There was no time to feel anything in response to his words. Not disgust or shame. Not even anger. Ash shifted instantly, his flesh hardening and turning as dark as the night. Eather swept out from his back in twin arcs. I grabbed his arm again.

“Don’t.” I held on. “Don’t give him what he wants.”

Frigid air poured across the bluffs, a thin layer of ice forming on the compacted soil and rock. The sound that came from Ash rumbled over the area, and I knew I needed to act quickly. Nektas drew his head back, his frills beginning to vibrate. We’d gotten what we needed. Kolis had been lured out. Now, we just needed him off Naberius and preferably not on a damn cliff above us before I summoned Thierran.

Ash was beginning to rise beside me. “You came here for The Star,” I shouted, my grip on Ash’s arm slipping. “Being disgusting won’t help you get what you’ve always wanted.”

Kolis didn’t look away from Ash as he said, “I’m curious. What exactly made you change your mind, Seraphena?”

“I want this to end,” I answered, hearing Ash’s growl grow louder. “Too much blood has been spilled.”

“You’ve spilled far more than I,” he replied. “You’ve cost me Embris, Veses, and Kyn.”

“I have, but that is nothing compared to what you have done in all your years or what we will both do if we continue fighting.” I was relieved to see that Ash had regained some control over himself. He returned to the ground beside me, but his skin was still the hue of shadowstone. “I want to end this. Right now.”

Kolis’s chuckle turned my stomach. “What did I tell you, Seraphena? The last time we had the pleasure of being in each other’s presence?”

“I don’t know,” I gritted out. “You talk a lot and yet speak only bullshit, so it’s kind of hard to remember everything.”

His upper lip curled, and blotches of crimson appeared on his skin. “You had your chance to accept the deal I offered. That is no longer on the table. You will give me The Star, and I will have both of you in chains.”

Kolis lifted his hand. I heard them before I saw them, the rasp of their claws against rock.

They came from behind Kolis, as large as warhorses, their slick, obsidian skin as hard as shadowstone, and their heads featureless except for the thin slits above their gaping maws.

Dakkais.

Dozens of them.

Naberius rocked back, pushing off the cliff with a powerful sweep of his wings as the dakkais leaped into the air.

“Fuck,” Ash growled, pulling his swords free once more.

There was no way to keep track of Kolis as the nightmarish beasts rushed us.

I unsheathed the sword as Nektas’s head snapped forward. He caught one of the dakkais in his mouth. Turning his head sharply, he split the creature in two as one leapt toward Ash, but he was quick, plunging his sword into the creature’s chest.

I spun as a dakkai charged, saliva dripping from its teeth. I cleaved off its head as I caught sight of Bele leaping over a fissure. She landed on a boulder, effortlessly switching to a bow and shadowstone arrows to avoid the eather drawing the dakkais. Rhain raced out of the trees, followed by several soldiers.

Ash swore, kicking a dakkai back as sudden screams of pain tore through the air. I whirled toward the field, my breath catching in horror when I saw dozens more dakkais joining the fray.

“Sera!” Ash shouted, spinning me around.

Hot breath that smelled of sulfur and stale lilacs swamped me. I thrust out with the sword, but the creature yelped before I made contact, falling to the ground. One of Ash’s blades jutted from its back.

Nektas’s tail swept across the ground, edging me back and releasing a stream of fire. Silver flames engulfed the dakkais, but more came over the cliff’s edge, snarling and spitting. I braced myself, but they veered to my right.

They were heading straight for Nektas.

“Nektas!” Ash yelled, bringing his sword down as Rhain drove his into a dakkai’s back.

I screamed when the dakkais swarmed the draken, digging into his scales with their claws. They climbed him as he slammed his tail down and twisted, trying to shake them off. Blood sprayed the ground, and Nektas reared back, emitting a deep cry.

The sight of his blood and the sound of his pain undid whatever restraint I had left in me. The air around me charged, reacting to the eather erupting from my pores.

“Don’t!” Ash shouted. “It will draw them to you.”

“I know,” I growled. That’s what I wanted. The moment eather sparked, the dakkais clawing at Nektas froze, then lifted their heads in unison.

The clouds above us deepened in color as rage poured into me. I thrust out my left hand, silvery strands of eather tinged in gold erupting from my palm and mirroring my will. The tendrils lifted and arced, slamming into the dakkais, throwing them off Nektas and to the ground, where they lay smoldering.

A shadow rushed over us, and I looked up to see Aurelia. She landed near Nektas, tucking a wing over his side, fire spilling from her mouth. She turned her head, enveloping the dakkais that remained on the bluffs.

I rushed to Nektas’s side, careful of the dripping blood. My heart twisted as I saw the deep gouges in his sides. He’d be okay. He had to be. Fear dripped through me. “Nektas?”

I’ll heal, came his raspy voice. I just need a few minutes.

“I want you out of here,” I demanded.

That’s not going to happen.

“Where did he go?” Ash seethed, stalking forward. He jerked to a stop and then rushed past me, heading toward the edge overlooking the battlefield.

Bele jumped off the rock, driving her knee into a fallen Revenant’s chest, knocking it back. She slammed her blade into its chest as it started to come back to life.

“Rhain!” she shouted. “We need to put them down.”

The god rushed to Bele’s side, and I turned to Aurelia. “Keep him safe until he’s healed.”

She answered by shielding his head with her much smaller one.

“Not again,” Bele groaned, rising as Revenants swarmed the bluff. “Oh, great. And we’ve got even more visitors.”

Ash’s head cut toward the bluff overlooking the sea. Ceeren pulled themselves over the edge, their beautiful faces streaked with blood. I took a deep breath, holding it.

I knew Kolis was still nearby. He was hiding somewhere. But when my gaze met Ash’s, I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. We couldn’t leave everyone to deal with this.

I stalked toward the nearest Revenant, deflecting a blow. Then another. I glanced up, seeing red scales high above the clouds. It was Naberius, but that wasn’t good news.

“Kolis’s draken,” I hissed, driving the sword through a Revenant’s chest.

“Focus on the Revenants,” Ash commanded, his voice laced with authority. “Our draken will meet his in the sky.”

I nodded, steeling myself for the carnage to come as the air came alive with bloodshed. Shoving a Revenant back, Ash sliced into its chest.

Aurelia caught a ceeren in her jaws, and Nektas threw at least three into the trees with a punishing sweep of his tail. The wounds in his side didn’t seem as deep as before.

I drove my sword down and saw blood dotting Rhain’s face. “You okay?”

“Not my blood.” He knelt by a fallen Rev, pulling a vial from his satchel. He pried the mouth open, pouring two second’s worth of draken blood into the Revenant’s mouth. “At least, not all of it.”

I glanced at the Revenant Rhain knelt by. It was still out, but its body began convulsing as its flesh flushed and then bubbled—

“You’re probably not going to want to watch that,” Rhain called.

Too late.

The bubbles along the Revenant’s flesh exploded, and the skin melted. I lowered my sword as muscles and tendons caught fire as if they were nothing but paper. Holes appeared in bones and ignited, burning even those. There was nothing left but a mess of pink and scraps of charred flesh.