Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 129912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“So send me back,” I counter.
Korah shakes her head and looks away. “I can’t send you back now. Not while you’re in this tomb. We’ve made it so that all power, including The Regals, is limited. It’s what keeps Selah’s power muted.”
I tip my chin. “So right now the choice is mine?”
“If you give her what she wants, you’re just as foolish as your father.”
My eyes widen briefly before a frown takes over. “I am nothing like him,” I bite back, and I want to say so much more, but another gunshot goes off.
Rowan comes running from another tunnel connected to Selah’s tomb.
He stumbles forward and lands on the ground with blood dripping from his mouth. When Korah switches her attention, I push past her to get inside. I make sure to avoid the coffin, my gun aimed at the tunnel as I near my cousin.
“What was it, Rowan? What took you?”
“There was a creature at first,” he pants. “Some monster—never seen it before. Four arms, sharp teeth, big wings. But it was killed.”
“Killed by you?”
“No. By that silver-eyed fucker,” he rasps before spitting out a glob of blood. “He took my gun.”
A spark of silver darts into the room, zipping past the coffin and aiming for Korah.
“Korah the Regal,” Vassilis snarls, appearing before her. “Always in our way.”
He attempts to stab her with a dagger, but she blocks the blow and sends him flying across the room. He slams into the wall, and it crumbles from the impact.
Vassilis springs up, and I expect him to rush for Korah again, but instead he locks eyes on the coffin. He shoves the rocky lid off with a loud grunt, and it sails across the room, shattering to pieces on the ground.
The orange light nearly blinds me as it radiates, covering every corner of the room.
I step back as Vassilis lets off a dark chuckle.
“Mother!” he cries. “Our creator! I’m here! You will be saved!” Vassilis’ eyes flicker my way.
It’s now that I see how hollow his cheeks are and the dark rings around his eyes, as if being in this temple is draining him slowly.
Perhaps that’s why The Council refused to come here themselves at first. They’ll likely wither and die. The Regals must have made it this way.
Knowing that didn’t seem to stop Vassilis though. It’s clear he wants to see this through, even if he dies in the process.
He springs forward.
“No!” Korah shouts, flying across the room.
But she’s too late.
Vassilis already has me in his grasp. Pain rips through me when he stabs me in the abdomen.
He slams me down on top of the body inside the coffin. Blood drips onto the ivory cloth covering it.
My blood.
THIRTY
CAZ
A grunt and the crack of bones is all it takes for the weight of Vassilis to be removed from me.
Korah screams as she pins him to a wall and penetrates him with a bold stream of light. She doesn’t relent until she’s snapped his neck.
I stumble backwards as Vassilis’s body drops to the ground in a weak heap.
“A shame,” I mutter, grunting. “I wanted to be the one to kill him.”
“He’s not dead,” Korah pants. “This state is temporary. He’ll hurt for a while but recover because he’s protected by her.” Korah jabs a finger at the coffin. “She now has your blood, Caspian!”
I blink, watching the blood spread across the ivory sheet. It continues spreading, and I’m not quite sure how because there wasn’t that much blood to begin with. Most of it is on me now, spilling through my fingers.
I dig into my pocket for one of the vials of healing elixir. It slips from the blood on my hands but I catch it, removing the lid and chugging it down. I wince, watching as the blood spreads throughout each thread and soaks the sheet.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the blood disappears.
I stare with bated breath as Korah backs away, eyes wide and hands wrapped with flames.
“What should we do?” I ask, clutching my side.
“Nothing,” Korah snaps. “There’s nothing we can do now.”
Her eyes, though glowing, are full of fear. What is she so afraid of? She and Hassha both seem to fear Selah, and I don’t get it.
As powerful as they are, they should fear nothing. Yet here I stand, watching Korah with all her billowy white hair glare at the coffin with all her defenses raised.
The ground rattles beneath me, and Rowan pulls himself into a stand. “What’s that?” he asks.
I can’t answer, not only because I don’t know what it is, but because the ground is now splitting apart. Korah scopes the room, glances at me, then vanishes.
“Shit,” I mutter. “This place is going to collapse. We have to move.”
I run, clutching my side as I flee the tomb. Rowan is right behind me, panting as his boots thud on the ground. The ceiling crumbles and I don’t know where the fuck I’m going because it’s so dark but I don’t stop. I slam into a wall and reach to my left. The space is open. When I feel for an opening, I take it.