“Seeing him will make killing him easier.”
“True.” A knot of unease formed in the pit of my stomach. I let out a slow, even breath to ease the tension gathering inside me. Feeling Casteel’s piercing stare on me, I shifted my thoughts from Kolis. “You mentioned Setti before when we shadowstepped. You named your horse after Attes’svellám.”
“No, I didn’t. And what is avellám?” he asked. Then I explained what it was and how Attes had once been the Primal God of War and Accord. “Okay. But I named him after Theon’s horse.”
“Nope. Thevadentia—” I tapped the side of my head—“told me Setti was Attes’s bloodsteed.”
Casteel’s head cocked. “I guess it’s possible the scholars got the two confused,” he said, just as I sensed Reaver’s approach. “Especially if the names were similar.”
My brows lifted. “That’s all you have to say about learning that you named your horse after Attes’s, who also happens to be a Primal of War?”
He lifted a shoulder.
I continued to stare at him.
“You know,” Casteel drawled, “you’re adorable with your mouth hanging open.”
I snapped it shut.
The heavy doors opened then, letting in the fading rays of sunlight from outside as Reaver strode in…
Completely nude.
“For fuck’s sake, man,” growled Casteel as I quickly spun in the opposite direction.
“You do realize that draken are nude before and after shifting,” was Reaver’s bland response.
“And you realize you’re carrying pants in your hand, right?” Casteel retorted. The image of Reaver flying with pants dangling from his talons almost made me giggle. “Instead ofwearingthem?”
“I didn’t want to keep you all waiting.”
“For the whole five seconds it would’ve taken you to put them on?” I asked.
“Yes.” There was a pause. “I’m wearing them now.”
Casteel was shaking his head as I peeked behind me. Reaver had donned the same loose, black pants I’d seen him wearing earlier.
“This way.” Reaver’s gravelly voice echoed through the circular hall as he passed us.
“Keep close,” Casteel said. “Just in case.”
I nodded as we entered a sunlit hall. Through the many windows, I could see tall cedars and the dark-gray buildings of the nearby dorms. We entered another area, and I was immediately distracted by the dozen or so statues lining the northern hall.
They were tall, towering at least eight feet high, and held shields shaped like teardrops against their chests, their swords pointed toward the ground. The statues had been carved from a nearly translucent stone that appeared to subtly shift through shades of blue and green as we passed. It reminded me of moonstone, but the moment that thought entered my mind, I remembered what kind of stone it was.
Liminite.
Surprise scuttled through me. Similar to limestone but with the appearance of moonstone, liminite was a rare stone once mined from the southernmost point of the Elysium Peaks. My brows knitted. And if I remembered what was said about it, it had once been used in the burial rites of royalty from long-gone kingdoms.
The fact that it was so rare to see liminite wasn’t what drew my attention and held it, however.
While the statues were incredibly detailed, even down to the fingernails on the hands grasping their swords, their faces were smooth and devoid of any features.
And that was, well…creepy.
Not only that, the featureless faces reminded me of the dakkais.
I’d only seen the stone once as a child—in the Queen’s Garden. There was a statue of a mother holding her babe made of such stone. As we passed closer to one, I lifted my arm—
