Page 285 of Born of Blood and Ash

The throbbing in my chest intensified. I staggered sidewaysand turned. Jove fell in a fiery heap. My gaze landed on the path ofdestruction I had left as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

Through the smoke and crumbled stone, I saw a section of theSanctuary still standing with strips of white rippling in the wind. I walkedthrough the smoke, jerking to a stop.

A group of Chosen stood huddled together, pressed againstone of the walls. Most were veiled, but others were not, their faces masks offear and horror as they…

As they stared at me.

“It’s okay,” I assured them, lifting a hand.

They shrank back, some even screaming. My gaze fell to myhand, where eather still swirled around my bloody,charred fingers, wisps licking the air. Through the gore, I saw thestill-shimmering golden swirl of my marriage imprint on the top of my righthand.

Every muscle in my body locked up as patches of shiny newpink flesh appeared. What…What was I doing?

My gaze flew back to the Chosen—to those I would give a realchoice to once I’d dealt with Kolis. They could serve as intended without fearof exploitation or return to the mortal realm. I would set them free. Not harmthem. But it was clear they were terrified of me. And this time I…

I had given them a reason to be.

I reeled back, inhaling sharply, and shook my head indisbelief. Of course, Kolis wouldn’t have taken them. He’d known I would come.All the guards were proof of that. Yet he still left them here. Hedidn’t care about life.

Did I?

The strips of white billowed as the clouds overhead began tobreak apart. The sight of them cowering in fear was startling, but therealization of all that’d led me here was monstrous.

I’d taken lives. Countless lives.

Oh, gods.

I stumbled, my heart thumping. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, mychest seizing. In my mind, I saw the villagers, their arms raised to a sky I’dbrought down on them in an act of justice.

An act of vengeance.

I kept walking backward, hands and arms trembling. Mythoughts raced. I had to fix this. I had to. I could. I would.

I returned to Terra. The bells of Masadoniahad ceased ringing as I walked into the blood-drenched forest. Slivers ofmoonlight filtered through the heavy canopy of crimson leaves, reflecting offthe ash-hardened shells of the fallen villagers.

I knelt by one and saw there were two. A man or a woman withanother beneath them—a desperate attempt to shield a child.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, lightly placing my bloody hand onthe shell. “I’ll fix this.”

I put my other hand on the ground. I didn’t know what I wasdoing—it was instinctual. I summoned the eather, andit responded in a hot rush. My skin tingled with warmth, and gold-laced eather seeped from my pores and dripped onto the groundbeside drops of blood that had fallen from me. I lifted my head and stared atthe forest floor through strands of pale, bloodied hair. Tendrils of eather rolled out, casting a glow as the essence swirledunder and over the shells of the dead, leaving glittering daylight in its wake.My fingers dug into the soil. Wisps of Primal mist seeped beneath them, curlingand spreading across the ground.

Beside me, the shells shuddered, and the ash flaked off.Patches of pink flesh and ragged clothing appeared. Singed blond hair. My eyeslocked with wide, blue ones full of fear and awe, reflecting the golden glow ofeather. I pulled my hand back, and ash mixed withblood, smearing my fingertips.

“Momma?” a small voice trembled. “I had a bad nightmare.”

The woman’s attention immediately shifted to the small onein her arms. A sob shook her body as she held the little boy close.

I rose slowly, my body aching. Villagers stood throughoutthe forest, their faces pale or marked with confusion as they shook ash fromtheir hair and clothing. They moved slowly, helping others stand, and somestood transfixed as the gold-laced silver tendrils disappeared into the mist,still gathering along the forest floor—

“Thank you,” a man whispered, dropping to his knees, theweathered skin of his jaw slack. “Thank you, my—”

“No.” I flinched as the man looked up at me how that guardWil Tovar had. Others followed suit. Like I was a blessing. A miracle bestowedupon them. A benevolent Primal Goddess of Life. But I wasn’t. I was theopposite. The nightmare the boy had spoken of. I had not earned their praise orworship. I deserved their fear.

“Rise and leave,” I said, pushing with my voice—with my eather—until all were standing and backing away from me.“Leave this place.” The corners of my vision were filled with silvery, goldenlight. “Leave this place and never return. There is nothing but death here—inthe Blood Forest.”

As they fled, I left and returned to Wayfair. To my family.

It was not quiet here. Deep, hollow bells rang from theShadow Temple in a solemn rhythm of death as I limped forward. My gaze liftedto where Ezra remained impaled to the now-cracked wall.

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