A Crown of Ruin (Blood and Ash: Special Edition Novella)

Pensdurth

Poppy

I could feel myself slipping away as what little essence remaining in me thrummed wildly.

The burning agony clawing at the center of my chest had waned as my head lolled to the side and fell back into the empty space beneath me.

The mouth at my throat moved greedily, but I barely felt the fangs buried deep in my flesh.

My vision faded again. My pulse skittered.

A jolt of raw panic sent adrenaline coursing through me.

The walls of the Great Hall of Seacliffe Manor returned.

At first, everything blurred, swam, and shifted like a dream unraveling too fast, until a smear of bright crimson caught my gaze.

I tracked it across the tiled floor to the blurry shape lying in a pool of red.

Blood.

Attes.

My heart stuttered weakly. He hadn’t moved since Kolis had hit him with eather.

Thoughts sluggish, I stared at Attes. Hadn’t I felt something seconds ago? A presence? And hadn’t I seen something…? My gaze shifted to the center of the Great Hall, where wisps of Primal mist swirled around a tall form—

There was a quick flash of light, and then the mist and the form within it were gone.

I wasn’t even sure what I had seen.

Kolis shuddered against me, and I slowly realized he no longer felt so cold. His body was warming. It was my essence, the essence of life, doing that—while I was growing colder and colder.

I was really dying.

No.

No.

I wouldn’t die. Not like this. I had to fight. I should be fighting, and I needed to be better at it, because once Kolis was done with me, he would go for him, and I couldn’t allow that. Because he was…

My first.

My friend. Lover. Betrayer.

My husband. King. Heartmate.

Casteel Da’Neer was my everything.

And I would not allow anything to happen to him.

Pushing past the pain and numbness that threatened to take hold, I focused on what essence I could still feel inside me until it was a hum in my blood and a buzz in my skin.

The eather joined the panic and desperation drowning me, and I let it.

I let it pour into every vein, every cell, until I could lift my hand and place it against Kolis’s chest. Until I tasted death.

And like before, it was coated in sugar.

Shadows filled the corners of my vision.

Kolis jerked his head back, and the pain of his fangs tearing through the flesh of my throat joined the panic and desperation. His crimson-streaked eyes met mine.

I smiled.

His brows pulled together as he tilted his head.

Then, I did the unthinkable.

I snapped my head forward, sinking my fangs into his neck.

My aim was a little off as I tore through a tendon before hitting his vein.

Blood flowed into my mouth and coursed down my throat, turning my stomach.

I didn’t let myself think about his taste—the flavor behind the iron-rich blood.

I drank fast, drawing hard on the ruined vein.

I can handle this.

I can handle this.

Either shock or pain—probably the former—held him immobile. He didn’t shake me off as I latched onto him, swallowing and swallowing as fast as I could because I knew the surprise wouldn’t last long.

And I was right.

He gripped the back of my head, and for a moment, held on. I didn’t let myself think about that either, or why. I kept drinking, feeling the coldness retreating first from my fingers and then my legs.

Kolis snarled, jerking my head back. “You bit me,” he sputtered, his eyes wide. “You actually bit me.”

The essence thrummed more intensely as he continued to bend my neck back. The hand I had on his shoulder started to vibrate as my veins turned icy.

“I can’t believe you did that.”

I laughed, and the sound was full of shadows and ruin as the essence of death flowed from my palm and slammed into Kolis.

There was a flicker of surprise in his face, and then he flew backward, the veins in his chest and shoulders lit up with eather as he smashed into a pillar. The stone cracked and gave way, both he and the column collapsing into the shadows of the alcove.

I didn’t give myself time to celebrate. Kolis wouldn’t stay down for long, and what I had gained by feeding on him had been spent by using the eather. I had seconds, if that.

I rolled over and dragged myself to my knees. I needed a weapon. Something. Anything. My gaze swung around the space and landed on Attes and the blade still strapped to his chest.

Pushing to my feet, I forced one foot in front of the other as I swiped my hand over my mouth as if to wipe away the sweet taste of his blood.

It wasn’t bad, but having the taste of Kolis’s blood in my mouth made me want to vomit as I stumbled across the chamber, each breath coming in short, shallow pants.

Dropping to Attes’s side, I reached for the hilt of the dagger and then stopped, my hand hovering just above the gaping wound in his chest. Good gods, I could see the floor beneath the mess of muscle and bone.

Eather warmed my palms. The urge to heal him hit hard.

My fingers tingled with the need as my eyes darted to his too-pale face and the stark, jagged scar slicing through his brow and the bridge of his nose.

A thunderous roar rattled me to the bones as chunks of stone flew out from the alcove, smashing into the wall. I clenched my jaw as I dragged my gaze from Attes.

I couldn’t.

I can’t.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, grasping the iron hilt of the dagger and slipping it free as the hair along the nape of my neck rose.

“That was incredibly foolish, so’lis.”

Gritting my teeth, I shifted my weight to one knee but didn’t rise. Conserving my energy, I waited.

I can handle this.

“You didn’t have to make this difficult,” he said, his voice drawing closer. “You didn’t have to choose to make this awful for yourself.”

Choose to make this awful? As if what he’d done wasn’t already terrible? He was out of his mind.

“And now?” His steps slowed. “Now, I’m angry.” The air stirred around me. “And that is not—”

The moment I felt the graze of his fingertips in my hair, I leaned back on the knee supporting me and kicked out with everything I had, hitting him in the shin, just below the kneecap.

Bone cracked, and he went down on the other knee, shouting in pain as I twisted, aiming straight for his face.

Kolis’s hand snapped out, catching my wrist. “I think you broke my leg,” he bit out. “Ouch.”

“Too bad I didn’t break your face,” I grunted.

The tightened corners of his mouth loosened. “What?”

I swung my left arm, catching him in the nose with my fist. Blood spurted as he released me, rearing back.

“Fuck,” he rasped.

“I just broke your nose.” Standing, I swayed as a wave of dizziness washed over me. “Asshole.”

His head snapped up, eyes burning like red coals as he dragged the back of his hand over his mouth. There was an uneven bump in his nose that hadn’t been there before. “You are…”

“A stunning, murderous creature?” I gasped, ignoring how the walls seemed to warp.

Kolis dropped his hand. “I was going to go with infuriating pain in my ass.” He rose, and the sound of the bone in his leg cracking as it healed turned my stomach. His crimson gaze swept over me, and then one side of his lips curled up in a smirk. “You really want to do this?”

“Not really,” I muttered, my heart beating too fast, too erratically.

“Looks to me like you do.” He tossed his head back and then leveled his chin. The bump in his nose had evened out already. “And you know what? I can respect that. You’re a fighter. There’s honor in that.”

Like I cared what he thought.

“And I should’ve expected this from you. After all, you did learn how to become a fighter.” The crimson essence in his eyes pulsed as his lip curled back in a silent snarl. “I used to hate that about you.”

A shudder of revulsion ran through me as I repeated to myself that I could handle this.

“But guess what, so’lis?” His voice lowered. “I kind of like that about you now.”

“Ew,” I grunted.

His nostrils flared. “Excuse me?”

“We’re, like…related, you pervert.”

A shoulder lifted. “We weren’t before.” His brows came together. “Actually, I suppose we were in a way, but distantly—”

I struck, thrusting the blade toward his chest.

Kolis caught my arm with a laugh. “Really? You are still going to try this?” He put pressure on my wrist, crushing the bones.

I gasped, my fingers spasming open. The blade clanged off the floor as pain stabbed down my arm, taking my breath. I clenched my jaw to keep from screaming.

I can handle this.

Kolis laughed. “You’re barely alive, so’lis.”

“Stop. Calling. Me. That!” I shouted, driving my foot down on the bone I had broken earlier.

“Godsdamnit,” he thundered, the leg buckling. He went down, dragging me with him.

I hit the floor on my knees and pulled at the arm he still held, ignoring the intense throbbing shooting up to my elbow. When that didn’t work, I did something that Vikter would’ve been embarrassed to witness.

I went for his hair.

Sinking my fingers into the blond strands, I pulled as hard as I could, jerking his head back. A sickening sense of satisfaction filled me as I felt a handful snap free.

“Fucking Fates,” he hissed.

His grip on my wrist loosened, and I started to slip free.

I didn’t see the blow coming.

Pain exploded along the side of my face. Blood pooled in my mouth as I pitched sideways, stopping my fall with one good hand and the other connected to a destroyed wrist. The pain was sharp and searing, like hot lightning streaking through me as I spat a mouthful of blood.

I can handle this.

I had to. I needed to. Because the longer I kept him occupied, maybe—just maybe—someone would have time to show up. Someone could stop him before he went to Carsodonia.

Keep fighting, I told myself. And I repeated that as I rocked back and kicked out, hitting nothing but air where Kolis had been.

“Missed me,” he taunted.

Breath stalling, I whipped my head around. Where did he—?