Tears blurred my vision as Keella’s eyes fluttered and then closed. Her chest rose once more and did not fall, and then my chest flared with heat. I released the breath I held as a draken let out a mournful call in the distance.

“She looks so peaceful,” I whispered. There was a smile on her lips and a tranquil ease to her features.

“She was ready,” he said, catching a tear with the swipe of his thumb over my cheek.

I nodded, wanting that to make me feel better, but it really didn’t. Letting go of her hand, I started to rise when it happened.

It started with one below her left eye. Then, two more on her chin. Ten along her throat. A dozen appeared on her forearm. They were like freckled stars, starting out as tiny pinpricks of light until eather seeped from her pores. The shimmery, silvery-white wave of light swept over her entire body, pulsing with a blinding intensity that forced both Ash and me to stand and move back.

Strands of eather unfurled, weaving delicate ribbons that stretched with an ethereal glow. I turned to where Ione sat, tears glimmering on her cheeks as she rose and stepped forward. Tendrils of eather illuminated the space between Keella and Ione as I stepped back into Ash’s arms. I rested my cheek against his chest as the Primal energy threaded itself with Ione, and I felt the oath Ione had made lodge itself deeply within my chest.

In a loud clap of energy released, the radiant glow where Keella lay was gone.

And so was the Primal.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

There wasn’t much time to digest what had happened or what Keella had shared. Only seconds after the guards took Ione to her chambers to rest during her awakening, I felt that same sudden surge of restless, anxious energy I had experienced before.

At the veranda’s edge, my grip tightened on Ash’s hand, my other reflexively going to my stomach. “Kolis.”

A pulse of eather whipped through Ash’s eyes, and Nektas quickly joined us. “You feel him?”

“Not as strongly as before,” I told him. “But I think he’s waking up.”

Shadows appeared down his throat, swirling up the sides. “Then we must hurry.” Mist seeped from the stone, churning around our legs as he pulled me to his side. “Remember what we talked about, liessa.”

“I remember,” I said, leaning into his chest as he placed a hand on Nektas’s shoulder. “You will take the lead.”

“Let’s see how long that lasts,” Nektas remarked.

As the mist thickened and rose around us, Ash lowered his mouth to mine. His kiss was fierce and demanding in the seconds it took us to shadowstep to the Callasta Isles, causing my breath to hitch and heat to pool low in my stomach. I was smiling as the mist scattered.

Ash had shadowstepped us inside the Rise, near the main entrance of the sprawling one-level palace. I caught a quick glimpse of our surroundings. Red and white wildflowers bloomed among the knee-high grass. Heavy curtains of moss hung from tree branches that stretched like intertwined arms over wide pathways. Ivy covered the trunks of trees and spread along the walkway, cracking the stone beneath our booted feet and smothering the wall in the distance, revealing only glimpses of the dark red stone of the Rise. There was a surprising beauty in the untamed courtyard, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Veses had intended for her land to remain like this or if it had become like this due to neglect.

A warning shout pierced the air, drawing my gaze to our right. A group of half a dozen guards adorned in red and gold jerked to a sudden stop as they walked along a path.

Ash spun, placing me between him and Nektas as absolute chaos erupted.

A fair-haired guard rushed forward, drawing a shadowstone dagger.

“Idiot,” growled Nektas as Ash unsheathed a shadowstone sword.

Ash caught the guard’s arm, cracking the bone. The man’s yelp was silenced as Ash sliced the god’s head from his shoulders. My chest throbbed with the echo of death, and I knew this was only the start.

There were only two less idiotic guards in the group of six. Their faces paled, and they spun on their heels, running off through the tall grass. The other three came right at us as horns blared from the Rise. The warning rumble of draken came from the sky.

Out of the corner of my eye, a wave of shimmery silver light swept over Nektas as he shifted. The sound of pounding boots echoed through the courtyard as Nektas’s claws dug into the stone. His head snapped out, massive jaws opening. He caught the closest guard around the chest, his sharp teeth piercing armor and bone as he shook his head, tearing the guard in two.

My lip curled as my palms warmed. “Was that necessary?”

No. Nektas drew his horned head back. Blood seeped down his scales. But it was fun.

“Our ideas of fun couldn’t be more different.” I turned to the doors, willing them to open.

Metal ground together, then snapped as the locks broke. Ash whirled, his sword clashing with another as the heavy shadowstone doors swung open. He planted a boot in the guard’s chest, caving in the bone as he threw out his left hand. Strands of shadowy eather laced with silver funneled from his palm, striking another guard. Thicker tendrils of essence snaked out, streaking through the trees. Warm pulses of death followed the cries of pain.

The urge to do something about that—to steal them from death’s grip—was there, but I was able to fight the pull.

My gaze flickered over the interior of the palace, and I nearly tripped as I stalked toward the steps. I couldn’t be seeing what I thought I was. I squinted, my upper lip curling as I stared at the watercolor paintings adorning the ceiling of the grand entryway.

They were paintings of Veses.

Naked Veses.

“What the fuck?” I muttered.

“I guess you’re seeing her artwork,” Ash said, snapping a guard’s neck. “Interesting choice, eh?”

I snorted. “Interesting, indeed.” Shaking my head, I stalked toward the wide steps just as guards rushed from the trees and poured out of the halls inside the palace.

“I would not run in this direction if I were you,” I said as I started up the stairs.

They didn’t.

One of Nektas’s wings swept over my head as he swung around, slamming his tail into the guards. Several of them hit the trees with bone-sickening crunches. A few went through them.

Nektas stretched his neck out, a deep growl vibrating the frills around his neck. Smoke wafted from his nostrils as his jaws stretched open.

The air crackled as a funnel of silvery fire flowed into the opening, the flames hungry as they surged forward, rippling over the foyer’s walls. Gauzy curtains ignited as the guards scattered. Even with their speed, they weren’t fast enough. Their screams ended abruptly, their shadowstone armor melting, and their skin and bone turning to ash.

As the flames receded, the once-red-washed walls were painted with sooty fingers. I glanced up, smirking when I saw that the ceiling was a charred mess.

“Nice work,” I told Nektas, stepping over the smoldering remnants of swords and shields.

Nektas made a low, chuffing sound, but a sudden roar of anger ended his amusement. I looked back to see him retreating from the entryway, his onyx and gray scales shimmering under the sunlight. A flash of gold scales blotted out the sun.

“Ash!” I shouted.

He whipped around, looking to the sky as shadowy tendrils swirled around him. A sudden burst of intense silvery fire poured from the sky, devouring the trees and guards belonging to the draken’s own Court.

Moving with lightning speed, Ash crossed the distance between us as Nektas reared back, snarling. The golden draken descended through the smoke with the swiftness of a thunderclap. Nektas’s massive body took to the air in a powerful leap. The two crashed above, a maelstrom of claws and silver fire.