I fought back tears. “That sounds…beautiful and perfect.”

“It will be a beautiful and perfect reality, liessa.”

But would it be a reality?

My heart skipped, but I shut those thoughts down and tipped forward, kissing Ash. We would make this our reality.

We had to.

CHAPTER SIXTY

Holland arrived as dawn painted a canvas of wispy pink and orange that blended into the blue expanse. He did not linger at all this time.

He took my hand before he left but didn’t say anything; just held my gaze silently. I knew him well enough to recognize that the crease between his brows was one of concern, and his faint smile before it disappeared was full of conviction.

He was worried.

But he also had faith in me—in Ash and the others. And I chose to keep reminding everybody of that as we gathered in the war room.

The Ancient had faith in us, and that had to mean something.

Kolis had agreed to meet us in the Bonelands tomorrow when the sun was at its peak over the ruins of a Sun Temple. While I had no idea which one he spoke of, having only seen the bare bones of one during my brief time in the Shadowlands, Ash knew exactly which one.

“Kolis will not honor his word to come alone,” Ash stated. “We know he will bring his forces.”

“Good thing we don’t plan to honor that either,” Bele said from where she sat cross-legged at the other end of the table.

Ash’s smile was frigid. “Sera and I will be near the Temple but not in it. That thing is barely standing, and I don’t want either of us in it if it goes off the cliff.”

“I support that statement,” I said, earning a snort from Thierran, who sat by Penellaphe, the cowl of his hood up. “Where is this Temple, by the way?” I asked.

“It’s by the southern cove.” Standing, Theon pointed at a map of the Bonelands he’d drawn. It was spread across the table and pinned down by a dagger. “The Temple Kolis is talking about is here.” He dragged his finger up. “It sits on the bluffs overlooking the shore and faces the bay, but you will not have a clear view of the water from there with all the trees that have grown along the cliffs. The bay is the safest and quickest way to make landfall.”

Attes’s eyes narrowed on the map. “That shoreline is still rocky outside the bay, and the waters are rough.”

“That won’t stop the ceeren from coming ashore,” Saion stated. “They’ll have no problems traveling in that water. And once it gets shallow enough, they’ll shift forms.”

“And will come with weapons,” Rhahar added, glancing at Attes and Kars. “Everyone needs to remember they have a nasty bite.”

My head jerked up in surprise.

“The ceeren’s teeth are sharp as daggers and can take out chunks of flesh, scaled or not,” Saion explained, catching my stare before the vadentia could answer. “And I do mean all their teeth. They can also partially shift. So, even in their mortal forms, you’ll want to keep all body parts away from their mouths.”

My lip curled. I didn’t remember seeing anything like that when I was with them.

“Kolis has to know we have been in the Bonelands, but I want you to move our ships farther out either way, where the Primal mist will cloak them,” Ash said to Theon, eyeing the map with a thoughtful expression. “Aren’t there caves along that shore?”

“There are,” Theon answered. “And beneath the Temple, too.”

“Perfect,” Ash mused. He, Attes, and the twins had been doing most of the strategizing. I was doing a lot of listening. This wasn’t my wheelhouse, and I wasn’t familiar with the landscape. “Kolis will expect us to have backup, but I want our numbers hidden as much as possible.”

“He’ll either attack before he arrives or…” Attes said. “He may hold off if he thinks attacking will jeopardize him getting The Star.” His lashes lifted. “But the moment he realizes you don’t have it, he will come hard.”

My stomach dipped, but I wasn’t worried about that nugget of fear or embarrassed by it. Anyone with a head on their shoulders would feel that upon hearing that the true Primal of Death would go all out. And fear wasn’t necessarily bad as long as one harnessed it wisely.

“We need an archery regiment in those caves.” Ash brushed a shorter strand of his hair back from his face. “I want them there, knowing the moment the ceeren shift, they should let loose with the arrows, whether Kolis has arrived, attacked, or not.”

“Phanos’s ships will be carrying gods who don’t have fins,” Lailah pointed out. She had awakened sometime in the middle of the night, looking the same except for the brand-new Primal eyes. “That’s why he’ll come into the bay.”

Attes glanced at Ash. A moment passed, and Ash nodded for him to go ahead. “We want to stop as many of his forces from getting on land as possible.” His gaze found Nektas. “You’ll be staying close to your Queen.”

I rolled my eyes.

“And King,” he continued. “But we want a quadrant of draken on those cliffs.”

“Can do.” Nektas drew his thumb over his chin. “When the ships are sighted, you want them lit up?”

“Yes,” Ash answered without hesitation.

I shifted in my seat, uneasy with the knowledge that those ships would be packed like sardines and also that I wasn’t all that uncomfortable with the plan. Considering what I was, I kind of felt like I should be.

Oh, well.

I removed my hand from my stomach and propped my elbows on the table. “I doubt Kolis will put all his forces on those ships or in any one area.”

“It would be really nice of him if he did.” Lailah sat back, twisting a braid between her fingers.

Attes smirked. “The Bonelands’ eastern mountains border Dalos,” he said, referencing the mountains that’d once been the prisons. “And I know damn well that…Kyn would’ve put regiments there.” He cleared his throat. “We’ve had eyes on the Bonelands’ side, but there was no way to monitor movement into the mountains without being seen.”

“So, you think Kolis has regiments there already?” I asked.

“It’s what I would’ve instructed him to do.” He picked up his glass. “So, Kyn would have told him the same if discussions of the Bonelands arose.”

“They did while I was there,” I said. “With that in mind, I think it’s safe to assume he may have shared strategy plans with him.”

Attes took a drink. “Kyn would’ve moved them through the mountains and into the Bonelands when the decision was made to meet there. And he would’ve done so on foot. It will be faster than attempting it on horseback.”

My gaze shot to Ash’s. “That means Kolis can be doing that right now.”

“We have forces closer,” Ash reminded me. “Theon has been stationed not too far from there.”

“Below the Temple is an open area, bordered by the cliffs on one side and the forest on the other.” Theon circled his finger over an area of the map near the Temple. “I would suggest,” he said with a heavy sigh, “creating a first line of defense by moving the forces already there to the eastern forest. They can be there in an hour. It’s dense and dark. Enough that our soldiers would be hidden. A second line could be in the caves. The third line, near you and Sera. The trees are thickest there, so the strongest should be up there.”

Ash’s jaw tightened. “And because of how dense the eastern woods are, Kolis’s regiments will also be well hidden as they move westward. Those in that first line will get hit the hardest and suffer the most casualties.”

Theon inhaled deeply. “I know, but they are the closest, and we need to secure that open field to limit access to the Temple.”

Ash didn’t like it. Neither did I. But Theon was right. “Thierran, you’ll be up with us, nice and hidden. You need to stay out of all the fighting until Sera summons you, or you don’t have a choice.”

“That’s not much fun,” the God of Dreams remarked.