Page 164 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

Valyn sat on a stone bench and dropped his arms onto his thighs, staring at where his hands dangled between his knees.

“Does anyone want to tell me why we’re out here?” Casteel asked, crossing his arms.

“Your father has something he wants to share,” I suggested.

“He does?” Casteel arched a brow and stared down at his father’s bowed head.

My eyes narrowed on Valyn. He’d better .

Lifting his gaze to mine, Valyn cleared his throat. “I don’t know where to start.”

Casteel stiffened, and Kieran stepped forward, his gaze fixed on him.

I could easily think of where. “You’re not Atlantian.”

“What the fuck?” whispered Casteel, and I inched closer, letting my shoulder rest against his.

“I am Atlantian,” Valyn said, glancing at his son. He looked like he’d aged years in the time it took for us to come out here.

“I can sense the eather in you, Valyn.” I had my suspicions regarding what he was, especially with Setti, and where the bloodsteed had been discovered. And, of course, with what Seraphena had mentioned. “You are not just an Atlantian. And I’m betting it has something to do with Attes.”

Valyn turned his head slightly at the name. “I’m half-Atlantian. My mother was an Elemental, and…”

“Your father?” It was almost as if he couldn’t say it.

“Was— is —a god,” he admitted. Casteel’s body was so taut he practically vibrated with the tension. “My father went to sleep when the rest of the gods did.” Exhaling heavily, he reached back to rub his neck. “I imagine he’s awake now. Likely in…Vathi.”

“Your father?” I shifted my weight as the air hummed with the rise of eather. A breeze picked up, stirring the jacarandas’ limbs.

He nodded. “He’s Attes’s son.”

Casteel looked at me, and I let out a long breath and nodded. “Fucking gods,” he muttered, unfolding his arms to shove the hair back from his eyes. “Attes is my great-grandfather?”

“He is,” Valyn said, his gaze searching his son’s face.

“And exactly who is your father?” Casteel demanded as I leaned into his side.

I ignored the faint charge of energy that danced from his body to mine.

After a moment, the contact seemed to help him.

Some of the tension faded from his body.

“Since I’m guessing it wasn’t the man you claimed died when you were a boy. ”

Valyn took a deep breath. “Elian.”

“That’s…” Casteel trailed off, shaking his head as my suspicions were confirmed. The history I’d heard was that Elian was an ancestor, perhaps a great-grandfather, and King of Atlantia at some point before Valyn. And I didn’t think anything Casteel had been told disputed that.

“I know you probably think this is just another lie—”

“If it isn’t that,” he interrupted his father, “what would you call it?”

“I’d call it something I was warned to never speak of,” Valyn replied. “Not even your mother knows.”

That surprised me. Clearly, Casteel was shocked, too, because he went silent. Then, so did his father. I glanced at Kieran. His face was blank, but I assumed he was just as shocked.

“Why don’t you tell us what you are?” I said, ending the tense silence.

“You’re not a godling.” That was the result of a mortal and a god, and obviously something that hadn’t happened in many years.

The vadentia was silent on what happened when it came to a god—who was apparently only two generations removed from the Ancients—and an Elemental Atlantian.

“No. I’m a…demigod,” he muttered, dropping his hand as he looked up. “Not a demis or a deity. Just a demigod.”

“ Just a…?” A short laugh escaped Casteel. “Can you harness the essence?”

“I’ve remained in the mortal realm far too long for that. I have more in me than a normal Elemental, but I can’t summon it.” He looked away from Casteel with a heavy sigh. “Not like you can.”

Slowly, it all clicked. “You weren’t born in the mortal realm.”

“No, my father took my mother back to Iliseeum before she gave birth.”

My brows knitted as I turned sideways. “Why would he have done that, knowing it would weaken you?”

“I can’t answer that, Penellaphe. My father rarely spoke of it or how any of it came about.” He cleared his throat and straightened. “He wanted to pretend he was just an Elemental—and he pulled it off somehow.”

I watched the pink blossoms sway behind Kieran’s still form. “Magic,” I whispered, my neck tingling. Powerful, old magic. “Was it because of the war with the deities?”

“I used to think so.” Valyn squinted as he stared at the statue. “But he was hiding what he was before the war. Again, it wasn’t something he talked about, and I knew not to bring it up.”

“Why?” Casteel bit out the word.

“Apparently, my grandfather had…” He dragged his hand over the stubble on his jaw.

“All I was ever told was that Attes angered the Fates by messing with the threads of his bloodline. I’m not sure exactly why that would do such a thing, but I know damn well I wasn’t the first demigod. I might not even be the last.”

I mouthed threads of their bloodline . I supposed that made sense if Attes wasn’t supposed to reproduce. But why would that be the case? Why would the Fate’s—

And the second daughter, with blood full of ash and ice…

The prophecy.

Blood full of ash and ice. What did that mean? My thoughts raced. From blood and ash… Ash could mean ruin. Destruction. Their kingdom rose from blood and ruin. But ice? I wasn’t sure. The answer felt like it was right in front of my face, but I couldn’t see it.

I held my arms tighter to my chest. “And that was all?”

“Besides that, and Elian warning me to keep my bloodline to myself, yes.” His eyes met mine—eyes so much like his sons’.

Like Attes’s. My chest squeezed as he said, “And that’s the truth, Casteel.

Shit.” He dropped his hands to his knees and rubbed them.

“Just talking about it has me half-expecting the Arae to appear.”

If they did, they would have me to contend with. And right now, I doubted they wanted to test how that would pan out. “I think they know better.”

Valyn frowned.

I quickly moved on. “I kept thinking there had to be something up with your bloodline—why the essence seemed to be…stronger in you than in Kieran,” I told Casteel as I glanced somewhat apologetically toward Kieran, who returned my look with the enthusiasm of a rock. “Like how you can shift already.”

Valyn’s brows went up as Casteel cut his stare to me.

“And then there is Setti.” I stopped to look at Valyn.

He leaned back on the bench, reminding me of Malik when he’d taken the paperweight.

“You do know what Setti is, right?” I asked.

“I do—and no, I don’t know how or when he ended up on my father’s estate. Or why.”

Casteel said nothing to that as he crossed his arms once more.

Something occurred to me. “Can other gods sense you?”

“I think they may sense something. Like I feel different than other Elementals. But not that I’m a demigod,” he said, glancing back at Cas and then me. “Why couldn’t he sense it?” Then his gaze snapped to the trees. “Or Kieran, for that matter?”

“Good question.” Casteel’s expectant gaze turned to me. “And don’t say it’s because you’re special.”

I snapped my mouth shut. Damn it. “I don’t know why neither you nor Kieran felt it. It probably has to do with me being a Primal of Life and Death.” Another thing occurred to me. “And I guess the draken never sensed it either…or just failed to mention they sensed all that essence in you.”

Casteel snorted. “How likely is it that it’s option two?”

Highly.

My thoughts jumped from one thing to the next, landing on what I’d thought when I held the Ancient bone I’d found in the chest.

What Casteel had been stabbed with.

That had …killed him.

I took a step back and glanced toward the castle.

Oh, gods… My chest squeezed painfully. A Revenant wielding a bone dagger couldn’t kill a Primal, but used against a fledgling Primal, a god, demigod, or anything else in between?

Yes, it could, but I…I had brought him back, even while in stasis.

That was the power of the Joining and… The nape of my neck tingled faintly.

It was also the power of the essence in him. His bloodline.

“Who is your grandmother?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I never met her.”

Frustration burned through me. “And you’re sure she was an Elemental?”

“She has to be. I’m not a full-blooded god or deity.”

He was right, but…

I resisted the urge to turn and kick the statue as I felt Casteel’s stare on me. “I wonder how forthcoming Attes will be.”

Valyn didn’t respond.

“You need to tell Malik. And you should do it soon,” Casteel stated. “Preferably before Attes gets here.”

“I will.” Valyn met Casteel’s gaze. “I know this probably seems like another lie to you, but—”

“It is a lie,” he cut in. I stiffened before wedging my arm between his and the side he had it tightly pressed against. Turning my head, I kissed his biceps. “But,” he added with a heavy breath, “I get it.”

Surprise widened Valyn’s eyes, and he seemed about to speak but didn’t.

Casteel cleared his throat and turned to me. Our eyes met, but I couldn’t read a thing in them as I felt his presence brush against my thoughts. I’ll meet you back in the Solar.

I nodded and reluctantly slipped my arm free. He lowered his head and softly brushed his mouth against mine. I drew my still-tingling lip between my teeth as I watched him stiffly turn and leave the way we’d come, silently brushing past Kieran.

My eyes met Kieran’s, and without having to say a word, he gave me a curt nod and pivoted, following Casteel. Folding my arms across my waist, I stared at the empty pathway while worry for him settled in.

“He says he gets it,” Valyn said, drawing my gaze back to him. “But if I hadn’t destroyed our relationship by keeping the truth about Isbeth from him, I fear I have done so now.”

“I…think he just needs some time to process everything.” After all, that was what I needed after learning about Sotoria. It was why I hadn’t followed him despite badly wanting to.