Spin-Off

 A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

I decided to do the intermixed read and I can see how this is going to give added context to the Blood and Ash series. Sera has been raised to fulfill a bargain with the Primal of Death. Ash is the Primal of Death, but not the one who made the bargain. When it is time to complete the bargain the Primal shows up, quietly tells Sera that he has no need of a consort, and then leaves without taking her. Everyone assumes that she did something wrong and that she is the cause of the Rot. She is now being used by her mother as an assassin. One day, she sees three gods killing a person and a child. She is about to intervene when she is stopped by a god from the Shadowlands. In order to not get caught they start making out and Sera is *very* interested. She's also concerned because what if the Primal finds out. He has rejected her multiple times. Still, they keep running into each other. Then they have an encounter by the lake. It doesn't go very far, but they both can't stop thinking about it. Sera's stepsister Ezra shows up and begs for her help, Marisol has been gravely injured and didn't she help that ugly barn cat when they were kids? So, Sera agrees to help. Except, it's more than just help. Marisol is dead. So, she brings her back to life. Because that's a thing she can do. Later, her stepbrother attacks her and tells her that his father died and he's now king and when she refuses to call him king he grabs her, takes her to the throne room, ties her to a statue, and starts whipping her. She goes to a place inside herself where she can't feel anything and when she speaks it's not her voice. She tells him she's going to cut off his hands before she kills him. Then, there is a presence in the room. It's Ash. "You dare to touch what is mine." That's when she realizes that he's the Primal of Death. Sera does cut off her stepbrother's hands and then shoves the whip down his throat before he dies. Then Ash takes her to the Shadowlands because he has publicly claimed her as his Consort. Things are going good, and she's trying to do what she was trained to do: seduce him and make him fall in love with her. But it's not working. Then, she finally tells him everything and he appreciates the honesty but reveals that she and the bargain area not the cause of the Rot. It's because his father was not the real Primal of Death; he was actually the Primal of Life and somehow the current Primal of Life, his uncle, usurped that position and that's what caused this. So, now he knows that the truth and he doesn't trust her. She's been abandoned. Then, they find a missing woman who is one the verge on death and Sera heals her. Well, she remembered and told someone and that person tried to kill Sera. One of Ash's right hand men killed him before they could question him, but we got the answers eventually. Her power led to an attack. Sera fought to protect Ash and his people, then healed Bele. Ash was super weak and needed to feed but wouldn't. Then one of the dragons told her he would feed from her so she went to him. He fed and they *finally* went pretty far. She got attacked and he went insane. Vaporized one attacker. Made another bleed from the eyeballs for looking at her.  He let her sit in on a meeting because even though he doesn't trust her, she's still going to be the Consort and they need to keep up appearances. He kissed her desperately after checking her wounds then told her it didn't mean anything. (sure, we believe that). Then, we meet the fates. Turns out, it's Holland, the man that has been teaching her to fight and taking care of her her entire life. He didn't interfere, per say, just skirted the edges. And he shows them her life line. She dies. Soon. But, there is one thing that can change her fate. Love. And she says that's not fair to put on Ash, because he can't love. And then they look at each other with desperate yearning eyes and the book ends. A lot happened in this book but it was a good introduction to these characters and their story. It will also be helpful for Poppy and Cas's story.