Chapter 11 AND FROM THE ASH OF THE FIRST FLAME #2
I turned my head back toward her as the air started to shift. I let myself look my fill. Let myself feel the brief peace only she could give, even when she wreaked havoc upon my life. Let myself spend one more heartbeat in her presence.
Then, I woke.
The scent of lilacs and jasmine lingered in the breath I took afterward. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know I wasn’t alone.
I’d overheard Attes warning Kieran to be wary of the ravens.
That some of them—not all—had to be a type of chora—an animal formed by a Primal god.
The keyword being type. Primal gods only formed an animal.
Not dozens. Hundreds. I didn’t know or give a fuck what they were.
All I knew was that they were one of the many…
new additions I’d acquired in recent weeks, and where the vines could give me something akin to an impression of the environment, I could see what the ravens saw in crisp, ultraviolet detail.
And I saw the Primal god standing like a sentry by the doors, the golden skin of his face carrying a faint reflective sheen my eyes couldn’t perceive.
I had no idea how long my great-grandfather had been standing there. Finding me asleep had probably brought him a measure of relief—their concern about my lack of rest was another conversation I’d overheard.
But it wasn’t Attes’s presence that had woken me.
I could feel Kieran. He was near. That wasn’t a surprise. I shut down the urge to open the notam to him. It wasn’t anger that drove me. He didn’t need to see what was inside me. It would…concern him.
The hum in my blood and in my flesh demanded that I move, but I held myself still, channeling that churning, restless energy into something useful.
My senses expanded and opened until I felt all the vines that sprawled across the floor, scaled the walls, and twined along the ceiling. Until I found them.
Found Kieran.
He wasn’t alone. Someone was with him, and they were closer. I focused on the mark—the imprint of a wolven. It felt like Kieran’s, earthy and rich, but stronger.
Jasper.
His father.
Muscles along my neck drew taut. He shouldn’t be here. I could feel the change sweeping through me. My skin thinned. Weight settled upon my head, and my back tingled, even though the wings remained tucked away.
But it wasn’t his presence that I felt. I knew that as their footsteps approached and the doors swung wide. My eyes opened. I saw him first as the ravens above took flight, their throaty calls echoing in the air.
Kieran’s vivid blue stare was steady, but there were smudges beneath his eyes. He wasn’t sleeping well either.
My attention shifted to the Primal god, and my chest clenched.
It did every fucking time I looked at him, but saw my father.
The same proud jaw and high, chiseled cheekbones.
Straight nose. Attes was taller, broader, and his hair was lighter, but fuck, he looked so much like my father that it felt like a sucker punch to the chest.
But Attes wasn’t him.
There was nothing left of my father.
Attes pushed himself off the wall, the furrow in his brow tugging at the scar that cut across his forehead and the bridge of his nose.
I knew the moment Jasper saw me. It was the sharp inhale.
My gaze shifted to the man beside Kieran.
A dark cloak hung from shoulders that had carried me as a boy.
The garment would’ve been far too heavy for a typical southern winter, let alone the summer—the season we were currently in.
But the weather…it was imbalanced, and Jasper looked tired.
Not the kind that came from traveling across the kingdoms. Or the type of exhaustion that came from having a newborn babe at home.
This was the kind that went deeper than the bone and settled into the soul, tasting of grief.
The kind I saw in the shadows beneath his son’s eyes.
The same tiredness I couldn’t allow myself to feel.
Especially now.
Jasper’s gaze swept over me, starting at the jagged bone crown and then lowering, lingering over the left side of my face where shadows had replaced the flesh, and the silver bone of my cheek and jaw were visible.
His gaze dropped to my right hand. It wasn’t the missing finger he stared at, but the gleam of silver bone.
A tart, heavy taste gathered in my throat. Not fear, but unease and wariness.
Slowly, he lifted his eyes. “Cas?”
Flashes of bright-white sand and the crystal-clear waters of Saion’s Cove accompanied the sound of the deep, gruff voice. I didn’t respond.
Jasper stepped forward, causing Attes to mirror his movements. Kieran didn’t. He stood back, arms crossed over his chest, and his gaze fixed on me.
“Cas,” he repeated, his voice thicker, rougher. “I… I’m…” He broke off, and I couldn’t remember a time when he’d sounded so unsure of his words. He still came forward, each step slow as he ignored the ravens flying above us.
“I wouldn’t get too close,” Attes said, the lilt of his accent making his words sound like advice instead of what it was. A warning. “He’s…temperamental.”
Jasper stiffened.
I flicked a flat stare in the Primal’s direction.
Attes raised his brows as if to say, “Am I wrong?”
He wasn’t.
“Cas has always been temperamental,” Jasper said, drawing my gaze back to him. His body was once more loose, and he had moved a foot closer. “You should have seen him as a child.”
Attes’s hand hovered near the sword strapped to his hip. “Yeah, well, I doubt he made a person’s insides their outsides as a temperamental child.”
I smirked as my gaze slid back to Kieran. His features were expressionless.
“Can’t say I’ve seen him do that,” Jasper commented, seemingly unfazed by Attes’s presence. I knew damn well he sensed what the Primal god was. “But I’m sure whoever that happened to had it coming.”
They had.
“And he isn’t going to touch me,” Jasper continued with all the bravado of someone who was like blood to me. “Isn’t that right, Cas?”
I said nothing, my gaze still locked with Kieran’s. What Jasper had said wasn’t a question. It had been a statement.
“I want to talk,” Jasper said, which was the very last thing I wanted. Needed. “I can’t even begin to know what you’re feeling. Not gonna even pretend that I do…”
Jasper’s words faded as I dragged my stare from Kieran. My gaze flicked past Attes to the doors. I didn’t have time for this.
Whoever had woken me was still in Wayfair.
Opening my senses once more, I willed the ravens to take flight.
Some remained behind, but one obeyed, quietly flying from the Hall.
I went with it. Not physically, just my vision as the raven entered the corridor beyond, its feathers whispering against the cool air.
Hallways unfolded in quick bursts, glimpses of closed doors, flickering light, and pulsing vines.
We didn’t have to go far before I felt them.
The unnaturalness of something not quite dead but also not alive.
The raven swooped under a tangle of vines, gliding past the chamber where statues once stood.
I saw them. My brother and…Millicent’s silvery-blond head.
Nice of her to finally return.
They were squared off, facing each other. Malik’s lips were faintly curved, eyes glinting with a hint of amusement, something I hadn’t seen since our father…since then. On the other hand, Millicent looked like she was a second from ripping his balls off.
No longer hearing what Jasper said, I focused on Millicent through the raven’s eyes.
She shared some of her features. The heart-shaped face.
The stubborn jaw. She stepped toward Malik, pointing a finger up at him.
The attitude. My fingers curled around the smooth bone of the throne’s arm.
The raven slowed, eyeing a lumpy sack roughly the size of a body.
I willed the chora closer as it flew silently above them, its head tilted down and sharp eyes scanning the burlap.
The drawstring along the top was loose, and through the small gap, golden hair fanned out.
Well, well, well, it appeared Millicent had returned with a gift.
Satisfaction surged, mingling with anticipation as a slow smile pulled at my lips.
“Shit,” Kieran muttered at the same moment Jasper fell silent, and Malik’s head snapped toward the raven.
My brother’s eyes widened in recognition. “Fuck.”
“Excuse me?” Millicent demanded.
“We need to go.” Malik spun toward the person-shaped sack, grabbing it with a rough jerk. He hoisted it over his shoulder. “Now.”
“More like you need to go fu—”
I severed the connection to the chora, and the dimly lit Great Hall took shape around me. Moving silently, I let the essence pooling at my feet rise.
Kieran stalked toward me, his brilliant blue eyes like chips of sapphires. “Cas.”
I stepped forward as Kieran jerked to a halt, his eyes narrowing. Cursing, he spun and took off for the doors—at the exact moment I shadowstepped.
Kieran was fast.
But I was always faster.
Both froze as I appeared before them, shadowy eather spilling across the narrow passageway that ran behind the dining hall. Essence spun around me in streaks of dark gray and crimson as I stepped toward them.
“What in the actual fuck,” Millicent gasped, her pale blue eyes widening, “am I looking at?”
Malik dropped the sack, and it landed with a heavy, somewhat satisfying thud as he shot forward. Grabbing Millicent’s arm, he yanked her back, causing her to teeter on her heels.
“Brother,” Malik warned, voice low as he thrust Millicent back. “What are you doing here?”
“Brother?” Millicent’s head popped out from behind him. “That’s Casteel?”
“It’s him.” Malik shifted so he once more blocked her as if my presence there had anything to do with her.