve learned about the Ancients’ dream and was clever enough to keep Kolis from realizing it.”
I nodded in agreement, more than hopeful. It had been clear to me that Keella had known something when she approached Ash and me at the coronation and spoke about my title. Could it be the vision? And could that possibly mean that she not only knows what it means but also its correct order?
“Nyktos is currently asking Attes to assist with summoning the Primals,” I shared with them. “We already plan to visit the Thyia Plains afterward to speak with Keella about the Ancients.” I forced a heavy exhale. Patience had never been a virtue of mine. I wanted to go to the Thyia Plains right now, but I needed to be smart instead of impatient. Which was also not normally a part of my nature. “I will ask her then.”