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Ash is close to losing control when he learns they cannot transfer the embers without killing Sera. He refuses to believe it and argues. He then learns that his father only survived it because he was born a god and destined to Ascend. The embers belonged to him. They don’t belong to Sera; they were only hidden in her. He’s told there are three options: Nyktos becomes the true Primal of Life and restores the balance to the realms, someone else takes the embers, or Sera completes her Ascension—meaning she’ll die anyway.

Nyktos shadowsteps and grasps Delfai by the throat, snarling that he won’t kill Sera and saying the option is unacceptable. He takes his true form and plans to send Delfai to the Abyss, but Sera pleads with him not to hurt the God of Divination and says he doesn’t deserve it. And Ash doesn’t deserve another mark. Finally, he drops Delfai.

Sera urges Ash that he has to do it. He refuses and confesses that he figured draining her completely was a possibility, but he knew that wasn’t how Kolis did it, so he figured there was another way. He considers getting The Star and using that, but she reminds him that removing the embers will kill her either way. Still, he’s thrilled when she admits that she doesn’t want to die—it’s about time she values her life.

She reveals she wants to live but the realms need to. And that’s all that matters. He erupts, telling her that she matters, not the realms. She calls him Ash again, and he begs her not to do that when she’s talking about him killing her.

When she insists that he did nothing wrong—meaning him removing his kardia—he gets furious. He laments that he could have saved her. She argues that there was no guarantee he would have loved her. He tells her he would have. That nothing could have stopped him.

She orders him to kiss her, and he does, loosing a soul-torn groan. They have sex, and he confesses that he wishes he’d never had his kardia removed. He never wanted to know love before her. His eyes glaze over in red as he cries Primal tears of grief.

Sera asks him to take her to her lake when the time comes so she can die there, and he promises.

When they return to the Shadowlands, they realize something is wrong. They’re under attack. He jumps from the balcony to the ground, and Saion updates him. He checks his emotions and finds bodies in the west courtyard, stumbling back at the horror. Saion informs him where Kyn is, and Nyktos orders him to summon the armies.

He takes his true form and rises into the sky to fight Davon, the draken, becoming a storm. He notices that Sera, Rhain, Rhahar, and Saion are unable to get to the House of Haides, so he pours Primal mist out of himself, telling Sera to run in her mind.

As shadows swallow the courtyard, Ash shouts for Sera and sees Attes with her. He repeatedly roars and shouts for her, trying to get to her. He tears a Cimmerian apart. Vaporizes a dakkai with a touch. She is only yards away, her eyes locked on his, and then…she disappears, swallowed by smoke and shadows.

The next time he sees her, he waits outside of Cor Palace, crouched amid the trees.

As a silvery-white wolf.

He watches as Sera succumbs to Kolis’s sick obsession and attacks. He ends up killing Hanan and tells Kolis to get his hands off his wife. He threatens to kill his uncle and they battle, Kolis telling him that he’s started a war.

Sera compels him and Kolis to stop fighting and threatens to take her life. He pleads with her not to. Eventually, Kolis injures him enough by stabbing him repeatedly that he is taken into custody and imprisoned in the Carcers.

While in stasis, he shares dreams with Sera and tells her to make Kolis aware that only he can Ascend her. Once she does, she should then summon the Fates.

During his time in the Carcers, Kolis watches him and then incapacitates him after he wakes. He can’t blame him. Not really. He was prepared to do anything to get to Sera.

When Sera takes Kolis down, it weakens the wards. Between that and feeling what Sera is, he escapes and comes for her. He takes out any and all in his path, and then finds her nearly collapsed.

Sera can barely talk but manages to ask if she’s dreaming. He tells her it’s real. When she asks if he’s okay, he laughs, reminding her that she was also imprisoned and likely dealt with much more than just some retaliation and sleep.

They discuss Veses a bit and what to do about Kolis. They also talk about what happened to her in Dalos, and Sera has to soothe his anger. She tells him he needs to take her somewhere safe and remove the embers.

Elias comes in, and Ash almost kills him until Sera assures him that he’s a friend and the god swears his fealty to Sera.

Attes arrives and urges them to get moving. When Ash moves to attack him, Attes pleads his case, and Sera tells Ash the other Primal can be trusted—he saved her life more than once.

She gets dizzy, and notices she’d started shifting into her Primal form.

Just as they’re about to shadowstep, Sera remembers The Star and tells them they need to get it. They talk how to go about doing that, and she tells Ash that his father’s soul is in the diamond. He asks if she’s sure, and she confirms.

Ash can’t feel the soul within the diamond, but Sera assures him it’s in there. She wonders how they can put Sotoria’s soul in the stone, and Ash says Keella should know how to get a soul both in and out.

He shadowsteps them to some hot springs in the mortal realm and listens as Sera relays what she knows about his father and uncle. When he asks to hold The Star, she doesn’t let him, explaining that she doesn’t want him to see what she did.

He and Sera take some time for themselves and get lost in each other for a bit.

As they spend time together, they talk about everything that’s happened and catch one another up, talking about what things mean and what’s next. They discuss his nota and Primal forms, then he heads to the Bonelands to get them some clothes.

Talk turns to Attes, and Ash makes it clear that he still doesn’t trust the Primal, but Sera tries to make him understand why Attes could never be loyal to Kolis. Then, she tells him what Phanos did. He starts thinking of the ways he could use that to his advantage to save her, but she stops him and insists that nobody else will give their life to save hers.

He takes her to the Bonelands and tells her how the Ancients, connected to all living things, became displeased with what the mortals were doing. They concluded that mortals and the land could not coexist and chose to cleanse the land. They then created the Primals, splitting their essence between them and sharing the balance. The Primals and gods eventually joined the mortals to battle the Ancients.

He asks Sera how she’s feeling, and she admits that she’s tired and achy.