A rush of emotion swelled, stirring the eather.

“And it’s okay to be nervous right now,” he said, his eyes searching mine. “But do not forget how strong and brave you are and what you have faced and conquered. You’ve got this. I have faith in that.” His thumbs swept over my cheeks. “In you.”

A tremor went through me as I nodded. I didn’t think he could ever know how much his words meant to me because the next breath was lighter and easier.

Ash had faith in me.

And it was time I started to have some in myself.

“I’ve got this,” I said.

Ash smiled. “Without a doubt.”

“Bow.” Rhain’s voice suddenly boomed from the City Hall. “For the One who is born of Blood and Ash, the Light and the Fire, and the Brightest Moon, the true Primal of Life, and the Queen of the Gods and Common Man.”

“That’s a really long title,” I whispered to Ash in the silence.

He grinned as he took the chalice from my hand and placed it beside his.

“Bow.” Rhain’s voice came again. “For the Asher, the One who is Blessed, the Guardian of Souls, and the Primal God of Common Men and Endings.”

“Ready?” Ash asked as the silence continued from within the City Hall.

My heart thudded. “Yes.”

Dipping his head, he kissed me once more and gently squeezed my hand, then we shadowstepped onto the dais.

The sound of a collective gasp reverberated through the crowd as the Primal mist receded from around us. I started to look past Rhain, but my gaze flew back to him. He had knelt. So had Saion and Rhahar. I briefly saw Bele, who knelt to our right, along with Lailah, and I felt Nektas drawing closer.

Everyone but Ash and I was down on one knee, their palms pressed to the floor and to their chests. Even the smallest in the crowd knelt, as did the soldiers lining the colonnade, their backs to the iron-gray banners that bore two crescent moons facing one another above the head of a wolf.

Ash had explained this morning what would come next. Briefly meeting his eyes, we turned. Two thrones made of shadowstone stood adorned with intricately carved wings on their backs, much like the soldiers’ helmets, their graceful arches meeting. The banners hanging behind them rippled in the breeze as we approached.

My throat was incredibly dry as we stepped up to the slightly raised thrones, causing me to wish I had drunk more. At least my neck didn’t feel tight as Ash gave my hand one last squeeze and then let go. We turned back to the coliseum floor then sat. I could’ve sworn the sun-warmed shadowstone pulsated with energy as I flattened my palms on the arms of the throne.

A burst of intense, silvery fire rolled across the sky above the Hall. I sucked in a sharp breath as the draken lining the columns of the colonnade lifted their heads, letting out staggering, high-pitched calls. A thick shadow fell over the crowd, blotting out the sunlight. A gust of wind swept over the floor of the Hall, stirring the strings of lights that crisscrossed the entire length of the massive circular structure and lifted the tendrils of my hair as I looked up.

With a graceful sweep of his black-and-gray wings, Nektas descended from above, landing in front of the thrones just as he had during our coronation.

This time, I was prepared for when he swept his wings back over our heads, and his front talons slammed down on the edge of the dais. The thick frills around his head vibrated as a sound like thunder rolled from him. He prowled forward, narrowly avoiding Bele and the twins as his tail whipped across the dais to curl at the foot of the thrones.

Nektas surveyed the crowd as he lowered himself onto his belly, his horned head resting on the dais’s edge.

The draken sure did love his impressive arrivals.

I looked up from where Nektas remained. The draken along the colonnade lowered their wings and waited as those below lifted their heads. Their faces were a blur to me, and the next breath I took was a little thinner but not too bad.

Following Ash’s instructions from this morning, I cleared my throat. Eather throbbed throughout my body, and when I spoke, I felt the raw energy in my voice. “You may rise.”

I watched as they rose in silence all across the coliseum floor. My gaze landed on a woman and man near the front. A young boy, maybe ten or eleven years old, stood between them. The adults’ faces were guarded, maybe even nervous, and they each had a hand on one of the boy’s shoulders. But he…

He trembled as he stared up at the thrones, his amber eyes wide. However, he didn’t look afraid. My breath caught as I recognized the emotion on his face.

Part of me had expected to see uncertainty and unease, and I wouldn’t have blamed them if they felt that way. Only those who had called Lethe home knew about me, but none of them expected me to rise as the true Primal of Life. And those who’d just come to the Shadowlands had no idea what to expect from me. They didn’t know if I would be any different. Better. Or worse.

But there was none of that in the expressions of those below.

Many of the faces showed various degrees of wonder and maybe even a little disbelief, echoing the awe I saw in the boy’s expression. The acceptance. The devotion. Seeing that stunned me because, gods, I didn’t feel like I’d done much to earn it.

But I could change that.

We would show them.

But, I couldn’t do it like this. I twisted to Ash, and his eyes immediately met mine. “I don’t want to do this while sitting on a throne,” I whispered.

“We don’t have to,” he answered, a faint curve in his lips appearing. “How do you want to do this?”

“I…I want to be closer to them.”

“Then that is what we shall do,” he replied.

“Okay.” I glanced back at the crowd and rose on slightly trembling legs. I stepped down from the throne, mindful of Nektas’s tail, and waited for Ash to join me.

Holding my gaze, he offered me his hand once more. Together, we crossed the dais.

“Sorry,” I murmured to Rhain as we passed him. He watched in confusion as we stopped closer to the edge of the dais. The people below crowded forward. As I looked out over the gathering, I didn’t take a breath, I didn’t think. I just spoke.

“I’m sure many of you are wondering what we’re doing right now,” I said.

“I know I am,” Bele muttered under her breath.

I pretended I didn’t hear her as I continued. “I didn’t feel comfortable sitting all the way back there and having to yell for any of you to hear me.”

There was a wave of scattered chuckles, and I saw several quick grins and amused looks being exchanged. “Anyway,”—I cleared my throat—“we wanted to thank you all for coming together on such short notice,” I said, ignoring the slight quiver in my voice. “I’m sure my Ascension has come as a surprise to many of you—or actually, all of you.” My cheeks flushed, but I pushed on. “And many of you are uncertain of what is to come. We called you all here today to assuage those concerns.”

I glanced at Ash, and he nodded for me to continue. “First, we wanted to say that we know the risks many of you took to travel to Lethe, and we are…inspired by that.” My gaze flickered over the crowd, and my throat thickened with emotion that even caught me off guard. “And we are humbled. Truly. All of you are welcome here and are under our protection, as are all those who call Lethe their home. We are working on ensuring that each of you will have shelter and food.”

“Land has already been set aside, and fields are being plowed to plant crops while additional housing is built,” Ash continued, his voice far steadier than mine as he surveyed the crowd. “When winter comes, it may be a hard one.”

“But there will be a winter thanks to our Queen!” a god shouted from somewhere in the gathering. Laughs and cheers of agreement traveled through the crowd. “And that is something to celebrate.”