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)
Poppy remained in stasis because of the Joining. It tied her life force to ours. She protected us, but it wasn’t some sort of pure magical bullshit. If either Kieran or I were wounded, she’d heal us without having to touch us or even be conscious. It would just happen. The eather in her would transfer to us, and I’d bet the severity of the injuries determined how much eather she expended. Perhaps if she hadn’t been in her Ascension, healing me wouldn’t have taken so much out of her, making her vulnerable to Kolis and then forcing her into a deeper stasis. And if that never had happened, she wouldn’t be in stasis now because of the draken blood.
Fuck.
If I hadn’t left that window open. If I had been more on guard. If I hadn’t fallen asleep.
If I hadn’t failed to protect her.
Agony lanced my chest, as painful as when the bone dagger had pierced my flesh. Her profile blurred. My lashes dampened.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered hoarsely, squeezing her hand. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
Only the chamber heard my apology.
CHAPTER 9
CASTEEL
Night had fallen with the news that my father had left to escort the regiment through the Blood Forest. It wouldn’t take more than two days—three at the most. In other words, it was only a slight delay. When he returned, I would have to speak with him.
Setting the quill aside, I folded the parchment. It was late by the time I finished reviewing documents pertaining to the smaller farming communities outside the Willow Plains. Perry had been tasked with going through the Blood Crown’s records. Unsurprisingly, they were a jumbled mess. In his attempts to put them in some semblance of coherent order, he’d come across requests from the villagers between Carsodonia and the Willow Plains—requests that had gradually grown to outright pleas for additional guards to protect them against the Craven attacks. Perry had noted they had been denied. As had the request to increase the lands used for farming. I wasn’t even remotely shocked. The Blood Crown had never cared about the mortals or their needs. It was an incredibly short-sighted mentality. These farmlands served the capital, Three Rivers, Whitebridge, and the Willow Plains. Without those villagers to tend the farms or enough land to feed the mortals, they would lose their food source, which would happen sooner rather than later. Starvation brought disease. For all her faults, Isbeth wasn’t foolish. She knew what would happen—what was already happening. Based on reports, starvation was a constant shadow over Croft’s Cross, the poorest district in the capital. Perry had also included notes on reported outbreaks of consumption. That would eventually cross the Nye River, finding the lungs of merchants and shop owners. Isbeth had lived long enough to see that happen time and time again. But it was as if they had no real plans for the future.
Perhaps she really hadn’t. After all, she wanted to see Kolis rise, and the woman was unhinged enough to jeopardize everything—including her own life—in her thirst for vengeance for the loss of her child and heartmate.
Eventually, we would clear the Blood Forest of the Craven, but that had to wait until we’d dealt with Kolis. So, I focused on what could be done now. I’d send guards in the morning—not nearly enough, but their presence would help. I’d also approved the expansion of some farmland and requested surveys for those in Croft’s Cross to discover if any had experience working the land or were open to learning. That also wouldn’t be enough in the long term. Especially not when Atlantians started migrating west, which had to happen. But there were lands closer to the Skotos. Lands such as Irelone and even Pompay could be developed for farming.
That thought reminded me of how I used to watch the farmers in the fields outside of Evaemon when I was a boy, their hands callused yet steady as they coaxed life from the earth. There was a rhythm and stability to it—a quiet kind of power in how they worked the land and provided for themselves and countless others. Leaning back in the chair, I thought about how I would watch them, wondering what it would be like to trade in the sword for a plow. Fuck. I still wondered what it would feel like to trade all this now. Except for a sword, it was titles, wars, and gods. What would it be like to give it all up for the simplicity of that life? My gaze shifted to the bed. For Poppy and I to wake with the sun, tend to the fields, and let the rest of the realm transfer into the hands of one better suited?
A warm shimmer of awareness curled through my chest, drawing me from my thoughts. I tensed as my gaze shifted to the door, flattening my hand atop the parchment I’d folded.