Page 326 of Born of Blood and Ash

“Ready?” Ash asked.

I nodded.

Ash held my gaze for a moment longer, and then Nektas opened the throne room door. Fresh, late-afternoonair washed over us as we walked across the dais, his hand remaining wrappedfirmly around mine.

We passed the hauntingly beautiful thrones carved fromblocks of shadowstone, their backs stretching intowings that touched at the tips. The only sound was our footsteps as Nektas veered to the right, and we reached the edge of thedais.

Thousands of candles jutted from the smooth, black walls,and hundreds more hovered above the main floor, scattered throughout andcasting a soft fiery glow over the massive, circular chamber open to theshining stars. Guards lined the walls, two by two, standing together every fourfeet, dressed in black, their hands resting on the pommels of their swords. Themain doors were closed, but I knew a small army’s worth of guards was stationedoutside the doors and all along the Rise.

Ash squeezed my hand, and I realized I was holding my breathfor far longer than five seconds. Forcing my lungs to work, I looked past theempty shadowstone benches, my gaze momentarilysnagging on Penellaphe. She…she looked well, dressedin a peach-hued tunic and pants. The bronze crown of olive branches andserpents looked better on her than on Embris. ThoughI could’ve done without the serpents. I started to look away, but a dark figureagainst the wall snagged my attention. Thierran. Mylips twitched. He was leaning against the wall with one boot propped againstthe shadowstone. He stared straight ahead at no onein particular. It amused me that he had weaseled his way in. Then I saw whostood near him, and relief surged through me once more. I saw a familiarbrown-haired god beside Attes: Elias. The guard I’dmet in Dalos gave a short, quick nod. As Rhain movedto stand at the foot of the dais, my eyes locked with hers. I saw noone else.

Veses was toward the back, and itregistered that she stood next to Kyn. Her blond hair fell in ringlets to herimpossibly narrow waist, and the jade tree crown made from a stone matching thedeep red of her gown sat upon her head. Her dress covered her from the neckdown, yet every part of her body was still somehow revealed in the skintightcrimson silk, from her ample breasts to the indent of her navel.

Her face had a strange pinch to it when she stared up at me,almost as if she couldn’t believe either of us was standing there. Maybe it wasthe crown upon my head. Perhaps it was the fact that I dared.

Seconds ticked by with us staring at each other. I had noidea if she was thinking about the last time we’d seen one another in Dalos. Her shame? My pain? Was she reliving the momentKolis had punished her by giving her to Kyn? Or how she’d ordered me not tointervene on her behalf? Saying that what Kolis had done was nothing, eventhough we both knew that wasn’t true. Was she smug in the knowledge that shehad tried to warn Nyktos, but I hadn’t listened? Ordid that knowledge make her uncomfortable?

I was thinking all those things, and as the seconds tickedby, I couldn’t help but think about how Vesesdeserved all kinds of unimaginable pain for what she had done to Ash.

But my thoughts hadn’t changed when it came to what Kolishad done to her. She didn’t deserve that.

No one did.

I didn’t have to like the bitch to acknowledge that.

A muscle twitched just above Veses’delicate brow, and then she looked away, her lip curling into a smirk. But Iknew.

I knew she was unsettled by the sight of me. It made her feelsomething.

I looked at the Primal beside her. For some reason, thebastard was shirtless and barefoot. He, too, appeared stuck between shock andanger, his narrowed gaze darting between me and his brother, the reddish-blackcrown dull in the weakening sunlight pouring in from above.

As I stared at Kyn, a fierce storm of rage-fueled eather surged through me, threatening to consume everyounce of restraint I possessed. The air charged with it as I stared at thePrimal who had played a role in my family’s demise and the destruction of myhome.

Everyone in the room felt the power pounding through me. Iheld Kyn’s gaze, and Ash’s hand tightened around mine.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

I counted between breaths as every fiber of my beingscreamed for vengeance. Yet I gritted my teeth and forced myself to hold back,knowing that succumbing to the rage would not only end with the Fates doingsomething messed up in return for violating the rules of balance but would alsoend with me causing more violence and suffering.

Reeling in my self-control, I forced my gaze from Kyn to thePrimal of Rebirth. Keella wore a caped, golden gown,and upon her head sat the crown of pale-blue quartz with many limbs and leaves.I saw Bele then, but she, too, had changed her attire. Gone was her customaryblack. Now, she wore white pants and a fitted white tunic. A crown of rubyantlers sat upon her head. I thought it looked far better on her than on Hanan.

Another reddish-black helm caught my attention. My gazelocked with Attes’s. He winked. Beside me, Ashsighed. To his left stood the most beautiful Primal goddess I’d ever seen.

A crown of pearls, roses, and scalloped shells sat uponMaia’s warm blond hair that fell in waves to her lush hips. The Primal Goddessof Love, Beauty, and Fertility wore a pale-pink gown similar to Keella’s. She smiled as my gaze swept over her, and I feltrelief at the response.

But it was the one who stood at the back of those before thedais, separate from everyone else, arms folded over his chest, that gave mehope. No crown sat upon the Primal God of the Sky, Sea, Earth, and Wind’sburnt-umber head, but he didn’t look shocked or angry. He looked…curious.

It really wasn’t only about the sizes of Maia’s or Phanos’s armies anymore, even though we wanted as manysoldiers on our side as against us. Though like Atteshad said, we were going for more precision, targeted battles that didn’trequire grand landscapes. It was more about the fact that I didn’t want to haveto send them to Arcadia or worse.

But what was also huge was the silence in the throne room.

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