Chapter 40 #2
I spun around, heart thudding as… hundreds of eruptions happened across the barren ground, from the side of the Mountains of Nyktos, all the way to the stone women. These soldiers were faster, tearing out of the holes in a matter of heartbeats.
“Good gods.” Vonetta stumbled back into Emil. He steadied her before they turned to stand back-to-back.
A skeleton soldier ran forward on bony feet, sword raised. Its jaws unhinged, opening wide to reveal nothing but a black void and the sound of screaming wind. The force blew my braid back and tugged at my tunic.
“Rude,” I muttered, nearly choking on the scent of stale lilacs.
Black, oily smoke spilled from the skeleton’s mouth, thickening and solidifying as it poured to the ground, forming thick ropes that slithered forward—
“Oh, my gods!” I shrieked. “Not ropes! Not ropes! Snakes!”
“Holy shit,” Delano gasped as Casteel shoved his sword through the back of the screaming skeleton. “That is so not right.”
“I regret the decision to join you all,” Emil announced. “I regret this decision very much.”
Snakes. Gods. I hated snakes. Bile rose in my throat as I danced out of the way of the serpents. My scream built in my throat as several of the other skeletons howled. More black smoke followed. More snakes .
Twisting, I shoved my dagger into a soldier’s chest. I would have to table what I was seeing and deal with the lifetime of nightmares later.
Casteel took out a soldier as he slammed his boot down on a snake. The smoke-serpent flattened into an oily stain, turning my stomach.
I’d also have to vomit about that later.
“Poppy.” His head jerked up. “I know you said you didn’t think you should use the eather, but I really think now would be a good time to go full deity on these fuckers.”
“Second that,” Vonetta called as she kicked a serpent away from her. It landed near her brother, who shot her a dirty look.
I had to agree as I thrust my dagger into the chest of a soldier.
The freaking smoke serpents outweighed whatever risks using the eather in Iliseeum introduced.
I sheathed my daggers. Focusing on the hum in my chest, I let it come to the surface of my skin.
No , I realized. I summoned it to the surface.
Silvery-white light crowded the sides of my vision as it sparked over my skin—
The skeleton soldiers turned toward me. All of them. Their mouths opened as they screamed. Smoke poured from the voids, falling to the ground.
“Oh.” Kieran straightened. “ Shit .”
That didn’t remotely articulate what I felt as hundreds of serpents slithered over the earth, around the holes. Cursing violently, Casteel stomped his boot down again. The soldiers moved in unison, sprinting toward me—
In my mind, I didn’t picture the fine webbing. I needed something faster, more intense. Something final. And I didn’t even know why, but I thought of the torches inside the Temple of Nyktos and their silvery flames.
Fire.
Gods, if I was wrong, I wouldn’t be the only one regretting this, but I pictured the flames in my mind, silvery white and intense.
My hands warmed and tingled. My entire body throbbed with heat—heat and power .
I didn’t know if it was instinct or if it was because the serpents were so close, but I lifted my hands.
Silver-white flames spiraled down my arms and erupted from my palms—erupted from me .
Someone gasped. It could’ve been me. The fire roared, licking the ground and catching the serpents.
The creatures hissed and screeched as the flames consumed them.
The inferno rolled across the land, hitting the skeletons with a wave of flames.
Crackling, fiery light streaked between Casteel and Kieran, washing over the soldiers there and then spread out from me, following exactly what I saw in my mind, burning only the skeletons and serpents, leaving everything else untouched.
And then I pulled back the eather, picturing it receding and returning to me.
The fire pulsed intensely, straining toward Casteel and the others as if it wanted to consume them, too, but I didn’t want that.
The flames turned bright white, spitting sparks high into the air and then fizzling out until only faint wisps of pale smoke remained.
Everyone was staring at me.
“I…I didn’t know if that would work or not,” I admitted.
“Well…” Vonetta drew the word out, her pale eyes wide. “I’m sure I’m not the only one who is grateful that it did.”
I looked down at my hands and then up, finding Casteel. “I guess I am the Queen of Flesh and Fire.”
Casteel nodded as he stalked toward me, his eyes a heated amber. “I know you’re the Queen of my heart.”
Blinking, I lowered my hands as he stopped in front of me. “Did you seriously just say that?”
One dimple appeared as he clasped the back of my head and lowered his head to mine. “I sure as fuck did.”
“That was so…cheesy,” I said.
“I know.” Casteel kissed me, and there was nothing ridiculous about that. His tongue parted my lips, and I welcomed his taste.
“This is a little awkward,” Vonetta observed.
“They do this all the time,” Kieran sighed. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Better than them fighting,” Delano remarked.
Casteel grinned against my lips. “You’re extraordinary,” he murmured. “Don’t ever forget that.”
I kissed him in response, and then unfortunately, pulled free. “We should probably get moving. More could come.”
“Let’s hope not,” Emil said, sheathing his swords.
“Everyone okay?” Casteel asked as we started walking. “No snake bites?”
Luckily, everyone was fine, but as we neared the shadows of the stone women, I said, “Maybe I should go first.”
Delano bowed, extending an arm as Vonetta shook dust from her braids. “Be my guest.”
My grin froze as I tentatively stepped into the shadow of a wing. The ground did tremor, but it was the holes, filling back with dirt. The landscape was once again flat and whole. “Okay,” I breathed. “That’s a good sign.”
Casteel was the first to join me and then the others. We continued on, passing under the wing. The sandy dirt hardened under our feet. Patches of grass appeared, giving way to a lush meadow of bright orange flowers.
“Poppies,” Delano whispered.
Lips parting, I looked over at Casteel. He shook his head in slight disbelief. The flowers we walked through could’ve just been a coincidence, but…
My steps slowed as we realized we were coming to the crest of a gently sloping hill and were finally able to see what the stone women and those skeleton soldiers had been guarding.
A sweeping Temple sat in the valley. Pillars constructed of shadowstone lined the wide, crescent-shaped steps and the colonnade.
The structure was massive, nearly double the size of the palace in Evaemon, even without the additional wings.
It rose against the blue sky in soaring towers and spires as if the fingers of night were reaching up from the land to touch daylight.
Smaller shapes were situated around the temple, possibly mounds or statues.
I couldn’t make out what they were from this distance, but it wasn’t the only thing that had been protected.
It was what rested in the hills and valleys miles beyond the Temple.
It was Dalos, the City of the Gods.
Warm beams of sunlight reflected off the diamond-bright sides of buildings sprawled across the hills.
Crystalline towers rose into the sky in graceful arcs, parting the wispy, white clouds sprinkled over the city and extending beyond them, glittering as if a thousand stars had kissed them.
An awed silence fell over us as we gazed upon the city.
Several long moments of silence passed before Emil spoke, his voice thick. “I have to believe that this is what the Vale looks like.”
It really could be. Nothing could be more beautiful.
“Do you think anyone in the city is awake?” Vonetta asked quietly.
My heart skipped a beat. “Could there be?”
Casteel shook his head. “It’s possible, but we…we won’t find out.” His gaze touched mine. “Remember Willa’s warning.”
I swallowed, nodding. “We can’t go into the city,” I reminded everyone. “Maybe gods are awake there, and that’s why we can’t.” I looked at Emil. “Or maybe Dalos is a part of the Vale.”
Clearing his throat, Emil nodded. “Yeah.”
If gods were awake in the city, I had to wonder if they were unaware of what was happening past the Mountains of Nyktos. Or if they simply didn’t care.
“You think that’s the Temple where Nyktos may sleep?” Delano asked.
Kieran inhaled deeply. “We might as well find out.”
We started down the hill, the grass reaching our knees. The air smelled of fresh lilacs and…something I couldn’t place. It was a woodsy scent but a sweet one. A more-than-pleasant smell. I tried to figure it out but couldn’t by the time we reached the bottom of the hill.
The grass became white soil that reminded me of sand, but there was no beach that I could see, and it was brighter than sand. It sparkled in the sun and crunched under our—
“Are we walking on diamonds?” Vonetta stared at the ground, disbelief echoing from her. “I think we’re actually walking on diamonds.”
“I have no words for this,” Casteel commented as Delano bent and picked up a piece. “But diamonds are birthed from the joyous tears of the gods—of gods in love.”
My gaze shifted to the Temple, and I thought of Nyktos and the Consort that he was so protective of. No one even knew her name.
“You all are staring at diamonds,” Kieran stated, his wariness pressing against my skin. “Meanwhile, I’m just waiting for you all to realize what this giant-ass statue is.”
I looked at what Kieran stared at, and my stomach dropped.
The mounds I’d seen from the top of the hill weren’t several small statues but one very large one of…
of what appeared to be a slumbering dragon at the steps of the Temple, just off to the right.
It looked like the sketches I’d seen in books containing fables, except its neck wasn’t nearly as long, and even with the wings carved to be tucked against the body, it was so much bigger.
“Whoa,” Vonetta murmured as we neared the statue and the steps of the Temple.
“Let’s take slow steps,” Casteel advised. “If this is Nyktos’s resting place, his guards may be nearby—and not stone ones.”
Draken.
“If this thing comes to life, I am out of here,” Emil grumbled. “You will never see an Atlantian run faster.”
A wry grin tugged at my lips as I slowly approached the statue, marveling at the sculpture.
From the nostrils to the frill of spikes around the beast’s head, to the claws and the horns on the tips of its wings, every intricate detail had been captured.
How long would it have taken someone to carve something this large?
I reached out, running my fingers over the side of the face.
The stone was rough and bumpy, surprisingly—
“Poppy.” Casteel snagged my wrist. “The whole proceed-with-caution thing also included not randomly touching things.” Lifting my hand to his mouth, he pressed a kiss to my fingers. “Okay?”
I nodded, letting him guide me away. “The stone was really warm, though. Isn’t that kind of—”
A crack of thunder sounded, reverberating through the valley. I looked down, half-expecting the ground to open up.
“Uh.” Kieran started to back up as he stared behind us. “Guys…”
I whipped around, my lips parting as a piece of the stone shattered over the side of the beast’s face and fell away, revealing a deeper shade of gray and—
An eye.
An actual open eye of vivid blue with an aura of luminous white behind a thin, vertical pupil.
“Oh, shit,” Emil whispered. “Shit. Shit. Run —”
A deep rumbling sound came from within the statue, causing icy fear to drench my skin. Fissures raced through the stone. Sections both large and small fell away, thumping off the ground.
I was frozen where I stood. No one ran. They too had locked up. Maybe it was out of disbelief or an intuitive knowledge that running wouldn’t save us. This wasn’t a stone dragon.
It was a draken in its true form, rising from where it had been resting against the ground, its large, muscular body shaking off the dust and tiny pieces of stone.
I might’ve stopped breathing.
The deep, rumbling sound continued as the draken swung its head toward us, its thick, spiked tail sweeping across the diamonds. Two vibrant blue eyes locked with mine.
“Stay completely still,” Casteel ordered quietly. “Please, Poppy. Do not move.”
Like I could do anything else?
A low snarled vibrated from the draken as its lips peeled back, revealing a row of large teeth sharper than any blade. The draken lowered its head toward me.
My heart might’ve stopped.
I was staring at a draken—a real, live draken, and it was magnificent and frightening and beautiful.
The draken’s nostril’s flared as it sniffed the air—sniffed me .
The snarling eased as it continued staring with eyes so full of intelligence, it awed me.
It tilted its head. A soft, whirring trill came from its throat, and I had no idea what that meant, but it had to be better than the snarling.
A thin membrane fluttered across its eyes, and then its gaze shifted past me—past where Casteel and the others stood—to the Temple.
A wave of awareness shivered through me, raising the tiny hairs all over my body.
Pressure pushed against the nape of my neck, boring into the center of my back.
I turned around without really having made a conscious decision to do so.
Casteel did the same. I didn’t know if any of the others followed because all I could now see was the man standing on the Temple steps between two pillars.
He was tall—taller than even Casteel. Mid-length brown hair fell to his shoulders, glinting a coppery red in the sunlight.
The dusky wheatish skin of his features was all planes and angles, pieced together with the same beautiful mastery as the stone shell that had encased the draken.
He would’ve been the most beautiful being I’d ever seen if it weren’t for the infinite coldness of his features and his luminous eyes the color of the brightest moon.
I knew who he was even though his face had never been painted or carved.
It was Nyktos.