“Roughly two hundred,” Ash stated grimly.

My heart sped up. Not all of Phanos’s forty-some thousand soldiers were ceeren. Some were gods and godlings who wouldn’t be able to take to the water themselves. My hands fisted as I lifted my gaze to the island, where I could see limestone buildings dotting the hills and valleys.

Eather throbbed intensely. “Phanos could be anywhere.”

Ash turned to us. “Two hundred ships would be hard to miss, though,” he stated, eather piercing his eyes like streaks of lightning. “Nektas, can you take to the air and see what you can find?”

“What about you two?” he asked as the breeze tossed long strands of hair across his broad shoulders. “I don’t like the idea of you two staying here.”

“We’re not,” Ash said. “We’re going to return to the Shadowlands in case he’s headed there.”

“We also need to get word to Theon to be on the lookout,” I said, and Ash nodded.

Nektas hesitated, clearly not wanting to leave us, but he nodded and turned, rushing toward the edge of the veranda. He leapt, a shimmery wave sweeping over his body as he shifted into his draken form. His massive wings cast foreboding shadows over the water as Ash came to my side. Dragging my gaze from Nektas, I reached for his hand—

I sucked in a sudden breath as an icy-cold sensation shot down my spine and spread throughout my limbs.

“What is it?” Ash demanded, clasping the nape of my neck.

“I…I don’t know.” Swallowing, I shook my head as a new awareness pressed down on me, heavy and dark, thudding in my chest and settling in the pit of my stomach. My hand went to my belly.

Ash’s inhale was sharp. “Is it the babes?”

“No, it’s something else.” The skin beneath my ear erupted in tingles, and I said, “I need a minute to figure this out.”

Ash went quiet but held on to me. I closed my eyes and concentrated. What I felt reminded me of the echo of death, but it was slightly different. “My stomach keeps dipping like…like something is gravely wrong. Not here, but—” My heart lurched, and my eyes flew open. “I think I’m sensing unrest in Iliseeum.”

“Can you tell if it’s in the Shadowlands?” His thumb swept over my fluttering pulse. “Or where it’s coming from?”

“I don’t know.” My skin kept tingling. “But I think I can follow it. Like if I focus on it, I can take us to it.”

A muscle flexed in his jaw. “I’d rather take you home first.”

“We don’t know if that’s what I’m feeling,” I argued. “We need to figure out what’s happening, especially considering what we just found here.”

Ash cursed, then nodded. His skin had already begun to thin as I stepped into him. Concentrating on the feeling of unrest, I summoned the eather and felt the Triton Isles slip away from us. The next breath I took filled my lungs with the scent of scorched earth and the metallic tang of blood as Ash and I shadowstepped smack-dab into the middle of a battle.

“Vathi,” I gasped and knew immediately what we were seeing—what had happened.

Kyn had launched an attack against his brother.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

I staggered back in shock as the ground quivered with the clash of shadowstone and pounding hoofbeats. My gaze darted across the long field that stretched into the horizon, where the sky bled with the silver of draken fire before the snowcapped mountains.

I spun, taking in the carnage. Everywhere I looked, gods dressed in black and others in crimson were locked in a fierce battle, striking down one another with an instinctual grace that almost hid their innate brutality. The shimmering waves of energy arced and crackled across the field as sword blows gave way to deadly streaks of eather. Charging fearlessly into battle, every swing of their swords and motion was a testament to the Primal gods they descended from.

The Primal God of War and Accord, and the Primal God of Peace and Vengeance.

Ash suddenly jerked me to his chest as a horse rushed past us, the rider—the headless rider—slumping to the side.

His eyes met mine. “Phanos is not here.”

“I know. He’s somewhere—shit.” I shot to the side, eather responding at once as a massive, ugly-as-fuck kynakos launched itself into the air, snarling with a mouthful of blade-sharp fangs mere feet from Ash’s back. I threw out my hand, releasing a stream of gold-tinged silver. I winced at the yelp as the essence smacked into the Dog of War, hitting it in the stomach.

Ash twisted at the waist, catching the arm of a soldier in a black uniform with crimson cloth stretched over shadowstone armor. The soldier shouted in pain as Ash broke the man’s arm in one breath and then snapped his neck with brutal quickness in the next.

He spun toward me, eyes filling with eather. “Sera—”

“I’m not leaving,” I cut in. “I’m fighting beside you.” I sucked in a short breath as Ash suddenly lifted me and turned, shielding my body as eather erupted from his palm. A high-pitched shriek told me his aim had been deadly accurate. His gaze returned to mine. “I remember what I promised you,” I said. “No unnecessary risks.”

Ash froze for a heartbeat and then cursed. He clasped the back of my neck, drawing my head to his. “I’d better not see a single scratch on you, liessa. Not even one. So, be the badass Queen you are.”

“Always,” I swore.

He exhaled a ragged breath and glanced up. “Hold off on using the eather as much as you can,” he said quickly, picking up the shadowstone sword the soldier had dropped. He pressed the hilt into my hand. Shadows blossomed over his cheeks. “We need to get to Attes. We cannot let him fall.”

I nodded, stepping back. His hold on me firmed for a moment and then vanished. My gaze swept the field once more, easily picking out Kyn’s soldiers. Crimson covered their armor, and the crests on their helmets were the same bloody shade.

I was really beginning to fucking hate that color.

Snapping forward, I went after the closest soldier, thrusting the sword through his back as a blast of frigid air suddenly rolled off Ash. He rose into the air, his skin hardening as it turned to the color of shadowstone. Dark shadows spilled out of him, spinning and churning as the hazy outline of wings swept out behind him.

“The bitch is on the field!” someone shouted.

My gaze jerked to the right. A soldier wheeled his horse around, his helmet with its tuft of red horsehair stained with blood. “Excuse me?”

The horse charged me, its nostrils flaring as its hooves kicked up soil.

A bolt of eather-laced shadows flowed past me, enveloping the soldier and his horse. In an instant, both were shimmery dust.

“Not the horse!” I cried out.

“Liessa…” Ash rose even higher, the churning eather spinning faster and faster. “Get ready.”

I felt the essence surging within me as my hand instinctively tightened around the sword’s hilt.

Before me, several soldiers whipped around. I held my breath and began to count. One. Two. The distraction cost them as their opponents from both sides struck them down. Three. Four—

Tendrils of shadowy eather snaked across the battlefield, sweeping over soldiers in red and weaving between those in black. The pounding echoes of death came so fast I couldn’t even begin to count how many fell as the torrents of eather continued on their way, carving out a path that left only Attes’s soldiers standing and…

Horses suddenly without riders.

My lips curved into a tight smile as I silently thanked Ash.

Then I saw them.

Attes and Kyn were on a hill, locked in a battle of swords and eather.

My chin dipped, and then I broke into a run, Attes’s armies turning to follow as a roar shook the land.

A draken dove from the thick clouds, releasing a stream of fiery eather. I swallowed a shout as I slowed, throwing up my arm to ward off the heat as silver flames erupted before me. Fire swept over soldiers, indiscriminately lighting up everything on the field as the sound of pounding hooves jerked my head up. Through the receding flames, I saw a line of horses bearing down on me.