A Shadow in the Ember (Flesh and Fire, #1)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Maybe it was just him. Just me. The sudden rush of power I felt that came with the knowledge that he was the Primal of Death and I made him shake.

Yes queen

But he’d been kissing me until I could no longer keep my eyes open, and I’d never been kissed like that before, either. It was as if he had been unable to stop himself. Like he couldn’t go even one heartbeat without his lips upon mine. I’d never felt so wanted or needed.

THIS TURMOIL MAKES ME SO SAD

His gaze caught mine and held it. “I think I will call you one of my own.” I really had to be asleep. “Why?” “Because you’ve given him peace.”

My heart is slowly breaking

“Liessa.” Sleep roughened his voice. “If you continue pretending to be asleep, Jadis will start nibbling on your toes.”

I enjoy so much that there are baby dragons just hopping about

“And I know for a damn fact that I wasn’t the only one who felt it before,” he said, shadows starting to gather and move under the table, drifting toward him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nektas motion for Reaver to come to him. “The night at the lake, liessa. I felt it earlier that day. I felt it the night before I came for you.” The area behind him began to thicken enough that I could no longer see Nektas. “And I felt it recently, the day you went into the Red Woods and the entombed gods broke ground.”

SHADOW DADDY

“My father was the true Primal of Life.” Ash’s cool fingers touched my cheek. “Until his brother stole it from him. His twin, Kolis.”

Dun dun dunnnnnnnn

A tremor in Ash’s hands, and the charge of energy suddenly pouring into the chamber, crackling over my skin. I saw it. The thinning of his skin and the shadows gathering underneath. “You believed that the future of Lasania hinged on this deal—on you fulfilling it, but not as my Consort.” His voice was so quiet, so soft it sent a chill over my skin. “Do you know how to end a deal in the favor of the summoner?”

Oh no. Oh no no no.

Nyktos raised a hand, closing it into a fist, and Odin…Odin became nothing more than a shadow—one that wrapped itself around Nyktos’ arm, sinking into the skin around the silver band.

Freaking love this

“Kolis?”

Duh.

And that probably should’ve been warning enough that I may have finally pushed too hard. But I was beyond…I was simply beyond everything. “Do you really think I wanted to do this to you? To anyone? It was the only way we believed we could save our people. It was all I’d been taught. For my entire life. It’s all I’ve ever known.” My voice cracked, and I drew in another sharp, too-tight breath. “I would say I’m sorry, but you wouldn’t believe me. I don’t blame you for that, but don’t you dare insinuate that what I’ve done with you was purely an act or that what I’m feeling is fake when I’ve spent my entire godsdamn life not being allowed to want or even feel anything for myself! Not when I spent the last three years hating myself for the relief I felt when you didn’t take me because it meant I didn’t have to do what was expected of me.” Nyktos stared at me. Silence drenched the room, and I realized that I was shaking. My entire body. I’d never spoken those words out loud. Never. My heart thundered as a knot expanded and grew in my throat, threatening to choke me. “I know what I am. I’ve always known. I am one of the worst sort. A monster,” I whispered, my voice hoarse. “But don’t you ever tell me how I feel.”

My soul

“Put her somewhere safe, where she can’t do whatever idiotic thing is surely filling her head. She assigns no value to her life.”

AHHHHHHHHH

“Bad enough that he needs to feed,” Nektas answered. “And stubborn enough to ride it out.”

Uhho. We've been here before. Poppy and Casteel all over again...

A long stretch of silence passed before Nektas said, “Kolis has done all manner of things to him.”

No...

Saion gave me a thumbs-up as we walked past him. “Thoughts and many prayers.”

This guy

Eather pulsed in his eyes, bright and brief. “I may kill you. Do you understand that? I haven’t fed in…decades. I don’t trust myself right now. Do you understand, liessa?” Something beautiful and powerful. Queen.

Queen.

Nyktos was a tremendous presence in my body,

Tremendous, wowee

The utter, absolute dominance in how he held me there with his fangs.

Lordy

Nyktos drew in a deep, forced breath as the shadows scattered away from him, retreating to the walls and corners. “You killed him.” “Was I not supposed to?” Ector lowered his hand. “He tried to kill her, and for reasons, you are not too keen on that idea.”

SUSS ON ECTOR. SUSSSSSSSS

“I’ve had these headaches before—sometimes in my temples and under my eyes. Other times in my jaw.” His brows snapped down. “How often have you gotten them?” “On and off. Only this…this intense once before. I think there may be something wrong with one of my teeth. There’s been a bit of blood when I brush,” I told him. Ector lowered the towels and stared at me. “When did that start?” “The blood?” I winced. “Any of it,” Nyktos demanded. “I don’t know. A couple of years ago. It’s not…it’s not a big deal. My mother gets them sometimes, too. The headaches. So maybe it’s just that.” Nyktos’ features were strangely stark as he stared down at me, too. “I’m not so sure that is the cause.” “Then what would it be?” I asked. “Impossible,” Saion breathed, and I’d never seen the god so unsettled. “I know what you’re thinking, but it’s impossible.”

THE CULLING.

Not when you are just a vessel that would be empty if not for the ember of life you carry within you.” I jerked back, my skin, body—everything—going numb.

That was just cruel

“I would love to play with you.” Cressa remained where she was, arms at her sides. “But we really don’t have time for that.” “Oh, you’re going to fucking make time.” Bele struck, thrusting out with the sword as a flare of eather left her other hand.

Let's GOOOOO BELE

Taric smiled, baring his fangs. My heart stuttered at the sight of them. “But I always wondered what the graeca would taste like.” He jerked my head to the side roughly. “Seems like someone else already found out.” His laugh hit my throat. “Oh, the King will be so very displeased by that.” There was no warning, no time to prepare. He struck, sinking his fangs into the same spot Nyktos had. He pierced my skin, and it hurt. The pain was hot, scalding my senses as he drew deeply on my blood, tugging harder than I thought possible. It didn’t ease. It didn’t become something heated and sensual. It was an endless, throbbing pain that sank even deeper with each wave, going past my skin to my blood and bone. Panic exploded in my gut as I struggled against Taric, but the god was too strong. And he was fastened to the side of my neck. My entire body went stiff against the wall as mental fingers scratched at my mind and then sank deeper, clawing at me—digging into my thoughts, my memories, into the very core of my being. I didn’t know how he was doing it, but he was peeling back layers, seeing what I saw, hearing words I’d spoken and those others had said to me. He was amid my thoughts— Pain exploded, this time inside my head, deep and throbbing. It felt like my skull was being shattered. A scream tore through me. Starbursts flooded my vision as my throat sealed off, silencing the scream. Agony fired down my spine, burning through my nerve endings. I couldn’t breathe through it, coul...

Fucking let’s GOOOOOOO

“You dare to enter my Court?” Nyktos’ voice boomed through the chamber, shaking the entire palace. I saw Aios stir out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He drifted forward, his wings moving silently. “And touch what is mine?”

YESSSSS

“What did I say about looking at her?” Nyktos questioned softly—too softly. A shiver tiptoed down my spine. Taric’s entire body jerked as a hoarse shout parted his lips. Red filled the whites of his eyes. I shrank back against Saion, smacking a hand over my mouth as blood poured from the god’s eyes. Taric let out a high-pitched whine as his eyes…melted, streaming down his cheeks in thick globs. “Can’t say I didn’t warn you,” Nyktos said.

Holy fucking SHIT, Nyktos

Everything in me stopped. My legs refused to move. My head emptied because what I was seeing—who I saw standing before the dais, cast in the soft light of the candles and the stars—brought me up short. It made no sense. None at all. My eyes had to be playing tricks on me. Because it couldn’t be Sir Holland.

I did NOT see this one coming

“He’s not a spirit.” To confirm this mostly for myself, I reached out and pressed a finger against the rich brown skin of his arm. “Spirits of Fate—the Arae—are like gods.” Nyktos reached over, pulling my hand away from Holland. “They are not like the spirits near your lake.”

Hehe, him pulling her hand away

“I…I have a part of him in me? And his father?”

Girl please. Phrasing.

“But I also saw her. I saw them. A Chosen and a descendant of the First.” The eather burned brightly in Penellaphe’s eyes as they met mine. “A Queen of Flesh and Fire. And him, a King risen from Blood and Ash, who ruled side by side with man. And they…they felt right. They felt like hope.”

Let's GOOOOOOOO

“‘From the desperation of golden crowns and born of mortal flesh, a great primal power rises as the heir to the lands and seas, to the skies and all the realms. A shadow in the ember, a light in the flame, to become a fire in the flesh. When the stars fall from the night, the great mountains crumble into the seas, and old bones raise their swords beside the gods, the false one will be stripped from glory until two born of the same misdeeds, born of the same great and Primal power in the mortal realm. A first daughter, with blood full of fire, fated for the once-promised King. And the second daughter, with blood full of ash and ice, the other half of the future King. Together, they will remake the realms as they usher in the end.’” She paused, looking up with eyes as bright as polished sapphires. “‘And so it will begin with the last Chosen blood spilled, the great conspirator birthed from the flesh and fire of the Primals will awaken as the Harbinger and the Bringer of Death and Destruction to the lands gifted by the gods. Beware, for the end will come from the west to destroy the east and lay waste to all which lies between.’

The FREAKING prophecy

“Your paths have always ended in your death before you even saw twenty-one years of life.” I went numb. Before age twenty-one…? That was…gods, that was soon. Nyktos stepped forward, partly blocking me. “That’s not going to happen.” “You may be a Primal,”—Holland’s attention shifted to him—“but you are not a Fate.” “Fate can go fuck itself,” Nyktos growled. His skin had thinned, revealing the swirling shadows underneath.

STOP PRETENDING YOU DON'T LOVE HER

“The ember of life in you is strong enough to cause you to have the symptoms of the Culling, but it wasn’t strong enough to push you into the change. The symptoms would’ve eased off, but not now. Not with the blood of a powerful Primal in you. You will go into the Culling.”

The STRESS.

“You’re talking about the blood of a god. Saying that I would need the blood of a god who loves me?” I couldn’t believe I was even speaking the words.

Well this is a biiiitttttt cheesy

“You are the heir to the lands and seas, skies and realms. A Queen instead of a King. You are the Primal of Life.”

FUCK YEAH, SERAPHENA