Page 52 of Born of Blood and Ash

“Another will occur in a few years. He’ll be larger thanOdin by then,” he said, speaking of the warhorse that often resided within thecuff Ash wore on his upper arm.

Which made me think about the fact that neither Bele nor Ihad one yet. Apparently, ours would appear out of thin air when we were ready.

Whatever.

“Did Aios come by?” he asked,coming to stand on the other side of Reaver.

“She did.” Leaning against the railing, I crossed my arms.“She said Theon needed to speak with you.”

“He did.” One of the shorter strands of hair slipped fromthe knot at the nape of his neck to kiss his jaw. “No ships have been spottedbeyond ours. If another Court outside Vathi was planning to launch a sizableattack against the Shadowlands, bringing with them gods that are unable to shadowstep from Court to Court, we’d be able to see themfrom the cliffs in the Bonelands.”

Vathi, the Court jointly ruled by Attesand Kyn, was across the Black Bay. If Kyn wanted to move his armies toward theShadowlands as he had before, he wouldn’t have to go into the open seas. He’dsimply need to cross the bay.

“The Shadowlands is uniquely positioned, even more so thanVathi. To cross the Lassa Sea, traveling from the Shadowlands to the Bonelands is only a day trip by ship, and the Primal mistthat prevents mortals from traveling too far east also cloaks our movements.The same cannot be said for Vathi,” Ash said.

The mist would kill any mortal, so I guessed it was a goodthing no mortals called the Bonelands home. “Butdoesn’t Lotho share the same land mass as both theShadowlands and Vathi? They could travel by foot.”

“The canyon between Vathi and Lothomakes it difficult but not impossible,” Ash said. “Several Courts share thesame land. Kithreia—Maia’s Court—is joined, and anarrow land bridge connects it to the Court of Sirta, but moving forces thisway would be unlikely at the moment.”

“Why?” I asked, genuinely curious. Considering that I wasthe Queen, I needed to get familiar with Iliseeum’slayout.

“Besides the fact that it would take longer to travel byland than it does by ship, none of the Courts will want another’s army movingthrough their lands. Doing so would be considered a political move,” Ashexplained. “Permission must be granted. So, Embriswould have to approve Maia’s forces traveling through Lotho,just as Maia would have to give permission for Bele to move Sirta’s armiesthrough Maia’s Court.”

“Is Sirta still a mess?” I asked.

“Yes, but that’s no different than when Hanan ruled. Veryfew who call Sirta home actually served him. His Court had mostly become ahaven for thieves and raiders.”

I laughed. “I’m sorry. None of that is funny. It’s justironic that the Court of the Hunt and Divine Justice has become an asylum forinjustice.”

“Not that I want to make it seem like Hanan wasn’tresponsible for his actions, but it’s partly due to Kolis. The moment he stolethose embers from my father, a different kind of rot invaded the Courts,” hereminded me. “Twisting what us Primals were meant tostand for.”

Us.

Hearing that gave me a start. I didn’t think it would ever notdo that. I reached down to pet Reaver. “Speaking of other Primals,I made an oath to Aios.”

“You did?”

“You might be mad.”

Interest sparked in his eyes as he rose. Not judgment oranger. “I doubt that.”

“Well…” My lips pursed. “It was kind of reckless.”

“Did you forget?” Sunlight slid over his cheekbone. “I enjoythe reckless side of your nature.”

My lips twitched. “I haven’t forgotten, but I also know thatdoesn’t hold true all the time.” I clasped the railing. “I promised her thatKyn would be punished for what he did to her and Ector. To the Shadowlands.”

He tilted his head. “Why would I be mad about that?”

I lifted a shoulder. “Because the first thing I did as Queenwas to make an oath to potentially kill another Primal. One who is the twin ofanother, who is our ally. And I did it without conferring with you first.”

Ash stared at me as if I’d sprouted an extra mouth. Then hechuckled.

“What?” I turned sideways to him. “What’s so funny?”

“Liessa,” he all butpurred. “While I would appreciate you discussing such things as this with mefirst, I also expect that your temperament will prevent that on occasion.”

I eyed him as if he were growing another set of lips.“Expecting that doesn’t make it okay.”

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