Page 243 of Born of Blood and Ash

“The slaggiest of slag,” Ashcorrected, causing my lip to curl. “It’s where dragon fire impacts a surfaceand the temperature is at its highest, creating a medium to dark gray stone.The problem is, it’s been a really long time since dragon fire has touchedanything. Whatever is out there would’ve been long since buried.”

Frustration started to rise, but then I stiffened. “I sawthe creation of the Star diamond when I was in stasis—dragon fire killed anAncient, leaving behind that diamond, but also—”

“Basalt,” Ash finished, a slow grin appearing. “The UndyingHills.”

I nodded. “I’ve never seen them before—well, in real life.But Delfai said the Fates erupted the mountain to getto the diamond, leaving the area and surrounding hills barren.”

“Barren and gray.” Attes squintedas he turned back to the cell. “I saw the Undying Hills a long time ago.”

“I’ve been there,” Ash said. “There was a lot of rock—rockthat definitely could be basalt since the Arae erupted the mountain, likelyunearthing it.”

“I’ll get on it as soon as we’re done here,” Attes offered. “Which we have to be, sooner rather thanlater.”

I narrowed my eyes and glanced back at Callum. “Why isthat?”

“The eirini,” Ash spat. “Attes was kind enough to explain that keeping Callum couldbe seen as a violation since he serves Kolis.”

My nostrils flared with a surge of anger. “Well, there goeskilling him.”

“Unfortunately,” Ash said. “But he needs to be free beforethe moon rises.”

“Which is less than an hour from now,” Rhain said.

I shook my head. “I know I’ve said this before, but I’mgoing to say it again. The eirini isbullshit.”

“That it is,” Rhain remarked.

“Too bad we don’t have more time. If we did, we could let Thierran at him.” Attes glancedover. “He’s still here, right?”

“Yeah, but he’s been keeping a low profile,” Ash said.

So low, I had entirely forgotten the oneirouwas here.

Rhain shifted, angling his body away from the cell. “Wasyour family able to say why Callum was there?”

“Not really.” I sighed. “Apparently, he was there for a fewdays and mostly kept to himself.”

The skin between Attes’s browscreased. “That’s odd.”

“He’s odd.” I stepped forward as the fingers on Callum’sleft hand twitched. My gaze flicked up to his throat. The line there was barelyvisible. “He’s waking up.”

An intense silver glow filled the symbols etched into thebone bars with a wave of Ash’s hand. As the light faded, a section of the barsswung open.

Ash followed as I walked into the cell, mindful of the bloodand chains that secured Callum’s slim wrists and ankles. The bonds were taut,preventing him from doing much more than wiggling around. I knelt at Callum’sside. His features were still slack under the golden paint. I looked back tothose in the hall. “Can someone grab me some water and a rag, please?”

“On it.” Rhain took off in a blur.

Kneeling at Callum’s head, Ash asked, “Please, tell meyou’re going to smother him with the rag and then drown him?”

I snorted. “That wasn’t exactly what I planned.”

“That’s disappointing.”

A low laugh escaped me as I looked Callum over, noting thewidth of his shoulders and the stark, tapered waist. He was thinner than Iremembered.

I kept a close eye on him until Rhain returned with a bucketand a cloth. Ash rose to retrieve the items. The metal bucket clanged off thefloor as he set it by me. I quietly took the rag from his hand and dipped thecloth into the icy water.

Faint tremors ran along the Revenant’s body, but he didn’tstir. Not even when I scrubbed a little harder to remove the thick paint fromhis face, revealing a smattering of freckles along the bridge of his nose andacross the tops of his cheeks. He didn’t have nearly as many as I did, but thesight of them was unsettling. I wiped at his brow, removing the paint there,and then I leaned back, taking in his heart-shaped face, angular cheeks, andfull mouth—

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