Page 104 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

The guard grunted and fell forward onto his hands. “Thank—” His thick locs swayed as he rocked back, his amber eyes widening as blood coursed down his throat to run under his armor. “My Queen.”

“Hi,” I murmured, eyeing the wound. His pain distracted me, scalding my skin as I took in the torn skin, a jagged pale pink against his darker flesh.

Exposed muscle gleamed, quivering as it clung to the ruined skin.

It was bad. If he’d been mortal, he would’ve been dead instead of bleeding out like he was.

Eather swelled in me, fueling a different type of instinct that was the complete opposite of what had pumped through me moments before.

I glanced around, finding Casteel a block or so up the street.

He spun gracefully, a movement a trained dancer would have been envious of.

“Hold on,” I told the guard, keeping an eye on the street as I placed my bare hand against his cheek.

He jerked in surprise. “My Queen.”

I crouched beside him, maintaining our eye contact as I summoned the essence. “What’s your name?”

“J-Jaeden,” he said as my palms warmed. “J-Jaeden Va’Leir.”

“Jaeden,” I said, tingly heat rushing down my arm and spreading across my fingers. “I don’t believe we have met before.”

“We h-haven’t. I arrived with General…” Jaeden shuddered, his eyes drifting shut.

I lowered my gaze to his throat and manifested my will.

Gold light sparked like embers as it washed across the wound.

The golden pinpricks pulsed with energy as they sped up the healing process, coaxing Jaeden’s body to repair severed veins and muscle fibers.

New skin grew within seconds, covering the wound with taut, slightly ashen skin that quickly flushed from a pinkish-brown to a deeper hue.

Jaeden inhaled, his eyes flaring wide.

I smiled and lifted my hand. “Be careful.”

His lips parted as he lifted his hand to his throat. His fingers trembled. “But be brave.”

My smile grew as I rose and looked down the street.

My heart dropped when I turned and saw Setti about half a block away, tossing his head and stomping.

Three gruls were getting close. Setti wasn’t a normal horse, but he could feel pain—so would the Primal he was an extension of.

Attes. My breath snagged in a way I really didn’t have time to dwell on.

I took off and plunged my sword into the base of one’s neck.

There was no time to give the grul the respect of being laid down as a large man leapt toward Setti.

I let the grul fall onto its face with a smack that made me wince and shot forward faster than intended.

I bumped into the back of the grul and realized I had shadowstepped.

I bounced off the man’s large frame, luckily catching myself before I fell.

“Nice,” I muttered.

The grul spun, too close for me to catch him under the chin. Jaw clenching, I swung, arcing the blade up. The bloodstone cut through the grul ’s neck with the smoothness of a hot blade through wax. Blood sprayed, smelling sickly sweet like stale lilacs. The head fell as the body crumpled—

Sharp, fiery pain erupted down my forearm, startling me. “ Fuck .”

I twisted to see the top of a snowy white head latched onto my arm. I swung the sword—

The older woman—the grul —lurched back, its milky-white eyes wide as blood trickled from the corners of its mouth. My blood. Gritting my teeth at the pain, I stepped toward it.

The grul spun and darted across the street, leaving me standing with my sword half-raised and my arm burning.

I frowned. “Okay, then.”

Setti nudged me from behind, causing me to stumble. I turned, shaking my arm as if it could somehow lessen the pain. “Go back to the castle.”

Setti’s ears flicked.

“It’s not safe for you here.”

He snorted and slammed a hoof down.

He definitely understood.

“Go.” I patted his side, ignoring the fiery pain. It was already beginning to fade. “Go, Setti.” I met his stare, letting the eather rise to the surface. “Now.”

Tossing his mane and snorting, he turned and took off in a trot.

“Poppy.” Casteel grabbed my right shoulder and spun me around. “You’re hurt.” His gaze zeroed in on my left arm as I looked him over. Of course, his shirt had remained pristine. “Son of a bitch.”

“Eight,” I said.

His gaze snapped to mine, his dark brows slashing together.

“How many did you get?”

He stared for a moment. “You’re not going to like my answer.” He took my arm, carefully peeling back the sleeve of the cloak. I kept my expression blank, my thoughts away from what was happening as the material snagged on the torn skin. He inhaled sharply. “Fifteen.”

My eyes narrowed. “That’s bullshit.”

“And you’re actually blocking your pain,” he said.

Surprise made me jolt. “Really?” A grin spread across my lips. “Finally.”

His stare hardened. “Only you would smile at that.” He looked away. “Where’s Kieran—? Damn it.” His gaze returned to mine as he remembered he’d sent Kieran away. “We’re heading back—”

“No, we’re not. The pain is already fading.” I glanced down at my arm, seeing that the wound had already stopped bleeding. “It’s healing. I’m fine.”

“Poppy—” Casteel frowned as he did a double take. “What the…?”

I turned, following his gaze. An elderly grul was…twisted around, its lifeless eyes meeting mine. Its head cocked. I stalked forward, twirling the sword—

“Where do you think it’s going?” Casteel drawled, dropping my arm.

I frowned as the grul climbed the trellis on a home. “That’s the one that bit me.”

We watched as the grul reached the top and pulled itself onto the slightly pitched roof. It scrambled across the tiles on all fours like…some sort of mortal spider.

Mortal spider?

Why in all the realms would I think that? Because now, all I could think about was a hairy mortal with eight legs—

The grul reached the peak of the roof and threw its head back, letting out an ear-piercing screech. Both Casteel and I jerked at the sound as it echoed and then splintered into a thin, chittering noise that lifted the hairs on the nape of my neck.

Up and down the street, the gruls stopped in mid-run and lifted blood-smeared faces. They slowly turned…toward us.

“Uh,” I murmured.

Glass shattered across the street, spraying into the air as a grul crashed through the window, landing in a messy sprawl of limbs. The repeated sound of breaking glass echoed down the street. The gruls stood, pieces of glass falling from the clothing they had died in, their heads turning toward us.

“I think we can assume that was some sort of call,” Casteel remarked. “How’s the arm?”

“Barely hurts.”

He nodded quickly. “Good. There are about twenty of them.” His stance widened. “And you’re behind.”

Before I could respond to that or point out the strangeness of them all focusing on us, the gruls surged forward in unison.

“Ready yourself,” Casteel murmured, lifting his sword.

There was no time to think. The first grul lunged, its jaws snapping inches from Casteel’s face.

He twisted, bringing the sword up in a quick, brutal arc.

Bloodstone cut through flesh and bone, severing the grul ’s head so quickly it barely made any noise.

The body fell forward as another took its place, going straight for Casteel.

I snapped forward as one of the gruls broke off, running straight at me. Its mouth wasn’t doing that gruesome chomping-at-air thing. Instead, it’d stretched out its arms as if reaching for me.

Dipping under one, I sprang up behind the grul and pierced the back of its skull. I spun as another lurched toward Casteel. I could’ve tapped into the eather, but it felt…good to swing the sword—as disturbing as that sounded. I imagined that was why Casteel hadn’t summoned his.

My blade cut through the grul ’s head before it reached Casteel, his sword glinting in a sliver of moonlight as he dropped low and swung out a leg, a grul stumbling behind him, its teeth gnashing. I jumped over a body, stabbing the grul through its open mouth. My lip curled as gore sprayed.

Popping up, Casteel skewered another grul . “That’s number four.” He jerked his sword free. “Which makes it nineteen.”

“Shut up,” I snapped, spinning as a grul reached for me.

“Don’t be mad.” Casteel rammed his sword through a grul’s skull. “Maybe next time.” He shook the gore from his blade before flashing me a grin. “Is it wrong of me to take this moment to remind you how incredibly arousing I find your sword skills?”

“Probably,” I replied, feeling my cheeks warm. “So, you should keep that to yourself.”

Casteel smirked. “No promises.”

Shaking my head, I sidestepped a grul and twisted, jabbing up with my sword.

The blade impaled the grul under its chin as Casteel rolled his shoulders and spun on a grul.

Another lunged from the left, grasping my arm.

Unlike the older one, it didn’t attempt to bite, opting instead to pull with shocking strength—because this grul barely reached my waist.

My boots skidded over stone until I dug in my heels.

“Gods, this feels wrong,” I muttered, swiping down with my sword to cleave off an arm.

The grul didn’t even make a sound as it reached for me with its other arm.

Turning to the side, I drew back my leg and kicked out, slamming my boot into its chest and knocking it back several feet.

Casteel turned, his gaze flickering from the pint-sized grul to me before plunging his sword into the grul ’s neck.

I felt something yank the side of my robe before a hand clamped down on my arm. Tearing myself free, I swung the sword, getting it across the neck as the clouds thickened overhead.

That screeching sound came again, jerking my attention to the roof. The older grul was still up there.

As I pressed my lips together, the shriek ended in that eerie chattering sound again.

I stepped back, wiping something wet from my face that I refused to think about.

My gaze flicked to the street as the sound of glass shattering pierced the growls.

Several more gruls joined, about eight or nine more running out from between the homes.

Unless they were multiplying, there were definitely more than we had originally thought.

Something wasn’t right.

The gruls went at Casteel, the intent of their snapping jaws clear: They wanted his flesh. But they weren’t doing that to me.

“Behind you!” Casteel shouted.

I turned just as a grul lunged for my back. Before it could reach me, Casteel’s sword punched through its skull from behind.

“Are you noticing anything strange?” I asked, the sound of pounding feet echoing down the street.

“If them trying to eat me,” he said, kicking a limp body aside, “while getting handsy with you is what you’re referencing?” His jaw flexed, and he slashed upward as Delano darted behind the grul , leaping on another stalking toward me. “Then, yes.”

Casteel grunted and drove his sword through a snarling grul before wrenching the blade free. “I don’t like this.”

Naill appeared, hacking through bone. Emil was with him, his sword slicing through the night sky. I caught flashes of gold armor as I spun at the sound of Delano’s yelp. My heart lodged in my throat as the grul grabbed fistfuls of his fur.

“Delano!” Perry shouted over the snarls.

Eather built inside me. This time, when I moved, I knew how fast I was going.

I reached the grul before Perry could, grasped the back of its gown, and yanked it off Delano as I shoved the blade through the back of its skull. Tossing it aside, I reached out to Delano through the notam . You okay?

Yes. Delano rose and shook his head. It didn’t get me.

A grul rushed at me as another went at Perry. The growl that came from Delano almost made me think twice about placing my face near his as I drew my sword back.

“What in the fuck?” Emil spat, his head tilting back.

The elderly grul had jumped from the roof.

I swore I heard snapping bones, but through the falling bodies, and the mist of blackish blood, I saw her rise.

A hand clamped down on my arm. Shock flooded me as the grul twisted my wrist. That was the main reason my hand opened, and I dropped the sword.

Outside of grabbing me, the gruls had seemed mindless, but that was a very precise act.

My wide eyes lifted to the male grul . Deep wrinkles creased the skin at the corners of his eyes and across his forehead, and I saw it again. A quick flash in the milky-white eyes—

Something glinting .

Inhaling sharply, I barely felt myself as I pulled on the essence.

It rose swiftly, flooding my veins and turning my vision silver.

Swirls of silver appeared on my hand, quickly followed by shadows.

The essence spread, crackling and spitting.

It rolled out from me as I saw Casteel spin, then washed over the two gruls .

Flesh sizzled as eather lit up the gruls ’ veins.

They collapsed into ash.

Breathing heavily, I stepped back and dipped, reaching for my sword as the essence settled.

“Poppy!” Naill shouted. “Behind you!”

I whirled, finding the elderly grul . My gaze rose from the bones that jutted out beneath the hem of her sleeping gown to eyes that locked with mine.

There it was again. That quick flicker of light behind the pupils of her milky-white eyes.

Realization slammed into me. I’d seen that gleam before.

In the Duke’s eyes. I’d seen it in other Ascended.

I had once believed it was just part of who they were, but I knew better now.

I knew that when I saw that glint, I wasn’t looking into the eyes of the Duke, Mazeen, or the Duchess.

I wasn’t looking into the mindless eyes of a grul right now. I was staring into his eyes.

Kolis.

Anger swept through me as something else—something darker and deeper, more bitter and burning—choked me.

The grul smiled, its teeth smeared with blood. I rose slowly, and it mirrored me as I saw Casteel stalking toward us, his sword at his side, dripping blood.

“ So’lis .” The grul ’s laugh was dry and brittle like its bones. “I’ll be seeing you soon.”