The mass of light twisted and stretched, turning toward Ash.
His breathing seemed to halt as his father’s soul hovered beside him. It throbbed and then extended, forming what appeared to be an arm, and then…
A hand and fingers.
That brushed Ash’s cheek.
Ash’s eyes slammed shut, his large body shuddering as he rasped, “Father.”
Tears blurred my vision as Eythos’s soul began to lift and drift upward.
“I understand,” Ash whispered.
Understand what? Had he heard his father? I blinked, trying to clear my vision, but it didn’t—
I felt my heart stutter, then speed up, beating twice in the place of one. I tried to drag in a breath, but a sudden, stunning pain ripped through my chest, taking with it my sense of sight, sound, and…everything else.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
I slowly became aware of a faint taste in my mouth—a sweet, smoky, lush flavor. Decadent. Powerful. My lips tingled. So did my fingers. I stretched, enjoying the pull of my muscles as I wiggled my toes.
A body moved against mine. A sudden inhalation of breath brought a chest against my back. “Liessa,” a familiar, deep voice murmured—one I’d recognize anywhere, anytime. “There you are.”
Ash.
My eyes fluttered open to a vivid, deep sapphire sky streaked with trailing pink and amethyst clouds. Confusion rose as I squinted. I’d never seen such a sky before. My gaze lowered to trees in an array of blues and violets that bordered on pink, reminding me of the jacaranda trees outside Wayfair.
Disjointed memories flashed. The cavern of lilacs. Arriving in the Bonelands. Freeing Eythos. Wrenching, terrible pain, and then nothing.
I stared at the surreal, brightly colored landscape. Had I…had I died? That didn’t make sense. If I had, I wouldn’t be in Ash’s arms. He couldn’t be near souls who had gone beyond the Pillars of Asphodel without risking the destruction of their souls. And wouldn’t I have remembered passing through them and being judged? Despite what Ash believed about my soul, I seriously doubted I’d end up someplace as beautiful as this. At the very least, I would’ve been one of those souls who needed a more thorough look. Could this be that? If so, why did my temples still ache?
“Am I…?” I cleared my throat, causing the sultry taste to fade. “Did I die?”
“What?” His arm tightened around my waist. “Fates, no, Sera.”
I wiggled again, feeling a soft mattress under me. We were on some sort of sofa. “Where are we?”
“The Thyia Plains.” Ash shifted me in his embrace, and my head suddenly came to rest in the crook of his arm. I stared up at him. His hair was a rich, warm, reddish-brown and fell against the cut line of his jaw. The golden-bronze hue of his skin was paler, and I saw concern etched into the striking lines and angles of his face. “Keella thought you’d be more comfortable here. We’re on the veranda of her palace.”
My gaze inched away from his, running over the terracotta stone floor and then beyond to the cliffs that stretched out on either side. I saw Ehthawn. The draken was curled on one of the rocky bluffs, his head resting on the sun-warmed rock. I would’ve thought him asleep if not for the one open crimson eye and the idle twitching of his tail. I scanned the other cliffs, not seeing Nektas or the other draken.
Ash smoothed his thumb down my cheek, the coolness of his touch surprising me. It was even colder than before.
I swallowed, glancing down at my hands—my empty hands. My stomach twisted. “Where is The Star?”
“Keella and Attes have it,” he said, and I relaxed. “How are you feeling?”
“I…I don’t know. Okay?” My gaze flicked back to his. “I passed out, didn’t I?”
“You did.”
My mind cleared of the remaining fog, and I stiffened. “Oh, gods, I’m sorry.”
His dark brows furrowed. “For what?”
“For passing out right in the middle of freeing your father.”
Ash’s expression smoothed out. “Sera—”
“I saw him touch you. He was talking to you, wasn’t he? In a way no one else could hear?” I could clearly see Eythos’s soul drifting upward. “Please, tell me you didn’t focus on me when I passed out.”
“I could hear him—his voice.” Ash’s thickened. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear it again, but I did. Thanks to you.”
“I really didn’t do much.”
“Liessa,” he chided softly, drawing his thumb across the skin below my lip. “You did everything.”
A knot lodged in my chest. “But then I had to go and pass out, ruining what was a beautiful moment. So that undoes—”
“It undoes nothing, Sera. You didn’t interrupt anything. His soul was leaving this realm.”
“Are you sure I didn’t—?”
“I’m positive.” Ash dipped his head, kissing my forehead. “He couldn’t linger here. He didn’t want to after all this time.”
I imagined not.
Gods, I really hoped he wasn’t lying to me. “What did he say to you?” My eyes widened at my question. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me. I’m sure it was private—”
“He told me that he loved me.” Ash drew his fingers along my jaw. “That he was proud of me—of the man I’ve become.”
“Oh,” I whispered, feeling the knot make its way to my throat. Tears pricked my eyes.
He stretched his neck to the side. “I almost couldn’t believe he said that, to be honest.”
“Why?” I lifted a hand, relieved that it didn’t take as much effort as walking up those damn Temple steps had. “Of course, he would be proud of you.”
“I’ve done a lot of things that no one would be proud of.”
My heart ached for him. “You did things others made you do.”
“I’m not talking just about that, liessa. Just in the last twenty-four hours, I’ve committed indisputable atrocities—killing those who laid down their swords. Those who turned and ran from me.”
I frowned. “I wouldn’t consider that an atrocity.”
Ash raised a brow. “Such an act would likely send a mortal’s soul into the Abyss.”
“This is different,” I reasoned.
One side of his lips tipped up. “Care to explain that reasoning?”
“Not really.”
He chuckled.
I searched his features. “Do you regret killing them? The ones who surrendered or ran?”
“No.”
His quick answer told me he spoke the truth. “Good.”
Ash cocked his head.
“What? I would’ve regretted it for a whole three-point-five seconds and then moved right on. You know that.” And he did because I’d shared my struggles concerning my lack of guilt. “You told me before that all of us are capable of monstrous acts, but it does not make us monsters.”
“I did.”
My gaze dropped to the collar of his shirt. The loose opening revealed a swatch of his shoulder and the black ink there. “One hundred and ten,” I murmured, lifting my eyes to his. He may say he didn’t regret taking those lives, but underneath his anger, he did. He was better than me, less monstrous. “Do not add those lives to your flesh,” I said. Right or wrong, I didn’t want that for him.
Thick lashes lowered, and he nodded. I felt his chest rise again with a deep but shaky breath.
“Did he say anything else?” I asked.
Ash nodded. “He told me not to forget what he said when we were near the Red River, rounding up the Shades.” His jaw tensed as his thumb skated over the line of my cheekbone. “It was the last time I saw him alive.”