Page 3 of Born of Blood and Ash

His hand slipped from my hair and fell to my hip. “You don’tseem okay.”

“It’s my vision. I can see things better. The chamber. You.”I looked down at him. “How was I that unobservant to only notice this now?”

The release of the tension bracketing his expressive mouthwas immediate. “You’ve been somewhat occupied since you woke from stasis.”

“That occupied?”

One side of his lips kicked up. “It’s also possible yoursenses are only beginning to heighten.” Lashes lowered, shielding his gaze.“It’s not always immediate, and it often happens in stages that can take a fewhours. Even days.”

I glanced around the bedchamber again. Heavy drapes shieldedthe balcony doors. “How long did it take for you?”

The cool tips of his fingers grazed the swell of my breastas he caught a curl and drew it back over my shoulder and behind my ear. “Myvision was immediate.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course.”

His grin kicked up a notch. “My hearing improved withinseveral hours, but it took a couple of days for the rest.”

“The rest?”

“Sensing the subtle shifts in those around me and theenvironment,” he explained, causing my frown to deepen because I wasn’t at allsure what that was supposed to mean. “And understanding the drakentook a few days.”

Surprise flickered through. I stared at him, and then thatstrange sense of knowing kicked in. Ash really couldunderstand the draken. All Ascended Primals could, as well as some of the oldest gods.

I’d thought he’d been joking or only sensed what theythought by knowing their emotions. But it was a combination of both. Sensingtheir general moods or needs and being able to hear their thoughts.

“It’s called te’lepe,” hecontinued. “A bond of sorts. A notam that allows the draken to transfer their thoughts to us. One can even formbetween them and gods, depending on how comfortable they feel with the god.”

Notam? I frowned. Hadn’t Attesmentioned that? I tried to imagine hearing the draken’svoices in my mind and couldn’t. “They can’t hear us like that, can they?”

Ash shook his head. “I cannot, but I do believe my fathercould speak directly with them. So, you should be able to eventually.”

I started to draw my lower lip between my teeth, catchingthe flesh on the tip of a fang before I could process what he said. “Gods,” Ihissed, wincing. “I’m not going to have a lip left at this rate.”

He laughed roughly, the sound barely audible. Still, I heardthe difference in the timbre. I loved his laughs because, like me, I knew he’dlived a long time without laughter. But now, there was a weightless quality tothe sound. No restraint. A reminder that he no longer kept large portions ofhimself closed off from me.

Even though my lip stung, I dipped my head, bringing mymouth to his. The kiss started gentle, a soft proclamation of love, but a sparkignited, fanning the flames of desire coursing through our veins. His mouthmolded to mine, catching the small droplets of blood I’d drawn. He parted mylips with his tongue, and he tasted like the oak and spice of the whiskey he’ddrunk before I fell asleep.

And I knew that if I kept kissing him, we’d never leave thisbed.

Reluctantly, I lifted my mouth from his and then collapsedonto my back with all the grace of a feral hog. “So…” I glanced over at Ash.His lips were still parted and slightly swollen, and the hue of his irises wasa heated silver streaked with brilliant lines of eather—thePrimal essence. The way he looked at me as if he wished to devour me… Gods.I quickly averted my gaze before I lost the rest of the restraint I was barelyholding on to.

I cleared my throat. “I wonder how long it will take me todevelop your special hearing. Hours? Days? Weeks?”

“It shouldn’t take weeks.” Ash settled onto his side,propping up his head with a fist.

“What if it does?” I questioned, twisting the ends of myhair between my fingers.

“It won’t.”

“You sound so confident.” Meanwhile, I teetered on the edgeof an anxiety spiral, even though I knew it was unnecessary. That was themessed-up thing about my mind that hadn’t changed during the Ascension. Knowingthere was no reason to worry didn’t mean I wouldn’t. It usually meant I worriedmore. “It’s not like it’s impossible. I was mortal. I wasn’tsupposed to Ascend. Something could’ve gone wrong. If it did, you’ll need to, Idon’t know, exchange me for a…non-faulty Primal.”

“Possibly.”

My mouth dropped open, and my gaze slid to his.

Ash winked.

“Don’t you be cute and wink,” I ordered. “Possibly?”

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