Page 27 of Born of Blood and Ash

She was also a baby Primal.

I grinned.

“It has been eons since Hanan really had to fight anyone,and I was enraged,” Ash continued. “That kind of anger can strengthen a Primal,even a fledgling, but it’s temporary. If I was going up against someone like Phanos? The outcome likely would’ve been different if I hadsquared off with the Primal God of the Sky, Sea, Earth, and Wind.”

I just loved how there was no cost to his ego to admit sucha thing. He was strong and badass enough to know when he was outpowered, andthat was a rare trait.

One I wasn’t sure I possessed.

Okay. One I knew I didn’t possess, which meant itwas another thing I needed to work on.

“After taking out Hanan, I weakened damn near immediately,”he said. “And that allowed Kolis to get the upper hand.”

It wasn’t just Kolis who had allowed that. My pitifulattempt to get them to stop fighting had only served to distract Ash. A wave ofcoldness swept down my spine as brief images of Kolis repeatedly shoving the shadowstone blade through Ash’s chest flashed in my mind.

I gave my head a quick shake to scatter the memories.

Ash gathered up several pieces of the beef he had cut andtransferred them to my plate. “But the heightening of your senses will occurlong before you’re considered to be at full power, and I imagine your intuitionwill also continue growing stronger.”

I thought that over as he finally began helping himself towhat was left of the meat and vegetables. “I have these memories of when I wasin stasis. Not just of you talking to me, but of other things. It kind of feltlike I was going in and out of consciousness.”

He swallowed a bite of food. “Mine was similar to that.There was really no sense of time passing. I’d hear Nektasand then…nothing.”

I nodded. “I think I even heard my nursemaid Odetta’s voiceat one point.” My heart skipped as more of those memories became clear. “I sawhow the realms began—how they really began. The Ancients were never Primals. They were something else entirely.” I squinted,seeing in my mind what I had seen during stasis. “The essence comes from thestars—the Ancients themselves. They were stars.”

Ash lowered his fork.

“Yeah.” I twisted toward him, remembering what he’d told me.“You said that some of the Ancients were aware they were too powerful, so theycreated offspring from their own flesh—the Primals.Eventually, they transferred some of their essence to each one, establishing abalance of power. I saw that. Did you know they weren’t Primals?”

Ash was quiet for a moment. “It was never stated explicitlythat the Ancients were Primals. It was just somethingthat I—well, that most of us—assumed. And my father only ever spoke of themwhen I was younger. When he did, what he said reminded me of fables shared witha child.” His gaze searched mine. “Did you see more?”

“Yes.” I took a bite of the seasoned beef, taking a fewmoments to make sense of the memories coming back to me. “I saw when they fellto this realm. When dragons ruled. I saw one of the Ancients burn beneath adragon’s flames and your father creating the first mortal. It took him solong,” I murmured as my mind jumped back to the beginning of what I’d seen.“The Ancients? They fell to other lands far to the east and west, where citieswere made of steel. Do you know of these other realms?” The answer came to mewith my next breath. “You don’t.”

An eyebrow rose. “You would be correct.”

“No one does but…your father. He knew the truth. So do Kolisand the Fates.” My stomach pitched as I finally recalled what else I’d seen.“The Arae…”

Holy shit.

There was a reason the Arae were said to be everywhere andin everything. Why they didn’t answer to Primals. Itwas because they were the Ancients—those who didn’t go to ground or pass onwhen the Primals rose.

Which also meant Holland was an Ancient. And I’dkicked and punched him before. Cursed at him. I was also sure I’d probablythreatened his life in a fit of anger at some point.

Ash watched me intently. “What about the Arae?”

I started to tell him what I had learned, but the wordswouldn’t come to my tongue. They came to my mind, though, along with a sense ofbone-deep knowing.

I couldn’t tell him.

My intuition didn’t tell me why, but I knew there would beconsequences if I did. Grave ones.

Hating that I had to keep this from Ash, I stabbed a pieceof cauliflower and thought about the conversation I’d had with Nektas on the balcony. I was willing to bet that he knewexactly what the Fates were. “Just that they know about the other lands.” Iforced my thoughts there as the back of my neck prickled near my left ear.“They aren’t separated by time, but by thick veils of eatherour power cannot penetrate. They wanted things to be different there.”

“Why?”

I bit down on the buttery cauliflower and searched my mind,finding nothing more on that topic. “I don’t know, but there is more about theAncients. I know there is. I just need a moment to think about it.”

“And more cauliflower?”

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