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Crolee shifted closer, his head tracking the spouts. Ehthawn reared, lifting his head to the sky. The low trilling sound came once more.
“Am I seeing things, or does the water look like it—?”
The air all around us charged. The essence in me pulsed as the draken lowered themselves until they were almost on their bellies. Energy built and built, constricting—
Ash spun toward his horse and ran his fingers along the silver cuff on his upper arm. “Odin, return to me.”
The horse’s form rippled as I stepped back. Odin turned to smoke, crossing the distance between us and returning to the cuff.
Ash’s hand found mine as a jet of water erupted again, this time behind us. All of us looked at the other side of the road. Fountains of water gushed into the air like moving, winged pillars. They arced, slamming into the riverbed.
“What the…?” Ash hauled me against his chest.
Tiny silvery lights appeared in the empty air before us, then over the riverbanks, the road, and then everywhere. I sucked in a startled breath. It looked like the stars had descended to the land, and in a way, they had.
“It’s the essence,” Ash rasped, shuddering. “It’s the eather of the realms—of the air and the land.”
The lights flickered, becoming gold. Pure, Primal energy flashed from all the stars above and around us, casting the entire Court—the entire realm of Iliseeum—in bright, golden light streaked with silver.
The eather hummed inside me as the very realm itself seemed to hold its breath.
Then it exhaled. Energy rolled out in every direction, the force of it more powerful than any wind I’d felt. Ash dug in, his arms tightening around me as he slid back a foot or so. The pressure even moved the draken as the ground began to tremble once more.
As the eather rippled out, kissing the land in its golden-silver glow, the dull grayness of what was left of the Rot vanished.
“Oh my gods,” I whispered. “Ash.”
“I see it.” His eyes were luminous pools in the gold-and-silver glow of the realm.
Along the road, blades of grass broke free of the top layers of soil and spread out, reaching the river and beyond. Fragile stems sprouted, stretching upward as leaves unfurled, and red buds formed.
“Poppies,” Ash breathed.
They grew along the road in clumps as the twisted trees shook out their gnarled limbs and straightened. Deep, violet leaves burst forth, filling the once-bare branches.
The glow of eather began to fade, and the energy left the air. Night fell once more. Starlight returned, and none of us moved as we stood there, listening to the hum of rushing water and the wind shaking the leaves.
My gaze fell on the poppies. They opened, slowly revealing their crimson petals to the stars.
“I hope the poppies are in a good mood,” I said. “And don’t poison us.”
Ash didn’t answer.
Heart thumping, I tore my gaze from the flowers.
Ash was staring at me with eyes wide and full of swirling streaks of eather, lips parted enough that I could see the tips of his fangs.
I touched his chest. “Ash?”
His throat worked on a swallow. “How are you feeling?”
“Normal. Fine.” I searched his features. He looked a little pale. “How are you feeling?”
He shook his head silently as he lowered himself to one knee before me, my hand still held in his.
A jolt ran through me. This wasn’t the first time he’d done this. I’d never forget how, upon learning that I carried the true embers of the Primal of Life, he’d knelt before me. It still shocked me.
Crolee rocked back then, lifting his head to the night sky. His call echoed Ehthawn’s—one I heard in my bones and understood as Ash’s lashes lifted. Molten silver eyes pierced the night.
“Awed,” he rasped. “I’m in fucking awe of you.” He bowed his head, pressing his lips to my palm and the golden swirl of our marriage imprint. A faint tremble radiated from his hand to mine. “My Queen.”