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CHAPTER TWENTY
Aydun returned me—with warning this time—to the Shadowlands.
As the mist faded, I saw bare shelves.
Then, I was in Ash’s arms, one wrapped around my waist while the fingers of his other sank into my hair. I held him just as tightly, feeling his heart pounding against my chest as I soaked in his citrusy fresh scent and the feel of his body.
“Liessa,” he murmured, his mouth against the side of my head. Neither of us moved for several moments, and then he leaned back. Eather-drenched eyes searched mine. “What did he do?”
“He was…he was just being an asshole.” My fingers splayed across his side. “Some of his abilities—like the syhkik—have returned to him. But I’m okay,” I assured him before he answered. “I swear.”
A faint shudder went through him, and then his lips found mine as he cupped my cheeks, tilting my head back. I rose onto the toes of my boots and placed my hands against his chest. The kiss deepened, and he tasted me, drank me in.
A throat cleared.
Ash slowly ended the kiss, but he didn’t break away. His forehead rested against mine. He was breathing just as raggedly as I was.
I wet my lips. “I’m guessing you didn’t leave for Vathi?”
“I think you know the answer to that,” a gravelly voice drawled from behind Ash.
My fingers curled into Ash’s tunic. “Did you have to sit on Ash to keep him here?”
“Pretty much,” Nektas answered. “For a moment there, I didn’t think I would be able to stop him.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to Ash. “I know it’s not my fault, but I’m sure this couldn’t have been easy for you.”
His thumb swept over my cheek. “It wasn’t.” Lifting his head, he pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Do you need anything? Food? Something to drink?”
A wry smile tugged at my lips. “I wasn’t gone that long.”
“Any length of time is too long.”
Feeling that in my soul, I smiled. “I’m good for now.”
“If you change your mind, let me know.” His lips touched my temple before he stepped aside.
Nektas sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. Rhain was seated in the other. Both were watching us. The former had a small grin on his face. The god looked surprised. Again.
Feeling my cheeks warm, I cleared my throat. “Have you both—?” I stopped, looking behind me. The space was empty.
“If you’re looking for the Fate,” Rhain said, lifting a short glass to his lips and taking a sip, “he vanished the moment Nyktos reached you.”
“Well, that’s probably for the best.” I glanced at Ash. His attention was fixed on me. “By the way, he now thinks I’m the calm one out of the two of us.”
Rhain choked.
My narrowed gaze swung to the god. He was bent over in his chair, eyes watering. “Sorry,” he gasped. “Went down the wrong pipe.”
“Sure, it did,” I replied dryly. “But that probably changed after the meeting.”
Ash raised a brow. “How so?”
“I sort of might have killed Callum,” I shared as Ash walked us toward the settee. “Twice.”
Nektas snorted while Rhain wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand, and Ash sat, pulling me into his lap.
I felt a small jolt of unease, but I shut it down. I would not allow my fucked-up mind to do this to me. To us. I liked being this close to Ash, and it wasn’t that long ago that he’d abhorred the touch of another. This ope
“What did he do?” Ash asked.
I forced myself to relax against his chest. “Breathe in my direction?”
“Besides that.” Ash’s hand slid from where it lay on my thigh to rest over my midsection.
“Honestly, he just a
The tips of Ash’s fangs grazed his lower lip as he gri
“Yes.” The image of Kyn formed. “But none met the same fate.” I tucked several thick curls behind my ear and decided to start with one of the more pressing issues. “Kolis looks like shit, by the way.”
Ash’s arm momentarily tightened, and Rhain’s stare sharpened. “What do you mean?”
“His abilities are getting stronger, but I don’t think he’s fully recovered. He moved slowly. Looked thi
Rhain sat back with a shake of his head. “He should at least appear physically well by now.” His eyes met mine. “Man, you must’ve really done a number on him.”
“She did,” Ash said, and the pride in his voice brought a smile to my lips even though I knew Kolis wouldn’t remain that way. “What did he want?”
The smile faded. “He wanted to make a deal.”
“A deal?” Rhain repeated.
“He offered what I assume he thought would be a truce.”
“Did he now?” Ash’s voice was level, but the temperature in the office dropped.
“He said he’d let us live out our lives in the Shadowlands and promised not to seek vengeance.” I looked at Rhain and Nektas. “The others who have, as he put it, ‘conspired against him,’ would face punishment.”
“And he would do what? Rule as the Primal of Death?” Rhain demanded.
I nodded.
The god leaned back, shaking his head as Ash asked, “And what did he want in return?”
My gaze met his. “Sotoria.”
“Fucking Fates,” he muttered, his jaw clenching.
“Wait a moment.” Rhain lowered his glass to the knee of his dark gray breeches. “That’s all he wanted?”
“All?” I sat straighter. “Yes, all he wants is the woman he got killed, brought back to life, assaulted, stalked—”
“Rhain meant no offense.” Ash patted my belly.
“I didn’t. Truly. I know Sotoria has suffered at his hands in ways I ca
Realizing that I may have been a little too quick there, I nodded. “And he knows Sotoria’s soul isn’t in me.”
Ash’s head turned toward mine. “What?”
“He figured it out. The Star and your father’s soul,” I told him. Essence pulsed behind his pupils. Clearly, he wasn’t happy to hear that. “I didn’t accept the deal.”
“I don’t think any of us believed you would,” Nektas stated.
Ash’s head tilted as he eyed me. “Why do you sound like you’re uncertain about that decision?”
“I’m not. I just…” I shook my head as I stared at Ash’s forearm. “I mean, I didn’t have a chance to accept or reject it, and I’ll get to that in a moment, but before we entered Cor Palace, Aydun told me that preventing war among the Primals was not seen in any of the threads, but that I—I guess everything from my birth to my Ascension—kept snipping threads, ending some and changing others. It gave me the impression that I—or the choices I help make—could possibly prevent war.”
The office was quiet.
“And he warned me that a war among the Primals would disturb the Ancients who’d gone to ground.”
“Disturbing them is not the same as waking them,” Ash pointed out.
“It’s not, but I think it would make them more likely to awaken,” I said. “He also said that the war wouldn’t be won until there was blood and bone.”
Ash frowned. “Won until life and death? What is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know. And he wasn’t into explaining things. Maybe he meant it in a figurative sense. Like the war wouldn’t be won until there was life and death.” My brow knitted. I knew he couldn’t have been talking about a Primal of Blood and Bone because that wouldn’t be helpful whatsoever. “But that doesn’t really make sense.”
“Unless he meant it in the sense that, for a war to end, the Primals of Life and Death must come together,” Rhain suggested, his forehead creasing. “To no longer be at odds with each other.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Ash said.
I couldn’t stop the doubt from creeping in. “But by refusing to give him Sotoria, I’m choosing one person over potentially thousands, if not more.”
Nektas leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “If one life isn’t important enough, then no lives are.”
“It’s not just that,” Ash said. “There’s no way he will honor the deal once he has what he wants.”
“Aydun said that if Kolis went back on his deal, there would be consequences. That the realm would seek to rectify it,” I said. “I guess it’s like when an oath is made.”
“Yeah, but none of that means he can’t go back on it,” Ash reminded me.
“I know. I thought the same.” But would Kolis be willing to risk pissing off the Fates and have them do something to Sotoria? Possibly not.
Restless energy surged. “That’s not all.” I slipped from Ash’s lap. He held on for a second before letting go. I walked past the end table and then turned back to them. “I had to counter. I wasn’t happy about being unable to talk to you beforehand, but I…I made him a similar deal.”
The office went quiet again.
My heart kicked against my ribs as I started to pace. “I figured that would be the response, and I know none of you believes that Kolis wants to avoid a war, but even if he plans to renege on the deal he offered, he is still showing restraint.”
The air chilled even further.
“He is,” I insisted, mostly to Ash. “He knows that Sotoria’s soul is in The Star. He could simply tear apart the realm looking for it, which is an act that would erupt into war.”
“She has a point there,” Rhain said.
“Or he simply fears that if he were to do that, you would do something to The Star,” Ash countered.
“True, but again, that shows he’s being somewhat logical.”
“What did you offer?” Nektas jumped in.
“My first thought was to offer him nothing, but that didn’t seem like what a true Primal of Life would do. So, I offered that he could remain in Dalos but would not rule Iliseeum or the Shadowlands. He would renounce the throne and could not seek retribution against anyone,” I told them. “In return, we would let him live out his life.”
The three of them stared at me.
I started pacing again. “I know that’s not desirable.”
“That is the understatement of the century, Sera,” Ash said.
“Yeah.” I twisted my fingers around a strand of hair. “I know. But—”
“There’s a but?” Ash questioned.