Chapter 12 THE GOD OF BONE AND ASH
THE GOD OF BONE AND ASH
Casteel
Essence thrummed, waking me before I could reach a deep enough sleep to find her.
I was no longer alone.
A god had entered Wayfair’s Great Hall, and only two gods would dare to do so. This was neither of them.
I remained where I was reclined, my leg draped over the arm of the throne—the very same one that was about to have a new addition.
My senses sharpened as I opened them, picking up the quick, pounding rhythm of a heart. I tasted tart unease tinged with the bitterness of fear.
Whoever the god was, they had the intelligence to be afraid but weren’t smart enough to steer clear of my domain.
Wouldn’t be the first, though. There seemed to be a plethora of fools serving the true Primal of Death who were willing to die for him.
How many had come? This would be the sixth or seventh, either sent by Kolis or who’d come all on their own in hopes of proving their loyalty to him by taking me out.
And all of them were old and powerful, able to shadowstep into Wayfair.
None of them left.
The god crept closer, mindful of the tangle of vines covering the floor and climbing the dais.
Interesting.
Somehow, they had discovered that the vines were connected to me. They weren’t careful enough, though. They hadn’t looked up. If they had, they would’ve seen dark eyes lit by the silver glow of eather watching them. Through those eyes, I saw the intruder.
The god was female, her skin pale as bone and stark against the muted black cloak she wore. She stood at the steps, her heart calming as she got a good look at me in the gloom of the Hall. I was sure I looked pretty harmless while at rest and without the other new additions on display.
Let them think that.
She ascended the stairs, her footsteps quick and light as she reached into her cloak with a gloved hand, parting the fabric. There was a brief flash of an unnaturally vivid red cloth and then the too-bright white flare of a dagger.
A bone dagger chiseled into a fine point.
The god moved like a ghost, blending in with the shadows and avoiding the slivers of moonlight that reached the dais.
I severed my connection with the ravens as she neared the throne. A second passed. Her heart remained calm as the nutty flavor of resolve coated my tongue.
She didn’t hesitate.
I had to give her that.
The blade whispered as it sliced through the air.
She gasped when I caught her wrist, stopping the dagger just as it nicked a brass button of the fitted surcoat I wore.
The humming in my thoughts ceased. The pressure relented.
I cracked open an eye, and a series of gravelly croaks came from above as the ravens took flight.
“First, you interrupt me while I’m resting.” Glancing down at my chest, I frowned and then raised my gaze to her amber-hued eyes. “And now you scratch my button?”
The god recovered quickly, her surprise vanishing as a scowl twisted her mouth. “Fuck your buttons,” she spat.
“That sounds uncomfortable,” I replied, giving her a closed-lip smile. “So, I will have to pass on that.”
Her nostrils flared as she jerked on the arm I held. When that didn’t work, she started to twist at the waist as she leaned her weight, lifting her other hand. The air charged, rushing over my flesh.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Eather flared in her eyes and crackled over her knuckles. Like the six or seven before her, the essence behind her pupils was normal. I hadn’t seen another with the essence of death in them since the female god had vanished from Pensdurth.
Eather sparked to life, crackling and bright—because of course, she didn’t listen. They never did.
Sighing, I turned my wrist.
The crack of bone was like thunder, breaking her concentration. She clenched her jaw, choking off her cry of pain as her fingers spasmed open. The bone spike fell with a dull thud against the floor.
Lifting my gaze once more, I winked.
Then, I pushed.
Not with my hand. I didn’t want to waste the energy in doing so. I pushed with my will.
She flew backward through the air, crashing to the floor with a nice fleshy smack.
Swinging my leg off the arm of the throne, I rose as a raven flew in front of me. I walked to the edge of the dais. “Did he send you?”
Groaning, she rolled onto her side as several ravens circled above her, their wings cutting silently through the air.
“Or did you come all on your own?” I asked. “Hoping to prove your worthiness to the worthless.”
The god spat out a mouthful of blood. “What do you know of worthiness?” She rocked back, then staggered to her feet. “When you dare to speak of the true Primal of Death?”
“I wouldn’t consider it daring.” My gaze flicked to the closed doors, sensing the quiet throughout Wayfair.
I wondered what kind of distraction she had created to pull Attes’s and Kieran’s attention from the castle, because I knew they weren’t within these walls anymore.
They would’ve arrived by now, one of them—or both—accusing me of toying with my prey.
“Nor would I call that bitch of a god daring.”
“He will have your tongue for that,” she seethed, throwing her head back. The hood of her cloak slipped, and my jaw locked at the sight of her hair.
It was red.
Red.
I quelled the icy rage before it could escape. It had taken leveling a city, collapsing a building or ten, and an explosion of a god or five before I learned how to find even a shred of calm. “He will have my foot up his ass for that.”
“You speak with such disrespect.” She faced me as she unclasped the cloak, letting it slip away from her bare shoulders. “And you think you can replace him?”
“I have no desire to replace him.” I eyed the crimson corset that cinched her waist and pushed her breasts upward until they appeared as if they were seconds away from popping free of the stays. “I only desire to shatter each bone in his body.”
Her laugh was throaty as her hand dropped to the slit in her black skirt. “As if you could—”
“I wasn’t finished,” I interrupted. “After I shatter each bone in his body, I will slowly dismember him, starting with his fingers and then moving on to his hands, then his forearms.”
She unsheathed another dagger, this one longer and made of shadowstone.
“Then, I will remove the rest of his arm,” I continued. “I will do the same to his toes, his feet, and his legs. Then I’m going to cut off his balls—that is, if he has any.”
“Insolent bastard,” she hissed, her grip firm on the hilt. “You won’t get close enough to touch a single hair on his head.”
“Considering I did far more than that the last time I was close to him…” My gaze flicked over her features, noting that the color of her brows was much lighter than that of her hair. “We will see about that.”
“What you will see is the realms restored to how they should be,” she shot back.
“And, pray tell, what is the way they should be?” I humored her, having heard it—oh, about seven fucking times now. Well, not seven. I lost my patience with at least three before they got to that part.
“The False Queen stripped from her throne in Dalos. The gods installed by her who rule the Courts struck down,” she said, her voice filling with the type of fanatical belief fueled by cultish devotion and idiocy. “And punished for their treachery.”
Tilting my head, I feigned interest. “Tell me more.”
“Instead of Kings and Queens,” she went on, essence—or perhaps madness—flaring behind her pupils. “We will rule the realm of mortals.”
“You mean he will rule,” I corrected. “And you will serve, enslaved like the mortals but with prettier chains.”
She sneered. “One cannot be enslaved when they willingly serve a god—” Her gaze shot up when the ravens descended, their wings casting flickering shadows as they landed on the vines spanning the Hall. “A god who deserves such loyalty.”
“And how does one, who has been entombed for a thousand years, evoke such loyalty?”
“Easy. He promised never to force us into slumber.” She sauntered forward, each step dripping with ignorance. “Nor bar us from entering the mortal realm, allowing us to weaken and be forgotten and replaced by cattle.”
“And what has he promised you?”
“I will be given a Court,” she said. “In appreciation for giving him your head.”
Amusement unfurled within me. “Is that so? Well, I wish you luck with all of that.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“And how will your King accomplish all of this?” I asked, glancing at the hair piled and pinned atop her head. The color wasn’t natural, likely achieved with henna and intended to mimic… Anger pulsed in my chest, and the space between my shoulder blades prickled.
She smirked, her chin lifting. “He has already begun to do so.”
“Was forcing you to dye your hair red one of the ways he has begun to do so?”
The smug tilt of her lips faded.
“Does he want you to look like her?”
She didn’t answer.
Disgust curled in my gut as the anger deepened. “You follow a god, who has allowed his obsession for a woman who never wanted him, to rule him for millennia.”
Her jaw worked. “A woman who no longer has his love.”
“I never said love. I said obsession. Are you also incapable of telling the difference?”
“Does it matter?” she countered.
It didn’t. I was done with this conversation. I exhaled slowly. “Where has he hidden himself away?” I waited. “Are you going to make me ask twice?”
“You can ask as many times as you like.” Silver eather spat from her fingers, spinning down the length of her blade. “The answer will be the same.”
I let out another sigh.
The god moved quickly, jerking her arm back. She let the dagger coated with essence fly.
But I was quicker.
I disappeared in a shroud of smoke and shadows that shattered the dagger and swallowed the bolt of eather. She jerked back, her gaze darting over the Hall.