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)
Only a few minutes?
I took another drink, this time only a sip. “How many people are here?”
Lailah glanced back over her shoulder. “Everyone.”
“Everyone?” I squeaked. That was a hundred thousand. My grip tightened on the chalice. Well, it would be more than that, actually, if one counted the new arrivals.
Holy shit.
“Go ahead and make your way out there,” Ash said. “Just give us a couple of minutes before you make the announcement.”
Rhain nodded, glancing briefly at me. He started to turn but stopped and spoke in a low voice, “You will do fine, Sera.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Us, too?” Rhahar asked as Rhain passed him and entered the main floor.
“If you would,” Ash requested.
Rhahar turned as Kars bowed curtly. “We will see you out there,” the godling said.
I gave them an awkward wave that earned another grin from Kars.
Then, it was just Ash and me.
Ash set his chalice on a nearby pedestal. “Do you remember the last time we were here?”
“Of course.” My heart skipped, but for a far different reason this time. “It was when I realized I was in love with you.”
His lips parted. “Is that what you wanted to say when you told me you wanted this union between us?”
“Yes, but I was too afraid and thought—”
Ash kissed me.
And gods, it was a wrecking kiss that was beautiful and raw, yet somehow infinitely tender. It was another of his kisses that spoke so much love.
He was breathing heavily as he rested his forehead against mine. “When we were here last, I told you that your beauty captured my breath,” he said, cupping my cheek. “That remains true, is even more so now, but it is your strength and your courage that have truly ensnared me.”
A rush of emotion swelled, stirring the eather.
“And it’s okay to be nervous right now,” he said, his eyes searching mine. “But do not forget how strong and brave you are and what you have faced and conquered. You’ve got this. I have faith in that.” His thumbs swept over my cheeks. “In you.”
A tremor went through me as I nodded. I didn’t think he could ever know how much his words meant to me because the next breath was lighter and easier.
Ash had faith in me.
And it was time I started to have some in myself.
“I’ve got this,” I said.
Ash smiled. “Without a doubt.”
“Bow.” Rhain’s voice suddenly boomed from the City Hall. “For the One who is born of Blood and Ash, the Light and the Fire, and the Brightest Moon, the true Primal of Life, and the Queen of the Gods and Common Man.”
“That’s a really long title,” I whispered to Ash in the silence.
He grinned as he took the chalice from my hand and placed it beside his.
“Bow.” Rhain’s voice came again. “For the Asher, the One who is Blessed, the Guardian of Souls, and the Primal God of Common Men and Endings.”
“Ready?” Ash asked as the silence continued from within the City Hall.
My heart thudded. “Yes.”
Dipping his head, he kissed me once more and gently squeezed my hand, then we shadowstepped onto the dais.
The sound of a collective gasp reverberated through the crowd as the Primal mist receded from around us. I started to look past Rhain, but my gaze flew back to him. He had knelt. So had Saion and Rhahar. I briefly saw Bele, who knelt to our right, along with Lailah, and I felt Nektas drawing closer.
Everyone but Ash and I was down on one knee, their palms pressed to the floor and to their chests. Even the smallest in the crowd knelt, as did the soldiers lining the colonnade, their backs to the iron-gray banners that bore two crescent moons facing one another above the head of a wolf.
Ash had explained this morning what would come next. Briefly meeting his eyes, we turned. Two thrones made of shadowstone stood adorned with intricately carved wings on their backs, much like the soldiers’ helmets, their graceful arches meeting. The banners hanging behind them rippled in the breeze as we approached.
My throat was incredibly dry as we stepped up to the slightly raised thrones, causing me to wish I had drunk more. At least my neck didn’t feel tight as Ash gave my hand one last squeeze and then let go. We turned back to the coliseum floor then sat. I could’ve sworn the sun-warmed shadowstone pulsated with energy as I flattened my palms on the arms of the throne.
A burst of intense, silvery fire rolled across the sky above the Hall. I sucked in a sharp breath as the draken lining the columns of the colonnade lifted their heads, letting out staggering, high-pitched calls. A thick shadow fell over the crowd, blotting out the sunlight. A gust of wind swept over the floor of the Hall, stirring the strings of lights that crisscrossed the entire length of the massive circular structure and lifted the tendrils of my hair as I looked up.