Page 64 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

“But you went for so long never being allowed to vocalize any question, no matter how innocent or simple,” the Ancient noted as if I hadn’t spoken. My gaze flew back to his. “Didn’t you?”

“Yes.” Tension crept into my muscles. “And it is…unsettling that you know that.”

“If you think that is unsettling, then I probably shouldn’t tell you what else I know about you.”

My eyes widened at his back.

“Perhaps your history of not being allowed to ask questions is why you do so now. In a way, it has become a comfort for you,” he said, and a beat of silence passed. “You may not be the reigning true Primal of Life, but you would’ve Ascended with some level of vadentia .”

Like when the Ancient spoke in the old language before, the words somehow translated into something I could understand. “Foresight.”

The Ancient nodded. “Though it’s possible the vadentia may not be fully in place since your Ascension wasn’t exactly normal, came in stages, and was interrupted.” He tilted his head. “Perhaps it will not develop as expected.”

Driven by the need to prove that what had happened with Casteel had no impact on my Ascension, I forced myself to think about what shadowstepping could mean.

Suddenly, from all the thoughts circling in my head, some of them came to the forefront.

“It’s using the eather to…will oneself to their destination.

” All one had to do was think of where they wanted to be and then go there.

Sounded far too simple, but I knew that was all it took. “Primals and gods can do it.”

“Can gods shadowstep like the Primals?”

“No,” I said, my brows knitting as I repeated what I saw.

No, what I heard. It was like recalling knowledge from something I’d read.

Or almost as if I’d always known what shadowstepping was.

“Gods cannot travel great distances or use it to…cross realms. They can do shorter distances and move faster than one can track—” Understanding dawned.

“That’s how Atlantians have always been able to move so quickly. Because of the eather they carry.”

He nodded. “They don’t move fast enough for it to be called that, but yes, that is why. To shadowstep farther is different.”

“Opening a realm.”

“Correct,” he confirmed.

To me, they seemed like two very different things, but whatever. “So, I have this vadentia .”

“It appears you do, at least to some extent.”

I ignored the to-some-extent part and focused on the fact that I should know how to defeat Kolis now that I had this foresight.

Concentrating, I waited for the answers to come, but there was nothing.

“If you’re asking yourself how to defeat Kolis, you will not find the answers within yourself. At least, not that way.”

My heart skipped. “Can you read minds?”

“I can only assume that is what you’re doing since you asked me that question,” Lirian explained. “ Vadentia has its limits, even for those whose foresight doesn’t appear to be…lacking.”

My eyes narrowed on him.

“It will not tell you anything that involves you or has to do with the future.”

“Well, that’s…incredibly irritating.” Not only that, but it didn’t really seem like foresight to me if it didn’t tell me the future.

“You would not be the first to say that, but I digress.” He tilted his head.

Sunlight glanced off the blond waves that brushed his temple, turning them golden.

“Back to your husband. The threat of him being able to shadowstep should’ve been nonexistent.

However, the Joining has had some…unexpected side effects.

If he had crossed the Veil…? The stars help us.

We could’ve ended up with both of you and Seraphena where none of you belonged. ”

My breath snagged. “I knew I felt her.”

“Seraphena felt the pull, just as you did,” he said. “She tried to cross the Veil, but Holland managed to stop her.”

I drew my lower lip between my teeth and immediately regretted it when I nicked it with a fang. “You said Casteel was prevented. How?”

“A Fate is currently keeping him company until your return,” he explained.

I glanced down at the golden swirl on my hand.

It shimmered brightly in the sunlight, reminding me that he was very much alive.

However, that didn’t mean Cas was going along with his company .

My gaze lifted to Lirian’s back. “If he has been harmed in any way, I will destroy anyone who had even the tiniest bit to do with it.”

“Even if doing so places the realm at risk?”

“You should know the answer to that.”

“Enlighten me.”

My nostrils flared. “Yes.”

“Liar.”

“ Fuck .” I gasped at the voice that came from behind me. Spinning around, I found the stranger from before standing there. Holland. “Why do you all keep doing that?”

“Doing what?” Holland questioned.

“Appearing out of thin air!”

“Because we can,” Lirian answered.

“Oh, my gods,” I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this to you all, but just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.”

“I also can’t believe you said that,” Lirian commented, his tone as dry as the Wastelands of the east.

“I apologize for startling you. I wouldn’t have come this way, but I was in a hurry.” Holland’s swirling eyes drifted to the Ancient behind me. “I would’ve been here earlier.” The marks on his jaw seemed to throb. “But I was delayed .”

Lirian huffed and turned.

“I was unaware you would be greeting my guest.” Holland crossed his arms over his light-gray tunic. “There was no reason to.”

“And there was no reason not to.”

Holland’s chin dipped as he eyed the other Ancient’s back. “I disagree.”

“Do you?” Lirian replied.

Were these two seriously about to start arguing?

Holland clearly wasn’t happy about Lirian being here, which was odd.

But at the moment, I didn’t really care about whatever happened to be going on between them or who they were.

I lifted a hand and snapped my fingers, interrupting Holland as he opened his mouth. “Hello?”

The colors slowed in his eyes as they met mine. I probably shouldn’t have snapped my fingers like that. Not only were they Fates—actual Ancients—but I had several draken-sized bones to pick with Holland. “You just burst up in here and accused me of lying as if you know me.”

“You weren’t telling a total lie. More like a half-truth,” he clarified. “And need I remind you of the promise you had the wolven make?” Holland interrupted. “To put you in the ground if you lost control?”

The air fled my lungs. I didn’t need to be reminded of that. I also didn’t need to be reminded of exactly how much they knew.

“You could’ve already set fire to the mortal realm, using the draken to burn through every city between you and him to free him,” Holland continued after a moment.

“That is what you wanted to do, but it’s not the course of action you took.

Not because you weren’t afraid enough for his well-being or because you didn’t love him enough.

You didn’t lay waste to cities because you knew that doing so would end in countless innocents’ deaths. ”

I snapped my mouth shut.

The essence brightened in his eyes. “Vikter was right.”

“About what?”

Holland smiled faintly, causing the deep-brown skin at his eyes to crinkle. “He once told me you weren’t as reckless as her.”

My throat constricted as I jerked back a step.

“Seraphena, that is,” he said quietly.

I exhaled a short breath. I’d thought he had been talking about…the other her. “Oh.”

“She has…knee-jerk reactions when it comes to her temper. A hair trigger,” Holland explained. “She would’ve burned the whole realm. But you would not, and that is a good thing. You will never know the horrors of the devastation giving in to your anger can inflict.”

I thought about Lord Mazeen and the guards on the Oak Ambler Rise and about how I felt less mortal each day. “I don’t know about that.”

“Not on the scale that she’s painfully familiar with,” he said quietly, and my gaze flew to his. “But Casteel? He would burn through the realms for you.”

The memory of the shadowy, crimson-streaked eather appearing in Casteel’s flesh had me going completely still.

“And he would do so without remorse,” Lirian added. “Which is why Vikter was incorrect. It is not your presence here that worries the other Fates. It is your husband.”