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“I don’t know,” I lied smoothly. “You’d have to ask him.”

“Well, that might be a problem.”

I flashed cold, then turned hot. “Why…why is that?”

“Because my nephew is currently unavailable for anything beyond taking up space,” Kolis said as a low-level buzz filled my ears. “He’s in stasis.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Denial crashed into concern as my worst fear was confirmed. Ash had been that weakened by battle. I needed to get to him. He was completely vulnerable.

My chest began to tighten. Mostly, I reminded myself. He was protected. I clung to that and asked, “So, he’s…been taken to ground?”

“He has.”

Aware of his keen stare fixed on me, I didn’t allow myself to show even the minuscule amount of relief I felt. The ground would protect and heal him. I swallowed, looking over at Kolis as a thought occurred to me.

“Why didn’t the earth attempt to protect him in the other chamber?” I asked. “I was under the impression that it happens pretty fast if a Primal is weakened.”

“It normally does. That is if the Primal isn’t killed outright.” He jerked his chin at the floor. “You see these tiles? They’re made of shadowstone. Do you know how shadowstone was created?”

I shook my head.

“Dragon fire. Not the draken, but their ancestors. Shadowstone is what became of any life form burned by dragon fire—from trees to mortals, even the Ancients. Perhaps even a few Arae.” He laughed, clearly amused by that idea.

Meanwhile, my stomach churned as I thought about all the shadowstone in just this one chamber, let alone throughout Iliseeum and the deposits in the mortal realm—like my lake and the Shadow Temples.

Wait.

The floor of my lake was originally trees or people?

More importantly, the entire exterior of the House of Haides had been constructed from it, as was the grand staircase in the foyer, the walls of many of the chambers, and even some of the floor.

Well, that was something I could’ve gone my entire life not knowing.

“That’s…a lot of melted-down people,” I murmured, my lip curling.

His laugh was lighter. Friendly, even. “It actually doesn’t take that much to have a rather large deposit of shadowstone. Once the living creature is, as you put it, melted, they in essence become slag, soaking into the soil and sometimes spreading into rivers and streams. Once that cools, everything the slag touches becomes shadowstone.”

“Oh,” I whispered, thinking that explanation didn’t make the fact that my feet were resting upon the slag of people easier to swallow.

“There are only a few things in either realm that can penetrate shadowstone,” he said. “And the earth is not one of them. There only needs to be a few slivers in a floor or area, and the roots will not be able to break through.”

I frowned, only knowing of one thing shadowstone was vulnerable to, and that was shadowstone itself.

I bet the bones of the Ancients were the second thing.

“I may have gone a bit overboard in here.” Kolis gave the outer room a scan, then shrugged. “The walls and ceiling of the chamber and your quarters are constructed of pure shadowstone, but it was my brother who built the House of Haides, what good that did him.” His silver-and-gold gaze returned to me as he slowly unhooked one leg. “Shadowstone also weakens eather—the Primal essence—although it does not block it completely.” Really? Surprise flickered through me. If that were the case, I hadn’t expected the embers in me, a mortal, to be strong enough to get past the shadowstone. I glanced at the faint cracks I’d created in the tile and walls. Did he notice them? And if so, assume they were due to him and Ash battling? Ash had said the hit of eather he’d taken from me was strong.

“How does that work?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. “How does the shadowstone weaken eather?”

“It absorbs the energy, just as it does light, and doesn’t allow us to pull as much of the essence from the environment,” he stated as if that explained everything. “I believe you, by the way.”

I stopped thinking about shadowstone immediately. He did? Holy damn, I was so surprised, a breeze could’ve toppled me. “Good,” I said. “Because I’m telling the truth.”

“About Nyktos?” His chin dipped as his smile became tight.

“Yes.”