Текст книги "Born of Blood and Ash"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 31 (всего у книги 63 страниц)

My fingers straightened as Ehthawn growled.

“By the way, does Nyktos know how that one was freed?” she asked, nodding at where Rhain had come to stand a few feet behind me. “Have you told him how far you were willing to go to convince Kolis that you were Sotoria?”

My heart stopped, barely aware of the curse echoing from Rhain.

“I heard all about that.” She tsked under her breath as she stepped forward. “So don’t pretend you’re better than me. You’re nothing more than a caged whore.”

A storm built inside me as the wind picked up around us, playing with her ringlets. It wasn’t even the whore part that caused my skin to feel as if it were suddenly too tight. It was the caged part. Because, in my mind, I saw bars made of the gilded bones of the Ancients, and my heart lurched, then sped up. My fingers curled, pressing into my palms. Eather hummed in my ears, and my throat shrank—

The clean whisper of shadowstone swords being drawn pulled me from my thoughts. Time slowed. Or maybe my thoughts raced too fast as the scene taking place around me became clear. Swords were being drawn in the courtyard below and before the Rise. Bowstrings were pulled taut, and the crushing feeling of suffocation shifted deep inside me, coming from the same area in my chest that had cracked open the night I’d attempted to flee the Shadowlands. What seeped out was hot, endless fury.

I caught the slight twitch of the muscle above her right eye as dark, ominous clouds gathered overhead. I saw the unconscious flinch as the air around me charged, filling with the luminous, silver-tinged gold light. And I…

Gods, I wanted to lash out. To make her eat her words. To level her.

“Now,” she continued smugly, her chin rising once more, “I’ve come to speak to Nyktos and hopefully talk some sense into him. Because despite your failure to realize how this will end for you, it doesn’t change reality.”

Eather throbbed beneath my skin as Ehthawn’s spiked tail thumped off the road.

“And in case you don’t know how this will end, let me break it down for you,” she said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “It ends with you on your knees and every hole being used to serve every god, draken, and dakkai.” Veses winked, and I heard a swift inhale behind me. “Maybe you’ll like it.”

I laughed, and the sound reminded me of a summer storm. “You silly bitch.”

Her brows shot up. “Excuse me?”

I shot forward. Veses threw out her hand as silvery streaks of eather poured into her veins, but I was the true Primal of Life, and I knew how to fight dirty.

Catching her arm, I grabbed a fistful of those blond ringlets and yanked her head down as I raised my leg. My knee connected with her face, and the sound of bone crunching sent a surge of satisfaction through me. She yelped, the shock of pain causing her to lose her hold on the essence.

I jerked her head back. Shimmery bluish-red blood gushed from her now-crooked nose. “I think you forgot something.” I jerked her head back until we were at eye level. “I’m no longer caged.”

Her eyes flashed pure silver a heartbeat before I twisted, lifting her by the hair. I spun and threw her. She screamed, hitting the stone of the road and rolling in a tangle of red and long limbs.

Blond strands dangled from my fingers, burning away as eather crackled over my hand.

“Ouch.” Bele laughed.

I stalked toward Veses as she rose onto her hands and knees, tendrils of eather dripping from my fingertips. I drove my booted foot into her side, knocking her down. I grabbed her hair again, flipping her onto her back as I moved to stand over her. She grunted as I knelt, digging my knee into her chest.

“I could forgive you for your poor choices in men, your pathetic insults, and even for loving someone as hideous as Kolis.” Currents of raw, powerful energy built inside me, fueled by rage. It was the kind of power designed to create life, but that was not what I intended to use it for. I inhaled her rose scent as I lowered my head to her blood-streaked face. “But I can never forgive you for how you hurt Reaver, and I will never forgive you for what you did to Nyktos.”

Her all-silver eyes widened as I felt her essence. This time, it wasn’t anger that threaded through the eather in her. It was fear.

“Tell me.” My voice was a scorching whisper. “Tell me what you see in my eyes, Veses. It’s not life, is it? It’s death.” The essence swelled inside me as I swung my right hand down—

“Sera.” Rhain caught my arm, and my head jerked toward him. The glow of gold-and-silver eather danced over his angular cheeks. “Don’t kill her.”

Veses swung her arm, eather spitting from her fingertips. The heat of the energy stung my cheek as I caught her wrist an inch from my face. I twisted until I heard bone break.

“Bitch,” she gasped.

“And exactly why should I not kill her?” I asked Rhain.

Rhain still held on to my arm. “You know why.”

Fury dug its claws into me as I met his stare. “And you know why she deserves nothing less than death,” I hissed, my voice low.

“You’re right,” he said. “She deserves nothing but death.”

“Then don’t stop—”

You won’t do it.

My gaze flew back to Veses’. That voice… She hadn’t spoken out loud. It had been inside my head.

Not because you’re better than me or Kolis. Veses’ lips curved into a bloody smile. It’s because you’re weak. So godsdamn weak. That’s why you’re not any better. Claiming to be so is nothing more than an act.

I sucked in an unsteady breath as I was thrust back to when I was caged, and Veses had been on the outside. When she said we weren’t that different.

And she had been right.

We both reacted violently when it came to the ones we loved. It was the monstrous part of us both. And she was right about me not being a better person.

But she was wrong about why.

“I know what she’s doing. She’s in your head. Don’t listen to her.” Rhain’s grip on my arm firmed as he knelt beside me. “You don’t want war, Sera, but if you kill her, that’s exactly what you will start.”

It would absolutely start a war. What had I said to Ash? I didn’t want us to be the ones who started the war. But as the anger pumped hotly through me, I couldn’t give two shits about what I’d said. The hairs all over my body rose as a strange, shivery heat ran down my spine and arms, shocking my fingers.

Veses winced.

And I smiled, wanting to strip the flesh from her bones and then break every one. Slowly. I wanted to kill her over and over. My hold on her shattered wrist tightened as my fingers—my nails—cut into her skin, drawing blood.

Is vengeance worth the price?

I stiffened, feeling another draken’s echo or imprint. It was…earthy. Wild. In the back of my mind, I knew the sensation was unique to only one draken, but it was Rhain’s voice that intruded, mingling with my thoughts. I stared down at Veses, the rose-scented breeze tossing wisps of my hair across my face.

Was vengeance worth the price?

Yes.

Yes, it was.

“It’s more than vengeance,” I said. “It’s justice.”

“The difference between the two is a fine line.” Another voice, a deeper, gravelly one, reached me.

My gaze shot up as Nektas crossed onto the road, the ridges on his shoulders fading as loose pants manifested.

Wind whipped his hair as he knelt behind the Primal goddess’s head. “And no one walks it without stepping over that line.”

No one? Nektas was wrong. Ash would walk that fine line. He’d done so with Kyn. He always had. It was me who couldn’t.

The true Primal of Life.

The Queen.

“Ash sent me,” Nektas said, his voice gentling as Rhain released my arm. “He was worried.”

It took a moment for what he said to break through. Ash must’ve picked up on my emotions while at the Pillars. A shudder went through me.

“How sweet,” rasped Veses.

My lips peeled back, and a sound I didn’t recognize came from deep within me. Before I knew what I was doing, my head snapped down, fangs bared. I tore into Veses’ throat, and there was nothing clean or quick about the bite. I wanted to cause pain.

And I did.

Veses screamed, her back arching as thick blood poured into my mouth and down my throat. Her blood was sweet—too sweet—and tasted of roses.

Tearing through the delicate flesh of her throat, I reared back and then spat a mouthful of blood in Veses’ face.

Bele laughed.

Veses fell back against the stone, panting.

I forced myself to lift my fingers from her wrist, catching a glimpse of the deep, crescent-shaped slices in her skin that my nails had left behind. Then I made myself stand and back away from her as the strange tingling sensation faded from my skin.

I dragged the back of my hand across my mouth, wiping away the blood as Rhain and Nektas rose. “Get up and get the fuck out of here,” I bit out. “And do not ever come back looking for Nyktos. If you do, I will prove you right.”

Breathing heavily, she sat up. Bloodstained curls fell across her chest as she looked at me.

“That this is an act,” I said and felt Nektas’s questioning stare on me.

The Primal stood with far more grace than I would’ve thought capable, especially with her throat torn open and her right hand hanging askew from her broken wrist. Her damn nose had already healed, though.

Veses turned and then stopped.

“Whatever you’re thinking about saying or doing,” Nektas drawled as Ehthawn rose behind him, “I would strongly advise against doing so.”

Veses’ back stiffened, but she faced me, her blood-smeared lips pressed into a thin line. “Kolis offered you a deal,” she said, her voice hoarse. “That’s why I came here. To get Nyktos to convince you to take the deal offered to you.”

“And you thought you could accomplish that?” I stated, not having the mental capacity to wonder if what she said was true.

A subtle flicker of emotion skittered across her face, and a slight tremor hit her hands before she straightened the fingers on her uninjured side. “If you don’t accept the deal, you will regret not doing so.”

Rhain cursed.

A rush of heat traveled up my spine as my eyes locked with hers. “Is that a threat?”

“No,” Veses answered as mist rose, swirling around her legs. “It’s only the truth.”

“Can I talk to you?” Rhain asked as I stalked toward one of the side doors.

Taking a deep breath, I stopped and nodded. It was probably a blessing that Rhain was delaying my return to the younglings. With or without the notam, I didn’t need to be anywhere near them in my current mood…or with Veses’ blood smeared across my chin.

Yuck.

“Can you give us a moment?” Rhain asked Rhahar, who had been trailing behind us.

I stiffened, knowing what was coming as Rhahar gave a way-too-elaborate bow before backing off. “I know I didn’t control my temper out there. You don’t have to tell me.”

“That’s not what I was going to bring up,” he said, much to my surprise. “I…I just wanted to let you know that nothing has changed.” His gaze briefly met mine. “I haven’t told anyone what you did for me, and I won’t.”

I took a step back without realizing it. Denials rose to the tip of my tongue and spilled over. “There’s nothing you could really tell them. You were unconscious—”

“I know you made a deal with Kolis,” Rhain interrupted, his voice low. “I don’t need to know the specifics of what that deal entailed to understand.”

My skin flashed hot with prickly, stinging heat. Pressure clamped down on my chest.

Rhain stepped in closer. “Have you told Nyktos?”

The tightness moved to my throat.

Rhain took my silence as an answer. “That’s what I thought.” He looked across the courtyard, and then his gaze returned to mine. “I know you’re not asking for my advice, and I also know it isn’t my place to say shit, but those details won’t stay between you and Kolis.” His voice dropped even lower. “Kyn was still there, wasn’t he? He knows, and he clearly told Veses.”

The ground felt like it shifted beneath me. “It doesn’t matter. I know you don’t believe me, but nothing happened.”

“Sera—”

“It’s the truth.”

“Diaval knows.” Eather pulsed through his dark golden-brown eyes. “The damn draken overheard everything. I know what Kolis asked for in exchange for my freedom.”

Tonight, we’ll share the same bed.

I couldn’t feel my feet. “Nothing happened,” I insisted. “Kolis only wanted to sleep in the same bed. He didn’t try anything.” The essence sparked within me, and I had to count to five to quell it. “It was nothing, and that is the truth.”

“I…” Rhain swallowed and looked away. “It doesn’t matter if that is the truth when it’s not what others believe. Maybe that is wrong of me to say, but it’s reality. And maybe what I’m about to say is also wrong.” His eyes met mine. “Talk to Nyktos. Tell him before someone takes what should be your words to share and weaponizes them.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Standing on the balcony outside the chamber connected to our bedchambers, I felt Ash’s return from the Pillars as I watched a draken with violet-tinged scales and two curled horns fly over the courtyard. Based on Reaver’s description, I assumed it was Hymeria, one of the five female draken. She landed on the Rise beside Ehthawn, and the larger draken brushed his head over hers like I’d seen Reaver once do with Jadis. I pushed the damp hair from my face and then turned, grateful that Ash hadn’t come back when I’d been vomiting up Veses’ too-sweet, flowery blood.

I walked into the antechamber as the main doors opened, stopping at the side of the oval table. An aura of power flooded the space, and the room seemed to shudder in the heartbeats before Ash entered.

Thin wisps of shadowy eather swirled around his leather-encased legs as he stalked forward, his chin down. Strands of thick hair brushed the hard line of his jaw.

“I’m okay,” I was quick to assure him.

Ash said nothing, just stepped onto the dais. He crossed the distance between us, clasping my cheeks and tilting my head back. “That is not true.”

“It is—”

His flesh began to thin. “There are red marks on your left cheek that weren’t there before.”

I jolted, not having noticed that when I washed my face earlier. It had to be from when Veses’ eather had skimmed my face. “They don’t hurt.”

“I’m relieved to hear that.”

Tiny bumps broke out all over my skin in response to the chill. “You sure about that?”

“Yes.” Eather lit up the veins in his jaw.

I folded my hands over his forearms. “I’m completely fine.”

“There is blood in your hair, Sera.”

“Shit,” I muttered. “I thought I got it all out.” Shadows appeared beneath his skin, and I hastily added, “It’s not my blood. It’s Veses’.”

Ash’s eyes flashed pure silver as the shadows deepened and moved faster. “So, that was the cause of what you felt?”

“What exactly did you feel?”

“Anger,” he growled as the room’s temperature dropped even more. “I tasted hot, acidic anger.”

My stomach churned. “That doesn’t sound pleasant.”

“What was she doing here?”

“She wanted to see you.” Little misty puffs punctuated my words. I slid my hands to his chest, hoping to ease his anger. “Obviously, I didn’t take too kindly to that, but…” I glanced at the wall beside us and did a double-take. A fine layer of glittering ice spread across the sleek shadowstone. “Is that frost?” My gaze shifted back to Ash. Little of his bronze flesh was visible now. I grabbed his dark gray tunic. “I’m completely okay. I promise. Veses, on the other hand… Not so much.”

His eather-drenched eyes searched mine. “Honestly?”

“Yes.” I rose on tiptoe and kissed his icy lips. “There is no need to worry.”

A shudder went through him. “I feared it was…”

My heart cracked. “You had to know it wasn’t Kolis.”

“It wasn’t him I was thinking of.”

I started to ask who, but then I knew. Kyn. Veses’ taunt slithered through my thoughts. “You don’t need to worry about him either. I don’t want you to worry at all.”

Ash’s arms went around me, and he lifted me clear off my feet, holding me tightly to him. “I will never not worry about you, liessa.”

Looping my arms around his shoulders, I buried my face in his neck. His hand cradled the back of my head as he turned, leaning against the iced-over wall. He slid down until his ass was on the floor, and I was facing him, my knees pressed against the wall.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Do you promise not to freeze us if I do?”

His fingers curled into my hair, loosening the braid. “I’ll do my best.”

I kissed the space above his pulse. “I was with Jadis and Reaver when I felt a Primal arrive. I knew it wasn’t you or Attes, and I wanted to see who it was.”

“You knew it wasn’t Attes?” Surprise filled his tone.

“Mm-hmm,” I murmured against his throat.

“Your Primal senses are really kicking in. Soon, you’ll be able to tell which Primal it is before they arrive.”

My brows knitted. “Really? How?”

“I’ll explain, but you need to tell me what happened first.”

I was half-tempted to give my intuition time to answer for me, but the room was only beginning to warm. It would have to wait. “I went out onto the Rise, and Rhain was there. Veses didn’t seem to know you weren’t here—like she couldn’t sense your presence.”

“You were likely blocking her. She would have to be closer to tell if I was here or not,” he answered, confirming my theory. “It can happen when the true Primal of Death is near, too. You and Kolis would be the only ones unaffected by it.” His palm smoothed up my back. “What led to the blood in your hair?”

I cringed a little against his neck. “When I heard her say she wanted to see you, I sort of…you know, had one of those knee-jerk reactions.”

A rough chuckle shook both of us. “I am not surprised to hear that.”

“You probably also won’t be surprised to hear that Veses was being a bitch,” I said and then told him what’d happened.

Well, I told him everything except her taunts about how Rhain had been freed, despite Rhain’s advice. It wasn’t like I didn’t understand what he had been trying to tell me, but what would Ash do with that knowledge? Other than be enraged. “She was running her mouth, and I kind of lost it. I broke her nose.”

Another short laugh rumbled from Ash. “I assume with your fist?”

“More like my knee.” I rubbed my nose along the still-cold skin of his neck.

“Nice technique.”

“And I threw her down onto the road,” I continued. “By her hair.”

Ash fell silent.

“Then I kicked her, and I think I grabbed her by the hair again.”

He was still quiet, but I detected faint tremors along his shoulders and chest. He was…laughing.

I plopped my forehead on his shoulder. “And then—”

“There’s more?” he cut in.

“There is,” I muttered. “I broke her wrist.”

“Okay.”

I closed my eyes. “And I also bit her.”

The hand on my back stilled.

My hands fell to my thighs. I didn’t think he was angry since my knees were damp from where the frost had melted away. Or at least he wasn’t as angry as before. “That’s probably how I got her blood in my hair. I wasn’t exactly…precise when I did it. I kind of tore her throat open. Her blood tastes gross, by the way.”

Silence.

I squeezed my already closed eyes shut tighter. “Anyway, I then spit the blood in her face.”

Another beat of silence passed.

“Is that all?”

“Yeah?” Unease swirled.

Ash’s hand swept back down my back. “You aren’t confident in that answer.” As his hand moved back up, it curled around my braid. He gently tugged my face out of his shoulder, and his eyes met mine. Only faint streaks of eather were visible. “What are you not telling me?”

I slumped a little. “I wanted to kill her.”

His brows shot up. “That’s what you were holding back?”

“I mean, I would’ve killed her if Nektas hadn’t shown up—even after Rhain tried to talk sense into me, reminding me that I didn’t want war.” I shook my head. “And I really would have, Ash. I was that”—I held up my thumb and pointer finger, spacing them less than an inch apart—“close.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Only because Nektas was there. So, I’m not sure that counts.”

“It does.” His other hand ran along my jaw. “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you had.”

My mouth dropped open.

“I held back with Kyn, but it seems you’ve forgotten that I killed a Primal in anger. And I don’t regret doing it,” he continued. “I can tell you right now that Nektas wouldn’t have been able to stay my hand. Not when Hanan was standing between you and me.” He ran his thumb across my lower lip. “But he was able to reach you. So don’t feel too bad about it.”

I let what he said sink in. Ash hadn’t walked that line between vengeance and justice as well as I believed. And that made me feel a little better about what had almost happened, as messed up as that was.

So, I let go of the guilt and shifted my focus to what had preyed upon my mind as I stood out on the balcony. “As much as I hate to admit this, I think Veses was telling the truth about coming here to get you to talk me into taking Kolis’s deal.”

He tucked a shorter strand of my hair back behind an ear. “What makes you think that?”

I fixed the collar of his tunic. “Like I said before, she…cares about you—in her own twisted, messed-up way.” I quickly moved past that point before I slipped into a rage spiral. “She said I would regret not taking the deal.”

His jaw flexed. “Did she say this before or after you handed her ass to her?”

My lips twitched as I glanced down at my hands. “After I…” I frowned, staring at my nails. I had thought I’d gotten all the blood out from under them, but a tiny speck of dark red remained. It wasn’t that which caused my spine to straighten, though. “My nails grew.”

He looked down at my hands. “They look normal to me.”

“I know, but they lengthened and sharpened.” My eyes widened as I remembered what had happened when Aydun first showed. What had Nektas said then? Something about the…claws coming out. “Today wasn’t the first time that happened. I wonder if that means I’ll be able to shift sooner than you could.”

Lifting my left hand, he kissed the center of my palm. “Wouldn’t that make you special?”

“More special than you. Yes.”

He chuckled. “That’s okay. My fangs are still substantially more impressive than yours.”

I grinned, thoroughly enjoying his teasing because, gods, I really hadn’t realized how badly I’d missed the side of him I’d seen in the mortal realm. When he was just Ash, able to shed the weight of responsibility and forget the cause of the blood drops inked into his flesh for a little while. But that was who he was. He was once more that Ash.

A wide, likely half-crazed-looking smile spread across my lips, and I didn’t care about how I looked because this was us. Who we had been when we were strangers, then friends, enemies, and now…lovers. This was simply who we were when we were together. And if he was reading my emotions now, he would taste nothing but the sweetest, chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Nothing but love.

Veses’ warning followed me as the day progressed. It was hard not to think about it, even as Ash and I spent the better part of the day in the courtyard training alongside the guards.

The tension in my muscles that accompanied each swing of the sword and even the impact of the blades meeting felt so damn good. I broke a sweat but didn’t tire as I had before I Ascended. Not even after switching off with Bele, who managed to knock me on my ass. It had taken hours for me to tap out. Never in my life had I trained for that long.

Holland, wherever he was, would be proud.

We’d spent the evening with the Shadowlands gods, discussing battle strategy in case things went south and a full-scale war broke out. Where we would attack first, if we would. The best way to lay siege to Dalos. It wasn’t an easy conversation to have without knowing who our allies or enemies were.

I hated the fucking eirini.

With each passing day, it was getting harder not to think like Bele. To call for a meeting and reject Kolis’s offer.

But that wouldn’t be wise. It’d be reckless and a slew of other bad things. As much as I loathed the eirini, it gave us time to prepare the tomb beneath Oak Ambler.

It gave us time.

Gods, I should be asleep instead of staring at the ceiling.

At least I wasn’t staring at Ash like a creeper.

My mind wouldn’t shut down, alternating between, well…everything. Would Kolis wait out the eirini? How would he respond once I summoned the Primals? What about the prophecy? Then there was the confusing storm of conflicting emotions that had reared its head once more this evening when I fed from Ash, and he’d declined my offer. I’d felt relief and disappointment at the same time. Then shame. That still scalded each breath I took.

And if I wasn’t thinking about all of that, it was what Attes had confirmed about Sotoria when I saw him last and how desperate she must have been to ask such a thing of Eythos.

And how hard it had to be for Eythos to carry out her request.

It also made me think about how close I had come to the very same thing but for vastly different reasons—and by my own hand. Had Sotoria’s soul been aware of what I had done when I took too much of the sleeping aid? I didn’t think so, and I was grateful for that.

I didn’t want to dwell on Sotoria. It made me so godsdamn sad. And thinking about Sotoria—what was expected of her—made me angry. Obviously, we needed her to be reborn if we hoped to kill Kolis. None of the Primals were powerful enough to do it—at least not now. Maybe one day. But even if we succeeded in entombing Kolis, there would always be a risk to Sotoria.

I eventually shifted my thoughts to the reason behind spending the day training with mortal weapons. Not only was it important to keep those reflexes honed, but fighting with the essence against another Primal could spell disaster for the mortal realm. Still, there would be times when using the Primal essence was inevitable—when violence fueled the will behind it.

But there had been an impact when I’d used the eather against Kolis, and I worried about how that had played out in the mortal realm. What would the repercussions of anything that happened from here on out be?

I worried about my family.

And something else also occupied the back of my mind as I watched the silvery glow of starlight ripple across the ceiling. It was a feeling that I was supposed to remember something.

Something really important.

I searched my thoughts. They raced and came together like run-on sentences. I ended up back on the prophecy. Frustrated, I blew out an aggravated breath.

“Liessa,” Ash murmured, his sleep-roughened voice startling me. “Why are you not asleep?”

My lips pursed. “I am sleeping.”

His chuckle was low and throaty. “Want to try answering that again?”

I crossed my arms over the soft, knit blanket. “I’m just thinking.”

“About?”

“Everything.”

“I’m not sure it’s possible to think about everything.”

“My brain would like to disagree with that assumption.” I tilted my head to the side. In the darkness, I could see that his eyes were closed. “And how did you know I was awake?”

“I just did.”

My brows rose. “Care to elaborate?”

“I can’t explain it better than that.” He brushed several strands of hair back from his face. “I just knew you were awake, so I woke up.”

“That’s…different.”

“Is it?” The bed shifted as Ash rolled onto his side to face me. “Want to tell me what one of those things you were thinking about was?”

I started to tell him but stopped. “It’s not important enough to keep you awake.”

“Now I’m the one who gets to disagree.” Ash’s arm came around my waist. “If it’s important enough to keep you awake, it’s important enough for me to know.”

Gods.

That statement wasn’t just sweet. It was perfect.

“Liessa?”

Drawing in a shallow breath, I plucked out what felt most important at the moment. It likely wasn’t, but it mattered to me. “If we cannot prevent a full-scale war, what kind of damage could we be looking at?”

“A lot of energy is created when Primals fight, which builds up in the area,” he answered instead of asking why I had been thinking of that in the middle of the night. “It disperses, spreading throughout the realms. Just using the eather in the mortal realm can have an impact, depending on how much is expended.” His cold hand moved over the blanket and across my hand in smooth, slow circles. “Iliseeum is heavily warded and has been since the time of the Ancients. Those wards are tied to the Primal of each Court. As long as the Primal remains standing, the Courts are mostly protected, but the area where the Primals fight will sustain damage.”

“Like in Dalos,” I said, remembering how both fights had cracked walls and leveled trees. “And the mortal realm?” I knew the answer. I knew the answers to all of these questions. “It can manifest in several ways.”

“The release of energy, if big enough, can create tsunamis, earthquakes, and violent storms,” he said. “The severity depends on how intense the fight is. If a Primal falls without another being able to rise? You’re looking at all of those things but amplified.”

“Gods.” The muscles in my neck tightened. “Where would the impact hit? Across all the kingdoms?”

His hand stilled briefly. “Your foresight didn’t tell you what would happen?”

“No,” I whispered. There was nothing but silence then. My throat dried. “I don’t know why. It has nothing to do with me or the Fates unless…”

Ash was silent for a moment. “Unless it does.”

I closed my eyes. “Meaning it will happen.”

“We don’t know that.” Ash’s hand began to move again. “Remember what Holland said about threads. There is more than one way things can play out.”

I knew that, but the fact that it was even a possibility horrified me. As did the knowledge that every decision, action, reaction, and inaction, no matter how small, could drastically change things.

“Nothing is set in stone, liessa.” His lips brushed my temple. “We are proof of that. Don’t forget.”

“I won’t, but there is still a chance. And I want to warn Ezra. Because even if we prevent a war…” I didn’t need to finish. Ash knew there would be a fight, no matter what. “Lasania is a coastal kingdom.”

“You’re the true Primal of Life.” Ash’s leg curled under the blankets. The short, rough hairs of his leg tickled mine. “If you wish to warn the mortal realm, you can.”

“I know, but I want your advice,” I told him. “Being in a position to make these kinds of decisions is new to me. And even if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t—I don’t—want to be the only one deciding. Especially since my desire comes from a purely emotional place. Plus, even though warning them feels right, what if it causes unnecessary panic?”