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)
“I’m glad I didn’t.” Nausea rose so sharply I thought for a moment I might vomit all over Ash, but as my stomach calmed, I remembered something. “You threatened Callum once,” I said to Attes. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten this. “You said you knew how to kill a Revenant.”
A dimple appeared on Attes’s cheek as he grinned. “I do, but it’s not pretty. Kolis calls it the Fire of the Gods.”
Ash frowned. “Draken fire?”
“I’ve seen that work on a fresh Revenant,” he said, and I immediately wondered exactly how that had come about. “But ones that have been around for a while? They have to be burned beyond just a crisp, and they take longer to die that way. They need to be turned to ash. But what Kolis was talking about—the Fire of the Gods—it’s draken blood. Ingested draken blood. Burns them up from the inside.”
Nektas’s brow rose. “Makes sense. Just coming into contact with our blood kills or severely wounds most. Ingesting our blood would kill almost anything.”
But not a Primal or Ancient. Instinct told me that draken blood did something else entirely in that case. Something not good.
“I’m not sure I’m entirely comfortable asking the draken to open their veins for us,” I said.
Nektas shrugged. “As long as it doesn’t require much, it wouldn’t be a problem. Our bodies heal quickly.” The draken peered into the cell and smiled. “We can test it out with that one.”
“You can open your vein and force-feed Callum, but that won’t work with every Revenant out there,” Attes pointed out. “We would need to have it bottled, and as you well know, storing draken blood isn’t easy since it also burns through most fireproof stone. The only thing it doesn’t is—”
“Basalt,” Nektas cut in. “Another type of shadowstone.”
My stomach churned. “You mean more slag?”
“The slaggiest of slag,” Ash corrected, causing my lip to curl. “It’s where dragon fire impacts a surface and the temperature is at its highest, creating a medium to dark gray stone. The problem is, it’s been a really long time since dragon fire has touched anything. Whatever is out there would’ve been long since buried.”
Frustration started to rise, but then I stiffened. “I saw the creation of the Star diamond when I was in stasis—dragon fire killed an Ancient, leaving behind that diamond, but also—”
“Basalt,” Ash finished, a slow grin appearing. “The Undying Hills.”
I nodded. “I’ve never seen them before—well, in real life. But Delfai said the Fates erupted the mountain to get to the diamond, leaving the area and surrounding hills barren.”
“Barren and gray.” Attes squinted as he turned back to the cell. “I saw the Undying Hills a long time ago.”
“I’ve been there,” Ash said. “There was a lot of rock—rock that definitely could be basalt since the Arae erupted the mountain, likely unearthing it.”
“I’ll get on it as soon as we’re done here,” Attes offered. “Which we have to be, sooner rather than later.”
I narrowed my eyes and glanced back at Callum. “Why is that?”
“The eirini,” Ash spat. “Attes was kind enough to explain that keeping Callum could be seen as a violation since he serves Kolis.”
My nostrils flared with a surge of anger. “Well, there goes killing him.”
“Unfortunately,” Ash said. “But he needs to be free before the moon rises.”
“Which is less than an hour from now,” Rhain said.
I shook my head. “I know I’ve said this before, but I’m going to say it again. The eirini is bullshit.”
“That it is,” Rhain remarked.
“Too bad we don’t have more time. If we did, we could let Thierran at him.” Attes glanced over. “He’s still here, right?”
“Yeah, but he’s been keeping a low profile,” Ash said.
So low, I had entirely forgotten the oneirou was here.
Rhain shifted, angling his body away from the cell. “Was your family able to say why Callum was there?”
“Not really.” I sighed. “Apparently, he was there for a few days and mostly kept to himself.”
The skin between Attes’s brows creased. “That’s odd.”
“He’s odd.” I stepped forward as the fingers on Callum’s left hand twitched. My gaze flicked up to his throat. The line there was barely visible. “He’s waking up.”
An intense silver glow filled the symbols etched into the bone bars with a wave of Ash’s hand. As the light faded, a section of the bars swung open.
Ash followed as I walked into the cell, mindful of the blood and chains that secured Callum’s slim wrists and ankles. The bonds were taut, preventing him from doing much more than wiggling around. I knelt at Callum’s side. His features were still slack under the golden paint. I looked back to those in the hall. “Can someone grab me some water and a rag, please?”
“On it.” Rhain took off in a blur.
Kneeling at Callum’s head, Ash asked, “Please, tell me you’re going to smother him with the rag and then drown him?”