Page 20 of Blood of Two Crowns

Oh.

“It wasn’t until King Hadriel attempted to exterminate them that Zurie opened Atratus to them.”

That sounds inconceivably benevolent of her.

My tears had stopped flowing so I was finally able to meet my father’s gaze. “King Hadriel? The old sanguinati king who started the drakonati genocide?”

Rumiel frowned at this, gaze pointing in the direction of Hades, the continent beyond the mountains we were now looking at. “The one and only... He allowed only Azrael’s drakonati to seek exile.”

I failed to recall what I’d only read in history books as to what had transpired so many years before I was born, but even my Knowingness remained silent. I waited for Rumiel to explain, but instead, he took me by surprise again.

“Where is Mareina?”

The sound of her name alone is like a fiery welding iron to my heart. “I’m not sure.”

It’s not actually a lie. I have no idea where Malekai livesif that’s where they even are.

Rumiel’s brows knit tightly together as his gaze returned to the distant mountain peaks. His words were gentle. Or at least as gentle as his scarred vocal cords could produce.

“She left?”

The gruffness of my voice belied just how much pain I was burying. “Something like that.”

“Perhaps she’s with her father?”

I huffed a sardonic laugh. The last place she would seek refuge is with her father at the house of nightmares that is Erosyan Temple.

“You couldn’tpayMareina to go back to the Erosyan Temple.”

The disbelief in Rumiel’s expression twisted my stomach in knots.

“Mors is staying at the Erosyan Temple?”

I reared back. “Who said anything about?—

Memories flood me all threading themselves together to form a tapestry and yet another realization washes over me as my Knowingness deigns to speak with me.

Her father is the God of Death.

Chapter

Nine

NAKOA

Iclosed my eyes against the cool wind as we soared high above Atratus, allowing myself to drink in this fleeting moment of peace. Flying beside my father filled my chest with a sensation I’d never realized even existed on the emotional spectrum, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was.

It was beyond unity because that would refer to a collective coming together for a common purpose. I’d been blessed with experiencing unity for not all, but at least a significant portion of my life: fighting and living beside myolana kah’hei, going to war beside my fellow Kahlohani’s, the connection I had with the woman who’d raised me…

But my peaceful euphoria was short-lived. Anxiety—fear—clutched my heart in its clawed hands. Life had taught me too many times over that this beautiful feeling I’d never dared to fathom experiencing would never last.

The male was far too in tune with my mind and emotions because, as we cut across the sky like twin blades, he turned his head to shout over the wind.

“When you’re this close, I can feel your emotions as if they were my own, Nakoa. Your mind is like a sail without a mast onthe wind. Do not allow fear to govern you or steal your happiness as Zurie has.”

His words, despite their wisdom, further enflamed my fears.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that he was watching me as we flew. After several moments, I finally met his gaze.

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