Total pages in book: 362
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
I knew that scent, even though I’d never noticed it before. It belonged to the draken, as did the sense of awareness. I stood.
“Sorry.” The far-too-serious voice for one so young confirmed what I felt. “Nek is doing patrols. I’ve been trying to distract her, but she got away from me.”
Before either Ash or I could respond, a small, greenish-brown blur of scales and thin, leathery wings darted around Ash’s legs. The small draken launched herself a good four or five feet into the air—
Panic exploded. She was only four years old and unable to fly. Not that it stopped Nektas’s daughter from trying. Repeatedly. I shot forward, catching her around the waist just as she started to plummet back to the hard stone floor. One wing whipped around, catching me in the side of the face. The slap stung, but how she clung to me made up for it. Her embrace was strong and at odds with her slight weight, but gods, it was one of the best hugs I’d ever received.
“Jadis.” I laughed, jerking my head back from her flailing wings.
“I think someone missed you,” Ash remarked, his voice warm.
Jadis gave a muffled chirp as she grasped onto my hair with her tiny, clawed fists. The tug sent a fiery wave of tingles across my scalp, but I honestly didn’t care as I held on to her. She wasn’t trying to hurt me. Plus, Nektas had said that my hair likely reminded Jadis of her mother. She’d only been two when Halayna was killed. Not nearly old enough to build a wealth of memories to look back on when she missed her momma. I held her tighter.
“And I also think this one may not have tried all that hard to stop her,” Ash added, his arms folded over his chest as he looked down at Reaver.
The shaggy-blond-haired draken’s cheeks pinked as he stared at the floor. He wore loose pants and a sleeveless tunic the color of cream. At the moment, Reaver looked like any mortal child, except for the vertical pupils and the somber seriousness of the old soul he carried.
Life had not been easy for either of them.
While Jadis had lost one parent to Kolis, Reaver had lost both of his before he was even old enough to hold on to his mortal form. They’d died defending the Shadowlands after Kolis grew angry with Ash for not responding to his summons quickly enough. Did Reaver have any memories of his parents? If not, I knew what kind of aching emptiness that left behind. I had none of my father.
I drew my hand down Jadis’s back, her scales dry and smooth against my palm. I couldn’t help but think of how they continued to experience loss. Ector. Davina. Orphine. Both she and Reaver had likely been close to them. Perhaps even thought of them as family. A wealth of emotion swelled in my chest. They had already suffered far too much senseless cruelty and loss.
I glanced at Ash, finding him watching me with a gentle look. Figuring I’d been projecting again, I cleared my throat. “Hi, Reaver.”
“Hello.” He dragged a bare foot across the stone floor in front of him. “How are you feeling, meyaah Liessa?”
“You don’t have to call me that. I’m Sera to you.” I patted Jadis’s back as she wiggled as wildly as tree bears were rumored to do. “And I feel fine.”
“I told Jadis that she’d be able to see you in the morning.” His fingers were curled around the hem of his tunic so tightly that his knuckles had bleached white. “We felt you when you woke up. Nek told us to give you guys some time, but Jadis has been scared. She didn’t know where you went,” he said, his voice carrying hints of frustration and fear. “No one would tell us where either of you went or let us see you when you returned.”
I lowered my chin to the top of Jadis’s head, my heart aching at the fine tremor in Reaver’s voice. “They didn’t want you to worry.”
“But we did worry.” Reaver’s head lifted then, his cheeks even redder, and his eyes, now as blue as Jadis’s, glistening. “And even though no one would say it, I know it was him.” His hands balled into fists as he looked up at Ash. “I know he took her, and then he took you.”
Jadis squirmed, twisting her long, slender neck toward Reaver.
“And we didn’t know if we would ever see either of you again.” Reaver’s voice trembled and cracked. “If you’d leave us like—” He cut himself off, his pointy chin jutting out as he clamped his jaw shut.
“We’re not leaving you.” Ash crouched before him so they were as close to eye level as possible. “Hear me? We will never leave you.”