“Rhain wanted to show us something.” Ash offered me his hand. “He’s waiting for us downstairs.”

“Hopefully, it’s not an example of appropriate attire,” I muttered, taking Ash’s hand.

Reaver snickered.

“What?” Ash’s brows knitted.

“Nothing.” I shot the draken a look as Ash pulled me to my feet. “Did he say what he wanted to show us?”

He shook his head. “Only that it was important.”

“Probably has to do with gowns,” Reaver commented.

Ash’s head tilted as he tugged me to his side. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

“You are,” I confirmed. “But it’s nothing interesting.”

“I’ll have to take your word for that.” He looked back at Reaver. “You’re walking us down, right?”

The smile that came across Reaver’s face was brief but beautiful before he ducked his head and the sheet of golden hair obscured his face.

“Lead the way,” Ash instructed Reaver, keeping his hand wrapped firmly around mine.

I grinned as Reaver took Ash’s request very seriously, skirting us. “Can you give Ash and me a moment, though?”

Reaver stopped in the doorway, crossing his arms over his chest. “You guys are going to have a serious conversation you don’t want me to hear.”

“Now, why would you think that?” Ash questioned.

“Because every time something serious needs to be said that no one wants me to hear, I’m either sent from the room, tasked to look after Jadis, or others speak in a weird way like they’re leaving out words and stuff.”

Note to self: Reaver is far too observant. “We weren’t going to talk,” I told him. “I was planning to do more kissing.”

There was no hesitation. Not even a second. “I’ll wait in the hall.” Reaver pivoted and disappeared in a heartbeat.

“Wow,” I murmured. “I didn’t think it would be that effective.”

“Well, I, for one, am not disturbed by the idea of more kissing.”

“I hate to disappoint you,” I said, “because Reaver was right. It’s something I didn’t want him to hear.”

“What is it?”

“Something I realized this morning,” I said. “I think I figured out what woke Kolis—no, I know. It was me.”

Ash’s eyes searched mine. “I’m sure you had nothing—”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I cut in. “It’s what I did last night when I brought the river back and, well, everything else. That power? It was a lot.”

“Yeah,” he said, straightening the collar of my tunic. “It was.”

“And I’m sure it was felt all across Iliseeum. That’s what woke him from stasis. He felt it.”

Ash appeared to think about that for a moment. “If that is the case, do you regret what you did?”

“No,” I said without hesitation.

“Then it is what it is,” he said softly. “It’s not your fault he woke.”

“I don’t…” I fell silent upon his knowing look. “I don’t regret it, but I do feel a tiny bit responsible.”

“I get it,” he said. “But you know he would’ve woken eventually.”

“Would’ve been nice if he still remained in stasis, though.”

“Maybe.” He tucked a curl back behind my ear. “But I personally enjoy knowing that it was you being a powerful Primal that possibly woke him sooner than he would’ve naturally.”

My brows lifted. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“Now, you have,” He dipped his head and kissed me.

“We should join Reaver before he becomes traumatized by something we’re not even doing.”

That brought a faint grin to his lips, and by the time we joined the youngling, he appeared calmer.

“How are you feeling about the speech?” Ash asked as we entered the hall with Reaver several feet in front of us.

“I’m good.” I paused and then admitted, “And a little nervous.”

“You’ll do perfectly,” Ash assured, dipping down to press a kiss to the top of my head.

“That’s what I told her,” Reaver called from the top of the staircase, where he waited.

“She should start listening to you, then,” Ash responded and then glanced down at me. “You look beautiful, by the way.”

“Thank you.” I smiled up at him. “You don’t look too bad yourself.”

Ash chuckled. “I believe you’re underplaying how extraordinarily handsome you find me right now.”

“Perhaps.”

I could see Rhain waiting for us beneath the crystal chandelier as we reached the second floor of the grand staircase, and then Reaver shocked the hell out of me by doing the most childlike thing I’d ever seen him do. He hopped from the next to last step to the floor. When we followed suit, minus the hopping, I caught sight of Rhahar waiting near the vacant marble pedestal with Kars.

I frowned at that damn pedestal. I really needed to find something to put on it.

“You said there was something you wanted to show us?” Ash asked, drawing my attention back to the god.

Rhain nodded, and this time, there was no stopping the concern from taking root at the sudden tension hardening his features. “It’s the crowns.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Reaver and I followed Ash and Rhain as we passed the throne room, Rhahar and Kars keeping pace behind us. I had no idea where the crowns were kept. If I had been told, I’d definitely forgotten. At first, I thought we were heading toward the war room, but it was an antechamber of it, accessed through a door that led to a narrow hall. “I was going to have them polished and made the discovery,” Rhain told us, holding the door.

The chamber was small, and everything was white—the marble floor, painted walls, the ceiling, and the two pedestals in the center. The crown was the only thing that wasn’t white.

Wait.

A crown.

Ash halted as I turned halfway, thinking I’d missed something, but there was nothing else in the space.

“What the…?” Rhahar exclaimed from behind us, his eyes going wide and filling with essence as Ash approached the pedestal.

“Where is your crown?” Reaver asked as he peered up at a pedestal as empty as the one in the foyer.

“I was asking the same thing.” Rhain moved to stand behind the pedestals.

“Shit,” Ash murmured, placing his palm on the flat surface. “Kolis.” He turned to me, his eyes brightly lit. “Touch your crown.”

“What?” I glanced at the beautiful crown I’d only worn once, taking in its shadowstone spires and glittering crescent moons.

“Just touch it,” he insisted.

“I’m glad I understand the context of this conversation for once,” Kars commented under his breath.

Rhahar turned to the godling. “Seriously?”

Kars shrugged.

“Wait.” Ash stopped me. “Better yet, stand still.”

I did as he asked. Reaver watched avidly. “I’m standing still, so will you tell me what your missing crown has to do with…?” I trailed off as the knowledge started to come to me. My eyes went wide.

Ash nodded.

Heart thundering, I watched Ash lift the crown and turn to me. Silently, he placed the crown on my head, and before I could even register its weight, the crown shuddered. The room was suddenly awash in bright, golden light.

Rhahar’s hand fell from the hilt of his sword. “Holy—”

“Shit,” Kar whispered as Rhain staggered back a step.

The fading golden glow warmed Ash’s face as he reached for the crown again. His broad hands carefully lifted it from my head, and even though I knew what I was about to see, I couldn’t believe it.

“Whoa,” Reaver murmured.

Ash held the crown I’d last seen upon Kolis’s head. “The Primal crowns are almost like a chora,” he said, referencing the type of animal that used to be formed from a Primal. “An extension of the Primal that can be summoned to them at will but only called to the true bearer of that crown.”

I stared at the nine shining golden swords and the sun rising from the middle one, glittering with diamonds. As if seeking to confirm it was real, I touched the center sword. The gold turned luminous, casting soft light across the walls.