Page 229 of Born of Blood and Ash

I stared at the crest, frowning. All I could see was someonebeing stabbed in the head and dying…

Dying.

My lips parted as I staggered back, just as the guards hadmoments ago. I’d seen a similar symbol in the Shadow Temple. “Death. That isthe symbol for death.”

“No. That,” Nektas said,pointing again, “is a symbol representing both life and death, on thecrest of the same bloodline that eventually birthed a mortal who became thetrue Primal of Life. Who also happens to be the mate of a Primal of Death.”

“Well, when you put it that way, it doesn’t seem like acoincidence, but…”

But that damn prophecy.

While the Fates couldn’t see the entirety of the future,they could see the many possibilities that lay in wait.

“The Mierel Crest is only a fewhundred years old. It started with…” My eyes narrowed. “Motherfucker.”

“That’s who it started with?”

“It started with Roderick Mierel.”My head whipped toward him. “He only became the recognized King of Lasania after the deal.”

Nektas turned his attention backto the crest.

“None of this means Eythos gaveRoderick the design, but…” A strangled laugh left me. “He must have.”

Nektas exhaled slowly. “This isnot the symbol that represents the inevitability of life and death and theimportance of both.”

“The crescent moon,” I murmured, my skin pimpling.“‘A Maiden as the Fates promised.’”

Nektas’s head cut toward me.

“‘And you shall leave this realm touched by life anddeath.’” My voice was hoarse when I spoke. “That was something my old nursemaidOdetta said to me.” I reached back and touched the back of my left shoulder. “Ihave a birthmark that’s kind of shaped like a crescent moon.”

“Fate marked you at birth,” he said, mirroring Odetta’sclaim. “With the symbol of the equal power of life and death.”

Unsettled, I slid my hand away.

“But if Eythos left some sort ofhint behind, it would be the symbol of life. This insignia could representsomething other than you and Ash. It could be—”

“Life and Death not joined,” I cut in. “But one and thesame.”

A silver beast with blood seeping from its jaws of fire,bathed in the flames of the brightest moon to ever be birthed, will become one.

A chill went through me as I stared at the crest. If thissymbol, representing life and death as one, never existed before, how could Eythos have had anything to do with it? And why? The vadentia was eerily quiet. Which meant…

It either involved the Fates or something close to me—to mypresent or future.

For finally, the Primal rises, the giver of blood andthe bringer of bone, the Primal of Blood and Ash.

Another chill went through me. “None of this makes sense oreven matters right now,” I said. Nektas nodded, butthere was a strange edginess to him. I turned and started walking toward thedining hall. “And you know why it doesn’t matter?”

“Why?” Nektas followed me thistime.

“Because trying to figure all of that out,” I said,gesturing at the banners as I took the hall to my right, “makes my head feellike it’s going to explode. Like, go splat all over those banners.”

“We don’t want that to happen.”

I stalked forward, passing the curved archways of numerousunnecessary chambers.

“The idea of all this being connected angers you,” Nektas commented.

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