Page 281 of Born of Blood and Ash

That laugh ended me.

I was no longer who I once was or was now. I was made of theanger and sorrow of my sister’s tortured expression and my mother’sforever-silenced voice. I was nothing but the fury and wasted hope of thosesmall bodies left in gutters like trash and the souls lost at sea. I wasnothing but a vessel of rage and the anguish of the great, unforgivable loss ofall those who’d perished.

I rose, not as the true Primal of Life but as a Primal ofdevastating ruin and wrath.

That combustible mix poured into every fiber of my being. Iturned to see Kyn and the Primal God of Wisdom, Loyalty, and Duty flanking him.An aura of silver and gold pulsed as a shockwave of ruinous wrath erupted fromme. The ground began to tremble. Fissures appeared in the battlements. Dustclouds rose from streets and homes, and roofs peeled back, shattering in thewind, and walls collapsed. Flashes of vibrant orange, yellow, and brilliant,flickering red flames funneled into the sky above the capital. The earthbeneath my feet cracked as I took a step forward.

“And you will soon learn that for yourself,” Kyn promised,wrenching the bone spear from the ground.

The land stopped trembling. The wind ceased. Blood rain nolonger fell. The very air itself contracted. I saw the flash of uneaseloosening the corners of Kyn’s mouth, erasing his fucking smirk, and Embris’s eyes widened. All the violent, devastating energycame roaring back to its creator. Me.

My head jerked back as the pressure built and built, joiningmy will.

“Shit,” Kyn growled, launching the spear.

Eather streaked from my hands, slamming into the ground andthen lifting. The energy rammed into the spear, shattering the bone.

“Fuck,” Embris rasped, movingfast. His hands were a blur.

Hot, stinging pain erupted in my shoulders, causing me tostagger back. I looked down to see two hilts vibrating from where the daggerswere now embedded.

Reaching up, I pulled the first dagger free, wincing as painradiated down both arms. I tore the second one out. The midnight blades wereslick with shimmery, blueish-red blood. I lifted my head, breathed in the pain,and let it become part of me.

I laughed.

And the wall around Wayfair turned to dust.

Stepping forward, I threw the shadowstonedaggers. Kyn cursed and spun. Embris lurched to theside. One grazed Kyn’s arm. The other struck Embrisin the chest.

Too bad.

I’d been aiming for the head.

“Fates,” seethed Embris, yankingthe dagger free.

“Well, now I think you just pissed her off,” Kyn spat, hishead jerking to the right as he shouted a command.

Cimmerian peeled away from the walls and raced from the nowtomb-like halls of Wayfair. More ran past where the wall had once stood.Hundreds of them. They rushed toward their end as the two Primalsstood back.

Cowards.

They were fucking cowards.

Blood dripped from my arms when I thrust them forward. Bandsof eather rippled out and split as I pictured theessence forming tendrils. They snaked across the ground, glancing over bodiesbefore rising like vipers, striking their targets to my left and right.

Screams once more tore through the air when the streams of eather funneled through the Cimmerian’s chests and heads.The cloak of night fell away from each of them, and I raised my arms, liftingthem into the sky. The warriors squirmed, shouting as strips of their fleshburned off.

Kyn’s glare met mine.

I smiled and closed my fists.

The screaming ceased when I crushed their throats. The soundof cracking bones radiated over the capital like thunder.

I stalked forward, bursts of eatherappearing over the courtyard like dazzling, silvery fireworks. Blood drippedfrom my fingers, splashing off the soil. My chest throbbed with echoes ofdeath. I didn’t falter as what remained of the Cimmerian fell to the ground inclumps and pieces.

Ancient instinct fueled me, and a great howling wind pickedup. I pulled the essence from the very air itself, as well as the deepest partsof the ocean. All across the land, dots of silvery essence appeared. The realmcontracted.

Kyn started backing up, lifting his hand to blow me a kiss.“Later.”

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