Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
The Sacred Book of Nephilim
When she rises up, he will fall.
Chapter forty-two
Micah walks me and Gabriella to the basement of the lighthouse and the room I call the octagon. Apparently, you can’t rift down into this zone, but you can rift out of it. We had no problem leaving the bay this morning, and I make a mental note to ask Micah about that.
Once we’ve completed our walk, standing at the base of the stairs, Micah lifts his chin at Gabriella in a silent command, and like a good little angel, she disappears around the wall, leaving me alone with Micah.
He steps closer to me, though he’s not left my side the entire trip down. “You need me, huh?” he teases, his eyes brimming with mischief and satisfaction.
“I didn’t say that. You did.”
“So, you don’t need me?”
“Okay, fine. I do. I need you. I think you are the only one who can give me the edge I need to defeat our enemies.”
“That’s why you need me?”
“For now,” I say with a smile, and when I would try to leave it at that and walk away, he catches my hand and walks me to him. Close. Really close. I can feel the heat of his body, and the intimacy between us is instant. I feel him inside and out everywhere he touches me and everywhere he does not.
“Talk to me.”
“I’m really fine.” And that’s not a lie, I think. I am. I’ve worked through whatever was going on with me.
“Come on, Ember.” His voice is a gentle song refusing to be lost in the wicked wind of my emotions. “We both know something was going on with you at lunch.”
My hand settles on his chest, over his heart, and I feel it thundering beneath my palm with my nearness. Touching him is everything. Touching him feels right. I don’t know how I stay away from him when he feels more familiar to me than I do, especially when I’m failing in this very moment.
But there is a bigger picture that’s about saving worlds, saving him.
“Ember?”
I blink out of my reverie and meet his stare. “Where’s Zeke? And don’t say on an errand. Where is he?”
To his credit, he doesn’t brush me off this time. “He’s in the kingdom on the pretense of visiting a woman. We all knew when you came of age. They know when you turned twenty-seven. They will be hunting for you. I want to know exactly what that entails.”
“They didn’t tell you as an Overseer?”
“No, which means the king has sent one of his royal guards to hunt you. He’ll want to keep the search quiet to ensure he doesn’t cause fear among our people. It’s expected. This is just me ensuring I know who I’m dealing with.”
“Are his royal guards something we should worry about?”
“Not worry, but knowledge is power. Now, talk to me. What’s going on with you?”
“It’s really nothing. I’m just struggling with all of this, but I’m working through it. I promise I am. I think training will help me do that.”
“You can talk to me.”
“You’ll just tell me to believe in myself, and I do. The problem is not fearing what I will become, and to that, I know you want to tell me to believe in myself again.”
His lips quirk slightly. “Maybe, but I’ll listen, too. I promise.”
I believe him, I do, but I also fear if I take him up on his offer, my fear might scare him when this is just part of my process—I wallow. I work. I move on stronger. “Thank you.” And I dare to reach up and touch his face.
His eyes darken, and the pull between us is insanely present, so much so that it’s as if we’re drugged every time we’re together. He captures my hand and drags it to his lips, opening my hand and pressing his mouth to the delicate skin of my palm. And then, he’s gone. He’s rifted away, and for long moments, I just stand there, lost in the moment with him that is already gone. I wonder then about more than Celine. I wonder about the hundreds of years he’s lived and the women he’s loved. I wonder if they were all as enamored with him as I am. I wonder if he left them or they left him.
“Ember?”
I turn to find Gabriella standing in the archway, and I’m curious as to how she knew Micah was gone or if she’d simply grown impatient waiting on me. “I can see the connection between you and Micah.”
“I know what the Knowledge Keeper told you. I overheard. Micah knows I overheard.”
“And it means what to you?”
“That I have to kill the serpent before I can ever move on and do right by everyone who needs me. If he lives, I think Jeremy lives, too, even if I kill his human form.”