“Motherfucker,” I spat, straightening as Aurelia arrived, her greenish-black scales bloody in some spots. She swooped down, digging her talons into the back of the other draken.

From the dying flames, a god lunged at me. Don’t take unnecessary risks, I repeated to myself. With a deft sidestep, I swung the sword around, deflecting the blow and pushing him back. Another soldier drove her sword through his back.

“Meyaah Liessa,” she said, wrenching her blade free.

“Hi!” I ran, leaping onto the ruins of a wall. I twisted, the sword arcing through the sky to pierce red armor, knocking a god off his horse. “Please don’t bow!”

I took off toward the battling Primals as I summoned eather, releasing a wave of essence that swept adversaries off their feet, clearing a small space amid the chaos.

Above, the sky roared with the fire of a new draken. Ehthawn. His wings blotted out the sun intermittently, casting moving shadows over the battlefield. He unleashed his flames, turning patches of the field into infernos that consumed both soil and flesh. Even as I shoved the blade through a god’s chest, I felt the heat on my face, the acrid smell of death and destruction lacing the air. I jumped from the wall as Ash landed, shadowy tendrils whipping out.

He and I surged forward, but it was different than before when I slipped away into battle. There was a pattern to how we moved, almost as if we were one. In the back of my mind, it made sense. We were two halves of the same whole, our movements nearly synchronized, punctuated by the thrust of my sword and the arc of his.

We wove through the combat with swift strikes and fluid defensive moves. Ash would maneuver a god to meet my sword, and I would kick another into his, each act a testament to our inherent understanding of each other.

But I knew there was a difference as I met fierce blows with the same strength and lashed out with the essence. When I fought before, I could always let go of my fear. I couldn’t this time. Each swing and thrust was tinged with bitter emotion. I wasn’t scared for myself or even Ash. I worried about the babes I carried inside me. My fear for them made each swing harder, every release of energy more violent. The fear didn’t make me a worse fighter.

It made me a far deadlier one.

Overhead, Aurelia tore through a draken’s throat, releasing him as he shifted into his mortal form and fell to the ground, only to be swallowed by the warring soldiers.

I drew in a stuttered breath as the pulse of death was a continuous throb in my chest. A wave of eather whipped out of Ash, slamming into the Dogs of War. The scent of burnt fur mingled with that of flesh as I shouted, swinging the blade down on a god’s head. Blood spurted, spraying the front of my tunic and face.

The death…

There was so much.

A sudden wrenching sensation in the center of my chest caused me to stagger. I cried out, clutching at my breast, expecting to see a bone blade or blood, but there was nothing there. The pain wasn’t really pain. It was more a dull ache but not a physical one. More like a loss…

Oh, gods.

I’d felt this when Keella died, and I knew who it was. I saw them in my mind, and my heart ached.

Ash was at my side at once, folding an arm around my waist. “What is it?” he demanded. “Where are you hurt?”

“It’s not me.” I rose with his help, the sudden knowledge of where Phanos had gone with his ships and armies weakening me. “It’s Maia. She’s fallen.”

“Fuck,” snarled Ash.

A blast of intense eather drew both our gazes to the hill. My heart clenched as I saw Kyn rise into the air ahead of us, driving Attes to the ground. Ash took to the air again, but one of Kyn’s draken dove for him. Ash’s cold laugh caused a sea of soldiers to look up at the gathering dark storm of energy.

A crack of power drew my attention to the hill. Attes was once more on his feet.

The field shook with the fury of the Primal brothers’ clash as they came together, trading blows upon the hill that split the horizon like the spine of a slumbering draken. Dark clouds rolled above them, responding to the tempest of emotions inside them as their raw power beat the air. That kind of Primal energy kept the fighting gods from them, pushing the soldiers farther and farther back, but Ash and I pushed forward.

Kyn’s and Attes’s forms were blurs of motion, each strike a mirror image of the other. Their brutality was relentless, even as their swords shattered when they clashed. I pushed faster, picking up speed. I didn’t want Attes to be the one to end his brother’s life. I didn’t want him to carry that with him. My wide eyes met Ash’s. I could see that he felt the same.

Fuck.

I threw the sword at a soldier on horseback, hitting him in the chest. Then I shadowstepped, appearing several feet down the hill. Summoning eather, I started to rush up the remaining distance, Ash right beside me—

A wave of Primal power knocked both of us back as Attes yelled, slamming his fist into the center of Kyn’s chest.

The impact shattered Kyn’s armor. I stumbled, falling to my knees as fragments spun through the air, glinting like stars flung from the night sky. They fell to the ground below, merely discarded remnants.

No. No. No.

Kyn staggered, falling to his knees, his eyes widening with shock as Ash dragged me to my feet.

“Don’t do it,” I whispered—or maybe yelled. “Attes!”

He lurched forward, grabbing his brother by the throat. “Lailah,” Attes shouted, my breath wilting in my chest as he turned toward us. Tears streamed down his face, mingling with blood. Eather pooled around his raised hand, crackling and spitting. “Ascend Lailah, Sera. Now!”

I was rooted to where I stood until Ash grabbed me by my shoulders. “You need to go,” he said. “She’s on the Rise by the Black Bay. Ascend Lailah. Do it now.”

I sucked in air, gaze flying to Ash’s. “Stay with him. Please.”

“I will,” he promised, letting go. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I whispered, stepping back as lightning erupted from the dark clouds overhead.

As gold-and-silver mist rose around me, Attes turned back to his brother. The last thing I heard before I appeared on the Rise was Attes screaming, and he sounded just as I had when I found my family impaled to the walls of Wayfair. His scream was that of a wild, broken animal full of sorrow and rage.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

Only an hour or so past dawn, I’d woken to find Ash gone and suspected he had been at the Pillars since the fight in Vathi had fueled violent storms that swept through the mortal realm. The destruction and death weren’t nearly as bad as they had been after Embris, but… Yeah, it was still bad.

And there was no guarantee that drawing Kolis out would prevent more destruction.

After eating a quick breakfast, I’d felt Ash’s return and left to find him. On the way, I’d stopped by Aios’s chambers and found Rhain there. I had a feeling he may have spent a decent part of the night watching over her.

“I didn’t know what happened until Aios lit up with eather,” Rhain said, standing on the other side of Aios’s bed. “Then I knew.” He sighed, thrusting a hand through his auburn strands. “We all knew.”

“I didn’t know Maia well.” Heart heavy, my gaze flickered over Aios’s peaceful features as I toyed with the button on my vest. I wanted Bele to be here for her when she woke. “But I wish…”

“There was nothing either you or Ash could’ve done,” Rhain was quick to say. “It wasn’t like preparing Saion triggered Phanos into making his choice. There was no way he could’ve readied his armies and left the Triton Isles in that little time.”

“I know.” But I also knew that Keella’s and Veses’ deaths, although for vastly different reasons, could’ve influenced what Phanos decided. It had been a risk, one we knew we were taking. I exhaled long and slow. “I didn’t feel unrest in her Court. The attack must have been quick.”