“He’s unconscious,” Casteel bit out, looking up the empty road and then back at me. “Can you—？”
I was already on my knees on the other side of Delano, my hands tingling with heat. “I don’t know what will happen,” I said, glancing over at Casteel. “I don’t know if I will ease his pain or anything more beyond that.”
Eyes like chips of amber met mine. “Do whatever you can.”
Aware of the Guardians surrounding us as Alastir knelt behind Casteel, I sank my hands into the soft wolven fur. Like with Beckett, before I could start to pull from the all-too-shallow well of good, happy memories, the heat intensified. A faint glow surrounded my hands as I felt Delano’s pain rise suddenly, sharply, and then ease.
“Gods,” Jasper whispered hoarsely.
“I’m glowing again, aren’t I?” I asked.
“Yes,” Casteel answered. “Like moonlight. Beautiful.”
Delano shuddered as I felt the last of his pain trickle away. His ears twitched and then perked. A moment later, he lifted his head, stretching to look back at me as I lifted my hands.
“Hi,” I said, and I swore the wolven smiled.
“Delano?” Casteel leaned forward. “Can you shift?”
The wolven turned back to Casteel and shuddered again. As the fur thinned, Kieran whipped off his shirt, draping it over Delano’s midsection just as his legs lengthened, claws retracted, and pale skin replaced fur. A moment later, Delano was in his mortal form.
I rocked back. Watching a wolven change forms would never cease to amaze me.
Delano lifted his right arm as he sat up, wiping the blood off to reveal no wound. Just a pinker, ragged patch of skin. He lowered his arm, eyes meeting mine.
“Delano,” Casteel said. “What in the hell happened?”
Tearing his gaze from me, he turned to Casteel, his chest rising and falling with steady breaths. “They’re coming. The Ascended.”
Chapter 35
“They’re burning everything,” Delano said between mouthfuls of roasted meat and gulps of water as we sat in a room inside the fortress, off from the dining hall. “All of what was left of Pompay. All of the woods from Pompay to—to Gods, possibly all the way to New Haven. The Dead Bones Clan?” His bare shoulders tensed as he reached for the water. “I don’t see how they could’ve gotten out of there. They have to all be gone.”
My empty stomach churned with nausea. I was no fan of their people-eating and skin-wearing habits, but that didn’t mean I wished they’d all be murdered. Especially after learning that they’d survived the war and the Ascended by hiding out in those woods.
“As soon as we saw Pompay, we knew it wasn’t normal. There weren’t that many there. Maybe two dozen guards. But to create that kind of fire? To the point that the air is nearly black with smoke? We knew there had to be more.” His knuckles bleached white from how tightly he held his glass.
We.
But only he’d returned, and I knew what that meant.
I looked to where Casteel stood on the other side of the table.
His expression was utterly devoid of emotion, but I could feel the vast, icy rage inside him. “Did you see more?”
“We skirted past them, traveling farther west. That’s where we saw them—saw the rest. We got close—as close as we could. To see how many there were.” He downed half the glass of water. “They have camps, Cas. Horses. Wagons pulling supplies.”
Alastir, who’d been standing since we entered the room, sat in a chair, his face pale as Delano lifted his fingers, one by one, from the glass. “There have to be hundreds of them, close to eight hundred or so, I’d guess. A godsdamn army.”
I sat back. From the moment I’d realized that the sky wasn’t actually burning, I had already suspected that the Ascended were behind the fire. My hours on the Rise were spent preparing myself for what I already knew. The knowledge that the Ascended were coming wasn’t what shook me. It was the sheer numbers of them.
“Hell,” Jasper muttered.
“One of them saw us as we left their camp. Arrows. That’s what got me. Got Dante.”
“Was he killed?” Casteel asked.
Delano nodded as he stared at the plate. “Got him in the head.”
Alastir swore, rising once more. “Dante didn’t know when to shut up.” He turned, clasping the back of his chair. “But he was a good man. Honorable.”
“I know.” A muscle flexed in Casteel’s jaw.