Page 5 of Born of Blood and Ash

“No shit.”

My eyes narrowed. “But I would’ve done it lovingly.”

A laugh rumbled from his chest as he dropped his forehead tomine. “You are…adorable.”

“Adorable?”

“Uh-huh.” He brushed his lips over mine. “An adorably faultyPrimal.”

I moved to smack his chest, but he caught my hand andreturned his cheek to his other hand.

He brought my palm to his mouth and dropped a kiss to thecenter. “Anyway, going back to the Primal changes.” He lowered my hand to mystomach. “Have you noticed anything else yet, other than your heightenedvision?”

I thought that over. “I don’t think so—” I stopped myself,realizing there was something else. The intuition that was more asense of knowing.

“I don’t know if I mentioned it or not,” I began, “butthere’s this uncanny sense of intuition I didn’t have before. Answers—orknowledge—just form in my head at times. I experienced a little of it evenbefore you Ascended me.” I gave a small shake of my head. “It soundsridiculous, but didn’t your father have the ability of foresight? One he wasn’tborn with but developed upon his Ascension?”

“He did,” Ash whispered, his eyes widening slightly. “Vadentia.”

“Foresight.” Surprise flickered through me when I realized Iunderstood the unfamiliar word spoken in a language I hadn’t been fluent inbefore. “See! I don’t know how I knew that, other than I just did.”

“My father had the ability before Kolis stole the embers.”

Curiosity sparked, fueled by the need to understand exactlywhat this ability was and its limitations. “Did he ever tell you about this…vadentia? Like how it worked?”

He shook his head. “If anyone would know the ins and outs ofthat ability, it would be Nektas. I’m sure he’ll bearound soon.”

Making a note to ask the drakenabout it when I had a chance, I rolled onto my side to face him. “Is he nothere?”

“I believe he’s with his daughter and Reaver,” he shared,skimming his fingertips down my side.

My heart squeezed as raw emotion twisted in my chest. Ihadn’t believed I would see the two young drakenagain. “I want to hug them,” I blurted, feeling my cheeks warm. “Maybe justJadis. I don’t think Reaver would like it if I hugged him.”

“He would.” Ash pressed a kiss to my forehead, and Iwondered if he had picked up on what I was feeling or if I had projected it.“You hungry?”

My stomach immediately woke up, grumbling rather loudly. Ipeeked up at him. “I might be a little hungry.”

He chuckled. “There’s fresh water in the bathing chamber,”he told me. “Once you’re finished in there, I’ll get us something to eat.”

“You don’t have to wait on me,” I told him.

“But I want to.” He dragged his fingertip over my cheek andglanced down. “Plus, I get to continue enjoying the scenery.”

Knowing that he was wary of leaving me alone no longerembarrassed me. Instead, his thoughtfulness and concern made my heart feel likeit was doubling—maybe even tripling—in size. I leaned over and kissed him. “Iwould love for you to continue enjoying the scenery.”

“Glad we’re on the same page.”

I grinned, letting my forehead rest against his. “But thereare things we must do.”

“There are.” His fingers skated over my arm, leaving a wakeof shivers behind.

“Important things,” I said. “And I have a feeling the longerwe stay in this bed, the less likely we’ll be to get around to any of theimportant stuff.”

“And I have a feeling,” he said, his nose brushingmine, “that we fundamentally disagree on just how important thescenery is right now compared to those other things.”

I laughed, relishing this playful, relaxed side of Ash thatI’d only really gotten to see while still in the mortal realm before he broughtme to the Shadowlands. That seemed like an eternity ago, and I hated to cutthis short. “How am I being the responsible one right now? That’s your job, notmine.”

His lips curved. “I’m not sure I want that job anymore.”

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