He chuckled roughly. “I think so, too.”
Fallen needles crunched under our feet as we started toward Cauldra Manor—it was the only sound to be heard. Tipping my head back, I searched the heavy branches for birds, but they remained quiet and hidden. There were no signs of life. No wind. The Pinelands were still, holding their breath. It was like nature recognized that a Primal of Death walked the realm and had gone quiet, wary, and watchful as we left the forest.
Sunlight bathed the rocky hill that Cauldra sat upon, reflecting off the bronze armor of the guards who patrolled theland around the manor. Unlike Wayfair, no inner walls separated the royal estate from the farmlands and those who tended the swaying cornstalks and other crops. As we climbed the hill, as yet unnoticed, I looked down at the sweeping valleys dotted with modest, stone homes and the fields full of those working at the end of harvest. Irelone was a part of a vital shipping chain with its capital serving as the port, but my mother and King Ernald had also sought a union with Irelone for the lands full of rich soil, untouched by the Rot.
Cauldra Manor came into view, the gently swaying ivy clinging to the ivory stone stilling as we crested the top of the hill. From the nearby stables, horses whinnied nervously.
“Halt!” a guard near an open set of doors shouted, striding forward, steel sword drawn. Several guards at the stables turned, and I imagined it wasn’t often they came across people strolling out of the Pinelands. “Announce yourselves!”
I glanced at Ash.
One side of his lips curved up as he continued several more steps, something the guards coming from the stables didn’t appreciate. They, too, drew their swords. “I am the Asher,theOne who is Blessed. The Guardian of Souls,” Ash said, and I swore even the clouds above stopped moving. “ThePrimal God of Common Men and Endings,theruler of the Shadowlands. I am Nyktos, the Primal of Death, and this is my Consort.”
Silence.
About half a dozen guards stared in utter silence.
Then the one who’d spoken first laughed. “And I’m the fucking King of Irelone,” he scoffed, his declaration met with raucous laughter.
“Well,” I said under my breath. The guards were too far away to notice anythingoffabout his eyes. “That didn’t go as expected.”
Ash smirked as he turned his attention on the guards. The embers in my chest suddenly vibrated, responding to the charge of power hitting the air around us.
Behind us, a rush of birds took flight from the pines in a flurry of wings. They flew over in a wave of black, startling the guards. Tiny bumps spread across my skin as I glanced at the Primal. In the distance, from the valley below, dogs howled,and the horses’ whinnying increased.
Ash’s chin dipped as his skin thinned. Shadows blossomed beneath its surface, spreading and churning as eather-laced midnight poured out into the space around him, billowing above the grass.
The air near his shoulders thickened and sparked. A rush of wind tossed tendrils of hair across my face as the faint outline of wings arced high above us. “Then you must be the King of Irelone,” Ash said, eyes filling with churning wisps of eather. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
The guard had gone slack-jawed and as pale as a corpse. I would’ve laughed, except he and the others looked close to passing out. Several of them stepped back. None ran, though. Or screamed.
They dropped to their knees like dominoes. Swords clattered off rock and earth as heads bowed, and they pressed shaking hands to the ground and against their chests.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness.” One spoke above the murmurs of…prayers. “We didn’t know. Please—”
“There is nothing to apologize for,” Ash interrupted. The charge of energy faded from the air as the rippling shadows vanished around us. The howling stopped. Horses quieted. Ash’s grin had spread to a smile. “Rise.”
The guards clumsily stood, eyes wide with fear and bodies trembling. I couldn’t blame those whose lips still moved in silent prayers, but it struck me—what had been said about how mortals felt when near Kolis, the true Primal of Death. How they reacted to him.
HowSotoriahad reacted to him.
It was the same as those who stood before Ash now—those who would have likely wept with joyous tears if it had been Kolis who’d walked out of the Pinelands. They would have rushed to greet him and worship at his feet. They’d welcome a monster who presented himself as a savior, all because they believed him to be the Primal of Life.
A label. A title. A belief regarding what was good and what was bad changed everything. And it shouldn’t be that way.
“We’re here to speak with Princess Kayleigh.” I spoke then, drawing the guards’ stares. I had no idea what they thought when they looked upon me, if they believed me to be agod or not. “Is she in residence?”
“S-she is,” a guard said. “She a-always is. Prefers t-the manor over Castle Redrock.”
“Good.” Ash smiled, and I wasn’t sure if that put any of the guards at ease. “Will one of you take us to her?”
Ash displayed a new Primal power I hadn’t known him to be capable of.
Coin didn’t fall from trees as I’d once heard King Ernald tell Tavius, but coindidspring forth from the soil beneath Ash’s boots as we followed a stunned guard into the manor. He left behind enough riches for the guards to feed themselves and their families for several years.
He said nothing as I glanced at him questioningly, but I knew he’d done it to make amends for the fright he’d given them.
Just as he had done for the guard who led us past the banners of green and yellow bearing the emblem of a ship that adorned the hall of Cauldra Manor. The pouch at the guard’s hip had swollen with the quiet jingle of coins the man had remained unaware of. He stopped in front of a small receiving chamber.