Keella nodded as she glided forward, her sorrow-filled eyes lifting to Ash.

“So, back to the important stuff.” Bele hopped off the stone, tossing her apple core toward the draken. Nektas moved to catch it, but Aurelia got there first. “What is a star?”

“I assume it’s not what’s in the sky,” Rhahar said as the apple core—or half of it—got flung toward Nektas.

Oh, cute. They were…sharing food.

“It’s something no one but the Arae should possess.” Keella eyed the bundle I held. “Or should’ve ever created.”

“I can agree with that.”

“But if they hadn’t, then you would not be standing here with him.” Keella stopped in front of me. “There is always good in the bad.” Her gaze met mine, and the intensity of her stare made me squirm. “I understood then, just as I do now.”

I sucked in a short breath, knowing she was speaking of the last time we’d seen each other.

“Understand what?” Ash asked.

“That there is often good behind the bad,” she said. “Are you sure of what you saw in the diamond?”

Grateful for the subject change, I nodded as I glanced at Ash. I didn’t know if he wanted anyone else here to know.

Ash’s gaze held mine, then flicked to the others before returning to the diamond. “It’s my father’s soul. It’s in there.”

Bele’s mouth dropped open.

“Are you…?” Rhain had paled. He came forward, stopping several feet from us to stare at what I held.

“I am certain.” I carefully unwrapped the diamond, letting the flimsy torn silk drift to the floor.

The milky-white light throbbed inside The Star, pressing against its edges.

“Attes told you about Sotoria?” When Keella nodded, I could practically feel the questions bursting to break free of Bele, but she remained quiet.

“It’s doable, then?” Ash’s chest rose with a heavy breath. “Once my father’s soul is free?”

“Yes.”

“And you know how that is done?” he asked. “Will I be able to do it?”

“I do not imagine it’s like drawing out other souls,” she said, her delicate brows knitting. “If it works like transferring the embers, then the soul could likely only be summoned by the one who placed it there.”

Attes cursed, having left Lailah’s side. “That’s not going to happen.”

“There have to be other ways.”

The breeze tossed a few strands of her russet-colored hair across her jaw. “The Arae could draw the soul free.”

What had Ash claimed in the dream? “You said I could summon them, right?”

Before Ash could answer me, Keella said, “Yes, but they would likely take The Star back.”

Damn it.

“That won’t work either.” Frustration filled Attes’s tone.

“There is one more way,” Keella said. “The true Primal of Life can summon it.”

Of course.

“Absolutely not,” Ash stated.

A tremor went through my arm. “How?”

Ash stepped into me. “Sera—”

“You would simply will it, and it should happen,” Keella explained as Ash cursed. “The Primal of Life—”

“Say no more,” Ash growled as he blocked her. “You cannot do this.”

Aware of the confusion surrounding those around us, I smiled at him. “If it’s just willing it, that won’t take a lot of energy.”

“That’s not how it works.” Ash grasped my shoulders. “And you know it.”

I did.

“I have to,” I told him. “It’s your father, Ash.” Even if we didn’t need to get Sotoria’s soul out of me. “I need to do this.”

His nostrils flared as eather briefly pumped through his flesh. “You don’t need to do any of this.”

“You’re right.” Focusing on the embers, I felt them throb weakly throughout my entire body as I joined my will to them. “I want to.”

“Sera—” He went rigid, seeing something in me that told him it was too late. His fingers pressed into my shoulders. “Liessa…”

I felt no swell of energy, just an awareness of what I’d willed coming into creation. I looked down.

The Star heated in my palm as it started to hum and vibrate. The high-pitched whirring sound came from it again. Tiny streaks of milky light seeped out of the diamond.

Nektas let out a low, trilling sound as the light in the diamond pulsed brightly once and then twice—

Essence poured out of it, forcing Ash to stagger back a step. There were several gasps. A soft, warbling sound came from one of the other draken. Eyes wide, I watched the whitish-silver light spilling into the air between us, becoming a throbbing indistinguishable mass.

Several of the gods backed up as the light reflected off their faces. Even Attes moved away, his eyes wide.

The mass of light twisted and stretched, turning toward Ash.

His breathing seemed to halt as his father’s soul hovered beside him. It throbbed and then extended, forming what appeared to be an arm, and then…

A hand and fingers.

That brushed Ash’s cheek.

Ash’s eyes slammed shut, his large body shuddering as he rasped, “Father.”

Tears blurred my vision as Eythos’s soul began to lift and drift upward.

“I understand,” Ash whispered.

Understand what? Had he heard his father? I blinked, trying to clear my vision, but it didn’t—

I felt my heart stutter, then speed up, beating twice in the place of one. I tried to drag in a breath, but a sudden, stunning pain ripped through my chest, taking with it my sense of sight, sound, and…everything else.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

I slowly became aware of a faint taste in my mouth—a sweet, smoky, lush flavor. Decadent. Powerful. My lips tingled. So did my fingers. I stretched, enjoying the pull of my muscles as I wiggled my toes.

A body moved against mine. A sudden inhalation of breath brought a chest against my back. “Liessa,” a familiar, deep voice murmured—one I’d recognize anywhere, anytime. “There you are.”

Ash.

My eyes fluttered open to a vivid, deep sapphire sky streaked with trailing pink and amethyst clouds. Confusion rose as I squinted. I’d never seen such a sky before. My gaze lowered to trees in an array of blues and violets that bordered on pink, reminding me of the jacaranda trees outside Wayfair.

Disjointed memories flashed. The cavern of lilacs. Arriving in the Bonelands. Freeing Eythos. Wrenching, terrible pain, and then nothing.

I stared at the surreal, brightly colored landscape. Had I…had I died? That didn’t make sense. If I had, I wouldn’t be in Ash’s arms. He couldn’t be near souls who had gone beyond the Pillars of Asphodel without risking the destruction of their souls. And wouldn’t I have remembered passing through them and being judged? Despite what Ash believed about my soul, I seriously doubted I’d end up someplace as beautiful as this. At the very least, I would’ve been one of those souls who needed a more thorough look. Could this be that? If so, why did my temples still ache?

“Am I…?” I cleared my throat, causing the sultry taste to fade. “Did I die?”

“What?” His arm tightened around my waist. “Fates, no, Sera.”

I wiggled again, feeling a soft mattress under me. We were on some sort of sofa. “Where are we?”

“The Thyia Plains.” Ash shifted me in his embrace, and my head suddenly came to rest in the crook of his arm. I stared up at him. His hair was a rich, warm, reddish-brown and fell against the cut line of his jaw. The golden-bronze hue of his skin was paler, and I saw concern etched into the striking lines and angles of his face. “Keella thought you’d be more comfortable here. We’re on the veranda of her palace.”

My gaze inched away from his, running over the terracotta stone floor and then beyond to the cliffs that stretched out on either side. I saw Ehthawn. The draken was curled on one of the rocky bluffs, his head resting on the sun-warmed rock. I would’ve thought him asleep if not for the one open crimson eye and the idle twitching of his tail. I scanned the other cliffs, not seeing Nektas or the other draken.