Page 8 of Born of Blood and Ash

The rider in the middle moved an arm, reaching inside thefolds of its cloak. It withdrew a sword with a dull ivory hilt and a blade thecolor of blood.

“Prove yourself,” a voice rasped through the air, rattlinglike old, dry bones.

My eyes widened when the rider turned the sword, holding ittoward me, hilt first. I had a feeling this was Polemus.War.

Having no idea what the rider meant, I didn’t dare move totake the sword. “W-where is Ash?”

Silence.

Maybe they didn’t know him by that name? Seemed unlikely,but I cleared my throat anyway. “Where is Nyktos?”

“The Primal of Death is safe,” the rider replied, its voicecausing my skin to prickle. “Prove yourself.”

“I want to see him.”

“Prove yourself.”

Chest thudding, I hopscotched between fear and anger. “Iwant to see him,” I repeated. “Now.”

“You must prove yourself, Primal.”

The one to the left of the middle spoke, its voice brittleand aged. Peinea, I thought. Pestilence. “Prove yourself worthy.”

“Prove myself worthy?” I stiffened even further,belly-flopping right into anger. “Of what and why?”

Words scratched their way from the third rider, who had tobe Loimus. Hunger. “Prove yourself worthy of thecrown and bearing the weight of Life.”

“Yeah…” I scanned the space. There appeared to be noopenings beyond some thin cracks and fissures, but there had to be. How elsecould I have gotten in here? “No offense, but I have no interest in provingthat, nor do I have plans to summon the three of you anytime soon, so—” Thestench of burning meat increased, threatening to choke me. “What is that godsforsaken smell?”

“Souls sentenced to the pits,” Polemusanswered.

My jaw went slack as the rider’s words repeated in my head.The pits? That had to mean… “I’m in the Abyss?”

“Prove yourself,” Polemus statedfor what seemed like the hundredth time.

My hands curled into fists. “Look, I almost died, and thatwas after being held captive by an insane Primal. And now I’ve beentaken into the Abyss against my will. So, thank you for that new trauma. I haveno idea if my husband is safe or in the process of burning down the realm tofind me—a realm I am supposed to lead, despite barely being able to finish acompleted thought. And all I want is one nice night with my—” A horse whinnied,stopping my tirade. I forced myself to take a deep breath and calm down. Thesebeings were as old as the Ancients. “Instead, I’m standing here in just ashirt, and I’m freaking hungry.”

“Prove yourself,” Loimus replied.

My head snapped in the rider’s direction. “I swear to thegods if one of you says prove yourself one more time, I will—”

Polemus threw the sword at me.Literally chucked it without even a heads-up.

Cursing, I lurched to the side just in the nick of time. Theweapon flew past me. “What in the actual—?” I gaped when the sword froze inchesfrom striking the wall and remained there, hovering as if suspended byinvisible strings.

“You must prove yourself,” Polemusstated.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Immediately, Iregretted doing the latter. The smell gagged me. Forcing my breathing to slow,I quickly thought over my options. I wasn’t idiotic enough to challenge theriders, not when I knew they were something created by the Ancients, and Icouldn’t feel even a single bit of essence in me. And that earlier feeling? Theintuition that warned me I would fail if I ran? It was still there, pressingdown on me. I didn’t really understand it, but apparently, I needed to do something.

I quickly came to the reluctant understanding that if Ididn’t do what they wanted, I would likely spend eternity here with the riderssaying the same thing repeatedly.

Growling, I stalked toward the sword. The minute my fleshcame into contact with the hilt, it warmed. I looked down, feeling the weight.It was almost as heavy as a broadsword. The weapon was some sort of crimsonstone that reminded me of the sheer, vertical cliffs in the mountains of theShadowlands.

My gaze shifted to the hilt. It didn’t seem to be made ofany type of common material. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve sworn itwas made of bone. My lip curled in disgust. Yeah, it was best I not think aboutthat.

“Fine,” I barked, facing the riders. “Let’s get this overwith.”

Polemus held up his right hand. Itensed, expecting them to charge me, but that didn’t happen.

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