Bele’s slightly rounded cheeks lifted as a smile spread across her face, and then she was no longer several feet away but right in front of me. I didn’t even have time to gasp. Her arms went around me with such force that I almost dropped The Star, and would’ve toppled over backward before she steadied me if not for Ash’s hold on my hand.

Bele…was hugging me. Like really embracing me, with both arms and her head buried against my shoulder.

Shock rippled through me as my gaze darted to Ash. He raised a brow. Bele wasn’t the hugging type. Or really that emotional at all. She was more like the compliment-whilst-insulting-you-at-the-same-time type, which was probably why we got along. Somewhat. Both of us also seemed to thrive on irritating others.

I folded one arm around her and then my other once Ash slowly and reluctantly let go of my hand.

But he hovered close. “Take it easy on her, Bele.”

Her hold on me loosened a little. I felt her chest rise. “Thank you.”

“For what?” I murmured into her braid, patting her back awkwardly because I officially gave the worst hugs.

“For Aios,” she whispered hoarsely, reaching between us to touch the necklace. “If I’d lost her…” A tremor went through her.

I squeezed my eyes shut, having forgotten there was the hint of something intimate between the two, something more than just friendship. “You don’t have to thank me for that.”

“I just did. I’m not taking it back.” Her voice strengthened. “And you can’t reject it.”

My lips quirked. “Okay.”

“Glad we’re on the same page.” Bele drew back then. “I hate to ruin this reunion but…” She trailed off, inhaling sharply. She dropped her arms as her mouth opened, then closed. Eather lashed across her eyes—irises that had once been a shade of hazel that leaned more toward gold but were now silver. “Please tell me you got at least one good beatdown in on that motherfucker.”

For a moment, I wasn’t sure what had provoked the question, but then I realized she was looking at my neck—the bruises and the wound left by the scrape of Kolis’s fangs.

“She got in more than just one beatdown,” Ash stepped in, taking my hand again.

Bele’s chin lifted. “Really?”

“Yeah.” My normal tendency to be a braggart when it came to gaining the upper hand in any fight wasn’t there, which likely meant I was more tired than I realized. “He’s down for the count right now.”

Approval flashed across her stunning features, along with a savage smile. “I wish I’d been there to see it.”

I started to smile when I realized something about her. Bele had Ascended as the Primal Goddess of the Hunt, but her arms were bare. “You don’t have a cuff like the others?”

“Not yet.” Bele eyed the one around Ash’s biceps. “Apparently, it will appear when I’m ready.” She squinted at Ash. “And exactly when will that be?”

“I am under the impression it varies. Odin didn’t appear until a few years after I became a Primal of Death.”

“A few years? That’s annoying.” Bele rolled her eyes. “Anyway, we heard that Kolis was out of commission from some god named Elias, but we didn’t let him say much more before we bound his mouth.”

I blinked. “Before you did what?”

“We tied him up and bound his mouth,” she repeated. “Why are you looking at me like that? I don’t know him. None of us does. All that we know is that Attes popped in, dropped the asshole off with his gold-painted face, and then said he’d be back before any of us could even address the fact that that fucker was here.”

“Oh, my gods,” I muttered as Ash made a noise that sounded a lot like a laugh. “Elias is not a bad guy. And Attes…I’m not explaining all that again.” I shot Ash a glare. “Is Nektas here? He would know all of this.”

“Nektas is doing his draken thing.”

“As if he couldn’t have shifted into his mortal form at any point to tell you all that Elias didn’t need to be bound?” I started walking toward the Temple, where I assumed Bele had come from.

“Yeah, he could have. He didn’t.” Bele fell into step beside Ash and me. “Look, the god’s alive. No harm. No foul.”

I wasn’t sure tying someone up fell under no harm, no foul.

“By the way, I apparently have even more bad news for you.” Bele glanced at me. “Veses is—”

“Freed. I know. I saw her,” I said. “Was anyone hurt?”

Bele shook her head. “We didn’t even realize she had escaped at first. Went down there and saw that she’d basically chewed her damn arms off. I think she was more concerned with getting the hell out of there than vengeance.”

So Veses had been telling the truth.

 The trees thinned out, revealing more of the old Temple I now saw sat below some rocky cliffs.

“See.” Bele gestured at the sweeping columns. “The god is alive.”

I did see Elias. It was kind of hard to miss him since they’d tied him to the middle pillar of the Corinthian-style Temple, bound at the legs, arms, and mouth. But it was the shadows falling over the Temple that drew my attention. Two draken flew overhead, the larger of the two the black-and-gray-scaled one. Branches along the tops of the nearby trees swayed as Nektas circled the lowest cliff overlooking the Temple, while the onyx-hued draken slowed, extending his wings. He landed on the Temple’s roof, his claws digging in as the entire structure shuddered under his weight.

Dust and stone rained down. My lips parted as several smaller pieces smacked harmlessly off the ground while a spiral, scroll-like ornament broke off, coming right down on Elias’s head and shoulders. The god gave a muffled grunt before his body slumped.

Slowly, I turned my head to Bele. “No harm, no foul?”

Bele’s eyes were wide. “He’ll live.”

My brows lifted.

“That is not my fault.” She crossed her arms. “Not like I knew Ehthawn would decide to land there of all places.”

The ache in my temples increasing, I turned back, watching Ehthawn extend his neck to lower his diamond-shaped head. He nudged the unconscious god before tilting toward us. Vertical pupils surrounded by crimson focused on me as he made a low, chuffing sound.

“He’s apologizing,” Bele explained.

“Uh-huh.”

Ehthawn sniffed, his warm breath ruffling the strands of hair around my face. He let out a soft, almost mournful squall.

Ash’s hand tightened around mine, seeming to respond to the sound the draken made. I glanced at him. Like before, his features were locked down.

Ehthawn moved in closer to me, his eyes closing. I tugged my left hand free, then hesitated. Other than little Jadis, I didn’t often touch a draken in this form, but he didn’t pull his head away. I lightly pressed my palm to his powerful jaw. The scales were smooth and dry, only the ridges of each rough. A trilling noise, almost like a purr, radiated from Ehthawn.

“It’s okay,” I told him, even if I doubted he was really apologizing. My gaze flicked over his flat, broad nose. Thickness coated my throat as I glanced at the blue, cloudless sky above, not seeing another draken. “Orphine?”

Ehthawn made that mournful sound again. My heart began squeezing. Bele had fallen silent.

“Orphine fought bravely,” Ash said quietly. “She did so until her dying breath.”

Fingers curling against Ehthawn’s scales, my eyes closed. Sorrow rose, slicing through my chest. I wasn’t sure I could call Orphine a friend or say she really even liked me, but I had been closer to her than Davina, who’d fallen in the fight against the entombed gods. I respected Ehthawn’s twin, and she’d respected me. And if we’d had more time, I thought maybe we could’ve become friends.

Grief lodged in my throat as I opened my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I whispered to Ehthawn as Ash stepped in closer to me, coolness coming off his body in contrast to the heat of the draken’s scales.

Ehthawn gave another chuffing noise and then drew back. More dust fell, coating Elias’s shoulders.