Текст книги "A fire in the flash"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 25 (всего у книги 37 страниц)

It didn’t matter.

Pain pierced my temples and lanced across my jaw, slowly fading into a dull ache. Panting, I closed my eyes and focused on the embers. The eather throbbed inside me, in my veins and bones, no longer contained to just my chest. They were weaker than before—way weaker—but I pulled on them as I struggled to breathe. I wanted to see him. I needed to because the feel of the hot essence in my veins was likely significant. Final. A spasm ran through me as I remembered what Ash had told me about the essence. That it was my will.

So, I used it to give me what I wanted.

A weightless sensation settled over me, almost as if my consciousness were leaving my body. I became a wraith that floated through the windows in the ceiling and drifted across the empty breezeway, through Kolis’s chamber and into the corridors, tethered to the wispy fingers of eather that searched and searched—

Until I found him.

Ash.

He stalked the halls of the sanctuary, his leather pants tattered and hanging low on his hips. His skin was ashen, those savagely beautiful features—broad cheekbones and strong brow—sharper than ever before. Dirt smudged his abdomen, where the packed muscles stood out more starkly, proof that he hadn’t eaten anything substantial in weeks.

But Ash had been feeding.

Blood dripped over the defined lines of his chest, drenching his throat and smearing his wide mouth.

A guard raced out from one of the halls, charging the Primal, the gold of his armor glinting in the fading sunlight.

Ash caught his arm before the sword blow could land. “Where is she?”

“Fuck you,” the guard snarled, but he quaked as he did so, his body revealing his fear.

“Wrong answer.” Ash snapped his arm in two.

The god howled as the sword clanged off the floor. Ash was as fast as the crack of a whip, tearing into the god’s throat. He drank deeply and fast before lifting his head.

I supposed that was…fast food?

Two guards spilled into the hall. Someone threw a shadowstone short sword.

Ash twisted, using the guard he held as a shield. The god’s body jerked as he took the blade in the back.

Flipping the god around, Ash tore the sword free, letting the body fall to the floor. A bolt of eather streaked through the hall as another guard rushed him. I saw a flash of pale blue eyes. A Revenant. Ash shadowstepped to his right, avoiding the blast of energy. He threw the sword, striking the god in the head as silvery streaks of eather fizzled out. Spinning, Ash caught the Revenant by the throat, tearing the dagger from its hand. “Where is she?”

The Revenant grunted something I couldn’t make out. Whatever it was, Ash wasn’t impressed.

He slammed the dagger into the Revenant’s chest, then tore out his throat, ripping the spine out through the gaping hole. He tossed the still-twitching body aside.

“Where is she?” he repeated over and over, leaving a trail of armored bodies in his wake, some that would wake up, others that wouldn’t. He passed quiet alcoves, their golden, gauzy curtains rippling gently.

Several guards appeared. Shadows rose from the floor, swirling around Ash’s leather-clad legs. “Where is she?”

“Back in the north wing, beyond his chambers,” a god answered, dropping his sword. “You follow this hall. You’ll enter His Majesty’s personal chambers. That is where she is kept.” He lifted his hands as he took a step back. “We didn’t—”

“I don’t care.” Ash turned his head toward him. That was it. Just a look, and the god halted. His back bowed, his body going rigid. He rose into the air, and his mouth stretched open as cracks appeared in his flesh. Eather poured from the suspended god as Ash shifted his attention to those ahead. The god shattered into shimmery dust.

Several other gods began backing away.

“Run,” Ash spoke, his voice calling the shadows from the walls and the alcoves. “But you won’t get far.”

The gods spun and ran.

Whatever circumstances had led to them siding with Kolis or any remorse these gods felt wouldn’t save them. As Ash had warned, they didn’t make it far.

The whirling midnight mist whipped out, racing across the floor. All around, gods rose to the ceiling, their arms outstretched, and heads thrown back. Armor exploded from their chests and calves. From the center of their midsections, a silver glow pulsed as they hung in the air like paper lanterns. Then they fell like stars.

A swarm of dakkais erupted from a corridor and entered the hall, their gaping mouths full of blade-sharp teeth. Either drawn by the eather or sent due to Ash’s presence, they shoved into one another, growling and snapping at the air as they raced toward Ash.

There wasn’t even time to feel concern because Ash was very, very well-fed at the moment.

Tendrils of shadowy eather lifted once more, streaking out from Ash and slamming into the dakkais, piercing their bodies. Sharp yelps ended suddenly, one after another, until there was nothing before Ash.

Startling sharp pain flared once more, shaking my concentration. It severed the connection, and I suddenly no longer felt as if I were floating.

I pitched forward onto my palms as I heaved, dragging up nothing but air and the faint taste of something metallic. Through the tangled strands of my hair, I stared at my hands—my left one looked as if the pores had filled with faint silver light. Nausea rose, and I gagged, my stomach clenching. Though my eyes were closed, the chamber felt as if it were spinning.

I didn’t feel right. My head. My body. I felt too loose, yet too tight. There was a strange hollowness in my chest, one that felt final. My arms and legs trembled from the effort it took to keep myself upright. Sweat dampened my skin as if I had a rising and breaking fever.

The embers suddenly hummed in my chest as my right hand warmed. Blinking stinging tears from my eyes, I looked down. The swirl across the top of my hand shimmered brightly.

He was almost here.

My arms gave out. Suddenly, my cheek was plastered against the cool shadowstone tile, and gods, it felt good against my hot skin. My eyes drifted shut as I thought I heard shouts, but I couldn’t be sure. My heartbeat was in my ears. A loud crash came from somewhere, the sound of doors slamming into walls and shattering. Charged air stirred around me, then blissfully cold fingers touched my cheeks. I was lifted and brought against something cool and solid. Safe. The scent of citrus and fresh air enveloped me, and a breathy sigh left me.

“Liessa,” Ash spoke, his rough voice a balm. “I’ve got you. Everything will be all right now. I’ve got you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

I’ve got you.

Three short, simple words, yet they shook me to my core.

“Open your eyes, liessa.” Ash pulled me tighter to his chest as he rocked back.

Fighting the bone-deep exhaustion, I opened my eyes. Everything was blurry at first, but my vision soon cleared. Crimson stained the lower half of his face, but the blood did nothing to mar the striking lines and angles of his features. The harsh shadows under his eyes weren’t so unforgiving, having faded between the time I’d lost my connection through the essence and now.

“There you are.” Ash smiled, but it was tight and strained as he brushed strands of my hair back from my face. I saw his lips move before I heard him speak. It was as if my mind was on some kind of delay. “Talk to me.”

I swallowed, wincing at the dull ache in my throat. I struggled to concentrate on him. “You—”

A roll of rumbling thunder came from outside—somewhere close. I stiffened. The sky beyond the narrow windows flashed an intense silver. That wasn’t thunder and lightning.

“It’s okay,” Ash assured me as distant shouts turned to quickly silenced screams. “It’s Nektas. He felt it the moment I got free.”

Nektas was here? Who was he burning—?

A high-pitched yelp came, causing me to flinch. The entire sanctuary shook as something large landed nearby.

I now knew what Nektas was burning.

Other draken.

“You’re safe.” Ash caught my wide stare. “Talk to me, liessa. Please.”

 “You found me.”

“Always.” Eather-laced eyes swept over my features before they slammed shut. His chest rose, and then he looked at me again. “I will always find you, Sera.”

Tears immediately rushed my eyes, stinging them. Drawing in a breath filled with his scent, I lifted a tingling arm and grasped the back of his neck, catching strands of hair between my fingers.

“But I didn’t find you.” Ash dragged his thumb over the curve of my jaw. “You found me. My beautiful, strong Consort. You ended this nightmare.”

I had, hadn’t I?

But didn’t that sound too good to be true? That I’d stopped Kolis before he…destroyed me in ways I wasn’t sure I would recover from? That I finally understood the full extent of how powerful the embers were and freed Ash from his prison?

My breath hitched.

I could see and feel him, but everything felt surreal—from the moment I’d touched The Star until this very second. It didn’t feel real.

What if this—all of this—was one of those too-real dreams? Panic slithered up my spine. What if I hadn’t stopped Kolis and had instead retreated far into my mind? Heart tripping, I turned my head to the side. My gaze skipped over small shards of gilded bone, swaths of fine cream and gold silk, and a wide pool of shimmery red-blue blood.

Kolis lay on the floor, his arms widespread. His face and throat were a mangled mess. So were other parts of him. A gilded bone jutted from his chest—from his heart—but that wasn’t where my stare lingered. It shifted back to his arms.

Arms he hadn’t lifted to defend himself. He’d gone still when I said I was going to kill him. I thought I’d seen…acceptance settle into his features. Maybe even a glimpse of…peace.

That couldn’t be right. It sounded like something my imagination would cook up. I sucked in a shallow breath as a draken’s growl grew closer.

“Is this…?” I rasped, my throat scratchy and hoarse. “Is this a dream?”

“No, liessa.” Ash guided my attention from Kolis with a gentle press of his fingers against my cheek. Tension bracketed his mouth. “This is not a dream. It’s real. I’m here. We’re not at your lake.”

A shudder of relief coursed through me as Ash’s confirmation scattered the remaining fuzziness from my mind. So many things rushed me at once—stuff I needed to be concerned about, but the only thing I cared about was him. “Are you okay?”

“Am I…?” A shaky laugh parted his lips as he shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re asking if I’m okay.”

“You’ve been imprisoned,” I pointed out, drawing in another deep breath. I didn’t feel like I needed to vomit, but the exhaustion remained, and I thought—

No, I knew what that meant.

I did.

A strange sense of calmness descended over me. My chest loosened. Resolve filled me. I needed to get up. We had to get out of here because someone, or multiple someones, were bound to arrive. And if someone removed that bone from Kolis, he would awaken. And then…

Everything would get really bad, really fast, because Kolis would know the truth—that I wasn’t Sotoria.

Even if that didn’t happen, Nektas’s fight could end up on top of the sanctuary, and there were innocent people like the Chosen here. I tried to sit up, but Ash’s arms were like steel bands around me.

“And you haven’t been?” Ash’s hand slid to the nape of my neck. The coolness of his fingers was pure bliss against the tight muscles.

“I’ve had it much easier,” I said, though the talk of imprisonment made me think of another. “Veses is free. I don’t know how.”

“With me being in stasis, the wards on the cells would’ve weakened,” he said. “Are you sure you’re fine?”

“Yes,” I assured him as he tilted my head back. “But what if she hurt someone—?”

“You are not fine.” His nostrils flared.

The air in the chamber suddenly thinned, charging with energy. The tiny hairs on my arms lifted as the embers in my chest thrummed faintly in response to the power pouring from…

“Ash?” I whispered.

Shadows appeared, whirling beneath his flesh in a dizzying rush as his eyes filled with tendrils of crackling eather—eyes that were focused not on mine but on my throat.

My heart thudded heavily. The memory of Kolis’s fangs scraping against the skin of my throat sent a wave of revulsion through me. He must’ve broken the skin. That would explain the dull pain there.

Ash’s head lifted, his attention shifting beyond me to where Kolis lay. His lips peeled back, revealing his fangs. He started to lower me to the floor. “I’m going to destroy him.”

My breath snagged in my chest. With the eather lighting up the veins of his, cutting through the whipping shadows there, and the darkness gathering on the floor, I thought there might be a good chance he could, in fact, do that, especially given Kolis’s state. As Kolis himself had said: His nephew was very powerful. But…

But Kolis couldn’t die.

I’d known that when I drove the bone through his heart. My hold on Ash tightened as I willed myself to be, for once in my life, the smarter, more logical one. “Let it go.”

Ash tensed against me as a thick mass of midnight whipped around us. “What?”

“Let it go,” I repeated, tugging on his hair until his gaze returned to mine. I could barely see the pupils in his eyes. “He’s not worth it.”

“Worth what, exactly?” he snarled. “Because right now, anything and everything is worth ending the bastard’s existence.”

“The end of the realms?” I reasoned.

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t give a fuck about the realms.”

A quick, hoarse laugh left me. “Yes, you do.” I took a deep breath to clear my mind more. “You care about the realms.”

“You give me too much credit, liessa,” he said. “You think of me too kindly.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” I shot back.

Two clouds of shadowy eather rose behind him, taking the faint shape of wings. “I’ve told you this before. Any and all decent bones I have in me belong to you.”

“And I’ve told you before, that isn’t true.”

“Do not argue with me, Sera.” His body hummed with vicious power as the shadows in his skin melded. Somewhere in the chamber, something cracked loudly. “Not about this.”

“I’m not arguing with you!”

He glared, and I could’ve sworn he was counting to ten. “I don’t think you understand what the word argue means.”

“I don’t think you understand what it—”

“He bit you!” Ash roared, causing my body to jolt as the shadow wings slammed down onto the floor, shaking the entire chamber.

I sucked in a sharp breath, resisting the urge to touch my neck. “He didn’t. I stopped him this—” I stopped myself before I said more and made things worse. “I stopped him.”

“This time?” Ash’s voice dropped to a whisper of such cold death that even I shivered. “That is what you meant to say.”

“No.”

“Do not lie to me.”

“I’m not lying,” I lied.

Shadows spread up his throat, cresting his jaw. “Do you think I don’t know what has been done to you?” The air turned freezing. “What he’s done?”

I locked up as I felt the blood racing from my face. Every muscle had gone rigid, and it had nothing to do with the iciness of the chamber. “No,” I said, and I wasn’t exactly sure who I was saying that to. Him? Me? Both of us? Either way, he couldn’t know. I needed to believe that. Ash only suspected things based on his knowledge of Kolis.

Ash shuddered as he stared down at me. “I’m going to eviscerate him,” he swore in that icy, shadowy whisper that I bet whipped through the Abyss. “I will tear his head from his shoulders and rip him limb from limb, scattering what remains across the realms.”

My brows knitted as something occurred to me. “Actually, that doesn’t sound like a bad plan.”

“Then do not argue with me, liessa.” His arms loosened around me, and my rear was once more touching the floor.

I gripped his shoulders. “That’s not what I meant.”

Those smoky wings swept up again. “Do you think I cannot see?”

“I’m thinking that’s a rhetorical question since you obviously can.”

“I can,” he confirmed, rolling his eyes. “I see how he has you dressed.”

I rolled my eyes right back at him.

“I see what state you’re in.”

What state…? Looking down, I saw that the fragile material of the gown had torn at the neck. By some miracle, my chest wasn’t exposed—well, more exposed than it already had been.

“Do you think I don’t know what it must’ve taken for you to tap into the essence like that?”

“If you ask me one more question that you clearly think you know the answer to…” I muttered.

“To wield it to such an extent, do this to him, and free me?” he continued, ignoring me. “And did you forget that I could feel you? Sense what you were feeling?”

Oh.

Oh, no.

My lips parted as he confirmed my worst fears.

“Every time I was conscious, I felt you. Your pain. Your fear. The panic. The fucking desperation.” The walls rattled as that frosted whisper circled the chamber, falling against the floor like hail and sleet. I knew it wasn’t Nektas or any other draken doing that. “Your anger? I felt it all. Tasted everything you were feeling until I was drowning in it. Until I tore at my flesh to get to you.” His voice cracked then, and so did the wall behind him. “And I could do nothing—fucking nothing—to protect you. To take away any of the horror you were experiencing.”

Pressure clamped down on my chest. Oh, gods, I hadn’t wanted him to feel that—any of it. It was the one thing I’d believed the stasis had prevented. My skin suddenly felt too tight, and I wanted to close my eyes and crawl inside myself. But I couldn’t look away from Ash.

I stared at him, realizing I’d been wrong when I believed I’d seen those Primal embers of death come out in him before. I really hadn’t. Not until now. I’d seen glimpses of them when he killed Tavius’s guards and the gods who came into the Shadowlands for me. I’d seen hints of it when he battled the entombed gods in the Red Woods. And later as he struck the draken, Davon, from the sky and laughed. I’d seen some of it when he killed Hanan and fought Kolis, but I truly saw it now.

Ash didn’t do that freaky turn-to-a-skeleton thing that Kolis did. He didn’t need the dramatics because each word he spoke carried the weight of a thousand cold, empty graves and the promise of endless death in the Abyss.

Once more, I realized there was a good chance Sotoria wasn’t needed. Ash could take out Kolis, but without there being a true Primal of Death? Whether or not Ash took the embers, the balance Kolis had harped about would be upset in ways that would result in unfathomable destruction.

So even though I wanted nothing more than to cave to the pressure and desire to get up and run, putting as much distance between what Ash possibly knew and me, I couldn’t.

This was bigger than me. More important. I had to pull it together because we didn’t have much time. I could feel that, despite doing my level best to ignore it. I counted as I’d done before.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

I lifted a trembling hand from Ash’s shoulder and touched his cheek. Nothing of the golden-bronze flesh was visible now, and his jaw was hard as granite beneath my palm. “I want nothing more than his death,” I said. “But he can’t die. You have to know that, right? This whole time, you had to know he couldn’t be killed. Not by anyone. Not even Sotoria.”

Ash said nothing as the wings behind him thickened, but I knew I was right. He had to know the Primal of Death must always be. Just as the Primal of Life must.

“I know you care about the realms,” I told him. “Even if you didn’t, I do. I care about my sister and Marisol. The people of Lasania, and the rest of the mortal realm. Even my mother.”

His head straightened. “Your mother?” he snarled. “Fuck her.”

My lips twitched, but I stopped myself from smiling. I didn’t think that would help things at the moment. “We need to get out of here, Ash.” I swallowed again, but it did little to end the soreness in my throat. I glanced at Kolis’s still body.

There were many reasons we needed to leave, starting with Ash’s wrath toward his uncle. It was so intense it would lead to nothing but ruin, and if he let himself cave to it, he would regret it. He didn’t think that now, but I knew he would, and I couldn’t let that happen. I refused to allow another regret to stain his soul.

But that wasn’t the only reason.

“We need to get somewhere safe,” I continued. “And you need to take the embers before it’s too late.”

The muscle along his jaw throbbed under my palm. A long, tense moment passed, and then the shadows began to break apart, scattering to disappear beneath his flesh. Something I’d said must have gotten through to him.

“Okay?” I said.

Ash nodded as the shadow wings faded away, but his gaze left mine and returned to Kolis. I thought I heard something then. Footsteps? Before I could look, Ash’s arms clamped down on me. One second, I was sitting on the floor, loosely held in his embrace. The next, I was on my feet, his arms holding me up and close to him. The movement had my stomach turning as his head cut toward the door. A low growl rumbled from his chest.

“Your Majesty?” came a voice it took me a moment to recognize. Elias.

Willing my stomach to stop rolling, I twisted toward the doors as they swung open, one side falling half off damaged hinges.

Elias drew up short, his golden eyes flipping from Kolis to Ash, then to me. “Is she okay?”

All that rage directed toward Kolis shifted to the god in the entranceway. A low rumble of warning came from him. “What did you ask?”

“I mean her no harm,” Elias insisted, stepping back. But based on what I’d seen Ash do in the halls of the sanctuary, I knew that would do the god no good.

Shadows spilled from Ash, slipping over me harmlessly as they rose, preparing to strike at Elias. The god would not survive that. One of the tendrils snaked across the floor. I didn’t think Ash intended for Elias to survive, but…

“Don’t.” My fingers pressed into Ash’s chest. “Don’t harm him.”

Ash pulled the smoky eather back, but he didn’t take his attention off the god. “Do you make this request because you wish to have the honor of doing so?”

“That’s actually kind of sweet of you to think,” I said, patting his chest.

The painted wings above Elias’s brows seemed to lift.

“But, no.” I stared at the god. The shadowstone sword he held was slick with shimmery blood. My gaze lifted to his painted face. I thought of the advice he’d offered instead of how he’d knocked me out.

Before any of us could respond, I saw a flash of deep gray scales, and the entire chamber trembled as Nektas landed outside. At the other end of the breezeway, guards spilled out from the doors to Kolis’s chamber. The one spiked tail whipped across the breezeway as only half of Nektas’s horned head came into view, his massive jaws opening.

A funnel of silver fire erupted, streaming over the guards. They lit up like dry tinder, dropping their swords as their screams pierced the air.

“Or perhaps you’d prefer that Nektas burn him?” Ash suggested, his frozen-over stare still focused on Elias.

“Uh, no to that, too.” I cringed as one of the gods flailed about, swallowed by the silver flames. “At least, not yet.”

“And what is your reasoning for this, liessa?” Streaks of eather lit up the veins of his cheeks. “The realms will not suffer the loss of one more god.”

Damn.

I glanced at Ash, feeling an almost unfamiliar rush of heat. He was…savage when angry, and I found it, even amidst all of this, really arousing.

For once, I didn’t think that should disturb me as Ash finally pulled his attention from Elias. He looked down at me. One of his brows rose as warm wisps of eather stirred in his eyes. Realizing he likely sensed my desire, I found I wasn’t embarrassed. I was…gods, I was so relieved to feel that warmth swamping my veins. So damn ecstatic. Because in this moment, as I stared up at him, I felt normal.

Well, as normal as I’d ever felt. And it was because of him… Ash helped me feel that way. My chest swelled with emotion, momentarily filling the gnawing hollowness growing there.

“I love you,” I whispered.

The change in Ash was swift. His features softened as his chest rose against mine. “Liessa…”

Eyes stinging, I looked away before I started sobbing all over him. There was no time for that. I refocused on Elias, who looked slightly confused and also a little relieved. I then looked past him to Nektas. There had to be a reason he wasn’t charbroiling the god. “Do you…do you serve Kolis, Elias?”

“I serve the Primal of Life,” Elias answered.

“There’s your answer,” Ash stated, his brief warmth dissipating. “He will die, too.”

“I misspoke,” Elias amended as he lowered himself to one knee.

My heart thumped heavily in my chest. “Not this again.”

Ash frowned.

“I serve the true Primal of Life.” Crossing his sword over his chest, he bowed his head.

“It is this again,” I muttered as Ash eyed the god.

“With my sword and my life.” Elias lifted his head. “I swear to you, the One who is born of Blood and Ash, the Light and the Fire, and the Brightest Moon, to honor your command.”

Ash stiffened. “You’re pledging yourself to Seraphena?”

Elias nodded.

“It’s just the embers,” I explained, the dull ache returning to my temples as I wondered if Elias was working alone against Kolis, with a Primal like Attes, or possibly even Keella, who clearly was not a Kolis fan. “That’s what he’s swearing his allegiance to.”

“No.” Ash’s brows knitted, then he angled his body toward me. His gaze swept over me. “It’s you.”

I opened my mouth, but I didn’t get a chance to argue the semantics of the god’s loyalty. Ash dipped his head, kissing me, and honest to gods, the entire chamber disappeared around us because his mouth was on mine, and I didn’t care that I could taste the blood of those he’d fed on. I’d feared I would never feel this again. That I would leave Iliseeum, never to experience the touch of his lips on mine outside of a dream again.

Ash lifted his mouth from mine, whispering, “Tell him to rise, liessa.”

Feeling even more weak-kneed, I blinked. “Huh?”

His lips curved against mine. “He’s still kneeling.”

“Oh.” I cleared my throat. “You can rise.”

There was a hint of a smile on Elias’s face as he stood. “I’ve sent word to Attes,” Elias said, answering my question of who he was working with. “He is coming—”

The center of my chest lit up as Ash tensed beside me. “I think he’s already here.”

Elias sighed.

“Of course, I’m already here,” came the Primal’s voice from outside.

A second later, he crossed into view, the breeze lifting his sandy-brown hair as he skirted Nektas. The draken tracked his movements, his crimson eyes alert.

As Attes drew closer, I saw that blood stained his armor. “I got a bit held up.” He passed Elias, looking at Ash and me. “I know you two would probably like to continue this reunion, but I suggest we make haste and get out of here. I’m confident one of the gods shadowstepped their ass to Vathi to alert Kyn, and those fucking Revs you got are doing their reanimation thing. Basilia has Diaval and Sax on retreat, but that won’t last long, especially if Naberius decides to…” He trailed off, coming to an abrupt halt as he got an eyeful of Kolis.

I had no idea who Basilia or Sax were, but since Attes had mentioned Diaval, I felt it safe to assume that Basilia was one of Attes’s draken. Sax must be another of Kolis’s.

Attes swallowed thickly as he stared at Kolis. “I was right.”

Aware of the frigid air blowing off Ash, I said, “You were.”

Ash’s gaze cut to the false King and the gilded bone protruding from his chest. He inhaled sharply, and I figured what he saw and what it meant had finally caught up to him.

Storm-hued eyes swept to mine. “I knew it,” he whispered.

“That I wasn’t really her?” I asked.

“Those questions need to wait,” Attes interrupted, and Ash’s expression became emotionless. “You really need to get her out of here, Nyktos. She cannot be here when my brother arrives.”

Ash glanced at Attes and then dipped his head, speaking into my ear. “You okay?” When I nodded, he pressed his lips to my temple. “Stay put. We’ll leave here soon.”

I started to frown as he released me. My legs felt a little wobbly, so it took some effort to keep that from showing as Ash strode away from me.

Attes faced him. “Nyktos, I know you likely don’t trust me, but I have never been loyal to Kolis.”

“Is that so?” Ash said, his voice soft.

Warning bells immediately went off. When he spoke like that, things got bloody.

“Your father was like a brother to me—even to Kyn at one time. I would never truly stand behind Kolis after that. I did everything I could to run interference and protect what your father planned. You have to know that deep down—”

That was all he got to say before Ash’s fist slammed into the Primal’s jaw. My eyes went wide as Attes staggered back.

“Uh,” I murmured as Elias shifted nervously by the doorway.

I wasn’t sure what propelled the god’s anxiety more: the two Primals or Nektas’s entire head right behind him. Smoke wafted from the draken’s nostrils as he blew out a breath.

“Fuck.” Attes spat blood. “Okay. I deserved that.”

Tendrils of eather-laced shadows gathered at Ash’s feet as he grabbed hold of Attes’s breastplate, dragging the Primal to him. They were nearly eye to eye, and I thought I should intervene, but Attes was right. He had deserved that, but…

“Attes can be trusted,” I said.

“He had better hope so,” Ash said, and I heard the smile in his voice. It wasn’t a friendly one. “You and I?” There wasn’t even an inch of space between their faces. “We’re going to have a little chat.”

Holding Ash’s glare, Attes nodded. “Yeah, we will, but not here. If Kyn arrives, he’ll—”

“I know what he’ll do,” Ash snarled, and my knees locked. “So you know what I’m going to do.”

“I do.” Attes’s voice had roughened, and his gaze darted to where I stood.

My knees unlocked, and I started toward them. “We should—” A wave of hot dizziness hit me, immediately causing a fine sheen of sweat to break out across my forehead. The entire chamber seemed to tilt, and I squeezed my eyes shut as my stomach churned.

“Dear Fates,” Attes rasped.

Ash was at my side in a heartbeat, one hand on my shoulder to steady me. “Sera?” His cool palm cupped my cheek. “Talk to me.”

I clamped my jaw shut, fighting the rise of nausea as I focused on the relief his cold touch brought forth.