CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Relief and concern whirled together as I scooted to the edge of the bed. "That was not at all what I expected you to say."

"And I didn't expect you to feel that before me." Pulling the pants up to his hips, he looked up and over at me. "Your senses are continuing to progress impressively."

"I'm going to hold off on bragging about that until you tell me exactly what I felt that involves the Abyss."

"I'm not sure." He tugged a tunic over his head. "I can only feel the unrest radiating from there, though that is not entirely uncommon. Sometimes, it's an escaped soul."

I supposed that would explain why it felt like something was here that didn't belong. "And when it's not that?"

His gaze met mine. "Other times, when a soul makes it out, it stirs up the rest and becomes an uprising of sorts."

I didn't need any foresight to know that an uprising in the Abyss, where souls paid for every evil deed they committed while alive, wasn't good.

I rose. "I just need to find something to wear."

Ash grabbed the leather straps of his baldric. "That won't be necessary."

I turned my head toward him. Did he really expect me to stand back when he wasn't? Oh, he knew better than that. "What do you mean it won't be necessary? And don't say it's because I can't enter the Abyss. I know I can," I said, having had no knowledge of that before it came out of my mouth.

"Yes, you can." Draping one of the straps over his shoulder, his fingers moved expertly over the baldric. "But that doesn't mean you should."

Crossing my arms, irritation flared to life. "Is it because the Abyss is your thing, and you're, like, asserting boundaries or something?"

He paused, brows snapping together. "Seriously?"

I lifted a shoulder. "It's a valid question. I mean, that is your arena."

He stared at me for a moment, then curtly shook his head. "It has nothing to do with that. Especially since you're the true Primal of Life, Sera. All the realm is your thing."

My chest squeezed, and not because that was still overwhelming to hear. And it was. But it was how he looked at me. As if he couldn't believe I would suggest such a thing. I hadn't meant to offend him with my question, but perhaps I had. I shifted, uncomfortable. "Then why?"

"Would you like one reason or many?"

My eyes narrowed as my guilt over possibly upsetting him vanished. "Would you like me to give you one reason or many to explain the anger I'm sure I'm projecting all over you?"

I swore I saw him grin as he turned his head to the side. "You're the Queen."

"And you're the King."

"Yes, but you're the Queen." He buckled the harness, looking up. "The true Primal of Life."

"Whose senses are progressing impressively, according to you," I snapped. "And it's not like I just Ascended yesterday, so it isn't like I need to be resting and eating and feeding every five seconds."

"That has nothing… Fuck ." Eather pulsed behind his pupils as his gaze swept over me. His lips parted, revealing a hint of fang as his citrus scent increased. "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to reason with you," he said, his voice smoothening and deepening. "Not when you're standing before me gloriously naked."

Sultry heat hit my veins as my body happily responded to his arousal, but every other part of me was so not on board. "Well, you'd better figure it out." I watched him cross the space between us. "I can help, Ash, and I refuse to sit back and do nothing while you put yourself in danger just because I'm the…whatever. That is not how this is going to play out."

"I would never expect you to do that. I wouldn't even want that." He caught a strand of hair that had fallen against my cheek. "It thrills me that you have my back. You have to know that. But you are the Primal of Life."

I stared up at him, my frustration rising. "I know. That's been repeatedly established, Ash."

"But you haven't really thought about it." He clasped the nape of my neck. "You would be entering the Abyss, Sera. Not just the outskirts, where the riders had you, but deep within the Abyss. Every soul there will sense you—will be drawn to you."

I immediately thought about the Shades gathering at the edges of the Dying Woods.

"That alone will cause things to escalate," he continued. "But it's more than that. You're already worried about not being able to stop yourself from bringing someone back. And remember what I said about my father struggling against his instinct to intervene when near the Pillars and how much it saddened him? Being there could be overwhelming for you."

I clamped my jaw shut, causing my fangs to scrape the insides of my mouth. "Ouch," I muttered, touching my lip. "These godsdamn fangs."

"Careful with them. I like the way they feel." Ash cupped my cheek, tilting my head back. "I need to go."

The rational side of me knew he was right. My presence would make things worse, and my already tenuous restraint on my ability to restore life would be tested. Then again, I wasn't sure I'd be all that inclined to bring those in the Abyss back to life.

And that part of me also knew I was wasting time. I exhaled roughly. "I hate the idea of you going out there and facing who knows what when I can't be there with you."

"I know." He dipped his head and captured my lips with his. The kiss was fierce and hard, igniting a throbbing ache I probably should've been a little ashamed of but wasn't. "Just as I hated it when you entered the mortal realm without me."

"But I had Nektas with me."

"And I will have Crolee and many guards."

Closing my eyes, I grasped the front of his tunic. "Be careful."

"Always." His mouth found mine once more.

I forced myself to let go of his tunic. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I watched him step back. Wisps of shadows seeped from him, swirling around his legs.

Then he was gone, shadowstepping from the chamber.

I threw myself back until I was flat on my back. Prone, I stared at the glossy ceiling.

"Ash will be okay," I reminded myself. Problems at the Pillars of Asphodel were common, and he said it was the same at the Abyss. There was no reason for me to be so anxious.

Knowing there was no way I would be able to go back to sleep, I rose again. Worry gnawed at me, coating my skin like thick oil. This wasn't as bad as being stuck in the cage and unable to do anything, but the waiting and not knowing what was happening was just as stifling.

I plucked up the pale, silky nightgown from the floor and slipped it on. My gaze went to the balcony doors, and then I made my way over to the wardrobe. Two robes hung there, one the dark gray robe made of crushed velvet I'd already worn. The other was a shade of deep violet. A pattern of ivy had been stitched in black along the lower portion of the robe and the chest, framing the delicate pearl-capped buttons on both. The amount of time it must have taken for Erlina to create something like this on a piece of clothing one usually only wore in their bedchamber had to be staggering.

I reached for the pretty garment and then froze. Tiny bumps rose all over my body. Slowly, I turned to the balcony doors once more and held still. The palace was completely silent. Whatever was occurring in the Abyss had no effect here.

But…

I grabbed the dark gray robe and shoved my arms into the sleeves. As I buttoned it, I crossed the chamber. Pushing the drapes aside, I opened the doors and stepped out. My fingers tingled strangely as I looked up. The night sky was as black as shadowstone , but it was blanketed by brilliant stars that cast silvery light over the courtyard and the Rise. Breathing in the rich scent of soil and a faint trace of woodsmoke, I walked to the railing. I could make out the forms of a dozen or so guards patrolling the wall.

The feeling of unnaturalness thickened, causing more tiny bumps to spread across my skin. Eather stirred, almost like a warning. Adrenaline flooded my body as I scanned the courtyard and then the Rise, finding a handful of guards along the northwestern portion of the wall, an area that bordered the Red Woods and the road to the Pillars of Asphodel. There were also several farther south.

But something was wrong.

Something was wrong here .

My skin continued to prickle as I looked at the sky once more. Stars winked in and out, momentarily obscured by…

Leaning forward, I squinted. More stars flickered. The sensation of wrongness coated my skin now, igniting the most primitive instincts. My lips parted as I stared, making out shapes in the sky. Fast-moving shapes with wings —

A shocking sound shattered the silence, a shriek so chilling I thought it would freeze the very air. I jerked back from the railing. Shrill, piercing screams followed in a macabre chorus as the guards along the Rise spun toward the road leading to the Pillars.

A jolt of surprise rippled through me. I'd heard those shrieks before. When I came out of the cavernous tunnel along the outskirts of the Abyss. There had been flames, and these creatures were flying above them.

I stiffened as one of the shapes flew closer, moving as fast as a draken . I caught a glimpse of a wingspan larger than Reaver's. "What in the—?"

In the blink of an eye, something came at the guard closest to the road. There was a blur of talons, dark-feathered legs, long, straggly hair, and…a vaguely mortal-like body. The creature dug its talons into the man's back. The guard let out a pained, wet sound as he was lifted into the air and flown out over the courtyard, thrashing and screaming the whole time.

The thing dropped the guard.

Out of reflex, I shot toward the railing and tracked the guard's rapid descent. The heavy smack of a body hitting the ground turned my stomach. My heartbeat stuttered. The guard must have been a godling because heat flared against my palms when the all-too-familiar urge to intervene, to steal the guard's life away from death, slammed into me.

My hands curled into fists as the thing flew up, letting out a grating, crackling noise. But I was locked to where I stood, staring at the guard on the ground as I reminded myself that I couldn't intervene. I couldn't . I started to force myself to look away, but something was happening.

A flicker of light seeped out from the guard, forming a small orb of softly glowing golden light. What was I seeing? The skin of my neck tickled as the small ball of light floated up several feet before fading. Instinct told me the light hadn't really disappeared.

It had only moved to the Pillars, where it would take the shape of the man once more.

I'd never seen anything like that before, but I'd heard what it was called here and in every realm—even the ones beyond the Primal Veil. It was the spirit of an individual. Their inner consciousness . The psyche . The self . Sóls . The soul .

I'd finally seen what I'd always sensed upon death. The separation of the soul from the body.

"Get to low ground!" a guard shouted from farther down the Rise. "Everyone."

My head snapped up. Now was not the time to be distracted by what I'd seen. I knew what this creature was. I'd seen them after I'd been with the riders. It was a sekya , and they were not allowed to leave the…

To leave the Abyss.

Shit.

This was what I'd felt upon waking. They were the source of the unrest Ash had eventually sensed. No souls were trying to escape the consequences of their crimes. Instead, it was those delving out the punishment.

The sekya flew toward the palace as others drew closer, their shrieks rising with my fury.

Guards flooded the courtyard, one of them shouting in a voice I recognized as Kars'. "Get off the Rise! Now! Go! Go!"

My heart lurched as the guards on the Rise ran for the nearest steps, scattering in each direction, but I knew—gods, I knew they wouldn't make it. The sekya were too fast, and it didn't matter what they were called, because there were rules…

Rules that had nothing to do with the eirini and were a part of all that information fed to me during the Ascension. There were so many godsdamn rules, but only one was important to me at the moment.

The sekya were not supposed to attack the living—be they Primals , gods, mortals, or anything in between.

But like with the dakkais , they could only be controlled to a certain point.

Several reached the Rise, chasing down the guards there. Half of them dropped from the sky as the first tucked its wings back, diving straight for the guards in the courtyard.

A Rise guard's scream was cut short. The awareness of death pressed down on me as pieces fell to the ground. Pieces of what remained of the guard.

Kars threw a shadowstone dagger, striking the sekya in the chest. It let out a howl of pain and folded its wings as it got knocked back. It spiraled down to the hard earth. I didn't feel its death, nor did I see its soul.

But the others echoed its cry. The whole damn mess of them veered, following the ones aiming for the palace.

A flash of intense silver cut through the darkness of the courtyard—an arrow of pure Primal essence. My head jerked to the left.

Rushing across the courtyard, Bele leapt onto a boulder, her shoulder-length braid slapping against her rounded cheek. She crouched, one arm outstretched as she held a bow made of crackling essence.

"What ugly…" She pulled the string of eather taut and released another arrow. "Motherfuckers."

I would've laughed, except I could see we were outnumbered—even with Bele's arrival. I sensed another death. With every blow landed against a sekya , another came from the sky, more pissed off than before.

I had to do something. If not, the courtyard would be littered with pieces . Possibly even Primal ones. I turned to the bedchamber doors just as the eather thudded heavily in my chest. A wail of pain stopped me, and my anger took hold.

There wasn't time.

Eather pounded through my veins. The corners of my vision turned silvery-gold as I spun back to the railing. I grabbed it, and energy ramped up inside me as I sprang forward.

Cool night air rushed up, catching the sides of the robe while the sekya shrieked overhead, and the guards shouted from below.

Like before, my body knew what to do. My knees bent to lessen the shock of the impact as the rest of my body relaxed.

My landing still knocked the wind out of me.

Kars staggered back a step with a gasp, "Good gods."

The flash of pain was even duller and faded quicker than before.

Wishing Ash had been here to see what I was confident had to be one badass landing, I rose.

Kars stared, his mouth hanging open.

"I'm not going to use the stairs ever again," I told him.

He lowered his sword. "Uh-huh."

"Show-off," Bele yelled from where she was perched on the boulder. "Nice to see you joining us. Hopefully, you're going to do something other than stand there looking proud of yourself."

I grinned. "Honestly? I hadn't thought past jumping."

"That's reassuring," Kars replied.

"What did I say?" Bele released another eather arrow. "About your absurdity?"

A shrill yelp of pain silenced whatever I was about to say to her. I had come down here to do more than look proud of myself.

Drawing in a deep breath, I focused on the sekya as one flew under Bele's arrow, aiming straight for where I stood before the guards. I had no more moments to waste. No time to overthink.

Summoning the eather , it responded in a heady rush. Power surged through me as I lifted my hand. My skin warmed. Silver light seeped out from under the sleeves of my robe—silver light laced with gold.

Energy erupted from my palm. Like a bolt of lightning, it sliced through the air, striking one of the creatures in the chest. Its wings collapsed as it fell, spinning in midair. The sekya crashed into the ground, kicking up dirt and dust as it rolled, coming to a stop a few feet from where we stood. Realizing that, like with the dakkais , I didn't feel its death, I looked down. Smoke wafted from the charred skin of its chest—a rather voluptuous , bare chest. My gaze shifted. Its scraggly hair was blown back from a pasty gray face. Its eyes were vacant, empty of life, and the color of heated gold, matching the streaks zigzagging through the undersides of her onyx wings. The creature's mouth hung open in a silent scream, revealing a row of teeth shaped like daggers.

The sekya looked like the Ancients had drunk too much whiskey when they constructed the creatures, seeming to want to create a new breed of bird, then changing their mind halfway through and giving them a vaguely mortal appearance.

But the sekya wasn't hideous. Her features were still somehow delicate. Beautiful, even. And that made the thing all the more disturbing.

An arrow of eather blazed through the sky, snapping my attention from the bizarre creature. Two sekya dodged the eather as at least half a dozen more flew over the courtyard, speeding toward us.

Flipping my palms outward, every part of my being fixed on them. Gold-tinged silver light once more sparked from beneath the sleeves of my robe. Wisps of eather swirled around my wrists and then my palms, moving faster as a silvery web of eather formed in my mind, stretching toward them like bony fingers.

The air vibrated as thin arcs of silver laced with gold seeped from my fingers, dripping to the ground as I walked forward. Tendrils took shape, rapidly spreading across the ground and lifting. The eather erupted into the web I'd conjured, each branch ripping through the sky almost faster than the eye could track. Veins of eather struck the sekya , one after another, catching them in mid-flight and sending them falling to the ground. I pulled the eather back—

A hot, dry hand clasped my ankle, jerking me back. I gasped, twisting at the waist.

The sekya Bele had first taken out smiled up at me. I froze in confusion, just for a second, but that was all it took. The creature pulled, throwing me off balance. I went down hard, landing on my back with a grunt.

The thing hissed like a feline and then leapt.

"Shit," I grunted, throwing my hands up. I caught the sekya by the upper arms a heartbeat before it landed on me, holding it back. "How are you not dead?"

It screeched, its face and gnashing teeth inches from mine.

"Seriously?" I glanced down at the thing's chest to make sure Bele had struck it with the essence, and…yep, there was a charred hole between the creature's flat breasts. "I'm so confused right now."

The sekya drew up a feathered leg. My eyes widened as I got an up-close-and-personal look at its taloned feet. Cursing, I drove my knee into its thigh, blocking it just as its talons snagged the robe.

"If you tear my robe—"

The tip of a sword suddenly burst through its chest, creating another hole as hot, musky-smelling liquid sprayed me.

Ugh.

Kars jerked the sword and sekya back. Turning, he kicked it free of his blade. The creature fell face-first onto the ground.

"Thank you." I sat up, wiping at my face.

"You're welcome." He offered me his hand.

Taking it, I stood. Behind Kars, I saw Bele straightening, her eyes widening. I turned.

All around us, the fallen sekya rose, shaking dirt from their feathered bodies and wings.

Bele looked over at me, her brows raised.

"What?" I threw up my hands. "I don't know how they're not dead!"

But I should, shouldn't I? I knew what they were called and who had created them, but I didn't know how they could be killed.

"Because I assumed I knew how. Obviously, I was wrong," I mumbled to myself. The skin behind my ear tingled as my thoughts raced, and a sekya lunged toward a guard, avoiding the sweep of his sword, and another took to the air.

"I…I can't kill them," I whispered, my hands falling to my sides.

Kars cursed, darting to the side as I scowled. He glanced at me. "For real?"

"That can't be right. I'm the fucking true Primal of Life." Annoyed, I spun toward a sekya and summoned the essence. It responded in a hot rush, joining my will. "How can I not kill one of these things?"

A flash of eather funneled from my palm, slamming into the sekya's chest, knocking it to the ground. I didn't retract the eather as I stalked toward it. I kept the stream of power bearing down on it until I reached where it had fallen.

I closed my hand, able to see the charred edges of its now-split rib cage and the ground through the massive hole in its chest. "Let's see you get up from that."

"They shouldn't be getting up at all." Bele fired another blast of eather and then jumped from the boulder, narrowly avoiding a swooping sekya . "Hey, meyaah Liessa ." She crouched. "To your right."

"Don't call me—damn it!" I jumped to the side as a sekya dove at me. The thing swept back up, cackling as I glanced down to make sure the one on the ground wasn't moving. The unblinking stare looked dead to me. "I think I got—"

The eyes changed .

It was barely noticeable, just a faint glow returning to its golden eyes. The sekya gave me a bloody smile.

"Son of a bitch!" I shouted as the sekya rose, its wings spreading as it lifted into the air. "I can see Kars through your godsdamn chest! How is this possible?"

Kars turned, his head jerking as he blinked. "Well, that is not something you hear or see often."

"Their head!" Rhain shouted as he rounded the side of the palace. "You have to destroy their heads!"

"Now, you tell us?" Bele snapped, the crackling bow dissipating as she reached to her hip and drew a shadowstone sword.

"I just got here." Rhain skidded to a stop, his jaw unlocking as he saw me. "What are you doing out here?"

"Being unhelpful," Bele retorted.

Lifting an arm, I extended my middle finger toward her. "The head, you said?" I grinned tightly. "All right, then." My chin dipped as I summoned the eather . Thrusting out my hand, spitting and hissing eather streaked out.

The eather split the sekya's head right down to its neck. My lip curled as it once more landed in a messy heap—an even messier heap. "I think I might vomit."

Rhain rushed to my side. "What are you doing out here?" he repeated.

"Killing sekya ." I frowned. "Or trying to."

"Yeah, I see that." He stepped in, lowering his voice. "You shouldn't be out here."

I ignored him, not taking my eyes off the thing on the ground for more than a second. "I know. There's no way this thing is going to—"

Rhain grabbed my arm, shoving me behind him as he rammed his sword through the underside of a sekya's chin, catching it in midair. He grunted, taking its weight. Withdrawing his sword, he had already faced me as the thing hit the ground and shattered into ash. Rhain was speaking, but I wasn't listening as I slowly turned back to the other sekya . That one hadn't broken apart. I looked down, and my mouth dropped open.

Filaments of tissue stretched out from the two halves of the split head. The fibers connected and twisted around one another, drawing the two sides together.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I shouted.

Rhain paled as the head stitched itself back together. "That is…" He swallowed hard, stepping forward and bringing his sword down on its head.

The sekya broke apart in a musty shower of ash.

Eather pulsed in my chest, warning me that death was afoot. "I really can't kill them!"

His brows knitted. "Then you should get inside," he instructed. "We've got this handled."

A sword fell between us, bouncing off the ground. A body followed, smacking with a wet, fleshy sound.

I raised my brows.

"We'll get it under control," he amended with a wince. " Nyktos should be here shortly. Go inside."

"That is not happening." I dipped, not looking at the guard's stomach or what was hanging out of it as I picked up the fallen shadowstone sword. "I can still use this, right?"

"I…I guess so." Rhain frowned. "But I also don't know why you can't kill them with eather . That's what Nyktos does."

"Of course, he can kill them," I muttered, turning around as my grasp on the sword firmed. The answer to why I couldn't was somewhere in my head, but I really didn't have time to figure it out.

A sekya had taken notice of me from where it hovered. Raising my free hand, I wiggled my fingers. It cocked its head to the side. The sekya smiled, baring its dagger-like teeth.

I returned the smile.

Letting out a powerful shriek, it flew toward me. I waited until it was inches from me, and then I moved. Twisting to the side, I popped up behind it as its talons dug into the ground. Stepping forward, I drove the sword through the back of its head. The feeling of the shadowstone meeting little resistance brought forth a twisted surge of satisfaction. It felt like forever since I'd held and used a sword outside of training. The last time… I wasn't going to think about the last time. I watched with relief as the sekya shattered.

Ignoring Rhain's glare, the robe's hem snapped at my ankles as I spun toward the cluster of guards hacking away at the sekya . One of the creatures with a shadowstone arrow protruding from its chest swooped down, aiming for Kars. I rushed forward and grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on. Fingers sank into the surprisingly soft wings, and I jerked the creature back.

The sekya's screech ended abruptly as I jabbed the sharp edge of the blade through the back of its skull. It spasmed and then disintegrated into a fine, dusty mist.

"Fates," Bele snarled, cleaving a head from a sekya's shoulders. She stared northwest. "What is going on?"

The rich, metallic scent filling the courtyard settled in the pit of my stomach as I followed her gaze. My heart sank. Another dozen or so sekya neared the Rise. Nearly the same number of guards stood, but many were injured, and the creatures were fast with their talons and teeth. This was about to get really bad.

I turned to the guard I quickly recognized as Eamon. "Help get the injured inside." He gave me a quick nod and I spun back to the others. "I'll take them down. While they're out, go for their heads," I instructed, the eather throbbing in my chest. "Be quick."

"Done," Kars shouted.

I was already walking forward, raising my right hand. The air around me hummed with power as fine threads of silvery-gold eather drifted from my fingers, covering the ground. The web of eather formed, its branches clawing at the sky like ascending stars. I willed the essence toward the sekya —

Suddenly, the realm became silent.

Still.

Everything north of the wall turned black as the night sky seemed to deepen and come alive with dark, violent power. The pulse of awareness in my chest intensified as the air charged, raising the fine hairs all over my body.

Several of the sekya in the sky shrieked, their wings pounding rapidly at the air as thick shadows rippled over crackling arcs of energy, snuffing out the light— my light .

My mouth dropped open as I slowly lowered my hand. All across the courtyard, the sekya on the ground spun toward the smoky mass.

Whirling shadows poured down the side of the Rise and the sekya scrambled in different directions. They were fast.

But he was faster.

Dark tendrils snaked out from the void of churning nothingness, streaking across the sky and the ground. Strands of thick shadows wrapped themselves around the bodies of the airborne sekya . Funnels of whirling, coal-black mist raced across the ground, and the shrieks rose to an ear-piercing volume. Threads of silvery eather spun through the swirling darkness, slamming into the sekya . Their shrieks were cut short, one after the other, as my gaze fixed on the center of the shadowy mass above the Rise.

Ash lowered to the courtyard with immense widespread wings made of sparking eather and unrelenting shadows. His skin reminded me of the darkest hour of night pierced by streaks of starlight. The tunic he'd donned earlier was gone. Silver energy leapt from his white-as-snow eyes and outstretched palms.

The breath I took went nowhere. I couldn't look away as the sekya continued to fall around us, their bodies shattering. His feet touched the ground, sending shadows billowing all around him. This was Nyktos , a Primal of Death, in his true form.

And I was in awe.

Delicate tremors coursed up and down my body as he stalked toward me. Shadowy wisps bled into the air around him at his approach. The kaleidoscope of shadows and silvery eather swirling through his flesh slowed. Behind him, the last of the sekya splintered, their feathered wings fragmenting, and half-mortal bodies becoming nothing more than faintly glowing embers. Ash's wings dissipated. Tension surged in the air as a brutal harshness etched itself into his striking features.

I remained where I stood, having flashbacks of the night some of the entombed gods had been freed. My breath quickened as those unnerving silvery pools locked onto my eyes. He looked as he had then.

Terrifying.

Beautiful.

And furious.

A saner person would've probably tucked their tail and run. I was not a saner person. I stood there, vaguely aware of Rhain and Bele backing off.

Tendrils of shadows swirled around Ash's legs as he stalked toward me. "Are you all right?"

"Yes." My gaze swept over him, and I watched the shadows in his flesh start to recede. "I'm fine."

"There is blood on you."

"It's not mine." I watched a muscle in his jaw flex. "Are you okay?"

He gave me a curt nod, his attention shifting to the gore scattered about the courtyard. Static crackled, and I wasn't so sure he was all right, even though I saw no signs of injury on him.

To our right, Bele rose from where she had crouched by a fallen guard. I looked away quickly. I had to. I wasn't sure I could walk away without intervening if I saw their face.

"What in the world just happened with the sekya ?" Bele asked. "They've always served you."

"They have," Ash answered as my intuition sparked, whispering what he spoke. "But I am not the true Primal of Death. Kolis is."

And while these creatures had been content to continue as is all these years, something had changed. My eyes flew to Ash.

"Kolis summoned them." He lifted his gaze from the fallen guard and met mine. Only a hint of his irises appeared. "He's strengthening his defenses."