Page 198 of Born of Blood and Ash

“Because it was what she wanted,” Attesstated flatly. “Sotoria asked him to do it.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE

A fortnight had passed since Ash and I spokewith Keella. In that time, Saion had found thecaverns. Even now, he was there with Crolee and thegods Attes had sent, excavating to get as deep as thecelastite would allow. As we’d said when we talked toAttes, we didn’t want Kolis entombed anywhere nearthe surface.

I still couldn’t shake what Ash had said when we spoke aboutthe prophecy. That the key to fully understanding it was right in front of us.Every so often, it felt like it was on the tip of my tongue, but the knowledgeslipped away when I tried to voice it.

Thankfully, things had been calm in the last two weeks.Almost normal. Crops were growing faster than expected, the framework for theinsulas had been built, and evenings were spent sharing dinners with theothers. Ash and I trained together, working on controlling the eather and swordplay. There was lots of laughter and evensome quiet moments where it was just us. It was a beautiful taste of what wecould expect from life once we dealt with Kolis.

But I kept finding myself back in Daloswhen I slept. Not every night, but enough that I wanted to pray that my screamswouldn’t wake Ash. But they did.

A giggle drew me from my thoughts. Jadis walked—or perhapsbounced—a floppy doll across the floor toward Reaver.

He looked at her and the doll as if he was half-afraid. And,honestly, I couldn’t blame him. The doll looked like half its leg had beenchewed off, and what remained of its yellow yarn hair stuck out in everydirection, charred at the ends.

The doll was disturbing.

But the little girl was adorable.

I rarely saw her in her mortal form while awake, but she’darrived this morning as Ash and I finished breakfast, wearing a simple deepblue cotton gown, her hand held tightly in Reaver’s, and that doll danglingfrom her other hand.

I glanced at the door, wondering how long Ash would be gone.Shortly after he had finished writing the names of the recently deceased in theBook of the Dead, he’d been summoned to the Pillars of Asphodel. We’d plannedto do more training today, and I looked forward to it. I needed theexhaustion—the brain drain—that came from doing something physical.

“I don’t want to comb its hair,” Reaver said. When I looked,a beautiful comb with green and black jewels down its spine lay on the floorbetween them.

It was a bit too fancy for a child, and I had a feeling ithad probably belonged to her mother.

“Brush!” she demanded excitedly, thumping the doll’s headoff the floor.

Reaver curled his lip. “I’m not touching that thing. It’llfall apart, and you’ll blame me.”

“Nuh-uh.” She bopped the doll’s head off Reaver’s leg.

Reaver moved his leg away. “You were supposed to comb yourhair. Not your doll’s.”

I arched a brow as I eyed Jadis. Clearly, she had not.

Her hair reminded me of mine. It looked like it had beencaught in a cyclone. The long, waist-length brown locks were tangled and mostdefinitely knotted.

She stopped banging the doll off Reaver’s knee. “No.”

“Nek told you to brush your hair.” Reaver picked up the comband handed it to her. Leaning back against the base of the settee, he foldedhis thin arms. “If you don’t, you’re gonna get introuble.”

Her chin dipped, and her eyes narrowed until only a thinslit of those vertical pupils was visible.

Oh, no.

I recognized that look, even if she was in her mortal form.

The hand that held the comb cocked back, and like a girlafter my own heart, she threw it without an ounce of hesitation.

Snapping forward, I caught the comb before it smacked intoReaver’s face. “Let’s not do that.”

Jadis’s head swung in my direction, and I saw big, fat tearswelling up in her diamond-bright eyes.

“How about I get the knots out?” I suggested, patting thespot on the floor before me. “I promise I won’t pull on your hair.”

The little draken glanced betweenme and her doll and then crawled over, sitting cross-legged in front of me. Iguessed that was the go-ahead since Jadis was far less talkative in this formand much clearer when using the te’lepe—whichI supposed made sense since it was more about communicating her thoughtsinstead of finding the right words to go with them.

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