But I also knew that somewhere in the Shadowlands, a new ruler of Sirta had risen as the Goddess of the Hunt. Not because Bele was the only god of Hanan’s Court to have Ascended—and at my hands—but because I felt it in the embers of life.
And I knew Kolis had felt it, too.
The chain connected to the band around my neck clinked off the floor when Kolis lowered me. He braced my head with his hand, an act so unnerving in its tenderness that it seized my attention. My heart stuttered, and my gaze locked with his. Icy air whipped through the cage, sending the golden strands of Kolis’s hair across his face as he laid my cheek against the gold tile. I flinched at the unsettling gentleness of his palm sliding over my skin.
A guttural, inhuman growl shook the cage. “Get your fucking hands off my wife.”
Kolis smirked, and my skin iced over. He rose. “Oh, Nyktos, my boy,” he said in his summer voice, glancing to where Hanan’s crown had last been seen, past where Callum lay in a pool of blood, his fingers twitching. “I see you’ve been hiding how powerful you’ve become.” Kolis looked up at Ash. “I’m impressed.”
“Like I give a fuck,” Ash growled.
“Rude,” Kolis murmured.
I needed to get up. Had to help Ash and fight beside him. Kolis wasn’t Hanan. False Primal of Life or not, he was still the oldest Primal alive. He was incredibly powerful.
I needed to help Ash.
My limbs felt weighed down, almost like they were attached to the tile. I struggled to roll onto my side, the simple act leaving me short of breath.
Kolis sighed loudly as if he were dealing with a petulant child. “Because we’re family, I’m going to give you the grace your father never extended to me. A chance to walk away from this.”
I frowned, and several strands of pale hair fell across my face. Kolis was just going to let Ash leave after killing another Primal? That made no sense.
Until it did.
Kolis couldn’t kill Ash. If he did, the Primal embers of death would transfer back to him. Kolis would no longer be the Primal of Life or the King.
There’d be no King.
It would throw the realm of the gods into chaos.
“You will return to your Court, and if Bele is still there,” Kolis continued, “you will advise her to appear before me and swear fealty.”
In the distance, silver briefly lit the night sky—rolling flames of eather. Then, in the brief light extending along the horizon, I saw two massive, winged beings crash into each other.
Draken.
Oh, gods, was that Nektas? Another? I didn’t even know if Orphine had survived the dakkais attack. I’d seen her fall. I’d witnessed so many fall.
I needed to get up.
“And you will order whatever forces followed you to stand down and leave Dalos’s borders immediately.” In the silence that followed, a muscle in Kolis’s jaw spasmed. “Take this offer, Nyktos.”
Arms trembling from the effort, I managed to lift myself halfway up, but that normally effortless task came at a price. My head swam, and I drew Ash’s attention.
The eather in his eyes crackled as he looked at me, at the surely mangled skin of my throat and the band below Kolis’s bite. He saw the golden gossamer gown I’d been dressed in, and I felt his rage. It fell like icy rain against my skin. I wanted to tell him that I was all right, but my tongue felt too heavy to speak the lie. I wasn’t sure I would be okay.
And I think Ash sensed that.
His chest rose sharply, and his head swung back to Kolis. “I’m going to kill you.”
The false King of Gods tipped his head back and laughed. “Now you’re just being silly.”
Ash moved as fast as an unleashed arrow, streaking forward. He came through the opening in the bars, the swirling shadows around him retracting. The air went utterly stagnant and turned thin just before Ash landed on the cage floor a few feet from Kolis. Tendrils of shadows whipped out from leather-clad legs. His eyes became pools of eather.
“Don’t,” Kolis warned, his chin dropping, “even think it.”
“As I said before,”—static crackled from Ash, and dual bolts of eather erupted from his palms—“too late.”
Kolis moved, becoming nothing more than a blur, but even as fast as he was, nothing was faster than unleashed Primal power. Ash’s bolts slammed into Kolis with shocking intensity, lifting and throwing him back. He crashed into the bars. The gold gave way under the impact.
Shadows swirled across the floor and over my legs as Ash spun, reaching for his waist. I saw the glint of shadowstone when he unsheathed his sword and threw it.
The blade struck Kolis in the chest. The force of the hit threw him back until he had nowhere else to go, and the sword hit the exterior wall, embedding deeply and pinning the false King.
Dear gods.
Pounding footsteps thundered across the ruined floor. Guards in golden breastplates and greaves charged the cage, shadowstone swords raised.
Ash turned his head, looking over his shoulder at the newcomers.
The shadows, the very essence of the Primals, poured from Ash, shooting between the cage bars. The dark mist reached the armor of the guards’ boots.
High-pitched, agonized screams tore through the space, shrieks that ended abruptly.
Wisps of night bled into the air around me as Ash knelt by my side, only a hint of his features visible in the swirling darkness.
Despite the dryness and pain, I swallowed, forcing my vocal cords and tongue to work. “That… That was…so incredibly arousing.”
Ash froze for a heartbeat and then laughed roughly. “Keep your eyes on mine,” he said, grasping the band around my throat. “And do not move, liessa.”
Liessa.
Something beautiful.
Something powerful.
Queen.
My heart…gods, it melted at hearing him say that. It was such a silly thing to think, but it was true.
His churning silver gaze held mine. I heard the sound of metal snapping, and my entire body jerked. Chains hit the floor, causing me to topple over.
Shadows rippled across my chest and waist as Ash’s arms surrounded me, catching me. The essence covered me like a cloak but caused no pain. It never had.
He pulled me to him. His hand, so incredibly cold but also welcome, cradled my head. He pressed me to his chest.
Inhaling his fresh, citrus scent, I shuddered. When Kolis’s fangs had sunk into my skin, I honestly believed I’d never see Ash again. So to hear his voice? To be in his arms? Tears filled my eyes. Having this was overwhelming.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped, quickly moving us from the cage. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner, but I’ve got you now, liessa, and I won’t let go. I’ll never let go again.”
His apology tore at my heart as he lifted us into the air. This was all on Kolis and his demented actions. It was on Eythos, Ash’s father, for placing the embers and Sotoria’s soul inside a mortal and never telling his son. “None of this is—”
Ash cursed, twisting his body. A startled heartbeat passed.
Something hot and heavy slammed into Ash’s back. He grunted, and the air seemed to reach up and wrap invisible hands around us, rapidly pulling us down. Fear gathered in the back of my throat.
The impact was deafening as Ash hit the floor, still on his feet, taking the brunt of the landing. He staggered, going down on one knee, but he still held me. The shadowy essence around him thinned, and I saw the pain in the tight clench of his jaw.
“It’s okay,” he gritted, his bright, sterling eyes locked onto mine. “I’ve got you—” His head jerked back.