Page 367 of Born of Blood and Ash

I shook my head, holding Veses’stare as the last of her essence left her body and entered mine—as the eather receded from her eyes and veins. I didn’t know why Isaid what I did next. Maybe it was because I knew what Veseshad gone through. At one point, she had been different but had become somethingcruel and sick due to Kolis’s actions and influence. Perhaps she even willinglybecame what she was. But she wasn’t always like this. Maybe I truly had no ideawhy I said what I did.

“I wish it could’ve been different for you,” I said, myvoice hoarse as the life flickered from her eyes. “I’m sorry it wasn’t.”

CHAPTERFIFTY-SIX

Midas, the capital of the CallastaIsles, was silent, and the air smelled of iron as I walked the center aisle ofthe City Hall while Nektas watched from his perch onthe Hall’s colonnade.

Bodies lined the aisle.

Hundreds of them.

“Don’t allow this to leave a mark,” Ash had said aswe stood before the gods and godlings who’d refused our offer to start overwith some semblance of civility. The majority had quickly accepted and pledgedtheir loyalty to Ash and me, but it wasn’t their loyalty we sought. We wantedtheir genuine promise to change the way they had lived under Veses’ rule.

I had a feeling that, inevitably, more lives would jointhose we’d ended today. My suspicions of such were rooted in what lay justbeyond the City Hall.

My gaze went to the patches of disturbed earth I saw throughthe colonnade. There were six of them, and they were as wide as Nektas was long.

A goddess who went by the name of Tindra had told us whatthey were. Mass graves. Both Ash and I were shocked. If anything was left of agod or mortal, it was generally burned. To leave them in the ground was toallow their bodies to rot. It was a sign of disrespect.

Tindra had said each gravesite likely contained hundreds ofbodies. Which meant there were thousands of decaying corpses between the sixsites. Thousands. When Ash had asked why they were not given a properburial rite, Tindra explained that Veses neverperformed burial rites for those executed. And the crimes committed that wereso deserving of capital punishment? It ranged from refusing to carry out anorder to actual murder and everything in between. But it wasn’t just theso-called criminals whose final resting place was so disgraceful. Victims whohad lost their lives over a quarrel or at the hands of a jealous lover had beenroutinely tossed into these pits, as well.

My gaze shifted to the slender, dark-haired goddess. Herblack robes rippled in the breeze as she stood silent and still, herbrown-toned features somber as she stood before the fourth gravesite.

Tindra’s husband had been one of the victims tossed socarelessly into the fourth site several decades ago.

“I think many were disgusted by what was happening,” Tindrahad said when asked why no one seemed to have an issue with this. “At least inthe beginning. But this…this is how many have lived for so long. Die or surviveby any means necessary. It’s the only life we know.”

I could see why Rhain had refused any claims to the Court.And what lay beyond the City Hall was why I feared that what remained of Veses’ Court would shrink in the coming months and years.

I turned to where several gods of the Court were busywrapping the bodies of the newly dead under the watchful eye of guards broughthere when I summoned Attes to assist with locatingwhatever Ancient bones Veses had stashed away.

Don’t let this leave a mark…

I motioned for Elias to join me. He’d come with Attes, and soon, a contingent of Attes’sforces would join the Shadowlands in securing the CallastaIsles.

The brown-haired god approached, his hand resting on thehilt of his sword. He stopped a few feet from me and bowed.

“Elias.” I sighed. “You do not need to bow.”

“Sorry. It’s a habit.” He straightened, his gaze flickeringbriefly to the gravesites. “What can I do for you, meyaah—?”

“Sera,” I corrected. Considering everything Elias had seenme go through while being held captive by Kolis, I believed we were well pastformalities. “It’s just Sera.”

He nodded in acceptance after a moment.

I angled my body toward the gravesites. “There are thousandsof bodies in those pits.”

“Fates.” Elias’s gaze followed mine, his lips parting indisbelief.

“I know their souls have already passed on,” I said, “but Iwould like for you to gather a team of gods from Midas to excavate the sitesand give them proper burial rites. Kars will be able to assist you.”

“I can do that.” His gaze shifted. He was looking at Tindra.“She’s still out there.”

“Her husband is in that fourth gravesite,” I told him. “Shesaid he’s been in there for decades.”

“Fucking Fates,” Elias muttered in disgust. “Some of themwill be nothing but bones.”

“I know.” Chilled, I folded an arm over my lower stomach andlooked at the god. “I have a feeling this isn’t the only place like this we’llfind. There may be similar ones in other Courts.”

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