Текст книги "Born of Blood and Ash"
Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout
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Текущая страница: 58 (всего у книги 63 страниц)
“Do not say whatever it is you’re thinking,” I warned, eather crackling in my veins as the field below us lit up with streaks of eather. I felt Phanos’s arrival.
I wanted to turn to the fighting but didn’t dare take my eyes off Kolis.
His grin grew into a twisted smile, causing the wings painted on his face to lift. “Nephew,” he purred, and my skin crawled. “I can still taste her blood in my mouth and feel her on my fingers.”
There was no time to feel anything in response to his words. Not disgust or shame. Not even anger. Ash shifted instantly, his flesh hardening and turning as dark as the night. Eather swept out from his back in twin arcs. I grabbed his arm again.
“Don’t.” I held on. “Don’t give him what he wants.”
Frigid air poured across the bluffs, a thin layer of ice forming on the compacted soil and rock. The sound that came from Ash rumbled over the area, and I knew I needed to act quickly. Nektas drew his head back, his frills beginning to vibrate. We’d gotten what we needed. Kolis had been lured out. Now, we just needed him off Naberius and preferably not on a damn cliff above us before I summoned Thierran.
Ash was beginning to rise beside me. “You came here for The Star,” I shouted, my grip on Ash’s arm slipping. “Being disgusting won’t help you get what you’ve always wanted.”
Kolis didn’t look away from Ash as he said, “I’m curious. What exactly made you change your mind, Seraphena?”
“I want this to end,” I answered, hearing Ash’s growl grow louder. “Too much blood has been spilled.”
“You’ve spilled far more than I,” he replied. “You’ve cost me Embris, Veses, and Kyn.”
“I have, but that is nothing compared to what you have done in all your years or what we will both do if we continue fighting.” I was relieved to see that Ash had regained some control over himself. He returned to the ground beside me, but his skin was still the hue of shadowstone. “I want to end this. Right now.”
Kolis’s chuckle turned my stomach. “What did I tell you, Seraphena? The last time we had the pleasure of being in each other’s presence?”
“I don’t know,” I gritted out. “You talk a lot and yet speak only bullshit, so it’s kind of hard to remember everything.”
His upper lip curled, and blotches of crimson appeared on his skin. “You had your chance to accept the deal I offered. That is no longer on the table. You will give me The Star, and I will have both of you in chains.”
Kolis lifted his hand. I heard them before I saw them, the rasp of their claws against rock.
They came from behind Kolis, as large as warhorses, their slick, obsidian skin as hard as shadowstone, and their heads featureless except for the thin slits above their gaping maws.
Dakkais.
Dozens of them.
Naberius rocked back, pushing off the cliff with a powerful sweep of his wings as the dakkais leaped into the air.
“Fuck,” Ash growled, pulling his swords free once more.
There was no way to keep track of Kolis as the nightmarish beasts rushed us.
I unsheathed the sword as Nektas’s head snapped forward. He caught one of the dakkais in his mouth. Turning his head sharply, he split the creature in two as one leapt toward Ash, but he was quick, plunging his sword into the creature’s chest.
I spun as a dakkai charged, saliva dripping from its teeth. I cleaved off its head as I caught sight of Bele leaping over a fissure. She landed on a boulder, effortlessly switching to a bow and shadowstone arrows to avoid the eather drawing the dakkais. Rhain raced out of the trees, followed by several soldiers.
Ash swore, kicking a dakkai back as sudden screams of pain tore through the air. I whirled toward the field, my breath catching in horror when I saw dozens more dakkais joining the fray.
“Sera!” Ash shouted, spinning me around.
Hot breath that smelled of sulfur and stale lilacs swamped me. I thrust out with the sword, but the creature yelped before I made contact, falling to the ground. One of Ash’s blades jutted from its back.
Nektas’s tail swept across the ground, edging me back and releasing a stream of fire. Silver flames engulfed the dakkais, but more came over the cliff’s edge, snarling and spitting. I braced myself, but they veered to my right.
They were heading straight for Nektas.
“Nektas!” Ash yelled, bringing his sword down as Rhain drove his into a dakkai’s back.
I screamed when the dakkais swarmed the draken, digging into his scales with their claws. They climbed him as he slammed his tail down and twisted, trying to shake them off. Blood sprayed the ground, and Nektas reared back, emitting a deep cry.
The sight of his blood and the sound of his pain undid whatever restraint I had left in me. The air around me charged, reacting to the eather erupting from my pores.
“Don’t!” Ash shouted. “It will draw them to you.”
“I know,” I growled. That’s what I wanted. The moment eather sparked, the dakkais clawing at Nektas froze, then lifted their heads in unison.
The clouds above us deepened in color as rage poured into me. I thrust out my left hand, silvery strands of eather tinged in gold erupting from my palm and mirroring my will. The tendrils lifted and arced, slamming into the dakkais, throwing them off Nektas and to the ground, where they lay smoldering.
A shadow rushed over us, and I looked up to see Aurelia. She landed near Nektas, tucking a wing over his side, fire spilling from her mouth. She turned her head, enveloping the dakkais that remained on the bluffs.
I rushed to Nektas’s side, careful of the dripping blood. My heart twisted as I saw the deep gouges in his sides. He’d be okay. He had to be. Fear dripped through me. “Nektas?”
I’ll heal, came his raspy voice. I just need a few minutes.
“I want you out of here,” I demanded.
That’s not going to happen.
“Where did he go?” Ash seethed, stalking forward. He jerked to a stop and then rushed past me, heading toward the edge overlooking the battlefield.
Bele jumped off the rock, driving her knee into a fallen Revenant’s chest, knocking it back. She slammed her blade into its chest as it started to come back to life.
“Rhain!” she shouted. “We need to put them down.”
The god rushed to Bele’s side, and I turned to Aurelia. “Keep him safe until he’s healed.”
She answered by shielding his head with her much smaller one.
“Not again,” Bele groaned, rising as Revenants swarmed the bluff. “Oh, great. And we’ve got even more visitors.”
Ash’s head cut toward the bluff overlooking the sea. Ceeren pulled themselves over the edge, their beautiful faces streaked with blood. I took a deep breath, holding it.
I knew Kolis was still nearby. He was hiding somewhere. But when my gaze met Ash’s, I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. We couldn’t leave everyone to deal with this.
I stalked toward the nearest Revenant, deflecting a blow. Then another. I glanced up, seeing red scales high above the clouds. It was Naberius, but that wasn’t good news.
“Kolis’s draken,” I hissed, driving the sword through a Revenant’s chest.
“Focus on the Revenants,” Ash commanded, his voice laced with authority. “Our draken will meet his in the sky.”
I nodded, steeling myself for the carnage to come as the air came alive with bloodshed. Shoving a Revenant back, Ash sliced into its chest.
Aurelia caught a ceeren in her jaws, and Nektas threw at least three into the trees with a punishing sweep of his tail. The wounds in his side didn’t seem as deep as before.
I drove my sword down and saw blood dotting Rhain’s face. “You okay?”
“Not my blood.” He knelt by a fallen Rev, pulling a vial from his satchel. He pried the mouth open, pouring two second’s worth of draken blood into the Revenant’s mouth. “At least, not all of it.”
I glanced at the Revenant Rhain knelt by. It was still out, but its body began convulsing as its flesh flushed and then bubbled—
“You’re probably not going to want to watch that,” Rhain called.
Too late.
The bubbles along the Revenant’s flesh exploded, and the skin melted. I lowered my sword as muscles and tendons caught fire as if they were nothing but paper. Holes appeared in bones and ignited, burning even those. There was nothing left but a mess of pink and scraps of charred flesh.
“That is…disgusting,” I muttered.
“Sera!” Ash shouted. “Behind you!”
I spun, coming face-to-face with a shadowstone blade wielded by a dark-haired goddess. A wave of fiery pain went down my arm as I lurched to the side.
Ash’s growl tore through the air a second before a stream of shadowy eather smacked into her.
“Are you okay?” Ash was at my side in a heartbeat.
“Yes.” I breathed through the pain. “Just a scratch.”
He stared at me for a moment, then snapped forward. Pinching my chin in a gentle grip, he thrust his sword, catching either a ceeren or a Revenant as he kissed me.
He lifted his head and pulled his sword free. His hand dropped to my hip, and he nudged me to the side, gripping the hair of what turned out to be a ceeren. It snapped at him, and he dragged his sword up, disemboweling it.
Above, roars shattered the skies when our draken met Kolis’s. Flames of eather licked from their jaws as they descended upon his draken. Talons dug in, ripping through hard scales.
I dragged my attention away, scanning for any sign of Kolis. A ceeren came at me, the cloth she wore dripping pinkish water. Her full lips peeled back over bloody teeth. I parried a blow aimed at my heart.
Another charged, and I threw out my hand. Eather powered down my arm. The burst of Primal energy slammed into the ceeren. He stumbled back, looking down at the charred hole in his chest. His knees buckled, and I clenched my jaw against the throb of death.
The female ceeren screamed, drawing her sword back—
A shadowstone blade sliced through her neck. Her body went in one direction and her head in the other.
Ash stood there, more fresh blood dripping from his sword.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” His gaze turned to the sky as a red-and-black draken dug its talons into the back of a smaller, brown one. “Fucking Diaval.”
I inhaled sharply as Diaval tore into the draken’s throat, ripping through scales and bone. Aurelia let out a staggering, mournful call when the brown draken fell, shifting into his mortal form.
Ehthawn crashed into Diaval with a thunderous clap. They were a spiral of wings and talons, tearing into each other. Behind them, another draken plunged into the ocean, sending a geyser of water shooting into the sky.
I staggered at the haunting sight, forcing my gaze away. I couldn’t let it get to me right now.
Ash prowled toward the cliff’s edge. Scanning the sky for Naberius, I joined him.
Down below, I saw Phanos take a hit of Primal essence, throwing him back as Attes stalked forward, eather dripping from his fingers.
“Kolis is still here,” I said, my chest rising and falling sharply. Rhahar leapt over a dakkai, slamming his sword through a crimson god’s head.
“And so are the rest of his armies.” Ash lifted his blood-soaked sword, pointing at the forest line.
My gaze lifted, and the air fled my lungs.
A wave of crimson flowed out of the trees like an unforgiving tide. Thousands swarmed the field, just like the dakkais on the bluff had. And they kept coming.
“The bulk of their armies wasn’t on the ships,” I whispered.
“No,” Ash growled.
The sea of crimson swept over the field, causing my heart to stutter. There were too many, especially with Theon’s forces still battling the ceeren. I flinched as Phanos struck Attes, knocking him into a dakkai’s path—
A fair-haired soldier snapped forward, blocking the dakkai from reaching Attes. Kars. It was Kars who jabbed out with his blade. He was quick but…
The dakkai clamped down on his throat.
“No!” I shouted, lurching forward. A shudder went through me, warming my palms.
Ash caught my arm, but I barely felt his grip as both the dakkai and Kars went down.
Attes stumbled and grabbed the dagger, tossing it aside. He was frozen for a second, almost like he was thinking the same thing I was. What had Kars been thinking? He was a godling. Attes would’ve likely handled the dakkai, but it didn’t matter. It was too late. Attes stepped back. His free hand fisted, and he turned his head toward Phanos. A scream of rage erupted from him, and he flew toward the other Primal just as two draken spiraled to the ground below, locked in a deadly embrace, blood and fiery eather pouring out of them both.
“Crolee,” Ash rasped. They hit the rocky shore, the impact an echo of finality that caused my body to flash cold and then hot.
A buzzing started in my ears, muting Nektas’s call of sorrow. I pulled my arm free of Ash’s, the sword I held slipping from my fingers and clanging off the ground.
More crimson soldiers surged forward from the mouth of the forest, their armor and swords not yet bloodied by battle. I could barely see our people among the crimson gods—could barely hear Ash’s voice as he grabbed a ceeren, snapping its neck. I looked down the bluff’s rocky hill, seeing gods in crimson scale the peak. I thought Ash was calling my name as an eather arrow struck the first god who crested the rise.
I wasn’t breathing.
We were failing. My hand went to my stomach. Our future was slipping between our fingers. They would all die while Kolis hid. Rhahar. Our soldiers. Possibly even Attes. Then Rhain and Bele, once they swarmed the bluff. Their bodies would fall, just as Kars and Crolee had. Their bones would join…
They’re called the Bonelands.
I looked down, the blood dripping from my fingers darkening the soil and rock.
The land was littered with those who’d fallen in the war with the Ancients, the remains of gods, long-since-forgotten mortal warriors, Primals, and…
And dragons.
Suddenly, I saw the Shade in the Dying Woods—the one I’d touched. How it had started to come back to life.
There was a reason I’d suggested the Bonelands to Ash. Why I had stood on the Rise looking at the Shades after I’d brought life back to the Shadowlands.
Death couldn’t break the bonds of Life’s touch.
I looked at Ash. “I’ll be right back.”
He shoved a god from his sword, and his head jerked toward me. Eather swelled in me as I stepped toward the edge. He shouted my name, and it carried on the wind when I shadowstepped to the field below, near Kars’ body.
Locked in their own fights, no one noticed me as I stalked forward. Dropping to my knees beside the godling, I slammed my hands onto the bloodied grass, eather swelling inside me and combining with all the yawning hopelessness and bitter desperation I’d felt moments ago. But I channeled everything in me—the suffocating fear and soul-destroying shame for what had been done to me, for what I’d done to the mortal realm—and all of it built inside me.
Then, I let go.
Because no more would die. We would not fail. Our future wasn’t lost.
The edges of my vision turned silver and gold, snapping my head back. “I am done with this!” A scream of rage erupted from deep within me, releasing the Primal essence—unleashing my will as I summoned the fallen gods and dragons. “All of this.”
All across the field, heads turned to me. Soldiers in crimson and dark gray froze as my hands sank through the grass and into the soil, and eather whirled down my arms. Attes turned, and Phanos staggered back, his bloody mouth dropping open when the eather receded from his veins. Silvery-white light drenched the ground, rippling out from my hands.
Beneath me and all around, the ground trembled and then roared. Deep fissures appeared across the sacred land, spreading like veins, opening and spewing soil and rocks into the air.
A heartbeat passed.
Then two.
Thin, bleached-white fingers appeared in the clouds of dust radiating from the fissures. They dug into the disturbed soil, clawing their way free. Fleshless arms appeared from the darkness. Hairless skulls. And they kept coming, a wave of bone and tattered tunics, bearing the sigils of forgotten kingdoms, their bony hands lifting ancient, rusted swords. The great hills deep within the forests shuddered, uprooting trees and shedding centuries of sediment until foot-long, serrated teeth became visible. Wings of cartilage and delicate bones lifted into the air. The wind answered in a whisper, two words that echoed over and over as an army rose.
Meyaah Liessa.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
The army of bones held still as soil continued falling. They waited for orders.
They waited for me.
Their Queen.
“Protect what is mine. Destroy the crimson soldiers,” I hissed, eather pounding into each word as my will poured into my army. “Destroy the crimson draken and those who came from the sea, then return to your rest.”
All across the field and into the forest, the army swept forward, and dragons rose into the air, their bones creaking and grinding together. Their roars were deeper, more guttural, sending a wounded Diaval fleeing toward the eastern mountains.
The screams that came brought a smile to my face as I rose, essence crackling from my fingertips. Across the field, a wave of red was falling into the grass, littering the ground.
A flash of crimson-and-gold snagged my attention. My gaze shot to the ruins of the Temple. I caught a fleeting glimpse of Kolis’s silhouette right before he slipped through the half-crumbling archway of the old Temple.
I walked forward, a burst of eather rushing through me as Diaval dove through the thick clouds, releasing a stream of fire that pounded the field, igniting everything in its path, killing both crimson and black soldiers alike.
Rage exploded in my gut. My vision narrowed on the draken, the realm fading into a red haze of fury. Instinct took over, and I inhaled, pulling eather from the realm. All across the field, tiny silvery dots appeared and pulsed. They raced toward me in a flash, joining the crackling essence gathering around my palm as I stepped forward. Thrusting out my hand, a spinning, crackling stream of silver-and-gold eather erupted from my palm. The raw Primal power slammed into the pretty-haired fucker’s underside.
The funnel of fire evaporated, and Diaval let out a whine of pain. His wings flapped wildly, and the eather swept over his body before fading out. He veered sharply, his horned head swinging toward me. An outline appeared through the clouds, twice the size of Nektas, beginning to swirl and thin.
Diaval hovered in the air, letting out a roar that shook the trees.
Smirking, I lifted an arm and extended my middle finger. The wings of a bone dragon scattered the dark clouds.
Diaval twisted in midair, but the bone dragon was fast, tearing its claws into the draken’s back. I only winced a little at his scream of pain. My attention shifted back to the Temple. I shadowstepped to the archway.
In the shadowy interior, a crimson god stood before me. He was tall and slender, with hair as blond as mine and eyes the color of citrine. He smiled at me, and it was like Kolis’s. Fake. Cold.
“Who are you?” I asked.
The god bowed slightly. “Varus.”
“Oh. You.”
He straightened, the smile turning smug. “You’ve heard of me?”
“Barely.”
Varus frowned.
I shot forward and gripped the god by the throat, then turned, throwing him through an opening between the pillars. His shout of surprise faded as he plummeted to the field below. The army of bones would take care of him.
Footsteps echoed through the entire Temple. Within seconds, the decaying halls were filled with Kolis’s soldiers.
One smirked, withdrawing a dull white sword. “You shouldn’t have come alone.”
“She didn’t,” came a deep voice behind me, his fresh citrus scent sweeping over me.
I smiled, and the god’s grin faded.
“Was that just Varus?” Ash asked, handing me one of his swords. “Being thrown out of here?”
“It was.”
He chuckled, his hand grazing my hip as he stepped forward. I thought I smelled the faint scent of his blood, but it was passing. “I assume there’s a reason you’re here.”
“Kolis.” I looked to my right when the gods charged. “He’s playing hide and seek. Are you injured?”
“Of course, the coward is. And no, I’m not injured,” he said. “By the way, there are a whole lot of dead people doing a whole lot of killing out there.”
“Good.”
The soldiers surrounded us, and my grip tightened around my sword, the blade an extension of my will. Breathe in. They attacked at once. There was no time to think or feel fear in the chaos of blades. Hold. Blood sprayed the failing walls as I sliced through one god and then another. I fell into the madness, barely feeling the bone-shaking blows, my sword clashing with others. I no longer felt the echoes of death, or maybe it was just so constant that I had finally tuned it out. Breathe out. Back-to-back with me, Ash fought with deadly precision, his movements lethal. Hold. I cut down a god, cleaving his body in two, and stepped over the mess—
A blow connected with my jaw, knocking my head back. Stunned, I stumbled into one of the pillars. Tiny fissures appeared in the stone, and a metallic wetness filled my mouth.
Ash spun with a snarl, shooting forward. He caught the fist and shattered each bone with one squeeze. The god howled, dropping to his knees.
“That wasn’t nice.” I pushed forward, spitting out a mouthful of blood as I drove the sword through the god’s throat.
Ash released him, letting him fall back, then turned toward me, his features hard.
“I’m okay,” I said at once, stretching out my jaw to ease the throbbing there. When I turned to kick a god back into the sword Ash held, I saw that the side of his tunic was torn, and the ragged edges were soaked, darkening the material. Two gods raced at us, weapons raised, and concern immediately flooded me. “You lied! You are injured.”
“I didn’t lie, liessa.” With a swift turn, he struck with both swords, cutting down the gods simultaneously. “I was injured. Briefly.”
“You bled,” I growled, spinning toward a goddess in crimson. I ducked beneath her swinging blade, feeling the rush of air signaling the narrow miss. Rising behind her, I caught her loose, dark hair and jerked her head back, plunging my sword through her back. Shimmery blood sprayed the faded walls. “How did it happen?”
“I was distracted.” His sword sliced through leather and bone as I dropped to my hands and knees to avoid the sweep of a sword. “By a certain wife who decided to go onto the battlefield.”
Pressing my lips together, I rocked back on my knees and kicked out, sweeping the god’s legs out from under him. “Sorry.”
“Uh-huh.” He bowed, driving his sword down through the chest of the god I’d knocked down. Thick lashes lifted. Eyes streaked with silver met mine. “The next time you do something like that,”—he yanked the blade free—“I’m going to spank you.”
My skin flushing hotly, I spun, shoving the sword back. A strangled grunt told me my aim was on point. “Was that supposed to be a threat of punishment?” I darted to the side, slamming my elbow into a crimson god’s stomach. “If so,”—my blade pierced armor and tissue—“it’s getting the absolute opposite response.”
“I know.” His voice was a sensual growl as he turned, throwing a shadowstone sword. It caught a god in the head. “I can taste your arousal, liessa.”
I started to respond when I spotted Kolis at the end of the hall, ducking under another archway. Another dozen crimson-garbed gods poured out.
“This is getting really annoying,” I muttered. I had no idea what game he was playing, but I was also so very done with him.
As I slid under a wild swing, I pictured Thierran in my mind and summoned him. I trusted that he would keep a low profile until we had Kolis cornered.
Ash and I carved a path through the Temple hall, leaving a grotesque carpet of bodies behind. More soldiers loomed ahead, just another wave crashing toward us. But we were the rock that would break them apart.
As we neared the archway, the air crackled around us. I spun, letting out a shout of warning.
Kolis materialized directly behind Ash, descending on him in a heartbeat.
Ash spun, pulling his sword back and plunging it deep into Kolis’s chest. The impact knocked the Primal of Death back several feet before he caught himself.
Looking down at the sword’s hilt, he laughed and grasped it.
I pushed forward, and Ash flew toward him, slamming his fist into Kolis’s jaw. I didn’t make it very far. An arm snagged me around the waist as Kolis staggered and then steadied himself. He pulled the sword free. The blade shattered, and he vanished again. Suddenly, I was moving through the air—
I smacked into a wall with enough force that my spine would’ve broken if I’d been mortal. Still, my immediate concern was the lives I carried within me as I fell forward. Primal or not, the impact had rattled every part of me and stunned me for several seconds.
Ash’s head cut toward me when I landed on one hand and my knees. I looked up through several loose curls to see Ash coming for me.
The air behind him warped, and Kolis appeared again.
“Behind you!” I screamed.
Kolis’s lips curved up, and Ash turned. The true Primal of Death was on him in a heartbeat, gripping the front of Ash’s tunic and baring his fangs. I shoved up off my hand, desperate to intervene.
“Oh, look,” Kolis spat. “The bitch is already on her knees.”
A roar left Ash, shaking the ruins as he jerked forward, bashing his head into Kolis’s. I started to rise, but a boot connected with my jaw, knocking my head back sharply. Pain shot down my spine, and the muscles along my neck protested. The sound of fists connecting with flesh echoed through the Temple.
A hand clamped down on my throat, lifting me roughly to my feet and then off them.
Varus stared up at me, his once smooth complexion torn open across his cheeks. “Payback’s a bitch,” he snarled.
There were only a few seconds to consider how strong the once-entombed god was before I was suddenly flying into the darkness.
In those brief seconds of weightlessness, I wasn’t thinking about myself or Ash. I was thinking about our children. I managed to twist my body so my upper back and shoulders took the brunt of the impact, a heartbeat before I crashed into the floor with enough force to knock the air from my lungs and crack the stone beneath me.
Fuck.
That hurt.
A lot.
A wall suddenly exploded, and Ash and Kolis came through it, sending chunks of stone flying in every direction. By the grace of the Fates, only the smallest pelted me as Ash and Kolis rose toward the pitched ceiling.
They were both in their Primal forms, a blur of shadows and crimson, clashing with the force of colliding stars and exchanging blows with their fists and eather.
An uncomfortable sense of déjà vu swept through me as they fought, and pain swept up and down the length of my body in waves.
“You still think you can defeat me, nephew?” Kolis’s laugh carried the scent of stale lilacs when he threw Ash to the floor. “I am true Death.”
Ash landed in a crouch, his pure silver gaze briefly meeting mine. I willed my stupid legs and arms to move. The pain was quickly fading, but all I managed to do was the lamest thing ever. I gave Ash a thumbs-up.
“There is no Primal more infinite than true Death,” Kolis boasted, crimson-streaked darkness spinning around him. “Nothing more certain and inevitable than I. There is no bond I cannot break, no magic I cannot undo, or life I cannot take.”
A low growl came from Ash. He rose, nearly solid wings appearing from the mist gathering around him. “You are and have always been nothing.”
Kolis looked down. “I was going to keep you alive, chained at the foot of my throne until I released her from her misery. Oh, how I looked so forward to it. Seeing every pain I inflicted on her mirrored in your features.” Crimson throbbed in the air, and the scent of death filled the chamber. “But I see now that I will just have to settle for your death and her endless suffering.”
Ash sneered. “Are you done talking, for fuck’s sake?”
A hiss slithered from Kolis, and the mist around him whipped out, spreading across the length of the chamber and billowing against the ceiling. “It is you who will become nothing,” Kolis seethed, his gaze shooting to me. “And so shall…” He trailed off as his head cocked. “I see your soul. I see…” He inhaled sharply with a shout of rage. “I see their souls!”
Oh, fuck.
Ash flew off the floor, sending a blast of eather into Kolis.
The true Primal of Death flew back, stopping in midair. “She’s pregnant!” His laugh was coarse—and crazed. “She will get to have children?”
Panic threatened to explode through me, but I fought it back. The pain finally retracted, giving me control over my body. I sat up. My hands were empty. I had no idea where I’d dropped the sword.
“I will carve them from her womb and feed them to my dakkais,” he swore.
“The fuck you will.” Ash crashed into Kolis with the force of a tempest.
“No. Better yet, she will birth them.” He grabbed Ash’s cheeks, his voice filling with a sinister glee. “And I will raise them as mine. They will be my gift to Sotoria—”
Ash’s head snapped forward, and he tore into Kolis’s throat.
Kolis laughed, grabbed Ash by the hair, and tossed him aside.
I gathered my legs under me just as Varus hopped over the half-standing wall. Eather tinged in red sparked from his fingertips. He smirked.
“Kolis says I cannot kill you.” Varus raised his hands. “But he did say I could hurt—”
The pillars behind Varus exploded under the strength of a black-and-gray-spiked tail.
Nektas.
His tail rushed across the floor, ramming into Varus. The god shrieked—actually shrieked—going airborne. My gaze tracked him as he flew across the Temple and out another opening.
I laughed.
Pushing through any lingering pain, I leapt to my feet, watching Ash and Kolis crash into the floor toward the back of the Temple, causing the entire structure to tremble. I started toward them, beginning to summon Thierran again—
I sucked in a sharp breath and felt a wrenching motion deep in my chest.
I froze. It was the same as I’d felt before, but not quite so intense. The sensation flowed through me, and the sky beyond the Temple lit up with silvery fireworks.
A Primal had fallen.
From the back of the chamber, Kolis roared in anger. It hadn’t been one of ours.
Phanos.
High-pitched, mournful calls split the air in a song of death. It was the ceeren, crying out in anguish.
