Page 161 of Born of Blood and Ash

“Your wish is my command.” Attesrose, lifting his head. A flicker of surprise washed over his face as heblinked—correction…as he blinked one eye.

My mouth dropped open. It wasn’t the shallow scar runningfrom his hairline, across the bridge of his nose, and down his left cheek thathad caught my attention. His right eye was swollen shut, and the skin around itand the lid were a gruesome shade of reddish-purple. “What happened to youreye?”

“Oh, this? It’s courtesy of that one.” He jerked his chintoward Ash. “Your dear husband.”

My mouth fell open for the second time. I slowly turned myhead to Ash.

“My fist slipped.”

“It must’ve slipped really hard to leave that bruise.” Icrossed my arms.

“It did,” he replied, his gaze sweeping over me.

“And did you hit him before or after he agreed to attendthis meeting?”

“Does it look like he hit me only once?” Attescountered.

“You hit him twice?” I screeched.

“No,” Ash said, dragging his lower lip between his teeth.“Three times.”

I stared at him in disbelief. There were far more importantthings to focus on, but I couldn’t believe he’d hit Attesthree—

“It was more like four,” Lailah corrected.

I turned to her. “I thought you were here to make sure theybehaved.”

“She tried, but she was unsuccessful,” Attessaid. “And that’s kind of your fault. Since you declared him King—which I agreewith, by the way—he demanded that she not interfere.”

Ash smiled tightly. “I did do that.”

Nektas snorted.

My head swung back to the draken.“And you couldn’t stop him?”

“I could have.” Nektas took adrink from his cup. “But Attes had it coming.”

“Oh, my gods,” I muttered, turning back to Attes. “And you were somehow unable to defend yourself?”

“What was I to do?” Attes tiltedhis head, sending a lock of sandy hair against a cheek also mottled, though aless violent shade of red. “Striking a King would be considered treasonous.”

“That is true,” Ash said.

I took a deep, calming breath. “That looks painful.”

“It feels about ten times more painful than it looks,” hesaid.

Ash huffed. “Don’t waste your time feeling sorry for him. Hecould heal it. He’s just not doing it.”

“Why are you—?”

“Because he’s attention-starved,” Lailah interrupted.

I turned back to the Primal. The bruises did look terrible,but the Primal of Accord and War was a strikingly handsome man, even with thebruised and swollen eye. Not even the scar detracted from the chiseledfeatures. But when I looked at the scar, I couldn’t stop myself from thinkingabout how he’d gotten it. He’d been trying to stop Kolis from killing hischildren.

Gods, how fucking terrible was that? Kolis had harmed somany people, and all because he’d lost what was never his in the first place.

Sotoria.

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