Total pages in book: 401
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Casteel swore. “Why?”
“Because they are of dual life, and he…can use it against wolves. Against animals.”
“What about the Ascended?” Malik asked, his chest rising sharply. “Or the Revenants.”
My eyes met his. “Yes. But I think—no, I know Millicent is different. She’s not fully a Revenant.”
Relief briefly flickered through Malik’s eyes, but then he looked down at Delano. “There has to be a way for us to know when he’s up to something like this so we can prevent it.”
“That would be nice.” Kieran crossed his arms. “But I don’t think we’re going to get that lucky.”
“I doubt we—” I sucked in a shallow breath.
“What?” Casteel stepped toward me.
“Earlier tonight, before you returned, I felt a sudden sense of unease. Not as powerful as it was when the Ancients were Awakening in the Continents.” I swallowed. “But I think—no, I know—I was feeling this. The wrongness of it. It was brief, and I didn’t understand what I was feeling at the time.” My gaze remained on the quilt. Who had made it? The older woman lying next to the boy? The mother on his other side? “Maybe if I had, I could’ve done—”
“No.” Casteel was in front of me in the blink of an eye, his hands on my cheeks. “There was no way for you to know what you were feeling. And even if you did, this still isn’t on you.” He tipped my head back so that my gaze met his. “Please, Poppy, don’t take on guilt that doesn’t belong to you.”
“I’m not. It’s just…” I closed my eyes, concentrating on the feel of Delano’s weight against my legs, and took a deep breath before I reopened them. “We can’t let this happen again.”
Casteel didn’t promise that it wouldn’t. He couldn’t. But he pressed his lips to my forehead. “I think we should return.”
I nodded. Glancing at the bodies on the floor one last time, I let Casteel lead me from the house. Once outside, I breathed in the fresh, salty air, free of the scent of death. As Casteel stopped to speak with Emil, I kept moving, unable to stay still. The shock of what I’d seen was fading.
Casteel snagged the back of my cloak before I made it too far. Stopping me, he lifted my hood and then let go. But I knew he kept an eye on me as I stepped out into the street.
Delano started to follow me but seemed to think better of it, lingering with the others instead. I was glad for the space. My mind…it started randomly showing me what I’d seen inside those homes. And each face that flashed in my mind threatened to snap my fragile grip on my anger. The small shoes that would never be worn again. The books left on a nightstand, never to be finished. Glasses on tables that would remain half full. And for what? To send us a message? A reminder that he was still here? There were any number of methods Kolis could have used instead of something so unbelievably cruel.
We couldn’t allow this to happen again.
But how did we stop what we didn’t even realize had happened until it was too late? The sense of helplessness was nearly overwhelming.
The energy pressing against my skin was icy, and as wrong as it felt, I had to stop thinking about it. If not, my grip would snap, unleashing a storm of rage. I could already taste it as a thin, metallic coating on the inside of my mouth, and feel it in the dark, shadowy energy building in my chest.
My hands fisted at my sides as I stopped and closed my eyes, once more focusing on breathing. I couldn’t give in to the anger. It would be…catastrophic if I did. And the Arae were right. I didn’t want to harm innocents. If I lost control, that was exactly what would happen.
I wasn’t my mother.
I wasn’t Kolis.
There would be time later to…lose my shit, preferably on Kolis. Promising myself that, the rage calmed to a simmering anger. It wasn’t entirely gone but it was more manageable.
Exhaling slowly, I opened my eyes, my gaze immediately locking on Malik.
He stood two homes away, alone, his back to me. I glanced to where Casteel and Kieran spoke with Emil. A guard had joined them. From what I could hear, they were getting an update on the other houses on the surrounding streets. My gaze shifted back to Malik. He stood apart from his brother, who he’d risked his life for—the same sibling who had been willing to go to any lengths to free him.
But the distance between them was more than just physical, and that made my already hurting heart ache even more. It wasn’t hate that kept them apart. They loved each other. I knew that much. It was regret, sorrow, and everything that had gone unsaid between them. I understood Casteel’s anger. He’d believed Malik had spent all these years treated as he had been while kept captive. Discovering that he’d moved about rather freely in the capital was a betrayal made worse by the discovery that Malik had led the Craven to Lockswood.