Страница 58 из 216
Figuring it would be best if I stopped thinking about that before I found myself once more in Ash’s arms, I bent over the vanity and splashed cool water on my way-too-hot face. I plucked up the nearest clean towel to dry myself as my gaze drifted to the mirror.
Even in the dim glow of the lamplight, seeing my eyes still came as a shock, despite looking like my freckled self.
Well, not completely like myself. There was a slight golden glow to my skin that hadn’t been there before I rose as a Primal. I lifted my upper lip until the tips of the two small fangs appeared.
What would Ezra think upon seeing them? Gods, she would have so many questions, and I…I wanted to answer them. My eyes closed as a pang of yearning ran through me. I wanted to see her and Marisol. Perhaps even my mother—
The sudden sensation of pins and needles erupted as the eather pulsed in the center of my chest and formed what felt like a cord. A co
It balanced.
Black washed over the silver-laced gold light. Black streaked with crimson.
Sucking in a sharp breath, my eyes flew open—
My heart lurched.
What I saw was brief and only lasted a heartbeat, if that, but I saw.
And it wasn’t my eyes that met mine. It wasn’t my reflection that stared back at me.
It was silver eyes streaked with red. It was the face I saw in my nightmares.
Kolis.
Ash once more shadowstepped into the bathing chamber. “What’s wrong?”
I staggered forward, my mouth dry. What I saw now was my reflection. The same as before, except the freckles stood out more starkly. But I had seen him.
“Sera?” Ash was at my side, placing a hand on my lower back. “Talk to me.”
“I’m okay,” I said hoarsely. My heart pounded as I gripped the vanity, willing myself to calm. “I…I just need a moment.”
He ran his hand up and down my back. “Take as many as you need.”
The calming sweep of his palm helped push away the panic and confusion, clearing my thoughts enough for me to focus on what’d just happened. I knew Kolis hadn’t really been here, but I also knew what that cord-like sensation meant. What it was telling me. It was either the vadentia or all the information I’d gained during the Ascension.
That link—that co
“Fuck,” I whispered, and Ash’s hand momentarily halted before continuing. Opening my eyes, I faced Ash. “It’s Kolis.”
The tendrils of eather stilled in his eyes as he curved one of his hands around mine. “Talk to me,” he said.
“I sensed Kolis.”
Those wisps of eather brightened as intensely as stars. “I’m going to need more details.”
As I told him what happened, his jaw clenched and became as hard as the shadowstone around us. “It was weird, but I know he’s been in a stasis until now.”
“Do you still feel him?”
“No.” I frowned as I thought twice. “I mean, I don’t technically feel him.”
Frigid air blew off Ash. “What does that mean, Sera? Do you hear him? Feel anything?” His flesh thi
“It’s more an awareness of him, of him being conscious,” I quickly clarified. “And that is all.” I squeezed his hand. “I swear.”
His chest rose with a heavy breath. “I didn’t know that was possible.”
“I didn’t either. Well, I did but didn’t realize I knew,” I said, knowing that made little sense. “There’s a lot of stuff in my head. Too much, really. But it’s quite possible that no one else knew about that, not even Nektas.”
Ash nodded, his flesh gradually thickening. “If he did, he would’ve said something.” His jaw loosened. “Well, now we know why he has been so silent. Stasis was the true cause of his absence and lack of action.”
I wanted to deny it, but it would be foolish to do so.
“This doesn’t change our plans.” He cupped my cheek.
“I know.”
“You done in here?”
I nodded, and worry started to fester as Ash led me from the bathing chamber. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that nothing had changed. We’d been operating as if Kolis had been awake this entire time anyway.
But even I knew that was a whole lot of bullshit because Kolis was awake, and that changed everything.
The following morning, I knew I should be with Ash as the security for today’s speech was discussed, but instead, I was on the Rise, walking toward the wall facing Lethe. It was the easiest way for me to see the Dying Woods. Something had occurred to me.
The Shades.
The slight heels of my leather boots clapped softly on the stone as I glanced down, seeing lush grass filling the courtyard and Rhahar’s lurking figure just beneath me. He wasn’t alone. Kars, the fair-haired and muscular guard who had once offered to train me, was with him. They had been following me since the moment Ash left.
Something odd had happened when I’d spotted Kars as I climbed the Rise. I’d never been able to tell before if he was a god or a godling—the child of a mortal and a god—but I’d known right then that he was one of the rare godlings who entered the Culling and survived. It was similar to what had happened when I saw the guard on the Rise yesterday.
The vadentia sure was strengthening quickly.
However, the embers inside me since birth had already matured to an extent, which likely explained why things were happening faster for me.
But that rapidly developing ability wasn’t why I was on the Rise.
When I used the essence to fill the riverbed, I’d been focused on bringing water back to the Shadowlands. But I’d restored a lot more than that.
The Shadowlands were virtually unrecognizable.
A pleasant breeze swirled along the Rise, lifting a stray curl as I continued on. I thought I had a good idea how this had happened. When I tapped into the essence, I had also willed life to return to the Shadowlands. That was how the fields of poppies and grass had appeared. How the trees along the road into the Shadowlands straightened and sprouted glossy violet and green leaves. It was why the soil was a rich, dark brown. I did more than I had intended to. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, except that there were dead things moving about in the Shadowlands.
The Shades.
Had my will impacted them?
The eather stirred restlessly as my steps slowed. The sea of vibrant crimson thi
I stopped at a parapet to scan the Dying Woods. A gloom clung to the trees where the forest was the thickest, obscuring everything below the tops of the thin, gnarled branches. My gaze traveled to the thi
The Dying Woods hadn’t changed.
Movement drew my attention toward the heavier parts. The gloom there had thickened, and it moved. Eather throbbed, pressing against my skin.
Shades.
I sucked in a sharp breath and took a step back. My hands spasmed and then fisted. Wispy gray forms slunk around tree trunks, creeping toward the edges of the Dying Woods. I closed my eyes, pushing down the swell of eather as my fingers tingled. The Dying Woods remained as it had always been. That was good news. A part of me had been half-afraid that I’d brought all the Shades back to life.
And I was a little sad.
Not all the Shades were evil—well, now they were, but they hadn’t all started out that way. Some had just been afraid when they came upon the Pillars of Asphodel, terrified that they would be sentenced to the Abyss for stealing, telling lies, forgery, or adultery. Bad things, but sometimes necessary. Mistakes. Actions that hadn’t damned them.
Until now.
Now, they were lost.
And I knew why that bothered me. I’d spent the better part of my life fearing where I would end up after my death. Even after Ash, I had been afraid. I didn’t know if the Fates would intervene, preventing Ash from judging me kindly. The worst part was that I knew where I deserved to go. It wasn’t the Vale, yet I was the Agna Adice.
The Great Condemner.
And how messed up was that?
A lot. The answer was a lot.
But why hadn’t my will affected the Shades and the Dying Woods? Opening my eyes, I saw that the Shades were closer, gathering near the edge of the trees. The sensation of fingertips along the nape of my neck hit me as the answer to my question formed.
The Dying Woods belonged to Death, as did the Shades. Just like they were mostly prevented from leaving the Dying Woods, I was blocked from bringing life to that stretch of land. But…
I frowned. But neither life nor death was absolute. My thoughts raced. There was something about that. The wards that trapped the lost souls in the woods sometimes weakened, and I had almost brought one back. I had been in the Dying Woods then, touching the Shade. That was the difference.
Death couldn’t break the bond of Life’s touch. That kind of power? It was the same as I’d displayed last night.
I turned away from the Shades and knew that what I had done last night had awakened Kolis.
After spending an ungodly amount of time trying to decide whether to wear my hair loose or in a braid, I finally decided to leave the curls free. Ash liked it that way, and I loved that he did.
I stepped back so I could see myself in the mirror attached to the wardrobe door. The tunic Aios had picked out was fitted at the breasts, almost too tightly, like the measurements might have been off just a little bit, but the cut was flattering, and the stitching Erlina had done was beyond beautiful. I couldn’t remember if I had thanked her for her hard work, and even if I had, I wanted to do so again.
I’d followed Aios’s suggestion and paired the tunic with black leggings, and I didn’t think Rhain would have any reason to complain.
I took a deep breath, nodded at myself, and then walked through the bathing chamber. Tiny knots of anxiety bounced around in my stomach as I headed down the narrow hall to the antechamber. There, I found Reaver in his mortal form, seated on the couch with a pad of parchment.