Born of Blood and Ash

“I am.” After everything with Kolis and almost dying, nearly being strangled to death in a bathing chamber no longer factored on the scale of things to be worried about. I didn’t tell Ash that, though. Bringing up Kolis in that way or reminding him of what the godling, Hamid, had attempted wouldn’t help.

“I’m good,” I assured him. “You can go.”

Ash hesitated but then nodded as if telling himself it was okay. I watched him rise from the bed and turn. My gaze immediately swept over the swirls of ink filling the length and width of his back as he retrieved a pair of pants. Those black blood drops were more pronounced against the warm, wheat-ish shade of his skin that held lustrous golden-brown undertones I hadn’t been able to make out before.

The inked blood drops traveling over his back, along his sides, and down his i

There were far too many of them.

Hundreds.

He would never add another drop to his flesh. That was an oath I would not break.

Sitting up, I reached for the first piece of clothing, which turned out to be one of Ash’s long-sleeved tunics. I pulled it on and rose to my knees, my gaze landing on the small wooden box with silver hinges sitting on the bedside table. There was a beautiful design carved into the wood, delicate vines that resembled the scrollwork I saw on the tunics of those in the Shadowlands and the throne room doors.

Ash had collected my hair ties, keeping them in that skillfully crafted box. It may seem like nothing to many, but it meant so much that he treasured something so simple merely because it belonged to me.

“By the way,” he said as he pulled on loose-fitting linen pants. “The clothing Erlina made for you is hanging in the wardrobe.” He faced me, showing off all his stu

I raised a brow and glanced down at myself. The soft shirt was so long on me that it could double as a nightgown—a shapeless, baggy one. “Me wearing one of your shirts?”

“Yes,” he said, the word a vibrating purr.

I looked up at him, and whatever I had been about to say vanished off the tip of my tongue when my gaze swept over Ash. He’d finished pulling his hair back into a low knot at the nape of his neck, showcasing the striking angles and planes of his face. There had always been an i

My gaze lowered. The lines of his chest and the tightly packed muscles of his abdomen were more defined. I tracked the inked blood drops that appeared on either side of his waist and disappeared beneath his waistband.

“Liessa, you shouldn’t look at me like that.” The change in his tone drew my gaze to his. His voice had become richer, taking on a velvety resonance that caressed each word like a symphony of arousal.

I inhaled sharply, catching an increase in his citrusy scent. Was I imagining that? No, I knew I was really sensing his arousal. Not in the same way he could, by reading emotions, but there was no denying the newly discovered sense of awareness. I could feel his arousal in the echo of each heartbeat. This had to be one of those other developing senses Ash had mentioned. “Are you sure about that?”

“Unfortunately. Because you need to eat.” He bent and curved his hand around my cheek. “I’ll only be gone for a couple of minutes.”

“Okay.”

His eyes met mine as he tilted my head back. He moved closer, and when he next spoke, his lips brushed mine. “I love you.”

My breath snagged on those three words. They should be impossible.

He tilted his head. The press of his cool lips was gentle at first but became fierce and hard.

My pulse was thrumming when he finally lifted his mouth from mine. “I—”

The balcony doors suddenly flung open, sending the thick curtains snapping toward the walls.

“What the…?” I trailed off. White mist rippled over the floor and began to rise. A strange scent reached me. Musky. Almost sweet. Eather throbbed intensely in the center of my chest, and every instinct in me told me this—whatever it was—had nothing to do with Kolis.

The change that came over Ash was swift. Shadows erupted beneath his flesh, swirling up his arms and across his chest as he whirled around.

Wisps of dark eather whipped out from his back, taking the shape of wings. I stared into the mist. Something was taking form. A guttural growl of warning rumbled from Ash, and he bared his fangs.

The skin along the nape of my neck tingled. I sensed something… “Ancient.”

I lurched from the bed and reached for Ash. My fingers grazed his skin as a charge of energy rolled through the chamber. “Ash!”

Darkness descended.