A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (Blood and Ash 2)

Alastir blinked as if he hadn’t expected that. “Well, that is…that is good news. Perhaps that will be of aid when the King and Queen are made aware, but I need to speak with you Casteel, in private.”

“Whatever you need to say to me, you can say in front of my wife,” Casteel replied, and my already unstable stomach flipped.

Wife.

Why was that such a shock to hear? It was a pleasant surprise, though.

“This is a conversation regarding the kingdom and I mean no offense, but she is not a part of the Crown yet,” Alastir replied. “Nor privy to such information.”

Casteel stiffened behind me, and I knew he was about to push back, and the last thing I wanted was him to be standing here arguing with Alastir about what I was privy to when his parents arrived.

“It’s okay. No offense taken,” I said, tapping his arm. “I would like to stretch my legs a bit anyway.”

Casteel wasn’t at all happy about that, but Beckett offered, “I can show her the Chambers of Nyktos. It’s not very far from here,” he said. “That is, if you’d like.”

“I would like that,” I readily agreed, latching on to the offer as if it were a lifeline. “That’s what I would like to do.”

“Then that’s what you will do,” Casteel replied.

My heart was pumping so fast as Casteel dismounted and helped me get down that I wouldn’t have been surprised if I fainted. How embarrassing would that be? The first time to faint…at the feet of my father and mother-in-law, the former the King who still planned to use me as a message.

But that would change. It had to. Not just because the gods favored me, but because what Casteel and I shared was real.

“One second.” Casteel motioned at Beckett as Quentyn went to the young wolven’s side. He drew me slightly away from the others, under the shade of one of the nearby trees. “I’m sorry about this,” he said. “I had no idea they’d be here. I wanted to give you some time before I introduced you. That was what I planned.”

“I know, and honestly, I’m glad that Alastir was here to warn us and that he wants to talk to you. It will give me some time to…I don’t know.” I felt my cheeks flush. “Prepare myself.”

“You don’t need to be nervous.”

“Really?” I replied dryly.

“I’m trying to be helpful.” A half-grin appeared and then vanished. “We’ve faced scarier things than parents caught off guard, and we will face far more frightening things. Just remember that this,”—he picked up my left hand and turned it over—“is real,” he said, echoing my earlier thoughts. “We’re real. No matter what.”

I stared down at the dazzling gold swirl on my palm. “No matter what.”

Curling a finger under my chin, he lifted my head, and his lips found mine. He kissed me, and it was no short peck on the lips. People watched us, but Casteel took his sweet time, and by the time he lifted his head, I felt faint for a whole different reason.

“No matter what,” he repeated.

Nodding, I pulled away from him and turned to where Beckett waited, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“Poppy?”

I turned back to Casteel, and the moment I saw him, I felt the breath I took catch in my throat. The way he stared at me, the intensity in his fiery golden eyes, rooted me to the spot. What I felt from him…it tasted like the smoothest chocolate and the sweetest berries.

Casteel’s chest rose with an uneven breath. “I’ll come for you.”

I love you.

That was what I thought Casteel was going to say. That was what I felt from him, but those words didn’t pass his lips.

They hadn’t passed mine either.

Whatever disappointment I might’ve felt was quickly lost to wonder as Beckett led me through the woods. The wolven hadn’t been an excited chatterbox, and I could tell he was still wary of me. I picked up the faint trace of fear from him, and I imagined he was challenging himself to get past that by offering to take me to the Chambers.

The trees were full of the calls and chirps of birds, but as Beckett had said, the Chambers weren’t that far. We left the wooded area fairly quickly.

The structure rose against the deep blue of the sky, the limestone and marble a glistening white in the sun.

We walked through a short field of tiny blue and yellow flowers. The closer I got, the more I realized how large the temple still was. It was nearly the length of Castle Teerman.

“Good gods,” I said, glancing at Beckett. “This thing is huge.”

He nodded as he quickly glanced at me. “It’s one of the largest of the Temples here.”

“Why is it called the Chambers?” I asked as we climbed the steep steps, welcoming the distraction. Vines scaled the wide steps, all the way to the top where they wrapped around the columns.

“It’s because there are tombs underneath.”

I stopped near the top and looked at him. “Seriously?”

A nervous giggle left him. “Yeah. The entrance to them is on the side. It’s where some of the ancient ones have been buried—the deities, I mean.”

“Sorry. Graveyards and tombs kind of weird me out,” I admitted as I started walking again.

“Same.” A quick smile appeared. “Especially these. You feel…I don’t know, like those who are entombed are watching you.”

A warm, salty breeze reached us as we came to the top. I didn’t know where to look first. Pebbles and much larger rocks were scattered across the Atlantian Crest that had been engraved into the stone floors.

Statues of the gods stood between the columns, each one with one arm outstretched. Nyktos was the tallest of them all, and he stood in the very center of the Temple, the toes of his feet brushing the Atlantian Crest. All were sculpted so it appeared the sun rose behind them, and they held torches in their stone hands, empty of flames, of life.

Tearing my gaze from them, I walked to one side. The beauty of what I saw was stunning. I’d never seen water so clear. Bright blue, green, and even red coral was clearly visible underneath. Farther out, where the water deepened, it was a shade as blue as the sky above. I knew there were other things to see, like the trees of Aios that were visible from the Chambers, but I couldn’t tear my gaze from the sea. The next breath I took was steady and calming as if I hadn’t taken a breath as deep as this one in, well, forever. I blinked, realizing there were tears in my eyes. Normally, I wouldn’t get choked up by seeing a body of water, but it…it felt like home.

“Thank you for healing my legs,” Beckett said, startling me. As terrible as it was, I’d forgotten that he was there. “I know I said that before, but I, uh, I just wanted to say it again. You have no idea what you did for me.”

It took me a moment before I trusted myself to speak. The poor kid was already uncomfortable around me. He didn’t need me to start sobbing all over him. “You didn’t need to thank me before, and you don’t need to do it now.” I touched the warm stone of a column. “I’m glad I could help.”

Off in the distance, I could make out the Isles of Bele. They appeared large, as if they could house two or three towns the size of Spessa’s End. There was something at the highest peak of the center island. A Temple? I started to ask Beckett what it was when I realized that he hadn’t responded to me.

Pulling my gaze from the sparkling waters, I turned, and every muscle in my body immediately locked up. Beckett was gone.

But I wasn’t alone.

Several people stood by the statue of Nyktos. Mostly men, but a few women. There were at least a dozen, a mix of Atlantian and mortal. Not a single wolven among them. But they were all dressed the same, wearing loose white pants and tighter, sleeveless shirts. Their arms were adorned with golden bands similar to those I’d seen on the Guardians in Spessa’s End. Their attire, the way they stared at me, reminded me of the Priests and Priestesses in Solis.

Except the Priests and Priestesses didn’t carry weapons. All of them wore a golden, narrow, long dagger strapped across their chests.

Goosebumps pimpled my skin. I recognized none of them, but I knew what they were feeling. Anger surged from them, thickening the air, and it mixed with my stinging disbelief as what was happening began to sink in. Instinct flared to life.

“You shouldn’t be here,” an Atlantian said, taking a step forward. “You should’ve never crossed the Skotos Mountains. Your mere presence is a taint, Maiden.”

These people knew exactly who I was.

I quickly glanced at the exit—the only exit. They blocked it, and their anger—their hatred—it kept stretching out toward me, coating my skin like a too-coarse blanket, filling the back of my throat with hot acid. I severed the connection, picturing each cord being snipped away until there was nothing inside me but my pounding heart. Once I locked them out, I scanned the Temple again, this time looking for any sign of the young wolven. There was none, and everything inside me knew what had been done, even if I didn’t understand why. He’d been so happy when I first met him. I’d healed him. No other wolven had been unkind toward me.

But he…he had led me here. He’d offered to bring me here, and then he’d left me.

Left me to those who I’d never seen or met before but who hated me nonetheless.

But they did not choose you.

My skin flushed hot and then cold. It had been a trap. One of opportunity or something planned, I had no idea. And I didn’t know how this had been orchestrated—if these people had been waiting or for how long. But it didn’t change what this was. The betrayal, the disappointment, and the bone-deep hurt sank its razor-sharp claws into me. I stared at the nameless faces, feeling as if my chest had cracked open.

It had been so silly of me to want these people to accept me. And so incredibly naive for me to take that flicker of hope and hold onto it. I wanted to scream. I wanted to…gods, I wanted to cry. And I wanted to rage.