A fire in the flash

I needed to get to my feet and get my hands on a sword. And I needed to do it quickly. But my head still swam, and my legs felt strange, like I was disco

As I pushed onto my knees, I thought it was strange that what would inevitably kill me was also keeping me alive.

Kolis stepped forward, his too-perfect lips curved into a smile. “She was never yours, nephew. She has always been mine.”

Ash’s fury lashed out. The breath I exhaled formed a puffy cloud as energy charged the space once more. Ash rushed Kolis, taking to the air.

All I saw was a sneer from Kolis before wispy eather poured from the false King. He rose, slipping into his Primal form, creating a glow that was too bright and painful to look upon for any length of time.

Ash and Kolis met high above me, and it was like seeing the night and the sun crash into each other. The eather-laced shadows and the intense, gold-and silver-streaked light whirled at dizzying speeds, but the wind had stopped. The clouds had ceased their journey across the sky. Everything…everything else had gone silent and still as my chest constricted.

I squinted, catching glimpses of the two Primals between the shadows and daylight. Golden hair, then reddish-brown strands. Black tunic, then white linen pants. Silver cuff and golden band—one that appeared to flash white when the arm moved. Fists. Heads kicked back.

They were punching each other.

Then the swirling around them stilled, and the air began to vibrate and pulse. The embers in my chest hummed—

A bolt of eather burst from Ash, hitting Kolis and throwing the Primals apart. The false King caught himself and returned to Ash, his speed shocking. A harsh, low scream tore from my throat when Kolis slammed into Ash. Eather spat and crackled around them as they rose.

They came back down in a blur. I stared wide-eyed and couldn’t make sense of it until one of them crashed into the tile, cracking several feet of the marble around them. Only when I saw the swirling black mist overtaking the brilliant glow did I know that Ash had driven Kolis into the floor.

Relief shuddered through me when the essence around Kolis dimmed enough for me to see Ash straighten. He stepped over his uncle, spitting a mouthful of shimmery blood onto the Primal before reaching down and grasping Kolis by the head—

The false King shot up like a spear, sending Ash flying back. Wind surged, blowing my hair in front of me. Lightning arced overhead. My head tilted toward the horizon, to the west. I saw no signs of the draken.

My heart lurched as Ash and Kolis battled with fists and bursts of Primal energy, their bodies rising and falling so quickly. I turned back to where the guards lay, the distance between them and me seeming insurmountable. But I needed to get to a sword. I wasn’t sure what I would do once I had it, but I had to do something.

Hands suddenly landed on my upper arms. I let out a startled scream, and instinct took over. I immediately tried to break free. My mind knew how to, I’d been trained by the best, but my body wasn’t responding quickly enough. I felt sluggish and disjointed, and all I seemed to do was wiggle like a dying worm.

“Stop,” a voice hissed in my ear—one I recognized.

Attes.

Anger boiled as I jerked my body to the right. “Let go…of me, you…fucking traitorous bastard.”

Attes’s grip tightened, and he turned me sideways, bringing us face-to-face.

I got a really good look at him. And he didn’t look well. Bluish-red blood trickled from his nose, eyes, ears, and the corners of his mouth. The shallow scar ru

Godsdamn. That one blast from Ash had really done a number on him.

“Listen to me,” he said, shouting over the wind.

“Fuck you.” I pitched back—or fell back—kicking out. My foot glanced off his chest.

Attes halted, raising his brows. “You really need to conserve your energy, Sera. And listen to me.”

Yeah, that wasn’t happening. “You betrayed…us,” I forced out, feeling dizzy. “After I helped Thad, you…betrayed—”

The ground shook as Ash and Kolis hit somewhere to our right, their bodies digging up tile and sending marble flying in every direction.

Cursing, Attes twisted and pulled me toward him, shifting us away from the rain of debris. I reached up, digging my fingers into his hair and yanking hard. It was a bitch move. I knew it, but it was the best I could manage at the moment.

Attes snarled through bared teeth—fangs. He jerked his head, and I felt a savage burst of satisfaction when I saw strands of golden-brown hair between my fingers.

“Damn it,” he growled. “Stop—”

Fingers clawed, I aimed for that fucking dimple.

“I know what I’ve done.” He caught my wrist, eather snapping in his eyes as Ash and Kolis returned to the sky. “There isn’t time to discuss that or for you to seek revenge.”

My mouth opened.

“Kolis will kill Ash,” Attes said, our faces inches apart. “He won’t mean to, and that’s not because he doesn’t want to. It’s because of what will happen if he does.” Something wet hit my cheek and then my arm. “Ash is not powerful enough to defeat Kolis and his draken, which will come this way the moment they sense that Kolis is truly in danger. Ash will die.”

Panting, I stared at the Primal who’d strolled into Ash’s office, seemingly without a care. The one who had flirted while delivering Kolis’s message and teased as he asked about the movements of the Shadowlands’ forces toward the borders of the Court he shared with his brother, Kyn. Ash hadn’t trusted him completely, but there had been something between them. Not exactly a friendship but maybe a kinship.

And he’d fucked us.

He’d likely been in on Kolis ordering me to slaughter that poor draken, and had probably told Kolis that I brought Thad back.

The act the false King had been waiting for me to complete, as it was proof that the embers had matured enough to be transferred.

Something splashed off the hand Attes held between us. The drop was a shimmery reddish-blue color.

It was Primal blood.

I sucked in a startled breath.

“They need to stop,” Attes insisted. “And the only person either of them will listen to is you.”

I wasn’t sure about that. Kolis didn’t seem like the type to listen to anyone. And Ash was likely beyond listening. He was caught in a cyclone of fury that had been building for centuries. This wasn’t only about me. It was about his mother, whom Kolis had slaughtered while Ash was still in her womb. It was about his father, whom Kolis had killed—whose soul he still held. It was for all the lives inked into Ash’s skin that Kolis had taken from him or forced Ash to take.

But Attes, bastard or not, spoke the truth.

Kolis would kill Ash.

And the death of either Kolis or Ash would destroy not only the mortal realm but also Iliseeum and every Primal. Completely. I wasn’t sure if the draken could even survive. Perhaps only the Arae—the Fates—would remain.

But I didn’t care about any of them. Only Ash mattered to me. So, I had to try. But how? They were still going at it, trading blasts of eather. The glow swallowing Kolis had faded, making it so he was no longer painful to look at. The shadows had grown thi

My gaze flew to the daggers at Attes’s hips, and I thought… I thought maybe I knew how to get Kolis to stop.