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It would throw the realm of the gods into chaos.
“You will return to your Court, and if Bele is still there,” Kolis continued, “you will advise her to appear before me and swear fealty.”
In the distance, silver briefly lit the night sky—rolling flames of eather. Then, in the brief light extending along the horizon, I saw two massive, winged beings crash into each other.
Draken.
Oh, gods, was that Nektas? Another? I didn’t even know if Orphine had survived the dakkais attack. I’d seen her fall. I’d witnessed so many fall.
I needed to get up.
“And you will order whatever forces followed you to stand down and leave Dalos’s borders immediately.” In the silence that followed, a muscle in Kolis’s jaw spasmed. “Take this offer, Nyktos.”
Arms trembling from the effort, I managed to lift myself halfway up, but that normally effortless task came at a price. My head swam, and I drew Ash’s attention.
The eather in his eyes crackled as he looked at me, at the surely mangled skin of my throat and the band below Kolis’s bite. He saw the golden gossamer gown I’d been dressed in, and I felt his rage. It fell like icy rain against my skin. I wanted to tell him that I was all right, but my tongue felt too heavy to speak the lie. I wasn’t sure I would be okay.
And I think Ash sensed that.
His chest rose sharply, and his head swung back to Kolis. “I’m going to kill you.”
The false King of Gods tipped his head back and laughed. “Now you’re just being silly.”
Ash moved as fast as an unleashed arrow, streaking forward. He came through the opening in the bars, the swirling shadows around him retracting. The air went utterly stagnant and turned thin just before Ash landed on the cage floor a few feet from Kolis. Tendrils of shadows whipped out from leather-clad legs. His eyes became pools of eather.
“Don’t,” Kolis warned, his chin dropping, “even think it.”
“As I said before,”—static crackled from Ash, and dual bolts of eather erupted from his palms—“too late.”
Kolis moved, becoming nothing more than a blur, but even as fast as he was, nothing was faster than unleashed Primal power. Ash’s bolts slammed into Kolis with shocking intensity, lifting and throwing him back. He crashed into the bars. The gold gave way under the impact.
Shadows swirled across the floor and over my legs as Ash spun, reaching for his waist. I saw the glint of shadowstone when he unsheathed his sword and threw it.
The blade struck Kolis in the chest. The force of the hit threw him back until he had nowhere else to go, and the sword hit the exterior wall, embedding deeply and pinning the false King.
Dear gods.
Pounding footsteps thundered across the ruined floor. Guards in golden breastplates and greaves charged the cage, shadowstone swords raised.
Ash turned his head, looking over his shoulder at the newcomers.
The shadows, the very essence of the Primals, poured from Ash, shooting between the cage bars. The dark mist reached the armor of the guards’ boots.
High-pitched, agonized screams tore through the space, shrieks that ended abruptly.
Wisps of night bled into the air around me as Ash knelt by my side, only a hint of his features visible in the swirling darkness.
Despite the dryness and pain, I swallowed, forcing my vocal cords and tongue to work. “That… That was…so incredibly arousing.”
Ash froze for a heartbeat and then laughed roughly. “Keep your eyes on mine,” he said, grasping the band around my throat. “And do not move, liessa.”
Liessa.
Something beautiful.
Something powerful.
Queen.
