Introduction

In the shadows and flames, Primals will fall…

And from the blood and ash, new gods will rise.

What was dreamt.

Poppy was never meant to awaken, and the consequences are devastating and far-reaching, stirring ancient powers from their slumber and transforming Casteel and Kieran in ways even the Fates couldn’t have foreseen. But what that means is the least of their concerns. For now.

What was foreseen.

The Blood Crown has fallen, but what has risen is a far greater danger than they’ve ever faced. From flesh and fire, the Great Conspirator has returned to the mortal realm, and he wants only one thing. They must stop the true Primal of Death before he regains his strength, and it won’t be easy. Even weakened, his influence is undeniable. His power, unthinkable.

Has come to be.

While the future of the realms rests upon them, they won’t stand alone. The gods have awakened—each harboring their own blood-soaked secrets. But they must navigate an unbalanced realm, where every choice—past and present—has the potential to not only undo everything they’ve fought for but also destroy the very bonds that have Joined them together.

For the Harbinger and the Bringer of Death and Destruction has risen.

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Excerpt

I floated through the nothingness, surrounded by darkness.?I had a distinct feeling I’d heard voices. His voice. Talking to me. Telling me stories.

Pleading with me as a glimmer of light appeared in the dark. But then, the pain came. I remembered that. Intense, searing pain accompanied by suffocating dread that snuffed out the lightI....

I did something to stop it.?But I couldn’t recall what the voices told me, what had caused the pain, or what I’d done. Now, I drifted.?Wherever I was, there was no sensation of pleasure or pain. No feelings of fear or

excitement, hate or love. It was as if I had been emptied of all emotion and purpose. Whatever my identity had once been, it no longer held any significance.

I was a part of the nothingness that surrounded me, and stayed like that until a light flashed, sending out streaks of silver that pierced the darkness. A pinprick of sapphire-blue appeared as the light faded, growing brighter. Bolts of stunning emerald spun from its center and twisted around the blue. Warm, rich brown followed, curling itself around the blue and green. And in the center of it all was the beginning of everything.

It started with an explosion that left behind small, pulsing lights of raw energy—pure essence.

That energy rippled outward, molding barren lands and mountains where nothing had existed before, and all those small, pulsing lights twinkling in the skies above were stars. Bright, brilliant stars that began to fall, descending upon lands no longer barren. They crashed into the earth where great winged creatures ruled, and in other lands separated by vast bodies of water to the west and east. Those stars embedded themselves deep within the ground, where trees sprouted from the land above them, nourished and grown by the star’s essence below. As the trees grew strong, so did the stars hidden beneath, each nurturing each other until they rose from the earth.

As I saw them with eyes that mirrored their beginnings and features and skins that seemed to change on a whim, I heard their names whispered through all the realms, through all time. Gods. Benevolent guardians. Wrathful prosecutors. The watchers of man. Elementals. The Fair Folk. Fates. The first gods. The Great Creators.

The Ancient Ones.

And I saw their wars, first with the great winged beasts that ruled the lands, and then with their creations.

Because they had begun to dream of what was to come. Ten of the Ancients.?The dreamers.

The protectors.

I saw their flesh turn to fire as they burned off their essence to create the first Primals and understood why. They were desperate to ensure the balance of power remained untainted because their dreams had warned them of what would happen if it didn’t. A faint warmth sparked inside me and spread as creation changed. Gods were birthed from Primal unions—gods that would one day Ascend to Primalhood.

And those ten Ancients dreamed. They saw what was coming.?The beginning of the end.?And I saw that the end started with its very own beginning. The birth of a young god, born

of two Primals and Ascended into Primalhood.?The true Primal of Life.?His insatiable thirst for life and curiosity led to the first being of duality, strengthening the

truce between those who walked the land, and the winged beasts who owned the sky.?But I saw what the Primal could not. He hadn’t created them in the ways of the Ancients.

He’d given the beasts a choice. And from that singular act, something unexpected happened. For the fierce beasts felt beyond the physical, and that quality was passed on to the first being of duality.

Free will.?And free will led to choice. And from choice, emotion was born.?The warmth surged into heat as I saw the Primal of Life digging into soil soaked with a

mixture of the blood of the very first draken and his. And I knew he’d spent centuries tending to the fragile life he was cultivating with his breath and will. I saw him lift a babe from the soil, their eyes a shining crimson that turned into a brilliant blue, then shifted into a mosaic of all the colors in existence before settling on a soft brown as he gazed upon the Primal. And I knew what was unknown to the Primal. That the free will from the winged beasts, which had been passed on to the draken, had then been bestowed upon the mortal.

But the ten who dreamed knew.

Even as they marveled at the tiny life he held. Even as they rejoiced, full of awe and pride, they knew it was the beginning of the end.

And I understood as the warmth pulsed in my chest and silver light wrapped in crimson and gold flashed behind my eyes. Because, for them, nothing was more miraculous than the creation of life. They cherished even their most nightmarish creations. Loved them just as deeply as they did the beautiful, elemental beings they designed.

Until they didn’t.

Until their benevolence turned to apathy. They watched as the Primals grew closer to the mortals, and the first Primal fell in love—just as the ten had dreamed. They stopped seeing the beauty in creation and began to only see the grave cost of unrestricted growth as the number of mortals grew and spread, overtaking the land and destroying it in the name of new creation.

And I understood what the Ancients could not. That when they saw the Primals now unbalanced by emotion and decided to take back everything they’d created, they too felt.

I understood, as the Primals rose, and the Ancients either retreated into places of peace or were sentenced to the ground, what the ten who had dreamed only realized after it was too late.

That everything done to prevent what was coming had only ensured that it would.

Without the capability to love and hate, rejoice and mourn, gain and lose, there could be no balance. For every hardship, there must be prosperity. Hate could not exist without love. There could be no joy without knowing grief.

As the essence flowed through me, I understood that there must always be balance. Life must continue, and death must always come. Because I saw what the ten Ancients dreamed— what they saw when balance was irrevocably disrupted.

I saw Ancients who had gone to ground and ones yet to Awaken claw their way free, shaking the realms. And I knew they were no longer the great givers of life and the anchors that kept the essence of the realms stable. They were the end that erupted mountains and turned days into endless nights, toppling cities of steel and drying oceans. I saw them rise, full of ruin and wrath.

But I also saw more.

Because in the center of those swirling colors, I saw the desperate King with the golden crown of laurel the ten Ancients had dreamed—the man who had descended from that tiny babe the true Primal of Life had held in his hands. I saw it all: the great power that rose as heir to the lands and skies; she, the first Chosen to fail, who was the true Primal of Life; and what the union between the bringer of life and the bringer of bone would unleash.

Two daughters.?Two Kings.?And the Great Conspirator.?It was inevitable.?The end would come.?

But I understood what was threaded through those dreams and existed in the whirling colors as they faded into the crimson-streaked darkness.?Every beginning has an end. But for every end, there must be a new beginning. That’s what the ten dreamed.?The fall of ruin and wrath.?And the rise of blood and bone. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

From the publisher:

Themes & Worldbuilding
* Free Will vs Destiny: How does the theme of fate vs choice play out in Poppy’s journey? Do you think the gods manipulate events too much, or is there still true choice?
* Mythology and Lore: How well does Armentrout build the world of Atlantians, gods, wolven, and vampry? What parts of the lore were most compelling or confusing?

Characters & Relationships
* Poppy’s Evolution: How does Poppy change from book to book? What do you think was her most defining moment?
* Hawke/Casteel’s Dual Identity: How did you feel about the reveal that Hawke was really Casteel? Did his deception feel justified, or did it change your view of him?
* Supporting Cast: Who were your favorite side characters (Kieran, Tawny, etc.)? What role do the wolven play in shaping the emotional tone of the story?

Plot & Pacing
* The Plot Twists: Which twist shocked you the most? (e.g., Poppy’s true parentage, the Ascended's secrets, etc.) Were any of them too convenient or unbelievable?
* Action vs Romance: Did the series strike the right balance between steamy romance and fantasy action? Was there too much emphasis on one or the other?
* The Cliffhangers: How do the endings of each book affect your overall experience? Are the cliffhangers satisfying or frustrating?

Big Questions
* What Makes a Queen?: What leadership qualities does Poppy show? Is she ready for the power she’s been given?
* Consent and Control: How does the series handle issues of bodily autonomy and consent — both romantically and in terms of Poppy's role as the Maiden?

Bonus: Meta & Fan-Based Questions
* If You Were Casting the Series: Who would you cast as Poppy, Casteel, and Kieran?
* Spin-Offs and Theories: Are you reading Flesh and Fire (the prequel series)? What are your theories for the ending of the main series?

Weblinks

»	Author's website
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»	JLA's Spotify Playlist for the Book

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