That muscle running along his jaw ticked harder. “If Attes knew this entire time, why didn’t he tell me?”

“That’s a good question. I asked that myself.”

Ash had managed to get all but a few strands of hair out from under the shirt. “I’m sure he had an answer.”

“The Fates. They demanded that you never know of the plan. It was one of their ways to keep their precious balance. And, yes, that is really dumb, but Attes and Eythos feared that if they told you, it would end up turning back on you somehow.”

That muscle in his jaw worked overtime as he scooped a curl from where it was plastered to my neck.

“And he didn’t trust you.”

“That is the first easily believable thing I’ve heard.”

I sighed. “He didn’t trust you entirely. He never knew what you really thought of Kolis, which sounds hard to believe.”

“It’s not.” He moved on to the other side of my neck. “I told you. Even if I didn’t always fool Kolis, I could be very convincing.” He looked at me. “None of that means I trust Attes in this.”

Frustration rose. “I sort of want to knock some sense into you right now.”

“You can try.” He flashed me a grin.

I ignored it. “Attes hates Kolis, and you have to know why—what Kolis did to him. To his children.”

Ash’s nostrils flared as he draped the last of my hair over my shoulder. “I know.”

“Then do you think Attes doesn’t want to see Kolis dealt with as badly as you do?”

His thick lashes lowered, shielding his gaze.

“And Attes did what Elias did,” I tossed out.

The skin at the corners of his eyes creased. “He swore his allegiance to you?”

“Yeah, even did the whole kneeling and speech thing.”

Some of the hardness left his features. “That’s…interesting.”

Rolling my eyes, I threw up my arms. “Attes has only done what Keella has, what you have. Survived while doing his best to prevent Kolis from getting what he wants,” I said. “And that is not just Sotoria. It’s the embers, too. He wants—or needs,” I corrected myself, “those embers.”

“So he can become a crazed, unstoppable monster?”

“Well, besides that. It’s the whole balance thing. Life has to be created to keep the realms stable, and what he’s doing to accomplish that is creating what he calls—”

“I know what he’s created. The Ascended,” he said, and surprise flickered through me. “The Revenants. He couldn’t shut the fuck up about them when he came to tell me about the…” Tendons stood out along his throat. “When he came to tell me that I would be set free once my anger was under control.”

I knew that wasn’t what he’d been about to say. It was when Kolis went to tell him about the deal. “Why did he even bring that up?”

“Because my uncle is a boastful fuck who takes his inability to create life like my father did personally and to the extreme.”

I nodded slowly, remembering how he’d reacted when he sensed that I didn’t believe he could create life. “Anyway, it won’t always work. He knows that. So does Kyn.”

Shadows pressed against Ash’s cheeks.

I quickly continued. “Kolis didn’t know he couldn’t Ascend me, but he still believed the whole thing would be dangerous. So, he planned to wait until I was in my Culling to take the embers. He didn’t know that I had already started my Ascension. And the only reason I can figure that it didn’t completely happen was because of what Kolis had Phanos do.”

His gaze sharpened. “What was that?”

I told him about the ceeren and their sacrifice, and I practically saw the wheels beginning to turn in his mind. “No.”

He frowned. “No to what?”

“I will not allow anyone else to give their life to extend mine. I know you’re thinking that.”

“Except it’s not just your life you’re extending, Sera. It’s thousands,” Ash countered. “Millions.”

My hands fisted at my sides. “But only temporarily. As long as the embers remain inside me, the Rot spreads and does more damage. And…”

Ash went still again. “And what?”

“And I’m…I’m almost out of time,” I admitted. I didn’t think he took another breath. “I’m dying.”

“No.”

“I’m dying, Ash.” As I spoke, I donned that veil. I hated doing it with him, but I didn’t want the calmness I’d found regarding what was coming to crack and for him to feel anything from me. It would already be hard enough for him. So, I emptied myself as much as I could. “You have to take the embers, and you need to do it soon. I don’t have long—”

“You don’t know that.” Shadows thickened beneath his flesh, quickly erasing the warmer hues of his skin.

“I do, and so do you.” I cupped his cheeks. His flesh was so icy now. “My mouth—”

“Don’t say it,” he whispered—begged.

I had to. “My mouth has been bleeding. It was doing it just a bit ago when you left to get me clothing.” When he started to look away, I stopped him, keeping his eyes on mine. “And I no longer feel the embers in my chest, Ash. I feel them everywhere. In my blood. My bones. My skin.”

A shudder rocked him, and then I was in his arms, held tightly to his chest. He didn’t speak as I felt his heart pounding. He didn’t need to because he knew.

My Ascension had fully begun. And I was right. We didn’t have much time.

We likely didn’t even have a day.

The end was upon me—us.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

The knowledge of what was to come followed as Ash and I shadowstepped into the Bonelands.

I knew the moment we arrived. The humidity and sweet scent of the cavern disappeared, replaced by a cooler breeze that reminded me of spring in Lasania.

Ash’s arms didn’t loosen from around me as I lifted my head. The mist started to dissipate around us as the chatter of birds faded, revealing green—lots of lush green foliage. I saw low, ground-hugging evergreens, bushes that bloomed with pale flowers, and trees with vine-covered trunks and sweeping limbs heavy with broad leaves.

“Huh,” I murmured, holding the Star diamond in my right hand.

Ash drew up a hand, his fingers tangling in my wet hair. “What?”

“I’m kind of confused.” I looked to my right, seeing more of the same. “For a place called the Bonelands, I expected to see a bunch of bones.”

“Look down, liessa.”

My gaze darted back to him, my eyes widening. Part of me wasn’t sure I wanted to, but curiosity always, always won out.

The corners of my lips pulled down. “All I see is dirt and grass.”

“If we stood in this exact spot at the end of the Ancients’ time, we’d be standing upon the remains of those who fell to them in battle,” he said. “And those bones are still here, only retaken by the lands over the millennia. Nearly everything east of the Skotos to the Cove has grown from the remains of those who perished.”

My upper lip curled as I resisted the urge to hop into Ash’s arms. I’d seen a lot of gross things. Did quite a bit of them myself. But I somehow found this far more disturbing. “Knowing we’re basically standing on the graves of the gods only know how many skeletons kind of freaks me out. And it feels a little disrespectful.”

“The draken would agree with you.” His fingers trailed through my hair. “They see the Bonelands as sacred.”

I’d heard that. I tilted my head back. Stippled sunlight glanced over the curve of Ash’s cheek and jaw. “What exactly caused the war with the Ancients?”

“One thing.” His gaze drifted over my face. “And yet many things.”

“That’s a helpful answer.”

A faint grin appeared. “The Ancients never felt things like mortals do, or even the Primals of my father’s age before the first of them fell in love. They just were not…created that way,” he said, sliding his hand from my hair to my chin. “But that didn’t mean they were apathetic to the needs of their children or the mortals who eventually populated the lands west of Iliseeum. They were full of empathy…until they weren’t.”