Page 56 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

I pressed my hand to my churning stomach, my gaze landing on a brown-skinned woman with honey-colored hair cut close to the skull. She wasn’t speaking as she eyed a device in her hand, but the male’s voice became louder as she drew closer.

“…with the limited warning to allow for effective evacuation, we’re looking at tens of thousands—possibly over a hundred thousand—casualties.”

Pressure clamped down on my chest. Over a hundred thousand deaths? That had to be what I’d felt. But that event clearly wasn’t here. So, why had I been drawn here?

The woman looked up, her brows rising the moment she saw me. Thick, dark lashes fluttered once and then twice as she stared.

I glanced down at myself, realizing I wore only the gown I’d been sleeping in. It was highly inappropriate to be seen in public dressed as I was—even in Atlantia, where the attire wasn’t as modest as it was in Solis.

But I could see the belly of a woman running past us—though I had no idea what she was running from—including her navel and a good portion of her breasts. So, why did this one look at me so strangely?

The woman pressed something on what she held, and the male voice cut off as her steps slowed. I felt her concern before I tasted it, which caught me off guard. I couldn’t even say exactly how I knew. I just looked at her and knew she was worried.

“Are you all right?” she asked in that strange, clipped manner that made ‘all right’ sound like the l and r were missing.

I nodded as a breeze lifted the shorter strands of my hair, tossing them across my face. My gaze was drawn to the golden hoops dangling from her ears.

She frowned slightly. “You sure?” she asked, unease radiating from her. I didn’t think it was my scars that made her uncomfortable. “Do you need help—?” She gasped, looking down at the exact moment I felt the tremor beneath us. “What in the hell?”

The essence suddenly pulsed, causing my heart to lurch as I did the same as she had and looked down. The land felt like it vibrated. I could feel something…stirring.

“You felt that?” she asked, and I nodded. Looking up, she glanced behind me. “Maybe it’s a truck. A very large one. They do that sometimes.”

Having no idea what a truck was, I scanned the park. Others had stopped, too. They stared at the river.

I walked forward, the sun breaking free from behind a cloud. Despite it warming my skin, tiny bumps erupted over my flesh. Those strange ships in the river swayed, emitting that trumpeting sound again as the dark water rippled and sloshed. Unease flowed from those gathered by the river.

“Oh, my god,” the woman rasped from behind me. “It’s an—”

“Earthquake,” someone shrieked.

What happened next was pure chaos. People in the park scattered, running in opposite directions and then veering back as the low rumble built. The jarring sounds of metal clanking and creaking reverberated around us as the towering, imposing structures started to sway.

I felt the fear before I tasted its bitterness. It was that strong. I stumbled back as terror came at me in waves.

As tumultuous water rocked the vessels, lifting their bows, people began screaming.

The sounds of screeching and snapping tore through the air as the metal boxes with wheels slipped free and plunged into the water.

My gaze flew to the people on the top level.

They clamored toward the railings, holding on.

I had to do something.

I wasn’t sure exactly what as I walked forward. I hadn’t used the eather in this manner before, but if I could tear down stone walls with it, I could surely use it to stop a ship from capsizing.

“Where you going?” The woman whirled, grabbing for my arm. “Come on, we need to get—”

A deafening series of screeches and squawks whipped our heads up in alarm. A massive flock of birds erupted from the roofs of nearby structures, filling the sky with a frenzy of frantic flapping and piercing cries.

A deep, ominous rumbling quickly grew into a thunderous roar as a section of the ground to our left rolled and buckled, leaving a trail of unsettled earth and plumes of dirt and rock in its path.

This was no earthquake.

The moment whatever was in that ground hit the river, the water rose sharply and then sank with a loud groan and splash as it carved a path toward the statue and out beyond it.

In the distance, a large segment of earth rose from the riverbed, sealing off our section.

Water spilled over the uneven edges and then rushed back.

Air blasted from the water, propelling chunks of earth and jagged rock into the sky as a wide stream of water shot up.

Dust billowed out in thick clouds, and for a brief moment, the debris hung suspended, silhouetted against the sky.

Terror surged from those around me, coating my skin in its icy heat.

For several heartbeats, I couldn’t move—couldn’t even think.

High-pitched screams jolted me. The massive pieces of land and rubble that had shot into the sky returned, falling in every direction. Rock slammed into the structures’ steel sides and crashed through windows, pushing desks, chairs, and—

Oh, my gods.

People.

Tingling heat gathered in my arms and hands, and my chest pulsed with sharp, quick bursts of agony again and again—so many times I couldn’t even begin to keep track as they hit the hard ground below.

I knew I wasn’t just feeling their pain.

I was sensing their deaths, feeling the very moment their souls left their bodies.

Without conscious thought, I started toward the buildings, knowing I could—

A large shard of rock sliced through the arm of the statue that had held the torch high. It, too, fell, the impact sending a wave of water shooting upward right before something blotted out the sun.

The woman beside me screamed and dropped to her knees. She threw her arms up, shielding her head as a chunk of land, larger than the park I stood in, plummeted toward us.

A rush of icy-hot power flooded my veins, and it felt old .

Endless. All-consuming. A metallic taste gathered in my mouth as the essence pouring through me took over, shutting off my connection to the frenzied emotions around me.

The essence responded at the very moment my will formed in my mind.

There was no delay. Not even a second. Silver strands of eather appeared along the slab of earth, creating a web instead of spreading from my fingers.

But it wasn’t just silver. Like what I’d seen beneath my skin earlier, it was a twisting kaleidoscope of gold and silver laced with shadows.

The rock shattered into a fine, glittering dust.

My gaze quickly swept the sky, finding the remaining fragments that had yet to strike. The essence pulsed inside me, and those pieces, too, evaporated.

“Holy shit,” the woman gasped, drawing my attention to her. She peeked through her bent arms, her brown eyes wide. “Are you, like, a superhero or something?”

I lowered my hand. “Superhero?” I asked. I thought I’d spoken the word normally, but it didn’t sound that way to my ears.

Or to hers.

Because she fell back on her ass, her arms dropping. She stared up at me in shock, and I knew she’d heard the eather in my voice. It sounded like shadows, ice, and fire—

A shiver of awareness tiptoed up my spine, sending a wave of tingles across the nape of my neck.

My skin prickled as eather suddenly rushed to my skin.

The corners of my vision filled with silver, and the air around me charged.

Shadows pressed against my skin, swirling with traces of gold and silver.

Something was coming.

And it was her .

I felt her in every fiber of my being—warm and summery. The One who was born of Blood and Ash, the Light in the Fire, and the Brightest Moon. The true Primal of Life. The Queen.

And my… grandmother .

I inhaled sharply, catching a scent that reminded me of spring—renewal.

Then, as quickly as I sensed her, something seemed to pull her presence back, taking the warmth with it.

But the presence of another intensified as the entire river started to writhe in a frantic dance. Suddenly, the water level dropped as if the river’s floor had vanished. I jerked back as the force of its descent created a loud, hollow sound, and the water and everything in it was pulled downward.

As the awareness of another grew stronger, I turned my attention to the ships now spinning sideways; one of them quickly pulled down as the entire river seemed to fall away.

The sound of screams being cut off, swallowed by the water, would haunt me until my last breath.

I should’ve saved them. That was why I’d come.

But I’d wasted time. Only one ship remained, and anger at myself rose.

I latched onto the fury, stalking forward as my will formed.

A surge of eather left me, causing the air to crackle and fill with the scent of burnt ozone.

Strands of silver twined with gold burst forth from my outstretched hands, swirling over the ruined ground and the sinking water.

As tendrils of essence wrapped around the ship, I drew my arms up and back in one swift motion, lifting the vessel from the water and returning it to solid ground.

It crashed onto the land with a resounding thud, causing dirt and grass to fly up in every direction.

The ship mowed down a row of what appeared to be lampposts as it stopped atop a stretch of yellow-streaked gray cement.

I turned back to the river, summoning the eather again. A shiver of awareness swept across my body, raising the tiny hairs on my arms as the ship started to topple sideways.

“It’s too late.”