A light in the flame

“Kiss me,” I whispered.

There was no hesitation.

Ash drew me to him, lifting me onto the tips of my toes as his mouth lowered to mine. We both shuddered at the touch of our lips. The kiss was gentle and tentative, full of reverence and sorrow. Tears rushed my tightly closed eyes. A soul-torn groan rumbled from Ash’s chest and through mine.

The embers continued to hum.

My heart ached.

Ash’s arms swept around me, hands fisting my braid, my hip. He pulled me even closer to him, our bodies flush. His head tilted, the kiss deepening with a sweep of his tongue against mine, a clash of teeth against fangs. And from all the anguish, desperation was born, one of need and want, and it was all-consuming.

There was no hesitation when our mouths parted and our gazes collided. There were no words as his lips returned to mine and we reached for each other, buttons being opened, pants and undergarments shoved down. Our lips didn’t part as he lowered me to the pine-needled ground and took me with one deep stroke of his hips.

His mouth captured my cry of pleasure, and he answered with a heated growl. With my pants gathered just below my knees, I couldn’t lift my legs or widen them. The restricted movement made every thrust tight and nerve-wrackingly intense as I gripped his arms.

That was all I could do—hold on as he moved in and out, going as deep as he could, rushing, driving me to the blade-thin edge of pleasure and pain.

He seated himself deeply within me, lifting his mouth from mine as he clasped my cheek, stilling. “I wish…” he whispered hoarsely, dragging his fingers across the freckles sweeping over my cheek. “I wish I’d never had my kardia removed.”

My eyes fluttered open.

His eyes glinted with a…a sheen of red. Primal tears of grief. “I never wanted to love. Not until you, liessa.”

Air lodged in my throat as my chest squeezed and swelled, a conflicting rise of emotion. “I know.”

He shook, then lost all semblance of control. His hips plunged against mine, each thrust a promise of what his heart couldn’t give. Each ragged breath between us raw and beautiful. The pleasure rose. Sorrow followed. And when release found us, it took us both, leaving us shaken and a little bit destroyed.

Neither of us moved for a long time. In the silence, I soaked up the feel of his heart beating against my chest, the cool weight of his body as I stared up at the needled pines above us. “Can you make me a promise?”

He lifted his head, and eyes full of silver moonlight met mine. “Anything, liessa.”

“When it comes time,” I whispered, “can you take me to my lake? I want it to be done there.”

Ash’s chest stilled against mine. His eyes slammed shut as the tendons of his throat stood out, and his features sharpened and thi

Chapter 46

Ash held me tightly to him as if he feared I might slip away. I could feel his heart pounding against my cheek as he prepared to bring us back to the Shadowlands.

Where we needed to prepare. Make plans. Try to figure out how long I had before…I died. It couldn’t be too long. Not with how strong the embers were. It was possible I only had days left—weeks if I was lucky.

A shudder worked its way through me. Ash’s chin grazed the top of my head as his fingers curled around my braid. Tendrils of moonlit darkness rose.

Would this be what death looked like? A rise of darkness? Nothing before I entered the mist before the Pillars, unable to hear or see anyone near me? A sharp swirl of raw panic darted through me, threatening to fracture the calm evoked by the failure of all those what-ifs. I closed my eyes, swallowing the knot gathered there.

I could deal with this.

I had to.

There was no other option.

As the whirling strands of eather settled around us, the normally stale, cool air of the Shadowlands reached us, carrying the strong scent of burning wood. The embers vibrated in my chest.

“Something’s wrong. There is…death everywhere,” Ash bit out as dread exploded throughout me. A shout echoed from the Rise. “Fuck.”

Ash turned sharply as stinging heat roared over our heads. Fire slammed into the palace. I gasped as the entire structure shook under the blast of flames.

Everything we’d learned in Massene fell to the wayside. We were under attack.

“Hold on,” Ash ordered.

I gripped the front of his tunic, expecting him to shadowstep once more, but he took a step forward instead, lifting me as he launched onto the railing of his balcony.

Ash jumped.

“Holy shit,” I gasped, squeezing my eyes shut as acrid air rushed up. My stomach plummeted at the brief seconds of utter weightlessness, and then we were falling.

Ash slowed before landing hard in a crouch. I didn’t feel the impact, and I wasn’t sure if that was because he’d taken the hit or from the shock of him leaping off the balcony.

He lowered me to my feet as he rose, releasing me. With my heart thundering, I turned to see several guards on the Rise aiming at the ground outside, firing arrows.

The high-pitched yelps and guttural growls sent a cold shiver down my spine as Saion raced from the gates.

“Veses?” Ash clipped out.

“She’s still in stasis, in her cell, but there are dakkais at the Rise—here and in Lethe. Bele and Rhahar are down there, but—” Saion skidded to a halt as a shadow fell over the courtyard.

Ash yanked me back as a reddish-black draken dove toward us, releasing a stream of fire. Heat blew back. The fire slammed into the ground, kicking up soil and rock. For a moment, I couldn’t see Saion through the flames, and my heart stopped.

The fire receded, revealing Saion, picking himself up from several feet back. “And that fucker just showed up,” he growled. “And is already starting to piss me off.”

“Davon,” Ash snarled, and it felt like we were leaping off the balcony once more. It was the draken I’d seen in Dalos—Nektas’s distant relative. Ash prowled past the now-several-feet-deep gash in the charred, smoking ground, keeping a hold of my hand. “How many draken?”

“There is at least one more making a run at Lethe,” Saion said, and my free hand curled into a fist. “Nektas and Orphine are fending him off, but Nyktos, my man, it…” Saion swallowed, shaking his head as he turned at the waist, he thrust a hand over his head as the archers along the Rise fired another volley of arrows. “He’s here.”

My skin chilled as Ash halted.

No.

He couldn’t mean Kolis.

But the pale tightness at the corners of Saion’s mouth, the pulsing eather in his too-wide, too-bright eyes… And the way he choked as he continued sent a deeper, stronger wave of dread through me.

Through Ash.

Shadows immediately blossomed under Ash’s flesh. “Kolis?”

Saion gripped his sword. “Kyn.”

Every part of me went still. “Kyn?” I uttered, glancing at the Rise as guards raced along it. If Kyn were here with Kolis’s draken and his dakkais…

“He came before the dakkais, looking for you—for both of you,” Saion said. “Surprised the guards—surprised all of us.” He started turning from us but stopped. “There was nothing we could do. He’s a Primal.” He bent suddenly, clasping his side as he dragged in a deep breath. “The fucker just—” Saion choked and then said no more.

He couldn’t as he gnashed his teeth together, dragging a hand—a bloodied hand—over his face.

Picking up on what Saion was feeling, Ash inhaled sharply, his skin thi

Ash started walking toward the west courtyard. I followed, my unease amplifying and growing.

Saion caught my arm as I passed him. “Don’t,” he rasped. “You don’t want to see this.”