Page 78 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

POPPY

Kieran held me for a few more moments before smoothing a hand over my hair and kissing my forehead.

“You never said what caused this great loss of life,” he mentioned as he stepped back.

Tabling whatever Casteel and Kieran were hiding from me, I went back to the window.

“It was the Ancients.” Opening the shutters, I told Kieran about them and why they’d Awakened as a surprisingly cool breeze filled the chamber.

He had the same reaction as Casteel when I got to the part where I told him it was due to my Ascension.

I then distracted him by mentioning that I’d gone to Mount Lotho.

“The Fates?” My gaze moved over the Garden District in the distance.

The waning sunlight reflected off the Atlantian guards’ golden armor as they patrolled the streets.

They were little more than specks, but the fact that I could see what I hadn’t been able to before should have had me beside myself with joy.

Instead, my stomach churned under the weight of what had happened in the other realm.

“They are the Ancients who stood against those who wanted to cleanse the realm.” I looked over my shoulder at Kieran. He had taken a seat in the armchair. “I think only the draken, the true Primal of Life, and the true Primal of Death know that. It’s not something that is supposed to be known.”

Kieran nodded slowly. “Do you know why?”

“They didn’t tell me why,” I said. “But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because they see themselves as…

the keepers of the balance. And they know that would be impossible if they took positions of power—which would happen if it became known that those who created everything around us were still alive and well. ”

“It doesn’t sound like they’ve been doing that great of a job keeping the balance,” he remarked.

“Agreed.” I moved from the window. “So, what happened in the Luxe?”

“We found several Ascended dead in their homes. Drained of blood.”

“Come again?” I blinked rapidly, not expecting that answer. “Did they attack one another out of bloodlust or something?”

Kieran shook his head. “No. All within were dead. And there were no signs of a struggle. Besides, we’ve had their homes under guard. No one was seen entering or leaving.”

Stunned, I stared at him. “But that’s…”

“Odd?” he finished for me. “Well, that’s not the only odd thing.

One of the homes had caged birds, which I assume were kept as pets.

They were also dead. And Cas noticed that anything alive outside their homes was dead, too—like the grass and flowers.

” He leaned back. “Remember what the vines looked like at the Bone Temple? How they turned gray?”

“Yes.” Knots of tension formed in my stomach. “You think it has something to do with…Kolis?”

Kieran nodded, his gaze sweeping over me. A moment passed. “He can feed on those he created.”

I frowned until I understood what he was saying. “He created the Ascended—the first Ascended?”

He nodded again. “And the Revenants. He can feed on them—”

“To return to a more physical form,” I said, my stomach twisting. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

A small grin appeared. “It’s all right.”

My thoughts immediately flashed to my sister. If Kolis could feed on the Revenants, then she was likely in danger, even if she wasn’t like the others. “Where is Millicent?”

Kieran opened his mouth but then closed it. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?” Tension crept into the muscles of my neck. Unable to stand still, I started to pace. “Casteel said she was here. That she spent some time with me while I was in stasis.”

“She did.” Kieran’s gaze tracked me. “But we don’t know where she is now.”

Folding an arm across my stomach, I stopped to stare at one of the fissures in the wall. “Do you think she left?”

“I don’t know, Poppy.”

What if she had? I remembered how she’d run after I killed…our mother. But she had come to see me while I slept. That had to mean something. I swallowed. “How many Ascended have been killed?”

“There’ve been multiple incidents. Twenty in total.”

“Gods.”

“Does your vadentia tell you how many it would take for Kolis to no longer be in what is basically the form of a wraith?” he asked.

I opened my mouth but closed it as I gave myself a moment to think. When the back of my neck tingled, I sort of wished I hadn’t. “They were completely drained?”

“Yes.” He drank some water.

I exhaled slowly. “I don’t think there’s a known number since he’s the only one who can gain strength from their blood, but I have a feeling it doesn’t take many.”

“So, it’s possible he may be corporeal by now.” He ran his fingers along his chin. “We have guards stationed at the Shadow Temple.”

That made sense. After all, it was where the Primal of Death was…honored. Worshipping death seemed wrong.

“How did you all find out that Kolis can feed from them?”

“Attes.”

My stomach wiggled again at the mention of the Primal, and a weird mixture of fondness and sorrow swept through me. I had no idea why I felt that way when I had never heard of him before. “Did he say how old he was?”

“Old,” Kieran replied, setting his glass down and dropping his elbow onto the arm of his chair. “As in only Kolis and Nektas are older.”

“Holy…”

“Exactly.”

I thought about that as I toyed with the buttons on my robe. “Then he would have to be a Primal god of a Court.”

“If he was, we’d know his name.”

True, but that tingling sensation was at it again. If Attes was that old, it meant he was one of the first Primals born instead of created. He would’ve ruled over… “Vathi,” I whispered.

Kieran paused as he reached for his glass again. He looked as surprised as I felt to hear myself speak the name of the Court belonging to the Gods of War and Peace.

“The Primal God of War and Accord to be exact,” I said.

Kieran blinked. “Setti—”

“Is the name of Attes’s… vellám . The extension of Attes’s will, his essence. Each Primal god who oversees a Court gains the ability to summon their bloodsteed.” I frowned, having never heard nor spoken that word before. “Setti was Attes’s bloodsteed.”

Kieran stared at me, a little slack-jawed. “It’s so weird that you actually know this stuff. I’m not sure how I feel about it.”

I frowned.

“But how is that possible?” he asked. “Unless Lailah and Theon are lies.”

“They’re not.” I drifted toward him. “The only thing I can think of is that Attes…abdicated his throne and gave it to Theon.”

Kieran let out a low whistle. “He did mention that he had spent the last several hundred and then some years in stasis.”

Instinct told me that was something the Primal gods had to do to, well, basically stay sane.

Something we would have to do at some point.

And, gods, that was… I couldn’t even think about that.

But back to the matter at hand. They didn’t hand over their Courts unless…

“He must’ve planned to be in stasis for so long that he knew he couldn’t rule. ”

“Maybe,” Kieran said.

I couldn’t help but wonder what could’ve caused Attes to do that. I didn’t know the answer, just as I had no idea why he would’ve endured the pain of draken blood for me. But I didn’t think that was something a Primal god did often—or at all. In both cases.

I shook my head as I glanced toward the chamber door. “Did Casteel ever say why he named his horse that?”

“Ego,” he said with a snort. “Only Cas would name his horse after a Primal God of War’s steed.”

“How did he acquire Setti?”

“The vadentia isn’t telling you that?”

My eyes narrowed.

Kieran smirked. “It was about fifteen or so years ago. Maybe closer to twenty.”

“That long?” Surprise rippled through me. I knew Atlantian horses were different than others. They were several hands taller and longer than a shire horse, able to carry two people and pull significant weight. And I knew they could live longer, but I hadn’t realized it was by that much.

“Setti is a sirtian—a breed of Atlantian horse rumored to have originated from Iliseeum. Who knows how true that is? But sirtians, if taken care of, live for many decades.” His brow pinched. “Anyway, he was part of Elian’s herd.”

My eyes shot to his at the mention of Casteel’s ancestor—the one who had summoned the gods to smooth things over between the Elemental Atlantians and the wolven after the war with the deities.

Elian was obviously important to the history of Atlantia, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to that. What? I had no idea.

“We were visiting his estate—Valyn, Cas, and I. Malik was…well, we know where he was,” he continued.

“Elian was long gone by then, and the estate was being run by one of Valyn’s stewards.

Setti was a colt, alone in the field, filling himself with orchard grass—which was odd.

Normally, you don’t see a young horse by itself. ”

I’d have to take his word on that.

“The moment he saw us, he started following.” Kieran tilted his head, and his eyes narrowed. “I forgot about that.” A wry grin tugged at his lips as he glanced down. “It made Delano nervous as fuck at first.”

“Interesting,” I murmured, mulling all that over as I picked up my glass.

The warhorse named Setti would’ve been Attes’s vellám.

The only way for his will to have transferred to Theon was through death, and clearly Attes didn’t die.

And even if he were dead, Theon wouldn’t have named his vellám the same as Attes did.

That would be like naming your next child after one you lost. But Casteel found Setti when he was a colt, so how could he be Attes’s bloodsteed?

This… feeling I had, one that made absolutely no sense, had to be wrong. Right?

Still, a part of me wanted to rush down to the stables to see Setti.

Gods, I needed to refocus. What had happened in the Luxe was far more important—