I wasn’t sure about that. Kolis didn’t seem like the type to listen to anyone. And Ash was likely beyond listening. He was caught in a cyclone of fury that had been building for centuries. This wasn’t only about me. It was about his mother, whom Kolis had slaughtered while Ash was still in her womb. It was about his father, whom Kolis had killed—whose soul he still held. It was for all the lives inked into Ash’s skin that Kolis had taken from him or forced Ash to take.
But Attes, bastard or not, spoke the truth.
Kolis would kill Ash.
And the death of either Kolis or Ash would destroy not only the mortal realm but also Iliseeum and every Primal. Completely. I wasn’t sure if the draken could even survive. Perhaps only the Arae—the Fates—would remain.
But I didn’t care about any of them. Only Ash mattered to me. So, I had to try. But how? They were still going at it, trading blasts of eather. The glow swallowing Kolis had faded, making it so he was no longer painful to look at. The shadows had grown thinner around Ash. I didn’t even know what I planned to do if I made it to one of the swords.
My gaze flew to the daggers at Attes’s hips, and I thought… I thought maybe I knew how to get Kolis to stop.
I started to push up with legs that felt like the jelly my stepsister Ezra liked to smother her rolls in. “Help…help me stand.” My cheeks warmed with embarrassment, which was so godsdamn stupid considering the situation. “I…I can’t do it.”
Features tense, Attes hesitated. It was clear he didn’t trust me. And he shouldn’t. Because if I lived longer than tonight, I would find a way to do terrible things to the fucker.
But also because I had lied—well, partially. I could stand, but I also knew the effort it would take, and that would wipe me out. I was doing what Attes had suggested: conserving my energy.
After a heartbeat, he tipped closer and shifted his hold from my wrist to my shoulders. He rose, bringing me with him. “You steady?”
I couldn’t really feel the floor beneath my feet. “Yeah.”
“Good.” Attes’s gaze searched mine, his features pinched with what looked like concern. I had to be imagining it. “So, what’s the—？”
I moved as quickly as possible, which wasn’t very fast at all. I was surprised I managed to grab the hilt of one of his shadowstone daggers before he could stop me. I’d just caught him off guard.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Attes exclaimed, eyeing the dagger I took from him. “Was I not clear enough?”
“Calm down.” I took a shallow breath, and my chest…gods, it felt weird. Like it was loose. “You aren’t worth…the effort.”
Surprise flickered across his face. He hadn’t expected that response.
Feeling top-heavy, I turned to where the two Primals had landed. Their hands were on each other’s throats, eather firing from their fingers.
I stepped forward, shouting, “Stop!”
Neither heard, or if they did, they ignored me. Their veins were lit from within, and if they hadn’t been in the process of killing each other, I would’ve thought they looked oddly beautiful.
And I also knew there might not be enough blood getting to my brain.
Panic trickled through me as I yelled again and again, feeling myself swaying. Attes, the rat bastard, steadied me. My heart was slowing, and I suspected that wasn’t good. Mainly because darkness crowded in at the edges of my vision. I didn’t know how I, a mortal, could get two Primal gods to—
But I wasn’t entirely mortal.
Not anymore.
The embers of life had changed that—the embers of Primal essence.
The back of my skull tingled, and my mind raced. The power the embers could manifest was connected to me feeling extreme emotion, just like a god or Primal as they grew closer to their Ascension. Ash had tried to get them to come out in me intentionally. It hadn’t exactly worked then.
But it was strange. As I stood, my chest oddly loose, sort of feeling detached from myself, I suddenly knew why the embers hadn’t flared.
I had been born with them inside me, but I’d never considered them part of me. I’d only been a vessel. Something to hide and store them. It was what Eythos, Ash’s father, had intended.
But that was no longer the case. The embers were a part of me. And for right now, they were mine.
I hadn’t truly understood that before. Hadn’t believed it until now.
Taking a deeper, slower breath, I concentrated on the throbbing in my chest. The embers fluttered and then pulsed as I summoned the eather, tapping into it.
“Good Fates,” Attes whispered.
What came next simply happened, almost like when Rhain told me about the deal Ash had made with Veses. Except this time, I was well aware of the essence coming to the surface. I controlled it. And when I used it, I didn’t think about how. It was just instinct, ancient and primal.
Primal essence seeped into my veins, hot and smooth, and when I spoke, I felt the power in my words. “Stop.”
I didn’t realize what I’d done until both Ash and Kolis halted, the bolts of eather fizzling out mid-streak.
I’d used compulsion. On the two most powerful Primals alive.
“Good Fates,” Attes whispered again hoarsely, clearly shocked. Ash and Kolis turned their heads toward me.
I was surprised, too. I hadn’t expected that, but I shoved my astonishment aside because while I’d been able to do that, I could already feel the embers weakening. Yes, they were a part of me, but I was dying. So, they were dying. I had to be quick. I stepped forward and did the only thing I could think of.
Ash cared for me greatly. If he could, he would love me. He’d pretty much said that himself after we’d spoken with the God of Divination, Delfai. But he’d removed his kardia, the piece of the soul that all living beings had that allowed them to irrevocably love another not of their blood and enabled them to do anything for that person. The goddess Penellaphe had said it must’ve been incredibly painful for him to do so. To me, it was just so damn tragic. He’d done it in an attempt to protect himself and whoever he might come to love from his uncle.
Kolis was an evil, sick bastard, and I didn’t think that what he felt for Sotoria was love. It was more like an obsession. But he was still in possession of his kardia, and he believed he was in love with her. If that were true, then he’d do anything for her.
Someone he believed was me.
Heart stuttering, I lifted the dagger to my throat.
“Fucking Fates,” Attes snapped from behind me, his voice low. “That wasn’t what I had in mind.”
“Stop fighting,” I repeated, ignoring the Primal of War and Accord. “Do this for me. Please.”
I was focused on Kolis, speaking directly to him, but Ash reacted first.
The thinning shadows whirling around and inside him vanished. Blood leaked from his parted lips and nose. His jaw was already swelling, and his tunic was burned in places, revealing charred flesh beneath. But it was his eyes that caused my heart to lurch. They were wide and stark, the wisps of eather still.
Kolis was slower to respond, the golden glow only fading enough that his features became visible beneath it. He wasn’t much better off than Ash. His chest was also a burned, bloody mess.