CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ash and I rode through the Rise gates, leaving the guards there in stunned speculation. We both wore cloaks concealing our identities, but there was no way they hadn't recognized the massive, sable-coated warhorse. No others were as large or handsome as Odin.

And the glimpse of my bare calf as Odin's pace picked up, causing the cloaks to flutter around our legs, was likely also a dead giveaway.

Ash and I were fully dressed—at least, mostly—yet neither of us was in what one would consider appropriate attire beneath our cloaks. He wore pants. I wore my translucent nightgown. I'd been that eager to test out the feeling telling me I could do something. I didn't know if Ash believed me or was simply humoring me, but he hadn't even insisted we take a few moments to think things over.

Glancing back, I could still see the guards standing at the towers by the gate as if frozen. "I think they knew it was us."

"There's a good chance they did."

"Do you think they'll alert anyone?" I asked, petting Odin's mane as the eather hummed beneath my skin, almost as if ramping up and preparing itself. "I really hope not. In case I'm wrong."

"They won't."

An echo of awareness shuttled through me as I looked up to the star-strewn sky and spotted a draken in the distance. It didn't feel like Nektas .

"It's Ehthawn , isn't it?" I asked.

"It is." There was a pause. "He is still too far out for you to see which draken it is. You sensed who it was."

"I did. Or at least I think I did. It feels like an echo or imprint of who they are." I squinted, seeing another draken in the distance. "Is that what you feel?"

"I guess I would describe it as an echo that is felt instead of heard," he said.

My heart clenched as I lowered my gaze to the unlit torches lining the road. "How is Ehthawn doing?" I wanted to smack myself the moment I stopped speaking. "That's a foolish question. He's obviously not doing well, having lost his sister."

"It's not a foolish question, liessa ." Ash's arm tightened around my waist. "He mourns, but he's not alone. Ehthawn still has family—his cousin and those not by blood."

I nodded, my chest heavy as the last of the torches appeared on the small hill ahead. I didn't think Orphine had considered me a friend, but I believed we'd been on the road to becoming that. And her quick, sharp-tongued responses amused me. "I…I'm going to miss Orphine ."

"As will I." Ash shifted behind me. Farther out, another winged creature became visible in the sky. " Crolee flies with him."

I'd briefly seen Ehthawn and Orphine's cousin when we were in the Bonelands . Crolee had also been on this very road when Ash first brought me into the Shadowlands. I'd thought he and the other draken were hills, but I'd known very little about the draken then.

As we crested the hill, I forced a deep, even breath and focused on the land. At night, the skeletons of the bare, twisted trees beyond the dried-up river channels on either side of the road couldn't look creepier, even with their budding leaves. I scanned the ground as Odin slowed. My improved vision allowed me to see the wide swaths of grass among the washed-out Rot. Not a lot, but still striking to see in a land that had once only been shades of gray.

"I think here will be fine," I decided.

Ash guided Odin off to our right onto what I thought was once the banks of the river. We came to a stop, and Ash swung himself off Odin with enviable grace. I turned to where he now stood, his hood down. Silently, he lifted his hands to my hips. Grasping his arms, my stomach was a jumble of nerves as he helped me down.

Scanning the landscape, his hold lingered for a few heartbeats before he stepped back. "Do you know what needs to be done?"

I swallowed, looking around. "Would you believe me if I lied and said yes?"

"Not when you just admitted you'd be lying." The faint curve to his mouth warmed the harsh, cold beauty of his face.

I snorted as I tugged the back of my hood down. "Then you know the answer. I'm really not sure." Lips pursing, I turned back to the parched earth. Doubt began creeping in. "What if I was experiencing delusions of grandeur?"

His rich, smoky chuckle danced in the rapidly darkening sky. "I don't think that's the case."

I probably should've stopped and thought about this, but I hadn't been able to. Literally. Uneasy, my hands opened and closed as I walked forward. Dead grass crunched under the thin soles of my slippers. I stopped by a patch of green and knelt, running my fingers over the fragile blades. My brows knitted as I noticed something I hadn't before. I lifted my head. "There's no smell." I rose, inhaling deeply. "I don't smell the stale lilac scent of the Rot at all."

"I haven't smelled it since you Ascended." Crossing his arms, he surveyed the ground. "The rest of the grass will come back without any intervention."

I knew that, but water would obviously aid it along. Messing with one of my fangs with my tongue, I made my way to the edge of the riverbed. Should I instead attempt to bring back the grass? Regenerate new soil? No. We would have to spend the gods only knew how long traveling around the Shadowlands for me to place my hands on the ground, and I couldn't wait for that.

We couldn't wait.

Unnerved by the intrusive thought, I eyed the land. Either Ash had mentioned this before or my intuition had told me that these two riverbeds were fed by headwaters located in Mount Rhee, the place the draken called home. These waters didn't connect to the Black Bay or the Red River, which started in the Abyss. Should we have gone to Mount Rhee instead? "There were animals here, right?"

"There were."

Fresh, running water would bring them back. Eventually. "What kind?"

"Some were what you'd find in the mortal realm—deer, livestock, wolves, tree bears. All manner of birds." He paused. "Serpents."

My lip curled. "You didn't need to tell me that."

"Has it changed your mind?"

"No."

"Didn't think so," he replied. "There were also animals never seen by most mortals. Beasts both large and small."

Curiosity rose as I rubbed my damp palms on my cloak. "Like what?"

"Too many to name. But the Shadowlands was once home to the lyrue ."

"The lyrue ?" I repeated, the name tugging at the edges of my memory, but I wasn't sure I'd ever actually heard the term before.

"They were one of my father's lesser-known creations. Some would say they were a mistake," he explained, and I glanced over at him. His features were highlighted under the brightening starlight. "They were originally mortal, and legend says that my father believed he could give mortals a dual life like he did for the draken . But this was different. For what he created were beings mortal by day that took the form of beasts similar to wolves but on two legs at night."

My forehead creased. "I assume they were considered a mistake because…?"

"Because they had no control over their forms once night fell."

Why would that be such a big deal when other creatures in Iliseeum weren't exactly normal to look upon?

Ash cleared that up a moment later. "And because they would then dine on the flesh of others, from cattle to gods and everything in between."

My mouth dropped open. "Them eating people should've been the first thing out of your mouth."

A wry grin appeared as his head tilted. "You have a point there."

"Yeah, just a small one," I replied. "They ate people?" I shook my head. "And they couldn't be asked to, like, not do that?"

"You could ask them all you wanted, but the moment the sun set, they became nothing but insatiable hunger." Flat, silver eyes met mine. "It didn't matter who they were when the sun was high or who they loved. Nor did their horror upon discovering what they'd done in the darkest hours of night when they became the most brutal, primitive versions of the wolf. They'd feast on their babes if left alone with them once the sun faded."

My stomach hollowed. Eating people was bad enough, but chomping down on one's own children? That was next level. "They're gone now?"

Ash nodded.

I started to ask how, but the answer occurred to me. A new horror took root in my chest. "With it not being a true day or night in the Shadowlands…"

"The lyrue remained in their beast forms," he answered, his jaw hardening. "They had to be hunted into extinction, and for most of them, it was a relief—a release from a life that had become a curse and one they never would've chosen for themselves."

Good gods.

Wondering what could've gone so drastically wrong, I turned my attention back to the riverbed, unable to understand the difference between giving a creature a dual life and creating one from a mortal. But the line between them was thin. Eythos had given the dragons a dual life, creating the draken . Why had—?

I stiffened, my skin tingling. "He…he didn't give them a choice."

Ash's head snapped in my direction. "How did you—?" He inhaled deeply, his chin lifting. "Foresight."

Nodding, I swallowed hard. "Why didn't he give them a choice?"

Ash held my stare for a moment before his gaze slid away. "I don't know. All of that happened long before I was born, but my father wasn't without flaws."

A knot lodged in my chest. No, he was not. "Kolis believes that everyone saw his brother as flawless."

"And Kolis is a fucking idiot," he snarled, shadows appearing beneath his thinning flesh. "There were likely those who did believe that, but no one who knew my father could've possibly continued doing so. He made mistakes."

"Like with Sotoria ?" I blurted out.

His gaze swung back to mine. "You're talking about what he did with her soul—the deal he made with your ancestor?"

Now, it was I who looked away. I nodded, but I wasn't thinking about Eythos's deal with King Roderick Mierel and how he'd placed Sotoria's soul along with the embers of life in my bloodline. It was what Kolis had claimed Eythos had done to Sotoria . What I knew was true.

Eythos had been the one to end Sotoria's second life.

"Even though whatever he planned didn't work as intended, what he did can't be a mistake," Ash said quietly, but he was closer. I could feel him. "If he hadn't done that, our paths may not have crossed."

Slowly, I turned to him. The shadows had receded from his flesh, but the eather pulsed brightly in his eyes. I started to tell him that wasn't what I'd meant, but that would open a door, and it wasn't a good time to walk through it because that conversation would lead to another truth Kolis had spoken—albeit a partial one. The one about Ash's mother.

So, I did what Ash normally did.

I got the subject back on track. "I know you said you don't know why your father didn't give them a choice, but do you have any guesses? Because it seems so out of character for him."

Eyeing me for a moment, he shook his head. "If I had to guess? Ego. He thought he knew best."

"And he learned quickly that he didn't?" Sighing, I turned back to the riverbed. "I should probably stop delaying this."

"You know, you don't have to try this," Ash countered as a shadow of one of the draken fell over us. "Since the Rot has lifted, it will eventually rain. Even with winter on the way."

I nodded. "I know."

A moment passed. "And neither of us has any idea how much energy something like this will take. There's no reason to tax yourself."

But there was.

Parts of the Shadowlands had already fallen to the Rot by the time Ash had been born, but he'd said much of it resembled the Dark Elms of Lasania . Wild and lush. It hadn't become this even when his father died.

Nearly twenty-one years ago, all the trees lost their leaves, and all the bodies of water, except for the Black Bay, dried up.

That had happened the night of my birth, signaling the start of the slow death of the embers.

Even though I knew it wasn't my fault, I felt responsible for the final thing stolen from Ash and all those who resided in the Shadowlands.

I wanted to give it back to them. Now. Not later.

But again, it was more than that. Life needed to return to the Shadowlands. "I…I don't know how to explain it, but I just have this feeling. Here." I pressed my hand to my upper abdomen. "Like I have to do this. It's an urge, and…" I glanced at him. "I don't know if I can't not try. I need to."

Ash frowned. "Like you're unable to stop yourself?"

I thought that over. "Not in the same sense as the lyrue being unable to stop themselves from eating people."

"Well, that's a relief to hear," he said dryly.

I smiled. "But I don't think I would be able to rest if I didn't try. Like, I already feel a restlessness and an inexplicable sense of urgency."

" Nektas mentioned something like this to you, didn't he? When you asked him about my father's abilities."

I nodded. "I think this is like that."

The draken dipped low then, blotting out the remaining rays of sun and starlight. The wind whipped, catching strands of my hair and tossing them across my face. Extending their wings, the draken slowed, landing on their forelegs first.

Odin snorted, shaking his mane and stomping his front hoof as he eyed the black-and-brown-scaled Crolee .

"You're fine, Odin." Ash sighed. "They're nowhere near you."

I grinned as Crolee turned his large head toward the warhorse and let out a huffing laugh as Odin slammed his hoof down again.

"What's his problem?" I asked.

Ash looked over at me, his hair more of a deep brown in the starlight. "He feels upstaged."

I laughed as I glanced at the other onyx-hued draken . Ehthawn was slightly larger than his cousin, and his horns were thicker but not as numerous as those on Nektas . He watched me curiously as if wondering what in the world I was doing.

Poking at my other fang, I refocused. The feeling I had probably wasn't delusions of grandeur. It was foresight. The heightened intuition that told me life didn't just exist in mortals and gods. Life was all around us, in the trees and the ground. I studied my hands, thinking about how I'd healed the wounded hawk in the Red Woods—the chora , an extension of a Primal that takes the form of their Primal notam . Unbeknownst to me, the hawk had belonged to Attes .

There had also been Gemma.

The embers had healed the wounded. Was the land here not wounded? While I'd tried to use my touch before against the Rot and failed, it was different now. The Rot was gone, and I was no longer a vessel for the embers. I was the embers.

"It might work the same way as it does when I heal someone," I said, lifting my gaze from my hands as that tingling sensation returned. "It's worth a try."

A moment passed. "You really feel like you have to do this?"

"I do."

Ash opened his mouth but then closed it. He nodded, and I had a feeling he wanted to talk me out of this.

"I'll be fine," I assured him.

Ash inclined his chin, but the tic in the muscles of his jaw said he saw right through that assurance.

Hopefully, I would be okay. Healing hadn't really taken that much of a toll on me before, but this was obviously different. And it was a risk, and possibly a foolish one.

But it was also a gift .

Lowering myself to my knees, I placed my palms against the dry earth of the bank. Soil crumbled at my touch, slipping between my fingers. Feeling Ash getting closer, I closed my eyes and did what I'd done before.

The essence throbbed within me, heating my skin. I opened one eye just as an aura of gold-streaked silver eather pulsed from my palms, spilling onto the dirt.

I waited.

And waited a few more moments.

"Nothing's happening, is it?" I said.

"Not yet." Ash knelt behind me. "Maybe it takes some time."

"Or maybe I have no idea what I'm doing."

"There is that."

I slowly turned my head to him.

His silver eyes were the color of the stars above as they met mine. "What are you thinking when you try this?"

"What I've done before," I answered. "I'm wishing for water to return."

A dark eyebrow rose. "And that is what you did before? You simply wished to heal wounds and give life?"

"I know it doesn't sound exciting, but yes, that's what I did."

"What about when you used the embers to fight?" he asked. "When you freed me?"

"I did the same."

A lock of hair fell against his cheek when he cocked his head. "I don't think that's all you did."

"Well, if you know what I did, then why don't you tell me—?" I snapped my mouth shut as it suddenly occurred to me. "It was different as the embers grew stronger. I didn't wish. I willed it."

Holding my gaze, Ash nodded. "Remember what I said earlier? The essence is tied to your will. Not your wishes. That is what it responds to." He paused. "Then again, maybe you're not capable of bringing water to life."

My eyes narrowed.

Ash grinned.

"Shut up," I muttered halfheartedly as I turned to the river channel.

Taking another deep breath, I once more flattened my hands against the arid soil. I didn't close my eyes this time. I stared at my fingers and the golden swirl on my right hand. Focusing on the pulse of eather inside me, I held on to it, coaxing it to the surface. My skin grew even warmer. A faint golden glow appeared beneath the skin of my hands, slowly traveling up my arms. I felt it flowing across the skin hidden beneath my cloak as I lifted my gaze to the river channel.

In my mind, I pictured fresh, clear water filling the waterway, rolling over the parched earth and soothing its cracks and scars. I willed it. Holding the image in my mind, I demanded it. Water would come. It would . Water would come.

The glow around my hands intensified, flaring with brighter pulses. Water would come. It would rush through this channel, healing this land. Bring life back to it. Water would. I would restore life—

Energy swelled, pressing against my skin. I'd gotten used to the ebb and flow of eather I used to only feel in the center of my chest, and even its intense force the handful of times I'd tapped into the essence of the Primals , but what I felt pulsing through me now was something else entirely.

A low trilling sound came from Ehthawn . Eather pulsed from my palms, rippling out in dozens—no, hundreds—of fine streaks. Arcs of eather went in every direction, covering the riverbed in a network of silvery-gold radiance that beat back the encroaching night. The spiderweb of luminous brilliance throbbed rapidly. One. Two. Three. Then slapped into the dry earth with a shocking, thunderous clap.

Sucking in a startled breath, I jerked back. Ash caught me by the arms, stopping me from toppling over.

"Sera?" Concern filled his voice as he cupped my cheek. He started to turn my head to his.

The ground trembled beneath us. All around us. Dirt beaded and clumped, rolling down the sides of the riverbank.

"Shit." Ash stood, lifting me as Odin whinnied nervously. He urged me back a step.

Crolee lifted his head, letting out a low-pitched, staggered cry as the riverbed shuddered .

My stomach dipped. "Is it possible that I created an earthquake?"

"I'm beginning to wonder that myself. We should probably move—" he cut himself off with a sharp inhale. "Fates."

"What?" I scanned the land, not seeing what had caused him to stiffen.

"Look," he whispered hoarsely.

"I'm looking." Panic and frustration crashed together. "Where?"

Ash curved his fingers around my chin and guided my gaze down to the center of the channel, where he pointed with his other hand. " There ."

I didn't see what he was talking about at first. It was just the ground vibrating hard enough to cause the pebbles to bounce. But that…

"That's not pebbles," I gasped.

A short laugh burst from him. "No, liessa , it is not."

Slipping free of his grasp, I went to the edge and bent slightly to get a better look. What I thought had been pebbles dancing in the vibrations were thousands of waterdrops. I looked down the riverbed a ways, stunned to see small puddles forming.

"It's like it's raining from the ground." I laughed. "Gods, that sounds silly."

Ash was right behind me. "But that's what it looks like."

Clasping my hands together, I tried to fight a smile but lost as I looked back at the palace. "This is…wow." I glanced up at Ash. "It's going to take forever this way, but this—"

I jumped back as a geyser of water erupted from the center of the riverbed, spraying the air with dirt and cold liquid. Ash caught me with an arm around my waist as the water expanded and grew, forming wings .

He all but picked me up and dragged me back to where Odin and the draken waited as another funnel of water broke through the ground, stretching high into the sky and sprouting water wings. Then another and another—

"I feel like the eather heard your complaint," Ash stated dryly.

"I didn't mean to complain." Wide-eyed, my focus remained on the riverbed. The winged geysers curved forward, crashing back into the bed. "I was just pointing out how long it would take."

He brushed dirt from my cheeks. "But not any longer."

"No," I whispered. "Not any longer."

Fresh, white-tipped water covered the ground now, flowing down the deeper grooves in the earth as it rushed toward the riverbank, lapping against the sides.

Crolee shifted closer, his head tracking the spouts. Ehthawn reared, lifting his head to the sky. The low trilling sound came once more.

"Am I seeing things, or does the water look like it—?"

The air all around us charged. The essence in me pulsed as the draken lowered themselves until they were almost on their bellies. Energy built and built, constricting—

Ash spun toward his horse and ran his fingers along the silver cuff on his upper arm. "Odin, return to me."

The horse's form rippled as I stepped back. Odin turned to smoke, crossing the distance between us and returning to the cuff.

Ash's hand found mine as a jet of water erupted again, this time behind us. All of us looked at the other side of the road. Fountains of water gushed into the air like moving, winged pillars. They arced, slamming into the riverbed.

"What the…?" Ash hauled me against his chest.

Tiny silvery lights appeared in the empty air before us, then over the riverbanks, the road, and then everywhere . I sucked in a startled breath. It looked like the stars had descended to the land, and in a way, they had.

"It's the essence," Ash rasped, shuddering. "It's the eather of the realms—of the air and the land."

The lights flickered, becoming gold. Pure, Primal energy flashed from all the stars above and around us, casting the entire Court—the entire realm of Iliseeum —in bright, golden light streaked with silver.

The eather hummed inside me as the very realm itself seemed to hold its breath.

Then it exhaled. Energy rolled out in every direction, the force of it more powerful than any wind I'd felt. Ash dug in, his arms tightening around me as he slid back a foot or so. The pressure even moved the draken as the ground began to tremble once more.

As the eather rippled out, kissing the land in its golden-silver glow, the dull grayness of what was left of the Rot vanished.

"Oh my gods," I whispered. " Ash ."

"I see it." His eyes were luminous pools in the gold-and-silver glow of the realm.

Along the road, blades of grass broke free of the top layers of soil and spread out, reaching the river and beyond. Fragile stems sprouted, stretching upward as leaves unfurled, and red buds formed.

"Poppies," Ash breathed.

They grew along the road in clumps as the twisted trees shook out their gnarled limbs and straightened. Deep, violet leaves burst forth, filling the once-bare branches.

The glow of eather began to fade, and the energy left the air. Night fell once more. Starlight returned, and none of us moved as we stood there, listening to the hum of rushing water and the wind shaking the leaves.

My gaze fell on the poppies. They opened, slowly revealing their crimson petals to the stars.

"I hope the poppies are in a good mood," I said. "And don't poison us."

Ash didn't answer.

Heart thumping, I tore my gaze from the flowers.

Ash was staring at me with eyes wide and full of swirling streaks of eather , lips parted enough that I could see the tips of his fangs.

I touched his chest. "Ash?"

His throat worked on a swallow. "How are you feeling?"

"Normal. Fine." I searched his features. He looked a little pale. "How are you feeling?"

He shook his head silently as he lowered himself to one knee before me, my hand still held in his.

A jolt ran through me. This wasn't the first time he'd done this. I'd never forget how, upon learning that I carried the true embers of the Primal of Life, he'd knelt before me. It still shocked me.

Crolee rocked back then, lifting his head to the night sky. His call echoed Ehthawn's —one I heard in my bones and understood as Ash's lashes lifted. Molten silver eyes pierced the night.

"Awed," he rasped. "I'm in fucking awe of you." He bowed his head, pressing his lips to my palm and the golden swirl of our marriage imprint. A faint tremble radiated from his hand to mine. "My Queen."