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)
I keep running, spotting hazy red light leaking from the temple’s ceiling a short distance away. When we’re beneath the jagged hole, I notice the red, cloudless sky.
“I’ll give you a boost,” I say when Rowan meets up to me.
“No. You’re not healed yet and you’ll only bleed more.” Rowan crouches and gets into a boosting stance. “Up you get.” The tomb quakes as I place a foot on his clasped hands. “Hurry the fuck up, Caz. I’m not dying in this place.”
He pushes me up and I crawl out, wincing as the pain runs up to my ribs. I can’t think about that right now though. I turn back and reach for Rowan. He takes my hand, and I haul him out with a grunt. When he’s made it out, he lands flat on his back on the temple roof.
“No time for rest.” I jump off the roof, and it hurts my damn feet, but I don’t stop. We hike up the stairs that are now crumbling at the base and don’t stop until we’re on flat ground.
I thought only the tomb would be crumbling, but I was wrong. The whole island is. The ground splits further apart, revealing a sea of lava. The ebony mountains growl, spurting more out. Lava splatters onto the land with a menacing hiss.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Rowan yells.
“We have to get to shore,” I tell him.
We take off, both in pain but neither of us willing to die on this trap of an island. We’re almost to the shore. Only a few more steps and we’re there. If we reach the water, the lava can’t hurt us. But it tries to now. It lands around us in globs, sizzling and hissing.
A high-pitched screech sounds above, but I don’t bother looking. Fuck these creatures. Fuck this island. Fuck Selah. I need to get us out of here.
We’re so close. I can taste the salt of the sea, feel the breeze near the shoreline. A splash of lava lands in front of me, and I dodge it successfully. Rowan, however, doesn’t and the tip of his boot catches in it, causing him to stumble forward. The lava on the ground sears his knee and he roars in pain.
I stop and turn back as he kicks the burnt boot off. “You all right?” I ask, examining the burn on his kneecap. It doesn’t look good, but with some healing elixir, he’ll recover just fine.
“Yeah,” he pants raggedly.
As I help him up, he tilts his head and his eyes stretch with shock. When his mouth falls open, I realize that he’s not looking at me. He’s looking past me.
I twist around with him, and just above the shoreline is a woman. She floats in the sky completely nude with waist-length hair as fierce as the lava in the ground. Her irises are lit in bold orange flames, and there’s an undeniable smirk riding her lips.
Her head cocks as she scans me from head to toe. I get that prickling sensation again—the one I feel when The Regals are reading my thoughts, my energy—only these prickles feel like the sharpest needles in the world.
I wince and groan, waiting for the horrid feeling to end. When it does, the woman floats closer to us.
“Seed of Yuri,” she says, still wearing that dangerous smirk. “You’re so…small. I expected more.” Her voice is as smooth as silk, yet her tone is like a dozen razors.
“You’re Selah,” I say through ragged breaths.
“Indeed. And do you know what you are?”
I swallow. “What?”
Her smirk fades, and her eyes narrow. “Dead,” she says before flying toward us in a blaze of fury.
THIRTY-ONE
CAZ
Hassha and Korah weren’t lying.
Selah is a demented fucking bitch.
I wake her out of a sleep that’s lasted for millenniums, and she thanks me by trying to kill me? I don’t know why I expected anything less from yet another untrustworthy Regal.
I close my eyes, waiting for the impact as she charges toward me. Several seconds tick by, but I’m still here, still breathing.
“Caz?” Rowan hisses, tapping me on the arm.
I open my eyes and look up. Selah is still there, but she’s not alone. Korah floats right above me with her lavender palms raised in front of her.
“Touch a hair on his head, and you’re the one who’ll be dead,” Korah warns.
Selah lingers before Korah, cocking her head yet again. It’s such an unnatural movement. She tilts it so far over it seems her neck will snap.
“Wow. That is you, isn’t it, Korah?” Selah asks in more of a statement. “You look horrendous.”
Korah scoffs. “Only in your nightmares.”
Selah’s nostrils flare as she looks from her sister to me. “That pathetic worm is your chosen?”
Korah doesn’t respond, to which Selah growls loud enough for us all to hear. “You’re a fool! A pest with powers who I will very much enjoy killing!”