Total pages in book: 362
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 347293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1736(@200wpm)___ 1389(@250wpm)___ 1158(@300wpm)
A perfect, messed-up storm.
Because Kolis hadn’t known that Eythos had passed on the rest of his embers, nor had he believed his brother still loved him.
Kolis hadn’t meant to kill Eythos.
I glanced at Ash. He had a hard time believing that his father could still love his brother after everything. I couldn’t fault him for that. There was a good chance he wouldn’t readily accept the part about his mother having a fondness for Kolis either, and I wasn’t even sure if that was something he needed to know.
I got my thoughts back on track. “Hanan did count, though. He was the Primal of the Hunt and Divine Justice,” I said, trailing off. Bele was now the ruler of Sirta, the Court that had once belonged to Hanan. But was she a Primal? After the goddess Cressa fatally wounded Bele with a shadowstone dagger and I brought her back to life, no one knew exactly what she was. She felt like a Primal to the others but not. So…
The tingling behind my ear returned as I nodded to myself. Bele had Ascended when I brought her back, but she had risen into Primalhood with Hanan’s death.
She was also a baby Primal.
I grinned.
“It has been eons since Hanan really had to fight anyone, and I was enraged,” Ash continued. “That kind of anger can strengthen a Primal, even a fledgling, but it’s temporary. If I was going up against someone like Phanos? The outcome likely would’ve been different if I had squared off with the Primal God of the Sky, Sea, Earth, and Wind.”
I just loved how there was no cost to his ego to admit such a thing. He was strong and badass enough to know when he was outpowered, and that was a rare trait.
One I wasn’t sure I possessed.
Okay. One I knew I didn’t possess, which meant it was another thing I needed to work on.
“After taking out Hanan, I weakened damn near immediately,” he said. “And that allowed Kolis to get the upper hand.”
It wasn’t just Kolis who had allowed that. My pitiful attempt to get them to stop fighting had only served to distract Ash. A wave of coldness swept down my spine as brief images of Kolis repeatedly shoving the shadowstone blade through Ash’s chest flashed in my mind.
I gave my head a quick shake to scatter the memories.
Ash gathered up several pieces of the beef he had cut and transferred them to my plate. “But the heightening of your senses will occur long before you’re considered to be at full power, and I imagine your intuition will also continue growing stronger.”
I thought that over as he finally began helping himself to what was left of the meat and vegetables. “I have these memories of when I was in stasis. Not just of you talking to me, but of other things. It kind of felt like I was going in and out of consciousness.”
He swallowed a bite of food. “Mine was similar to that. There was really no sense of time passing. I’d hear Nektas and then…nothing.”
I nodded. “I think I even heard my nursemaid Odetta’s voice at one point.” My heart skipped as more of those memories became clear. “I saw how the realms began—how they really began. The Ancients were never Primals. They were something else entirely.” I squinted, seeing in my mind what I had seen during stasis. “The essence comes from the stars—the Ancients themselves. They were stars.”
Ash lowered his fork.
“Yeah.” I twisted toward him, remembering what he’d told me. “You said that some of the Ancients were aware they were too powerful, so they created offspring from their own flesh—the Primals. Eventually, they transferred some of their essence to each one, establishing a balance of power. I saw that. Did you know they weren’t Primals?”
Ash was quiet for a moment. “It was never stated explicitly that the Ancients were Primals. It was just something that I—well, that most of us—assumed. And my father only ever spoke of them when I was younger. When he did, what he said reminded me of fables shared with a child.” His gaze searched mine. “Did you see more?”
“Yes.” I took a bite of the seasoned beef, taking a few moments to make sense of the memories coming back to me. “I saw when they fell to this realm. When dragons ruled. I saw one of the Ancients burn beneath a dragon’s flames and your father creating the first mortal. It took him so long,” I murmured as my mind jumped back to the beginning of what I’d seen. “The Ancients? They fell to other lands far to the east and west, where cities were made of steel. Do you know of these other realms?” The answer came to me with my next breath. “You don’t.”