A Soul of Ash and Blood By Jennifer L. Armentrout

alwayswandering
Sep 9, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Dec 24, 2024

Poppy, Cas, Delano, Kieran, and Nektas make their way through the underground tunnels below Wayfair Castle, and Cas notices that Poppy does not look good—she has shadows below her eyes and it worries him. Something’s off and Kieran also confirms it to Cas. The ground shakes even inside the castle and when someone says that one of the gods must’ve woken up, Poppy realizes that it must be her namesake, Penellaphe, as she slept nearby at the Atheneum. Poppy hopes to meet her. They hurry on until they find the cages, in which Poppy’s father, Ires, paces as a cave cat. He looks thin, weak, and not himself. Nektas tells them that he may not be himself, and begins the process of melting the bars, while Poppy touches her father and slowly begins to make him change from the cat form into the human form. At first, they are unsure if he can speak or if he recognizes her, but she confirms that he does and then asks about Millicent, his other daughter. Cas tells him that she’s fine, even though he has no clue where she is and where Malik is. Nektas takes Ires and is intending to take him home to heal. Poppy looks even worse and after denying that something is wrong, she faints as Cas catches her. Nektas asks if she has slept after Ascension, and Cas tells him that she didn’t, to which Nektas tells him that she has fallen into Stasis—who knows when she’ll wake up and what is more—whether she will remember herself and them. Nektas tells Cas that talking to her can help her remember herself, after all, that is what Nyktos did for his Consort when she fell asleep. Once Ires is safe, Nektas wants to return to search for his daughter, Jadis, who has been captured and according to Ires, she’s been kept in a nearby town.
This book then goes back and forth between the present and the past. Cas decides to share his story to a sleeping Poppy, in hopes that if he talks to her, she will remember when she wakes from stasis. All of the past chapters are Book 1 from Cas’s point of view. Not much new information. But, when we get to the present view, a couple of things happen.
Millicent and Malik show up. Millie mentions that they’ve killed some Revenants and reveals that she used to watch over Poppy as a child. She says that Poppy loved to wander the hidden hallways below the castle often as a kid. Cas leaves Millie with Poppy and Kieran watching, while he talks to Malik, who tells him that even if he had sent word home, Cas wouldn’t have believed him and come straight to the capital anyway. Malik wanted him to stay far away, and he adds that Isbeth knew that he and Millie were heartmates, so she used that to control him, though Millie doesn’t know any of it. And Malik adds that aside from Poppy, draken fire or draken blood can be used to kill a Revenant. Eventually, both Millie and Malik leave to take care of other things, but not before Malik tells Cas that he is fit to be a king because he paid attention in lessons.
One of the last chapters in the present day has Cas falling asleep while telling his story. He is woken up by the cold hand of a Revenant who carries the bone of the ancients (a knife) and stabs Cas. He starts losing his ability to move, and Vikter’s warning from that sparring day comes to mind. Then, the Revenant goes for Poppy and Cas feels horrible that he cannot protect her. Suddenly, there’s a silver and he changes into a cat, destroys the Revenant, and sits on top of Poppy. Kieran shows up with Delano and cannot believe what he’s seeing, but when the cat growls, Kieran tells Delano to leave. Kieran then coaches Cas through shifting back to his human form, reminding Cas that he was with Kieran during Kieran’s first shift. When Cas is back to himself, he tells Kieran that he lied to him about shifting not being painful. Kieran tells him that it’s only the first time, but then it gets easier over time. Kieran tells Cas that he is a cave cat, and they agree that it’s because of who Poppy’s dad is. They also agree that Poppy will be absolutely over the moon excited about being able to shift. Poppy then wakes up, and Cas looks into her eyes, they are pure silver.

Blood and Ash Series