A light in the flame

I stilled, my chest rising and falling in short, shallow breaths. A part of me wanted to listen to his warning because I knew that something had happened. Something bad. An act that Saion wished he hadn’t seen.

But I couldn’t.

Because Ash wouldn’t.

I slipped my arm free. Saion’s curse got lost in the order for another barrage of arrows. I hurried, catching up to Ash as I sca

The air smelled different here. It carried a…a hint of damp metal. A recognizable scent. Blood. Death.

Oh, gods.

Suddenly, I was in Saion’s place, wanting to stop Ash from discovering what awaited. “Ash,” I called out.

He didn’t stop.

Not until he rounded the corner of the palace. Then he did. He jerked, stumbling back a step. I’d never seen him stumble. Fear of what he’d seen seized me as I crossed the short distance between us, seeing dark red across the gray, cracked soil and discarded swords. Streams of red. Splatters of crimson. Puddles of blood.

Ash threw his arm out, blocking me, but it was too late.

I saw…

I saw them.

On pikes, drilled into the ground. Hands and arms bound. Their mangled skin and torn-open chests empty of hearts. Throats slashed to the bone. Others were cut so deeply that their heads were no longer on their shoulders but the ground.

The embers hummed in response to the death. To the utter lack of life as I dragged my gaze over faces I didn’t recognize, lifeless eyes of those I’d passed in the courtyard or saw training with Ash. I looked down.

Fair hair. Sharp, bloodless features. Lifeless, dull amber eyes.

That was his…that was his head.

Ector.

I staggered, my throat sealing as I clapped a hand over my mouth, and a softer red snagged my attention.

The color of wine.

The flash of a silver chain around a throat, soaked in blood.

“No,” I whispered, skin flashing hot and then going numb. “No.”

“She came outside to help,” Saion said raggedly from behind us. “I told her to get back, but Kyn saw her. And Ector—fucking Ector tried to stop him.”

I swayed, chest throbbing as the embers responded to me—to the storm of emotions roaring through me. My blood heated, filling my veins with fire.

“Bele doesn’t know,” Saion rasped. “She was already on the way to Lethe. She doesn’t know—fuck, you’re starting to glow.”

He wasn’t talking about Ash, who had gone completely silent and still.

It was me.

A distant rumble echoed in the sky. Davon was near. That was a problem, one we needed to figure out how to handle, but I couldn’t think beyond Aios and Ector and the dozens of lives lost on these pikes.

I couldn’t understand why.

What had any of them done?

The embers throbbed as I started toward Aios—toward them—but I forced myself back. Using the embers had caused this. If I were to do it again, it would lead to more attacks.

My hands curled into fists as fury clashed with grief. I could do something. I could fix this, but who would pay for it?

Not the one who should.

Kolis.

“Is Kyn still here?” Ash demanded, his voice cold and flat as the temperature suddenly dropped several degrees.

“The last I saw him, he was outside the Rise,” Saion answered. “Behind the line of dakkais. He had Cimmerian—” Saion turned to the sky. “That fucker is coming back.”

Ash turned from the pikes, away from the carnage. “Summon the armies.” Eather sparked from his whirling flesh as his lips peeled back over his fangs. Power poured into the air. Shadows spilled into the space around him, spi

Then Ash rose.

Straight up like a launched arrow. Streaks of silver light radiated from him, hissing and snapping. The hazy outline of wings appeared as his hands splayed open. Outside the rise, the dakkais howled as Saion ran toward a guard on horseback, giving her orders. She took off for the gates facing the Undying Woods. I could only hope that she and the armies were quick.

“Fire! Fire!” I heard—thank the gods—Rhain shout from the Rise. “Now!”

The air around Ash crackled, flashing a lighter gray as the eather built inside him, turning his skin the shade of mottled shadowstone. His wings looked almost solid as clouds darkened the sky—actual dark clouds that gathered and thickened.

Ash became a storm.

Davon appeared over the palace, jaws open and scales vibrating. Flames sparked from inside his throat.

Ash laughed.

And the sky trembled with thunder. The draken spread his wings, slowing as he curled his body, but he wasn’t stopping.

Ash was stopping the draken.

He’d lifted a hand, twisted his wrist.

The crack of Davon’s wing was lost in the answering howl of pain.

“My gods,” I whispered.

“Yeah,” Saion breathed. “You haven’t seen a really pissed-off Primal, have you?”

Eather erupted from Ash. Blinding streaks lit up the sky, slamming into Davon. The draken tumbled as eather raced through his scaled body.

“It ain’t pretty,” Saion finished.

Davon hit the courtyard on his forelegs and pushed up again with a roar, still crackling with eather. He flew back up, even with a broken wing.

No, it was not pretty.

Telling myself that Ash would be okay, I turned to the pikes. I needed to focus. I had a job to do. I started forward, unsheathing the dagger.

“What are you doing?”

“Help me.” I hurried to Aios. I hated choosing, picking one life over another, but she was the closest, and she still…she still had her head. I didn’t know what I could do for those who didn’t. I didn’t understand how the embers worked to reattach limbs and parts, but Aios…I could help her and then try with the rest. “Help me get her down.”

“Fuck, Sera. You’re sure about this? It’ll be felt. You’ll Ascend Aios, just like you did with Bele.” Saion followed. “It will make things worse—”

“Worse?” I laughed, and the sound broke off. “Worse than this? Really?”

“It can always get worse.”

Like it had for Aios, who had already experienced far more horror than anyone should ever have to live through.

“The risks,” Saion began.

“I know what the risks are, but it won’t matter.” It wouldn’t. Because as soon as we had the chance, Ash would take the embers from me. There would be no more waiting. No plans made to figure out what to do with whatever time I had left. He had to because, after this, he’d have to Ascend.

And he’d need to stop Kolis.

“They will not die today,” I said. Ignoring the blood-stained edges of Aios’s gown, I bent and cut through the ropes around her ankles as the sky overhead lit with silver flames. I tensed and then relaxed as Davon let out another pained screech.

I rose, freeing the wrists tied at Aios’s back. Her skin…it was cold, clammy but not stiff. “Help me get her down,” I said again before cutting the rope around her waist. I met Saion’s stare. “As your Consort, I demand it.”

Saion briefly closed his eyes, then nodded. He came to my side, folding his arms around Aios. “I’ve got her.” His gaze met mine. “You’re going to want to get your hand behind her head as quickly as possible or…”

Clamping my mouth shut, I nodded. I knew what could happen. “On the count of three,” I said. “One, two, three.” I cut through the rope and then moved, bracing the sides of her too-loose head as Saion took her weight. “Lay her down. Not in the blood.” I looked for a nearby place free of gore. And looked…

“No place is clean.” Saion began to lower her. “This will have to do.”

Blinking back tears as Ash’s lightning arced across the sky, catching Davon once more, I dropped to my knees and placed the dagger down as I tapped into the embers, willing them to respond. They throbbed and surged, the essence flooding my veins.