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 flattered.”
His gaze returned to mine, and he lifted a brow.
Sighing, I rolled my eyes. “Okay, I’m really flattered. Thank you. And you can show me how beautiful you find them later.”
The tips of his fangs appeared. “Oh, I very much plan to do so.” His head dipped, and his lips glided over my cheek. “You had an appetizer earlier, but I haven’t had dessert yet.”
Muscles low in my stomach tightened, and it took a lot for me to ignore that, but I had to. “Ash.”
“Liessa?”
“We don’t have to wait for it to rain or for the snow to fall and then melt,” I told him. “I can restore the rivers and lakes in the Shadowlands.”
That got his attention.
He was no longer checking out my breasts. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Or at least I thought so. “I can do it.” Resolve filled me, and Ash either saw it in my stare or sensed it, because the line of his shoulders became rigid. “I can do it now.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ash and I rode through the Rise gates, leaving the guards there in stunned speculation. We both wore cloaks concealing our identities, but there was no way they hadn’t recognized the massive, sable-coated warhorse. No others were as large or handsome as Odin.
And the glimpse of my bare calf as Odin’s pace picked up, causing the cloaks to flutter around our legs, was likely also a dead giveaway.
Ash and I were fully dressed—at least, mostly—yet neither of us was in what one would consider appropriate attire beneath our cloaks. He wore pants. I wore my translucent nightgown. I’d been that eager to test out the feeling telling me I could do something. I didn’t know if Ash believed me or was simply humoring me, but he hadn’t even insisted we take a few moments to think things over.
Glancing back, I could still see the guards standing at the towers by the gate as if frozen. “I think they knew it was us.”
“There’s a good chance they did.”
“Do you think they’ll alert anyone?” I asked, petting Odin’s mane as the eather hummed beneath my skin, almost as if ramping up and preparing itself. “I really hope not. In case I’m wrong.”
“They won’t.”
An echo of awareness shuttled through me as I looked up to the star-strewn sky and spotted a draken in the distance. It didn’t feel like Nektas.
“It’s Ehthawn, isn’t it?” I asked.
“It is.” There was a pause. “He is still too far out for you to see which draken it is. You sensed who it was.”
“I did. Or at least I think I did. It feels like an echo or imprint of who they are.” I squinted, seeing another draken in the distance. “Is that what you feel?”
“I guess I would describe it as an echo that is felt instead of heard,” he said.
My heart clenched as I lowered my gaze to the unlit torches lining the road. “How is Ehthawn doing?” I wanted to smack myself the moment I stopped speaking. “That’s a foolish question. He’s obviously not doing well, having lost his sister.”
“It’s not a foolish question, liessa.” Ash’s arm tightened around my waist. “He mourns, but he’s not alone. Ehthawn still has family—his cousin and those not by blood.”
I nodded, my chest heavy as the last of the torches appeared on the small hill ahead. I didn’t think Orphine had considered me a friend, but I believed we’d been on the road to becoming that. And her quick, sharp-tongued responses amused me. “I…I’m going to miss Orphine.”
“As will I.” Ash shifted behind me. Farther out, another winged creature became visible in the sky. “Crolee flies with him.”
I’d briefly seen Ehthawn and Orphine’s cousin when we were in the Bonelands. Crolee had also been on this very road when Ash first brought me into the Shadowlands. I’d thought he and the other draken were hills, but I’d known very little about the draken then.
As we crested the hill, I forced a deep, even breath and focused on the land. At night, the skeletons of the bare, twisted trees beyond the dried-up river channels on either side of the road couldn’t look creepier, even with their budding leaves. I scanned the ground as Odin slowed. My improved vision allowed me to see the wide swaths of grass among the washed-out Rot. Not a lot, but still striking to see in a land that had once only been shades of gray.
“I think here will be fine,” I decided.
Ash guided Odin off to our right onto what I thought was once the banks of the river. We came to a stop, and Ash swung himself off Odin with enviable grace. I turned to where he now stood, his hood down. Silently, he lifted his hands to my hips. Grasping his arms, my stomach was a jumble of nerves as he helped me down.