Page 372 of Born of Blood and Ash

I could understand that desire as I scanned the silentpalace grounds. “He isn’t here.”

“I don’t think anyone is,” Nektassaid, eyeing the thicker foliage crowding the back of Phanos’spalace. “Could they be on one of the other islands?”

“I don’t know.” Ash frowned as he released my hand andstalked toward the pillared veranda that appeared to circle the entire firstlevel. Bright-red flowers lined the roof’s edge, trailing long stems ofblossoms. “There should still be guards present here.”

As we followed Ash and stepped under the shade of theveranda, a sense of unease rose. A thin veneer of salt hung in the air as thewooden planks creaked under our steps. That gnawing sensation from deep withingrew, sending a shiver of premonition down my spine.

“Something’s not right,” I murmured, almost to myself, butAsh caught the words and gave a curt nod, his jaw set in a way that told me hewas on edge, too.

Beside me, Nektas’s gaze dartedaround as he sniffed the air. “I don’t like this. At all.”

Neither did I.

We reached the back of the veranda, where the shade gave wayto a glaring sunlit expanse. The bay unfolded before us, a canvas of vividblue. Across the water, the silhouettes of other islands rose like slumberinggiants. The quiet should have been calming, yet it only served to amplify thedisquiet—the wrongness—that whispered through the sea breeze.

My eyes swept over the docks that jutted into the bay likebony fingers. Where ships should have been lashed securely to the moorings,there was only the slap of waves against empty wood. My stare fixed on theghostly dance of loose ropes in the water.

When I spotted the ropes remaining on the docks, their edgesfrayed as if they had been hastily severed, my unease turned to dread. “Howmany ships does Phanos have?”

“Roughly two hundred,” Ash stated grimly.

My heart sped up. Not all of Phanos’sforty-some thousand soldiers were ceeren. Some weregods and godlings who wouldn’t be able to take to the water themselves. Myhands fisted as I lifted my gaze to the island, where I could see limestonebuildings dotting the hills and valleys.

Eather throbbed intensely. “Phanoscould be anywhere.”

Ash turned to us. “Two hundred ships would be hard to miss,though,” he stated, eather piercing his eyes likestreaks of lightning. “Nektas, can you take to theair and see what you can find?”

“What about you two?” he asked as the breeze tossed longstrands of hair across his broad shoulders. “I don’t like the idea of you twostaying here.”

“We’re not,” Ash said. “We’re going to return to theShadowlands in case he’s headed there.”

“We also need to get word to Theon to be on the lookout,” Isaid, and Ash nodded.

Nektas hesitated, clearly notwanting to leave us, but he nodded and turned, rushing toward the edge of theveranda. He leapt, a shimmery wave sweeping over his body as he shifted intohis draken form. His massive wings cast forebodingshadows over the water as Ash came to my side. Dragging my gaze from Nektas, I reached for his hand—

I sucked in a sudden breath as an icy-cold sensation shotdown my spine and spread throughout my limbs.

“What is it?” Ash demanded, clasping the nape of my neck.

“I…I don’t know.” Swallowing, I shook my head as a newawareness pressed down on me, heavy and dark, thudding in my chest and settlingin the pit of my stomach. My hand went to my belly.

Ash’s inhale was sharp. “Is it the babes?”

“No, it’s something else.” The skin beneath my ear eruptedin tingles, and I said, “I need a minute to figure this out.”

Ash went quiet but held on to me. I closed my eyes andconcentrated. What I felt reminded me of the echo of death, but it was slightlydifferent. “My stomach keeps dipping like…like something is gravely wrong. Nothere, but—” My heart lurched, and my eyes flew open. “I think I’m sensingunrest in Iliseeum.”

“Can you tell if it’s in the Shadowlands?” His thumb sweptover my fluttering pulse. “Or where it’s coming from?”

“I don’t know.” My skin kept tingling. “But I think I canfollow it. Like if I focus on it, I can take us to it.”

A muscle flexed in his jaw. “I’d rather take you homefirst.”

“We don’t know if that’s what I’m feeling,” I argued. “Weneed to figure out what’s happening, especially considering what we just foundhere.”

Ash cursed, then nodded. His skin had already begun to thinas I stepped into him. Concentrating on the feeling of unrest, I summoned the eather and felt the Triton Isles slip away from us. Thenext breath I took filled my lungs with the scent of scorched earth and themetallic tang of blood as Ash and I shadowsteppedsmack-dab into the middle of a battle.

“Vathi,” I gasped and knew immediately what we wereseeing—what had happened.

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