The War of Two Queens (Blood And Ash, #4)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

“It’s real. Kolis went to Eythos, asking that he bring her back to life. Eythos refused, knowing that restoring life to the dead wasn’t something that should be done often.” His gaze centered on me, and I sort of wanted to crawl into the ground to avoid his knowing stare. “It started a bitter animosity between the brothers, which resulted in Kolis using some sort of magic to steal his brother’s essence—allowing Kolis to become the Primal of Life, and Eythos the Primal of Death. But neither were meant to rule over such things. Kolis couldn’t take all of Eythos’s essence, nor could he erase all of his. An ember of life remained in Eythos, and another ember had been passed onto Nyktos. But Eythos feared that Kolis would discover the ember within Nyktos, so he took it.” “And placed it in a mortal,” I finished. “In the Consort. That’s why she was only partially mortal.”

“Then what is Nyktos? I thought he was the Primal of...

“He’s a Primal of Death,” Nektas answered. “But he’s not the true Primal of Death, nor was there ever a Primal of Life and Death. That was a title given to him long after he went to...

is! Everyone is like oh, Nyktos this and Nyktos that, and the whole time, it should have been Seraphena this and Seraphena that. Did Nyktos even make the wolven? Was it even him who met with Elian to calm things after the deities were killed?” “Nyktos did meet with the Atlantian and the kiyou wolves,” Nektas shared. “But it was the Consort’s essence that gave the wolven life.”

“What Kolis did when he stole Eythos’s essence had catastrophic consequences. It prevented any other Primal from being born. The Consort’s Ascension was like a…cosmic restart,” he explained. “But only if a female descendant was born and Ascended would that restart begin anew. And it begins with you and your children if you choose to have them. They will be the first to be born Primal since Nyktos.”

“So if Kolis hadn’t taken Eythos’s essence, and Nyktos had eventually become the Primal of Life as he should have, then Malec and Ires would’ve been Primals?” Casteel reasoned. “But they weren’t because it took a female descendant to be born first?” Nektas nodded, and I was glad that Casteel understood that because I wasn’t sure I did.

“Because what Nyktos and the Consort did to stop Kolis—what balance the Fates demanded—meant there could be no more Primals born. The why behind that, well, there’s not enough time in the realms to go into that,” Nektas said. “But Nyktos was supposed to be the last born Primal, and the Consort would be the last Primal born of mortal flesh. You,” he said quietly, “were never supposed to be.”

“Malec and Ires were already well on their way to being born by that point. But what was done to stop Kolis meant that Malec and Ires could never risk children. Malec did anyway, but that…that is Malec,” he said with a sigh. “We all got lucky before.” “Because it meant risking having a daughter.” My skin chilled. “That’s why they stayed in Iliseeum.”

“They were not forbidden to come here. They were born in this realm. But they were strongly advised against it. The risk was too great. Creating that cosmic restart allowed for what Nyktos and the Consort did to stop Kolis to be undone.”

“You are not just a loophole. You’re many things. The Primal of Blood and Bone—the true Primal of Life and Death.”