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

CASTEEL

“You want to tell me what I’m about to ride into?” I asked Emil.

“Something very odd.”

His tone drew my attention. It was off. “How many dead do we have on our hands?”

“Right now?” Guiding his horse closer to mine as the street narrowed, he exhaled deeply. “About a dozen. Six in one home. Three in another.” He paused. “Four in a third. But there could be more. I left with Hisa while they checked the last known Ascended’s residences.”

I took that information in. For there to be anything left of the Ascended to count meant whoever had done this hadn’t used bloodstone.

When an Ascended was taken out with that, it left absolutely nothing behind.

But that wasn’t the only way to kill an Ascended.

Destroying the heart, removing their head, and throwing their asses out into the sun would take care of them, too.

But those methods left something behind, even if it was just a patch of scorched ground and charred bone.

I glanced at Emil. He was entirely too quiet. “You know,” I said, scratching at the stubble on my chin, “I think this is the longest I’ve gone without threatening you.”

Emil’s head cocked as he squinted at the night sky. “Is it?”

It was. Which was a good indicator of exactly how uneasy Emil was about what he was leading me to.

“Cas?”

I glanced back at him, my brows raised.

“I don’t think I’ve told you this,” he began, his amber gaze sliding to mine, “but Poppy looks just as ravishing in armor as she does in her sleeping gown.”

“Fucking gods,” I muttered. “You really don’t have any sense of self-preservation, do you?”

He chuckled. “According to Netta, no.”

My brows rose at the mention of Kieran’s sister. “Kieran is going to neuter you.”

“Nah.” He grinned. “That would upset Netta.”

Lips twitching, I shook my head and stroked my hand down Setti’s black mane. The damn horse snorted through his nostrils and flicked his head. Clearly, he was still annoyed with the lack of attention I’d given him over the last week or so.

The grandeur of the Luxe became clear the moment we entered.

The roads were wider—vast enough for carriages to pass one another—and lit by lamps that cast a bright yellow glow onto the clean, smooth stone sidewalks lined with large pots overflowing with flowers.

Lawns and carriageways in front of two- and three-story homes were near replicas of one another, all painted in varying shades of cream and ivory and brightly lit from within.

They had spacious, walled courtyards in the back, too.

Wealthy mortals and the Ascended lived like Kings compared to the rest of the capital, where luxuries like open spaces, electricity, and clean, running water weren’t even a consideration, let alone affordable.

Even Stonehill paled in comparison. But the districts of Croft’s Cross and Lowertown, where most of those within Carsodonia lived in dilapidated homes and overcrowded apartments overflowing with disease and hopelessness, felt like they existed in a different realm altogether compared to the luxurious Garden District and its most elite neighborhoods.

I expected nothing less from the Ascended.

But how could mortals live like this while others had so little?

Perhaps it was because they believed they were different.

Better. Blessed . More deserving than others.

In reality, even with their fancy homes and fat coin purses, they were nothing more than cattle to the Ascended.

Movement caught my attention, pulling me from my thoughts. I spotted a blackish-gray wolven ahead, blending into the sweetly scented shadows. And then I saw the armor and sword glinting under the moonlight.

Guards cloaked in white mantles embossed with gold Atlantian Crests stood watch along the lane, mostly placed before homes inhabited by the Ascended. Those at the entrances inclined their heads as we passed. Sage joined us.

I felt the shift in the air immediately.

It was heavier, pressing down with the weight of a blanket made of stones, and there was a chill in the air that hadn’t been there moments before. Those weren’t the only differences, though.

The street was dark as if no power ran to the streetlamps, but I could see that several homes—almost all —were lit from within.

“We’re here,” Emil announced. “Well, we’re at the first home.”

To our right, I spotted the tall figure of Naill La’Crox. Gods, when had I seen him last? The battle at the Bone Temple? I slowed Setti as the Elemental Atlantian broke away from the group and approached.

“I was surprised when Hisa said you were right behind her,” Naill said, glancing at Emil. “You two took him away from our Queen?”

One side of my lips quirked up as I drew Setti to a stop. I approved of where Naill’s thoughts had gone.

“Kieran and Hisa believed he needed to see this,” Emil answered, bringing his horse to a halt. “And I agreed.”

“She’s not alone,” I assured Naill as I swung a leg over the saddle, landing beside a large urn that appeared empty except for dirt. “Kieran and Delano are with her.”

As I turned to face the Atlantian, he jerked to a stop, his eyes widening. Since everyone who saw me had about the same reaction, I knew he’d noticed the brighter eather in my eyes. He glanced at Emil, who lifted a shoulder.

Stepping forward, I clapped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Show me what has happened here.”

The grass crunched under our feet as Naill led us across the lawn and circular carriageway. Unease was etched into his rich-brown features. “What do you know so far?”

“That we have dead Ascended on our hands,” I answered, looking up at the large, two-story stucco home painted a pale cream.

There weren’t many windows—only two on the first floor, framing the entryway, and the same above, set next to the door that led to the balcony.

A soft, buttery light from either a candle or a gas lamp filled the panes. “Not how or why.”

“How they died will seem obvious,” Naill said as Sage brushed past him, her shoulders damn near reaching his hips. He gave her a brief smile that didn’t reach his golden eyes, then faced the house. “Hisa went inside this one.”

As we walked onto the veranda, I immediately noticed that something had blown the bulbs inside the wrought-iron sconces on either side of the double doors.

Glancing down the street once more, I saw verandas lit by the soft glow of entry lights. Except for the one right next door and another across the street.

Naill walked ahead of me, opening one side of the doors to a wide foyer. My gaze flickered around. A gas lantern had been placed on a nearby table by a settee. A rounded doorway to our left led to what I suspected was a sitting room. Halls were on either side of the two marble staircases.

“Careful, Sage,” Naill advised, striding toward another door in the middle of the staircase wall. “There’s glass.”

Lowering the hood of my cloak, I looked up. A golden chandelier hung from the pitched ceiling, each arm containing nothing but the edges of shattered glass globes.

“They’re downstairs,” Naill said. “You’d think having only four windows in the entire damn house, they wouldn’t go underground.”

“I suppose living so close to mortals has—or had —them paranoid,” Emil remarked. “It’s a lot harder to pull their asses from their underground chambers and into the sun.”

Naill snorted as he opened the door. A sweet yet stale scent immediately hit me.

Sage halted just inside the foyer, her hackles rising and her upper lip peeling back.

“You okay?” I asked her, tasting her unease.

The wolven nodded but didn’t follow Naill. As I entered the dark stairwell, I looked back to see her pacing in front of the front doors, her ears pinned flat.

That was noticeably odd behavior for a wolven.

“So,” Naill said from in front of me, “the eyes.”

“Yeah?” Glass crunched under my boots as I descended the steps.

“I noticed Kieran’s are different, too.”

“We think it’s because of the Joining. Not sure what it means, though.” My gaze rose, finding another blown sconce in the darkness. “Is every light in the house like this?”

“Yes,” Emil said from behind me. “And it’s the same way in the other two homes.”

“They all look like they exploded,” Naill added, reaching the bottom of the stairs. “Which is only one of the many odd things you will see.”

At the landing, Naill turned left. The hall was short, with heavy, reinforced doors opened to a chamber lit by candlelight at the end. Hisa appeared in the doorway, her long, dark braid lying over one side of her armored breastplate.

“We left everything as we found it—found them ,” she informed me.

The stale scent got worse as I entered the dimly lit chamber. My vision adjusted quickly, and I took in what appeared to be a common area with several thickly cushioned chairs and two long, deep-seated couches.

One of the chairs was occupied. A head rested against the back, its short, wavy brown hair ruffled by the churning ceiling fans.

“We found two in here during our evening patrols,” Hisa explained as I walked forward. Each Ascended’s home was checked in the morning and at night to make sure they were where they were supposed to be. “There are two more in one of the bedchambers down here and another in the other.”

Rounding the chair, I looked down. A man was seated, one leg crossed over the other, pale hands resting in the lap of his trousers.

Next to him, a woman lay on her side on the floor, her long, golden hair splayed across the thick, gray carpet.

My attention returned to the man. His clothing wasn’t wrinkled, nor were there signs of a struggle. My gaze lifted to his face.

I stiffened.

He appeared to be in his third decade of life or so, even though he could’ve been dozens of years older—if not hundreds. But his skin was like an elderly mortal’s: paper-thin, stretched taut over bone, and a ghastly shade of white—too pale for even an Ascended.