The War of Two Queens (Blood and Ash 4)

“He’s been dealt with. Entombed long ago. None of us would be here if he hadn’t been,” he insisted. “And the only thing that could’ve released him is the Primal of Life. That would never happen. They…they were the kind of enemies that go beyond blood and bone.”

My heart rate settled a little. The last thing any of us needed to deal with was a randomly awakened Primal of Death.

“Wait.” Reaver’s brows knitted and then smoothed as his head jerked toward me. “Holy shit, I should’ve caught on to this. Admittedly, I don’t always pay attention. You all talk a lot and do so in circles.”

I started to frown when I heard what sounded like a choked laugh coming from Hisa.

“You spoke of these…creations your enemy has. Ones that can survive any injury?” Reaver asked.

“Yes.” Kieran placed a hand on the floor.

“Do they come back to life?”

Kieran tilted his head. “What else does survive any injury mean?”

“Not the same as returning to life,” Reaver shot back.

“Yes, they come back to life,” I jumped in.

“Are they called Revenants?”

“They are.” I looked around the room. “I’m sure I’ve said that before when you were around. More than once.”

“Like I said, I don’t always pay attention,” he admitted. “Let me guess. They’re the third sons and daughters.”

“Yes.” Emil drew out the word. “That would be correct. You know what these things are?”

“Revenants were Kolis’s pet project. His crowning achievement,” Reaver said. “He used magic to create them—the kind that only worked on them.”

Vonetta straightened as I thought of the ledgers. “Why only them?”

“Because the third sons and daughters carry embers of eather in them.”

“I don’t understand,” Kieran said. “And I don’t think I’m the only one who doesn’t.”

“Everything in every realm descends from a Primal—well, besides the draken. We come from nothing. We just are and have always been,” Reaver said, and I had no idea what to make of that—any of it.

“And mortals descend from a Primal and a draken,” I finished for him.

“From Eythos, the first Primal of Life—also known as your great-grandfather.” He pointed at me, and my eyes went wide. “What? Did you think Nyktos was hatched from an egg? He wasn’t.”

I hadn’t thought that. I just hadn’t realized there was another before him.

“Anyway, Eythos had a habit of creating things. Some would say it was out of curiosity and a thirst for learning, but I imagine it came from boredom. Who really knows? He’s been dead for a very long time. Anyway, he was close to Nektas, even before we were given mortal forms. One day, for whatever reason—and I’m still going with boredom—they decided to create a new species. Eythos lent his flesh, and Nektas gave his fire. The result was the very first mortal. Of course, they ended up creating more, and those, and the ones spawned by them, are, for the most part, ordinary. But what Eythos and Nektas did meant that an ember of essence exists in all mortals. It’s…dormant, for the most part.”

Reaver leaned forward. “Except for in the third sons and daughters. The ember is not always dormant then. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s just a pure-numbers game that, after so many births, the ember would be stronger. Who knows? It doesn’t matter.”

Perry appeared as if it mattered a lot to him.

“Either way, those mortals often have unique talents, much like your gift of sensing emotions. It wouldn’t be as strong as yours. Most wouldn’t even realize they were different. They’re not immortal. They don’t need to feed. They live and die like mortals.”

My assumptions on what I had seen in the ledgers were correct. “The Ascended copied the Rite, then.”

Reaver nodded, and a ripple of surprise was felt throughout. “At one time, it was an honored tradition for the third sons and daughters to enter Iliseeum to serve the gods. And because the ember was strong in them, they could be Ascended if they chose, thus earning their immortality.”

“They had a choice?” Naill asked.

“Eythos always gave a choice,” Reaver said. “But Kolis took those third sons and daughters and made them into something neither dead nor alive—something else entirely. It was his essence—his magic as your friend would say.” He nodded in Perry’s direction. “I was young then when all of this came to a head. When what Kolis had done was discovered, and the war unfolded, I was hidden among other younglings. He was dealt with, but now… Now, someone has learned how to harness his essence.”

“Isbeth,” I said, anger pumping hotly through my veins. “Both the Duke and Vessa knew about the prophecy, and Vessa said she served the True Crown—the Ascended. Isbeth must have shared the knowledge with her—knowledge she could’ve only gained from one person.”

“Malec,” Kieran surmised with a growl.

Reaver closed his eyes. “For him to share such secrets…it is a betrayal of the highest order. For he has given this Blood Queen the power to kill my brethren.” The angles of his features sharpened. “Just like she most likely killed Jade.”