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A sour taste gathered in my mouth as I placed my hand on my chest. Ash asked me if I was okay, and I nodded. I didn’t feel different, yet I did. The presence I hadn’t been aware of for most of my life was gone, but Sotoria’s parting words lingered.

We will meet again.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

We shadowstepped back to the Bonelands, leaving Keella and Attes in the Thyia Plains.

As I stared out past the ships at sea, I wished I could’ve seen more of the Court. It was beautiful.

Keella had embraced me before we left. Attes hadn’t. Likely because Ash would’ve made good on his threat to rip out the Primal’s tongue. Instead, he’d placed his hand over his heart and bowed.

I’d reminded him of his promise to me as Ash said goodbye to Keella: that he would support Ash.

“I have not forgotten, Seraphena,” he’d answered. “He will have my support.”

“Sera,” I’d corrected him.

Attes had smiled then, but his dimples didn’t appear, and his eyes looked sad. I hoped he and Ash could work things out and become more than comrades. I hoped they’d be friends like those Ash spoke with now.

We will meet again.

I hadn’t hallucinated the sound of Sotoria’s voice, but what had she meant? Once we both passed on? That would be soon, very soon for me. But her?

My stomach shifted again as I thought about her in that diamond for who knew how long, only to be reborn, grow up, and be placed right back in the hands of Kolis and his obsession. It wasn’t right. I should’ve spoken up.

I turned at the sound of footsteps, spotting Elias, who had been conscious when we returned. The golden paint had been washed from his face. It was always hard to tell a god’s age, but his square-shaped face looked younger than I expected.

“Sorry about what happened when you first arrived here,” I said.

“It’s okay. I’d rather be seen as suspicious and ask for forgiveness than end up dead.” He touched the back of his head as he glanced to where Ehthawn was now perched on the cliff Aurelia had been on before. “Though I hope I don’t have any more stones coming down on my head.”

“I suppose you’ll need to stay out from under any draken then,” I said.

Elias glanced at the sea. “Was everything a success with the diamond?”

“It was.” I took in the cut of his chin. “Are you from Attes’s Court originally?”

He nodded.

“Did he have something to do with you working your way up to being Kolis’s guard?”

“He did. Put a good word in, but I also had to put my time in to get there.” He frowned, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. “He couldn’t tell you about me, you know? It was just too much of a risk.”

“I know.”

His gaze cut to mine. “Do you?”

“I could’ve used that kind of information as a bargaining tool.”

“Would you have?”

I watched Ash as he spoke to Saion and Rhahar, the breeze stirring his hair. “Depends.”

Elias followed my gaze. “You’d do anything for him.”

“I would.”

“He’s a lucky man, then, to have even a day of such devotion.” A brief smile appeared. “And I have a feeling I’ll be a dead man if he catches me talking to you.”