“That is…disgusting,” I muttered.

“Sera!” Ash shouted. “Behind you!”

I spun, coming face-to-face with a shadowstone blade wielded by a dark-haired goddess. A wave of fiery pain went down my arm as I lurched to the side.

Ash’s growl tore through the air a second before a stream of shadowy eather smacked into her.

“Are you okay?” Ash was at my side in a heartbeat.

“Yes.” I breathed through the pain. “Just a scratch.”

He stared at me for a moment, then snapped forward. Pinching my chin in a gentle grip, he thrust his sword, catching either a ceeren or a Revenant as he kissed me.

He lifted his head and pulled his sword free. His hand dropped to my hip, and he nudged me to the side, gripping the hair of what turned out to be a ceeren. It snapped at him, and he dragged his sword up, disemboweling it.

Above, roars shattered the skies when our draken met Kolis’s. Flames of eather licked from their jaws as they descended upon his draken. Talons dug in, ripping through hard scales.

I dragged my attention away, scanning for any sign of Kolis. A ceeren came at me, the cloth she wore dripping pinkish water. Her full lips peeled back over bloody teeth. I parried a blow aimed at my heart.

Another charged, and I threw out my hand. Eather powered down my arm. The burst of Primal energy slammed into the ceeren. He stumbled back, looking down at the charred hole in his chest. His knees buckled, and I clenched my jaw against the throb of death.

The female ceeren screamed, drawing her sword back—

A shadowstone blade sliced through her neck. Her body went in one direction and her head in the other.

Ash stood there, more fresh blood dripping from his sword.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” His gaze turned to the sky as a red-and-black draken dug its talons into the back of a smaller, brown one. “Fucking Diaval.”

I inhaled sharply as Diaval tore into the draken’s throat, ripping through scales and bone. Aurelia let out a staggering, mournful call when the brown draken fell, shifting into his mortal form.

Ehthawn crashed into Diaval with a thunderous clap. They were a spiral of wings and talons, tearing into each other. Behind them, another draken plunged into the ocean, sending a geyser of water shooting into the sky.

I staggered at the haunting sight, forcing my gaze away. I couldn’t let it get to me right now.

Ash prowled toward the cliff’s edge. Scanning the sky for Naberius, I joined him.

Down below, I saw Phanos take a hit of Primal essence, throwing him back as Attes stalked forward, eather dripping from his fingers.

“Kolis is still here,” I said, my chest rising and falling sharply. Rhahar leapt over a dakkai, slamming his sword through a crimson god’s head.

“And so are the rest of his armies.” Ash lifted his blood-soaked sword, pointing at the forest line.

My gaze lifted, and the air fled my lungs.

A wave of crimson flowed out of the trees like an unforgiving tide. Thousands swarmed the field, just like the dakkais on the bluff had. And they kept coming.

“The bulk of their armies wasn’t on the ships,” I whispered.

“No,” Ash growled.

The sea of crimson swept over the field, causing my heart to stutter. There were too many, especially with Theon’s forces still battling the ceeren. I flinched as Phanos struck Attes, knocking him into a dakkai’s path—

A fair-haired soldier snapped forward, blocking the dakkai from reaching Attes. Kars. It was Kars who jabbed out with his blade. He was quick but…

The dakkai clamped down on his throat.

“No!” I shouted, lurching forward. A shudder went through me, warming my palms.

Ash caught my arm, but I barely felt his grip as both the dakkai and Kars went down.

Attes stumbled and grabbed the dagger, tossing it aside. He was frozen for a second, almost like he was thinking the same thing I was. What had Kars been thinking? He was a godling. Attes would’ve likely handled the dakkai, but it didn’t matter. It was too late. Attes stepped back. His free hand fisted, and he turned his head toward Phanos. A scream of rage erupted from him, and he flew toward the other Primal just as two draken spiraled to the ground below, locked in a deadly embrace, blood and fiery eather pouring out of them both.

“Crolee,” Ash rasped. They hit the rocky shore, the impact an echo of finality that caused my body to flash cold and then hot.

A buzzing started in my ears, muting Nektas’s call of sorrow. I pulled my arm free of Ash’s, the sword I held slipping from my fingers and clanging off the ground.

More crimson soldiers surged forward from the mouth of the forest, their armor and swords not yet bloodied by battle. I could barely see our people among the crimson gods—could barely hear Ash’s voice as he grabbed a ceeren, snapping its neck. I looked down the bluff’s rocky hill, seeing gods in crimson scale the peak. I thought Ash was calling my name as an eather arrow struck the first god who crested the rise.

I wasn’t breathing.

We were failing. My hand went to my stomach. Our future was slipping between our fingers. They would all die while Kolis hid. Rhahar. Our soldiers. Possibly even Attes. Then Rhain and Bele, once they swarmed the bluff. Their bodies would fall, just as Kars and Crolee had. Their bones would join…

They’re called the Bonelands.

I looked down, the blood dripping from my fingers darkening the soil and rock.

The land was littered with those who’d fallen in the war with the Ancients, the remains of gods, long-since-forgotten mortal warriors, Primals, and…

And dragons.

Suddenly, I saw the Shade in the Dying Woods—the one I’d touched. How it had started to come back to life.

There was a reason I’d suggested the Bonelands to Ash. Why I had stood on the Rise looking at the Shades after I’d brought life back to the Shadowlands.

Death couldn’t break the bonds of Life’s touch.

I looked at Ash. “I’ll be right back.”

He shoved a god from his sword, and his head jerked toward me. Eather swelled in me as I stepped toward the edge. He shouted my name, and it carried on the wind when I shadowstepped to the field below, near Kars’ body.

Locked in their own fights, no one noticed me as I stalked forward. Dropping to my knees beside the godling, I slammed my hands onto the bloodied grass, eather swelling inside me and combining with all the yawning hopelessness and bitter desperation I’d felt moments ago. But I channeled everything in me—the suffocating fear and soul-destroying shame for what had been done to me, for what I’d done to the mortal realm—and all of it built inside me.

Then, I let go.

Because no more would die. We would not fail. Our future wasn’t lost.

The edges of my vision turned silver and gold, snapping my head back. “I am done with this!” A scream of rage erupted from deep within me, releasing the Primal essence—unleashing my will as I summoned the fallen gods and dragons. “All of this.”

All across the field, heads turned to me. Soldiers in crimson and dark gray froze as my hands sank through the grass and into the soil, and eather whirled down my arms. Attes turned, and Phanos staggered back, his bloody mouth dropping open when the eather receded from his veins. Silvery-white light drenched the ground, rippling out from my hands.

Beneath me and all around, the ground trembled and then roared. Deep fissures appeared across the sacred land, spreading like veins, opening and spewing soil and rocks into the air.

A heartbeat passed.

Then two.

Thin, bleached-white fingers appeared in the clouds of dust radiating from the fissures. They dug into the disturbed soil, clawing their way free. Fleshless arms appeared from the darkness. Hairless skulls. And they kept coming, a wave of bone and tattered tunics, bearing the sigils of forgotten kingdoms, their bony hands lifting ancient, rusted swords. The great hills deep within the forests shuddered, uprooting trees and shedding centuries of sediment until foot-long, serrated teeth became visible. Wings of cartilage and delicate bones lifted into the air. The wind answered in a whisper, two words that echoed over and over as an army rose.