Page 292 of Born of Blood and Ash

“Fuck you, Thrax,” Attes grunted.“That was unnecessary.”

I started for him—

Bad life choice.

Who I assumed was Thrax swept his tail back, and Iwas in its path. I hit the floor, holding my breath as the tail skimmed overme. One of the spikes grazed my shoulder, ripping my shirt, and only by thegrace of the Fates, missed catching any skin in the process.

The ceiling tore back, claws ripping through glass andstone. A draken with fiery red-and-black scalesdescended into the ruined chamber, its wings beating at the dust in the air asits claws slammed down behind me.

Oh, shit.

I rolled to the right with only seconds to spare.

Massive forelegs landed where I’d been with a force thatwould’ve crushed me. Mouth dry, I popped to my feet. The drakensnarled, its lips vibrating as they pulled back over sharp teeth. Thrax wasn’tnearly as big as Nektas, but he was fast with thatfucking tail. He caught me in the back, sending me flying. I hit the floor witha groan. It knocked the air out of me, but I rolled, coming to a stop on mybelly. Air—too much air—surrounded me. I turned my head, gasping and seeingnothing but the darkness of a steep drop-off on the side of Mount Lotho.

Why did Embris have to build hispalace on a fucking cliff?

I shoved to my feet. Wind roared through the tremblingpalace, blowing my hair back. My chest suddenly warmed with the echo of death.The flare came again and again as Thrax snapped at Attes.I didn’t see Kyn, but I knew he was close. He was in the palacesomewhere—likely the source of the death I felt.

I summoned the eather, feeling itpulse wildly—too wildly. A bolt erupted from my palm, nowhere near as strong asearlier. The silvery-gold stream arced across the chamber, striking the draken in the side.

Thrax yelped and lurched toward me. His jaws opened as heroared, the force sending me back about half a foot, the stench of sulfur andblood choking me.

I pulled the essence to the surface when I saw Attes’s armor appear. The Primal rose into the air, eather crackling and spitting from his splayed hands. Thraxhuffed, drew his neck back, and started to turn back to Attes.

“Hey, you fucker,” I shouted. “Your breath smells like yourmouth has been up Kyn’s ass!”

Thrax halted and then turned his attention back to me, eyesnarrowing.

A stream of bright eather slammedinto Thrax. The draken reared back, spraying shimmeryblood. I darted out of its path, but Attes was close,continuing to slam the draken with eather. The armor protected his chest, but the sleeves ofhis tunic burned off, and his flesh smoked.

Thrax went for Attes, releasing astream of silvery fire. Attes lurched to the side,throwing a bolt of eather that hit the draken in the face. Thrax shot back—

Icy fingers trailed down my spine. I sucked in a shrillbreath, catching the scent of stale lilacs—death. The hairs along the back ofmy neck rose. Everything inside me stopped except for my heart. It beatsteadily. Calmly, even. I turned around and saw Attesand the draken spill over the edge where the glasswalls had stood, falling over the cliff. There was a shout of pain, but all Isaw was the figure in the center of a whirling mass of crimson-streaked shadowsin the sky.

“Kolis,” I hissed, feeling a violent rush of energysurge through me. Fury sank its claws into me, climbing my spine and filling mylimbs. It filled my heart and wrapped itself around my fingers. So, I seizedit. I stalked forward, the marble tile cracking under my steps. Throwing out myhand, golden-silver light rippled down my arm.

Seeing my family’s faces and the horror forever etched intotheir features, feral rage fueled me, and eatherexploded from my palm, racing through the sky. A savage smile lit up my facewhen the essence struck Kolis, scattering the shadows around him. His headkicked back, and the eather raced across his barechest, singeing his crimson pants. I lifted my left arm, wanting to cause himpain, wanting to destroy him—

A dark, cold laugh slithered through the air and over myflesh. Kolis’s chin lowered. Crimson-streaked tendrils rose once more in theink-black sky, writhing and swirling, his eyes gleaming like ruby jewels. Allalong the cliffs, great elms and pines bent back as if to escape the weight ofhis power and presence.

A reddish-silver pulse of light rippled across the realm,revealing the draken that had taken flight from thepalace. I saw them when the sky growled, a deep rumble building in intensityuntil it reached a deafening crescendo. Bright bolts of crimson-laced eather erupted from Kolis and danced across the horizon,splitting into multiple veins that streaked through the clouds like writhingserpents.

From the valley below, a draken’spanicked call sent dread cascading through me. The drakenin the sky veered sharply and dove to the ground—to safety.

“No,” I whispered. I had no idea if the drakenwere now loyal to Penellaphe or not, but I didn’twant to see what I knew was coming.

A scream lodged in my throat. The eatherstruck draken after draken.Horror swamped me as they twisted and writhed in the sky, their wings crumblingand then disappearing. Essence flared in me, one, two, three…eight times as thedraken shifted into their mortal forms, their bodieslimp as they fell…

I couldn’t believe what I’d just seen. Shock paralyzed mewhen the draken on the ground let out anguishedwails. Kolis had nearly wiped out all the draken ofthe Court in less than a minute. I didn’t think I would be capable of somethinglike that even if I wasn’t a fledgling Primal. The kind of power it took tokill a draken…

His laughter ceased. Then, he began to sing, hisvoice traveling through the air like a sinister requiem that became a sombersong. My entire being recoiled instinctually as the very realm shuddered, andthe haunting hymn rose…

Something fell from above too fast for me to tell what itwas, but it was too small to be another draken. Ijerked, something else plummeting from above. Warmth flared in my chest. Ilooked up, the heat quickly returning as another object fell, then another, andanother…

I saw things climbing out of windows and overbalcony rails on the upper floors of the sweeping ivory palace, opening theirarms wide and embracing the call of death.

Oh, my gods.

---