Текст книги "Born of Blood and Ash"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 57 (всего у книги 63 страниц)

CHAPTER SIXTY

Holland arrived as dawn painted a canvas of wispy pink and orange that blended into the blue expanse. He did not linger at all this time.

He took my hand before he left but didn’t say anything; just held my gaze silently. I knew him well enough to recognize that the crease between his brows was one of concern, and his faint smile before it disappeared was full of conviction.

He was worried.

But he also had faith in me—in Ash and the others. And I chose to keep reminding everybody of that as we gathered in the war room.

The Ancient had faith in us, and that had to mean something.

Kolis had agreed to meet us in the Bonelands tomorrow when the sun was at its peak over the ruins of a Sun Temple. While I had no idea which one he spoke of, having only seen the bare bones of one during my brief time in the Shadowlands, Ash knew exactly which one.

“Kolis will not honor his word to come alone,” Ash stated. “We know he will bring his forces.”

“Good thing we don’t plan to honor that either,” Bele said from where she sat cross-legged at the other end of the table.

Ash’s smile was frigid. “Sera and I will be near the Temple but not in it. That thing is barely standing, and I don’t want either of us in it if it goes off the cliff.”

“I support that statement,” I said, earning a snort from Thierran, who sat by Penellaphe, the cowl of his hood up. “Where is this Temple, by the way?” I asked.

“It’s by the southern cove.” Standing, Theon pointed at a map of the Bonelands he’d drawn. It was spread across the table and pinned down by a dagger. “The Temple Kolis is talking about is here.” He dragged his finger up. “It sits on the bluffs overlooking the shore and faces the bay, but you will not have a clear view of the water from there with all the trees that have grown along the cliffs. The bay is the safest and quickest way to make landfall.”

Attes’s eyes narrowed on the map. “That shoreline is still rocky outside the bay, and the waters are rough.”

“That won’t stop the ceeren from coming ashore,” Saion stated. “They’ll have no problems traveling in that water. And once it gets shallow enough, they’ll shift forms.”

“And will come with weapons,” Rhahar added, glancing at Attes and Kars. “Everyone needs to remember they have a nasty bite.”

My head jerked up in surprise.

“The ceeren’s teeth are sharp as daggers and can take out chunks of flesh, scaled or not,” Saion explained, catching my stare before the vadentia could answer. “And I do mean all their teeth. They can also partially shift. So, even in their mortal forms, you’ll want to keep all body parts away from their mouths.”

My lip curled. I didn’t remember seeing anything like that when I was with them.

“Kolis has to know we have been in the Bonelands, but I want you to move our ships farther out either way, where the Primal mist will cloak them,” Ash said to Theon, eyeing the map with a thoughtful expression. “Aren’t there caves along that shore?”

“There are,” Theon answered. “And beneath the Temple, too.”

“Perfect,” Ash mused. He, Attes, and the twins had been doing most of the strategizing. I was doing a lot of listening. This wasn’t my wheelhouse, and I wasn’t familiar with the landscape. “Kolis will expect us to have backup, but I want our numbers hidden as much as possible.”

“He’ll either attack before he arrives or…” Attes said. “He may hold off if he thinks attacking will jeopardize him getting The Star.” His lashes lifted. “But the moment he realizes you don’t have it, he will come hard.”

My stomach dipped, but I wasn’t worried about that nugget of fear or embarrassed by it. Anyone with a head on their shoulders would feel that upon hearing that the true Primal of Death would go all out. And fear wasn’t necessarily bad as long as one harnessed it wisely.

“We need an archery regiment in those caves.” Ash brushed a shorter strand of his hair back from his face. “I want them there, knowing the moment the ceeren shift, they should let loose with the arrows, whether Kolis has arrived, attacked, or not.”

“Phanos’s ships will be carrying gods who don’t have fins,” Lailah pointed out. She had awakened sometime in the middle of the night, looking the same except for the brand-new Primal eyes. “That’s why he’ll come into the bay.”

Attes glanced at Ash. A moment passed, and Ash nodded for him to go ahead. “We want to stop as many of his forces from getting on land as possible.” His gaze found Nektas. “You’ll be staying close to your Queen.”

I rolled my eyes.

“And King,” he continued. “But we want a quadrant of draken on those cliffs.”

“Can do.” Nektas drew his thumb over his chin. “When the ships are sighted, you want them lit up?”

“Yes,” Ash answered without hesitation.

I shifted in my seat, uneasy with the knowledge that those ships would be packed like sardines and also that I wasn’t all that uncomfortable with the plan. Considering what I was, I kind of felt like I should be.

Oh, well.

I removed my hand from my stomach and propped my elbows on the table. “I doubt Kolis will put all his forces on those ships or in any one area.”

“It would be really nice of him if he did.” Lailah sat back, twisting a braid between her fingers.

Attes smirked. “The Bonelands’ eastern mountains border Dalos,” he said, referencing the mountains that’d once been the prisons. “And I know damn well that…Kyn would’ve put regiments there.” He cleared his throat. “We’ve had eyes on the Bonelands’ side, but there was no way to monitor movement into the mountains without being seen.”

“So, you think Kolis has regiments there already?” I asked.

“It’s what I would’ve instructed him to do.” He picked up his glass. “So, Kyn would have told him the same if discussions of the Bonelands arose.”

“They did while I was there,” I said. “With that in mind, I think it’s safe to assume he may have shared strategy plans with him.”

Attes took a drink. “Kyn would’ve moved them through the mountains and into the Bonelands when the decision was made to meet there. And he would’ve done so on foot. It will be faster than attempting it on horseback.”

My gaze shot to Ash’s. “That means Kolis can be doing that right now.”

“We have forces closer,” Ash reminded me. “Theon has been stationed not too far from there.”

“Below the Temple is an open area, bordered by the cliffs on one side and the forest on the other.” Theon circled his finger over an area of the map near the Temple. “I would suggest,” he said with a heavy sigh, “creating a first line of defense by moving the forces already there to the eastern forest. They can be there in an hour. It’s dense and dark. Enough that our soldiers would be hidden. A second line could be in the caves. The third line, near you and Sera. The trees are thickest there, so the strongest should be up there.”

Ash’s jaw tightened. “And because of how dense the eastern woods are, Kolis’s regiments will also be well hidden as they move westward. Those in that first line will get hit the hardest and suffer the most casualties.”

Theon inhaled deeply. “I know, but they are the closest, and we need to secure that open field to limit access to the Temple.”

Ash didn’t like it. Neither did I. But Theon was right. “Thierran, you’ll be up with us, nice and hidden. You need to stay out of all the fighting until Sera summons you, or you don’t have a choice.”

“That’s not much fun,” the God of Dreams remarked.

“Bele, you will be up with us.” Ash’s gaze flicked to Attes. “So will you.”

“I need to be on the second line,” Attes argued. “That’s where the fighting will be the heaviest. If our line breaks, the Temple will be overrun.”

“Good point.” Ash let out an aggravated breath.

“I’ll take Kars and you two.” Attes nodded at the cousins. “Rhain should be with you all.”

My gaze darted from Kars to Rhahar and Saion. While the latter had been Ascended, none of them were Primals. They were gods, which meant they could be killed with shadowstone and eather. Thinking that made my heart race, even though none of them looked nervous. Kars was actually smiling.

“I don’t think Saion should be on the second line,” I said. “Or in the Bonelands.”

Saion stiffened. “What do you mean?”

“We need Phanos taken out, and when that happens, you will finish your Ascension,” I reminded him—and everyone. “You’ll be vulnerable in those moments, and we may be unable to get you out.”

“Fuck,” he muttered, rubbing his brow. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Good call.” Ash smiled at me, and I felt like clapping myself on the back. Somehow, I managed to refrain from doing so. “The Shadowlands still need to be guarded in case Kolis attacks here to draw our attention. You will be needed here.”

Saion wasn’t happy, but he nodded.

“I am ready,” Penellaphe said, drawing our attention. “I know I haven’t been Ascended for long, but I am ready to join the fight.”

“As am I,” Ione joined in. “I have trained as a guard and can wield a sword.”

“Penellaphe,” Ash began.

“I know I may not appear to have had any training.” Penellaphe’s chin lifted, sending long, honey-hued strands cascading over her back. “But I, too, once trained as a guard.”

“It has nothing to do with that,” I said. “Eventually, you will have to use the eather despite your training, which will impact the mortal realm.”

“And it will already be severe with just Sera and Kolis on the field,” Ash said. “Add in Attes? Bele and me? Phanos? We must do whatever we can to prevent a full-scale war and lessen the impact on the mortal realm.”

Penellaphe relented first, then Ione reluctantly submitted.

“I assume this part of the conversation doesn’t apply to me.” Lailah looked over the table between Ash and me.

“You just woke up,” Rhain said. “You can’t be out there.”

Lailah’s brows shot up. “You cannot be serious.”

“He is,” Theon stated, crossing his arms. “Look, Aios isn’t arguing—”

“That’s because Aios isn’t a trained warrior!” Lailah’s head shot toward the redheaded Primal goddess. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Aios lifted a hand. “But even if I were, I understand why I cannot be on the field.”

Theon smirked at his sister.

Lailah’s eyes narrowed. “I am one of the most trained guards in all of Iliseeum—without using eather.”

“No one is denying that,” Attes said. “But you are vulnerable.”

“That’s bullshit.” Her nostrils flared.

“I would target you in battle,” I said. “If I knew someone on Kolis’s side had just Ascended into Primalhood, I would go after them. Not only because they would be vulnerable but because it would make others vulnerable. We would seek to protect you. That’s why Saion cannot be on the battlefield.”

Lailah’s mouth opened, but after a moment, it closed.

“I know it’s hard not to be out there when your brother and those you care about are.” I held her gaze. “Just as it is hard for Aios, Ione, and Penellaphe. And if you hadn’t just Ascended, we would have you out there instead of Bele.”

Bele scowled. “Rude.”

“However, as Nyktos said, we need to do everything we can to lessen the impact on the mortal realm,” I told her. “That is why we seized the other Courts. Not just to gain more numbers but also to prevent the Primals from fighting and adding to the harm that we—that I—have already caused.”

I could feel Ash’s gaze on me as I watched Lailah. Seconds ticked by, and then she finally exhaled heavily and nodded.

The meeting continued. Further plans were established. Draken blood had been drawn and sealed in the basalt vials. The bone chains were already deep underground in Oak Ambler, and once we were done with our discussions, I spent the better part of the day with Reaver and Jadis, soaking in as much time as I could with them while practicing finding Nektas’s imprint and communicating with him.

I was sure after about fifteen minutes he wanted to throw me out a window.

Then we all had dinner together, a fine current of unease humming under each laugh and smile. Ash and I made love, and each kiss, every sigh carried with it the hum of dread fueled by the knowledge that if we failed tomorrow, we would lose…

Our children.

Each other.

Our future.

Those we cared for.

Everything.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

Ash and I stood in silence among the thick, gnarled roots of the sweeping trees that jutted out from the sides of the rocky bluffs overlooking the coast of the sun-speckled Bonelands. The absence of birds singing or even the rustle of the smallest critters moving through the heavy foliage left only the sound of the salty breeze rattling the leaves.

My gaze swept over the land below surrounded by the bluffs and the dense forests bordering the fields. The wind whispered over the rocky hills and flowed through the valley, but the tall, thin, purple-and-red wildflowers that bloomed from the soil that cradled the bones of gods and mortals were still. So was the knee-high grass. It was almost as if the wind didn’t dare disturb the final resting place of the long-forgotten warriors that had fallen like leaves in an unforgiving autumn during the battle with the Ancients.

Under the sword strapped to my back, a chill tiptoed down my spine. “I don’t remember this place being so…”

Ash’s hand tightened around mine, and he tore his gaze from the horizon. “What?”

“Creepy,” I murmured.

“It only feels that way because you know what took place here,” he said, a strand of hair that had escaped the knot at his nape blowing across his cheek.

“That and all the dead bodies in the ground,” I pointed out. “How many do you think are buried here?”

“Tens of thousands.”

Gods.

I swallowed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that.”

Ash’s chuckle tugged at my lips as I eyed the forest. To the untrained or unsuspecting eye, it appeared as if Ash and I stood alone on the bluffs.

That was not the case.

The trees were so thick that only the thinnest rays of sunlight penetrated the depths, but every so often, I caught a brief reflection bouncing off our regiment’s sharpened shadowstone swords where they waited to the east. Just as we’d discussed, our ships lay shrouded in the heavy mists bordering the Skotos Mountains. Tucked within the embrace of the jagged cliffs and within the caves beneath us, Attes stood with the bulk of our armies, their discipline ensuring no clank of armor nor murmur betrayed them. Seven of our draken were nestled among the crags of the cliffs, their scales blurring the line between rock and beast. Bele and Rhain, along with Thierran and a smaller regiment, were hidden in the trees along the bluff we stood upon.

I took a deep breath and held it for the count of five as I turned my attention to the ancient, sprawling Temple on the bluff to our right. The thing was massive, the length the same as the House of Haides.

“It was one of the first Temples erected,” Ash said, following my gaze. “Where Ancients once greeted mortals.”

The Temple must have been a sight to behold. It was impressive even now, with its fractured walls and half-crumbling pillars bearing the scars of war and time. The defiant roof remained, as well as several halls and some inner walls of chambers.

Exhaling for the count of five, I looked past the ruins. “I hate waiting.”

“Never would’ve guessed that,” Ash remarked, his gaze piercing the horizon.

Time stretched thin and taut as we waited for the serpent to lift his head from his lair. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been here, but I knew it had to be past the time when Kolis agreed to meet.

Eather pulsed. “What if I was wrong?” I whispered in a voice barely louder than the rattle of leaves.

“You’re not.” Ash’s thumb swept over my marriage imprint. “You know that. He’s just trying to assert control.” His silvery gaze met mine. “But he has no control. Not over us. Not over what will happen.”

I nodded, forcing myself to inhale again. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just—”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” he interrupted, squeezing my hand as he lowered his head to kiss me. “Being anxious is normal.”

My lips tingled when he returned his attention to the sea. I found myself staring at the ruins once more. The Temple was on the brink of collapse, sustained only by deeply rooted desperation and deception but very close to completely collapsing under one strong wind. It sort of mirrored Kolis’s reign, didn’t it? And Ash and me? We were the storm that would topple the false King’s dominion.

Tension charged the atmosphere as I cast my gaze to the horizon, where the seas disappeared into the sky.

“There they are,” murmured Ash.

My eyes narrowed as white-tipped waves formed and were replaced by quick bursts of color—vivid blues, glittering pinks, and intense greens. Line after line formed, their fins silently slicing through the water. They were fast, giving only seconds-long glimpses of their muscular arms and sleek bodies undulating in the water as sunlight filtered through the waves and glinted off shadowstone swords secured firmly to their backs. As they drew closer, I could make out cloth the color of the sea, partially covering their chests and tails.

Well, at least our forces would not have to fight against nude regiments. That seemed like it would be rather distracting.

A sudden pulse of thought, urgent and clear, reached me. Meyaah Liessa, Nektas called. We have spotted Phanos’s fleet.

My free hand fisted. “Phanos’s ships have been seen.”

Ash’s lip peeled back in a quiet snarl as he released my hand and stepped forward. Anger and bitter disappointment rose, stoking the eather. The corners of my vision turned white as I stepped up on the rock beside Ash.

I’d known that Kolis would not honor his word and come alone. We hadn’t. And I’d also known Phanos would show. None of that was surprising. Still, I couldn’t get past the fact that he stood with Kolis. That his fear of the Primal god was that great. Or maybe it wasn’t fear. Perhaps Saion and Rhahar were correct, and Phanos simply preferred that things not change. Static danced over my skin. It didn’t matter either way.

Ash turned, placing his hand on my cheek. Where I stood on the rock, put us at eye level. “Phanos made his choice,” he said, the timbre of his steady voice contrasting with the storm brewing within my very being. “And he will die today for it.”

He would.

Concentrating, I followed Nektas’s imprint. The moment they near the bay, let me know.

Will do.

Ash’s fingers found mine once more. Our hands clasped, entwined like the roots of the ancient trees surrounding us. I looked at him. His gaze met mine. There was so much love and strength there that I felt the eather rippling inside me. But there was also a pinch of concern to the line of his mouth as his other hand clasped the back of my head.

“There are no more lines to be crossed, liessa. If you need to use the essence, do not hold back,” he said, drawing his thumb over my pulse. “Unleash everything you have in you to protect yourself and our children. That will not make you the kind of monster you fear.” His eyes searched mine. “It will only make you a mother defending our babes’ lives, and that is all that matters. Understood?”

Drawing in a staggered breath, I nodded. “I will not hold back.”

“And you will not let any of it leave a mark,” he commanded, eyes lighting with eather.

“I won’t,” I swore.

“That’s my girl.”

Ash’s lips crashed into mine. The kiss was deep and fierce, an urgent clash of tongues and fangs that sent a jolt of raw energy coursing through him to me. It was a proclamation that became a promise as he spoke. “The next time we kiss, it will be over Kolis’s body.”

A savage smile spread across my lips. “I can’t wait.”

Letting go of my neck, he held on to my hand until I jumped from the rock. Ash and I stood vigilant, like a pair of sentinels.

“The ceeren have slowed,” Ash noted.

Every muscle in my body tensed. Time seemed to slow to an infinite crawl, and then I heard Nektas’s voice once more. Phanos’s ships are nearing the bay. There was a pause. Ehthawn can see soldiers on the gangways. Some are beginning to lower boats.

My hands fisted as I repeated the update to Ash.

“I know we want Kolis out in the open before striking, but we can’t let those ships get close,” Ash reminded me. “They get on shore, we’ll be swamped.”

Holding his gaze, I nodded. Concentrating on Nektas’s imprint, I exhaled slowly. Burn the ships coming toward the bay. All of them.

There was silence once more as I turned my gaze back to the sky. Theon had been right. From where we stood, we couldn’t see the bay or where Ehthawn and Crolee were hidden in the eastern mountain coastline. I didn’t even see or hear them take flight, but I didn’t take my eyes off the sky over the bay. The clouds were scattered and wispy but still provided some level of coverage. I held my breath and counted to five.

Suddenly, the two dark shapes belonging to Ehthawn and his cousin appeared above the clouds. In the next heartbeat, they broke free, diving toward the bay. Twin streams of flames erupted from them. I sucked in a short breath as the entire landscape suddenly lit up with the silvery glow of draken fire.

We couldn’t see the ships, but we heard the exact moment the fire struck them. It was a boom of splintering wood and a rage of crackling embers that muffled shouts of pain. The feeling of death followed and kept coming, pressing down on my chest as Crolee and Ehthawn flew over each other, raining down fiery destruction as they continued farther out.

A piercing whistle came from the sea by the bluffs, jerking our attention from the silvery glow. The ceeren were moving once more, racing toward the shore.

“Fire!” Theon called from below.

The sharp whistle of arrows taking to the air quickly answered. I wanted to look away but forced myself to watch as the projectiles plummeted at neck-breaking speed. Lean bodies suddenly jerked while others swam past. Fins disappeared under water rapidly turning a reddish hue.

Another volley of arrows was released as the sea churned with raw, primal ferocity when the ceeren breached the surf. They didn’t even miss a step. Saltwater coursed off their lithe forms, and they shed their iridescent scales in a shimmery wave of eather as they withdrew their swords. Within a few heartbeats, the shore was filled with ceeren. Our soldiers rushed from the caves. Swords met as arrows ripped through the sky above them, aiming for those in the water.

My nails dug into my palms when I saw one of ours fall. Eather pressed against my skin as I caught sight of Theon driving his blade through a ceeren’s chest. I stepped toward the bluff’s edge—

Clashing of swords from the eastern forests rang out, whipping our heads around. Branches rattled and snapped as bursts of eather lit up the shadows.

The echo of death was continuous now.

Our first line in the forest fell with shocking swiftness, causing my heart to stutter. Essence poured into my veins.

“Breathe.” Ash captured my hand. The feeling of his flesh against mine was grounding. “You need to conserve your energy for when Kolis gets here.”

It took everything in me to hold back as Kolis’s soldiers burst from the shadows of the forest hugging the field’s edges, a sea of crimson sweeping across the land.

A crackling bolt of eather echoed from below, slamming into the center of the soldiers as Attes led the second line out onto the field in a clash of shadowstone and eather. It was hard to make sense of what I was seeing for a moment. The fighting was chaotic and brutal, drenching the tall grass in shimmering red.

A shout from behind us caused my heart to drop. I turned to the trees, fingers splaying wide as blades streaked against blades and armor echoed.

“They got behind us somehow.” Ash cursed. “That division must’ve split off at some point, skirting the area to come up the bluffs.”

I reached behind me and unsheathed my sword, catching quick, darting glimpses of crimson among the trees.

“Here they come,” Ash said, unhooking the short swords from his chest.

The air thrummed with tension as the ground beneath us vibrated with pounding footfalls. I couldn’t think of Bele, Rhain, or anyone flanking us. I had to focus.

Without warning, a figure leapt from one of the jagged cliffs above, his silhouette outlined against the sky for half a second. There was a glint of something dull and white.

He landed before me with a thud and rose as several more figures came over the cliff. My gaze locked with the one before me. His eyes were a pale, milky blue, framed by wings painted in crimson.

Revenants.

I had to give it to Kolis. Sending the ones who couldn’t easily be killed to the Temple was clever.

Darting to the left, I dipped under the Revenant’s swing and popped up. My sword cut through the air, cleaving the Revenant’s neck. Blood spewed as he fell forward.

“Not the head.” Ash kicked a Revenant back into the rocky wall. “We need their mouths or, at the very least, their throats intact.”

“Whoops.” My gaze went to the shard of bone the Rev had dropped. It was more like a spike. I saw then that the Revenant wore gloves.

Damn, we should’ve thought of that.

“They have Ancient bones,” I shouted as Ash withdrew his sword from a Revenant’s chest.

“I see that.” Ash grunted, sending a Revenant over his shoulder.

I picked up the fallen bone, wincing as it burned my left hand. I didn’t hold it for long. Without hesitation, I thrust it into the Revenant’s back, hoping it would keep the fucker dead until it was removed—like it incapacitated a Primal.

Ash snapped the bone of a Revenant’s arm. Its Ancient-bone spike hit the rocky soil as Ash grasped him by the throat. “Where is Kolis?”

The Revenant said nothing, and energy suddenly ramped up, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to rise.

“I will only ask you one more time.” Ash lifted the Revenant into the air. “Where the fuck is Kolis?”

Slowly, I turned toward the eastern mountains. White, puffy clouds thickened, darkening into steely gray before turning a deep charcoal. They rolled over the peaks and the forests of the Bonelands, casting an ominous shadow. The temperature started to drop, and I knew Ash was only partially responsible for it.

My heart slowed. My breathing evened out.

Awareness throbbed in my chest as eather pulsed hotly through me.

Kolis was here.

A loud rumble echoed through the skies like heavy thunder, muffling the sharp clang of blades striking against one another.

“Finally,” Ash muttered, dropping the Revenant.

Off the cliff.

Well, that was one way to get rid of a Revenant.

A dark shadow glided through the churning clouds over the field. My grip on the sword firmed. The pulse of death continued to flare from the battlefield below.

A large draken broke through the clouds, casting a foreboding shadow over the valley. I knew this draken, recognized the onyx scales that looked as if they’d been dipped in crimson.

Naberius.

I felt Nektas draw near as the draken’s battle-worn wings swept out, slowing his descent over the cliffs above. His hind legs touched down on the ridge above us, shaking the land when his forelegs lowered. Talons dug into the rocky ledge, sending soil and rock tumbling. The draken, with his crown of immense horns arching back, turned his head toward us. Snarling, his lips peeled back over sword-sharp teeth. Nab snarled and lowered himself, revealing the—wait. My mouth dropped open. There was no way, but unless I was hallucinating, the figure in crimson astride his colossal back was Kolis.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing as I sheathed the short sword. Glancing at Ash, I saw that he didn’t look surprised to see Kolis riding the draken.

A rush of powerful air flowed up the side of the bluffs behind us as Nektas made his presence known. His wings swept over Ash’s and my heads as he landed beside us, shaking the ground and the Temple ruins. He prowled forward, wisps of smoke wafting from his nostrils when he lifted his head toward Nab, releasing a long, low rumble of warning.

Nab huffed, his eyes narrowing—his crimson eyes. I stiffened as I stared. The irises encircling the thin, vertical pupils were still red. That didn’t make any sense. All the draken—

Then it struck me, filling me with another wave of disbelief. What Ash had said about Naberius being as old as Kolis now made sense. Nab wasn’t a normal draken.

Naberius was the bastard’s version of Ash’s Odin.

The true Primal of Death and the true Primal of Life didn’t ride upon horses. I should’ve known that, but the information had been buried with all the other stuff I’d learned during my Ascension.

My eyes widened again as another realization slammed into me. That meant that when I was ready, and that cuff magically appeared, it wouldn’t be a horse I summoned—

I stopped those thoughts. Now was so not the time to focus on that.

“Nice of you to finally join us,” Ash spoke, his voice calm but each word laced with hatred.

Kolis leaned back, letting go of one of the spikes protruding from Nab’s back. His golden hair fell over his forehead, obscuring a part of the crimson wings he’d painted on his face. How cute. Now, he matched his minions. “You burned my ships.”

I snapped out of my stupor, stepping forward. “We burned Phanos’s ships.”

Eyes streaked with crimson slid to me.

“Do not look at her,” Ash growled, his flesh thinning and shadows appearing underneath.

Kolis smirked and continued staring down at me.

The shadows in Ash’s flesh darkened as tendrils of eather spilled out of him.

He’s about to lose it, Nektas warned me.

I reached over, fingers gliding through the icy eather gathering around him. Placing my hand on his arm, I squeezed gently.

Ash’s eyes flashed pure silver. I feared he would launch himself at Kolis for a moment, but then the mist around him slowed.

“Charming,” Kolis remarked. “That Fate claimed it would just be a meeting among us three.”

“And you agreed to that. But, unsurprisingly, you did not honor it,” I retorted, letting go of Ash’s arm.

He gestured idly to the fighting on the field below. “It appears to me that neither did you.”

“Of course, not,” Ash replied. I saw Bele creeping closer through the trees to our right. “We knew you wouldn’t be brave enough to show alone.”

Nab snarled at Ash as Kolis leaned forward. The curve of the Primal’s lips immediately set off warning bells.