A Light in the Flame (Flesh and Fire, #2)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

“Seraphena has taken no oath, sworn no loyalties, nor does she yet wear the crown of the Consort. She has not been here long, but she was still willing to risk her life to protect all of you—all of those within the Shadowlands and beyond. Believing that she was the cause of the recent attacks, she planned to turn herself over to Kolis. Though she is not the cause,” he said, the slight lies rolling off his tongue smoothly. “Her bravery is unmatched, even among all of you.”

“Seraphena will be a Consort more than worthy of the swords and shields each of you will wield to guard her. One the Shadowlands will be honored to have.”

“None of them will harbor any ill thoughts toward you now. They will see you as you are. Brave and daring.” Nyktos had lowered his head, speaking so only I could hear him. His cool breath danced over the shell of my ear, sending a shiver over my skin. “And if they still harbor any ill thoughts, they will be the last ones they ever have. No matter how loyal they are to the Shadowlands, I will destroy them.”

“But I meant every word I said. You are brave and strong. You will be a Consort more than worthy of their swords and shields.”

What he said meant the realm to me, because every word he’d spoken had been about me and my actions. Not what he believed about me. Not what I or the embers could do for him, but what I had chosen to do. And for the first time in my life, I felt like I was more than a destiny I’d never agreed to. More than the embers I carried within me. I felt like…more.

“Heartmates usually only occur between two people whose unions are linked to some great purpose.”

We all need someone to watch over us.” Heat crawled up my throat. “Do you?” “Desperately,” he whispered.

“I could never pity someone as strong and brave as you,” Nyktos said.

There was a sound, quiet and too quick for me to make out. My eyes flew open, sweeping past the door to the drapes drawn across the balcony door. I saw nothing but shadows and night, but the chamber…it felt different. The darkness seemed charged.

Cuz he’s there, in the shadows, watching you, wanting you, punishing himself because he KNOWS he loves you but rationalizes that he can’t love you cuz of having that part of his soul removed. Holland had said it already, that love is stronger than fate, which means it can overcome anything, including what he had removed.

I eased another finger inside— My eyes flew open as my heart pounded. There was no sound. Nothing I could hear over my panting, but there was that…shift in the chamber again. An awareness. A knowledge that I wasn’t alone.

The unlit fire? Air stalling in my lungs, my gaze swung back to the chaise and the thick mass of shadows there. My heart continued to skip. That cluster of shadows didn’t seem normal. They weren’t as opaque as what the Cimmerian had conjured, and I could see the muted glow of flames behind them now, but the shadows seemed to churn. I dragged in a breath. The scent of citrus and fresh air surrounded me. The scent of Nyktos.

The answering swirl of pleasure was echoed in those shadows at the foot of the bed. My hips lifted, following the slow rhythm. Those shadows seemed to solidify. Thicken. Pulse. My blood did the same. The feeling of awareness increased. Tiny bumps spread across my exposed flesh. I could feel his stare. Like all the times before, when I knew he was looking at me. His stare was always a caress, and it was then, too, heavy against my breasts, my belly, and the fingers between my legs. And I knew…I knew he was there.

“Sera.” I thought I heard Nyktos whisper my name as I began to doze off. “You were never a ghost to me.”

“Why did you visit my lake if you had this?” Nyktos was quiet for so long that I looked at him. He was still staring at the pool. “Because it was your lake.”

Did he understand that I wanted—no, that I needed control in my life? In the decisions I made, no matter how big or small? That I wouldn’t be dominated in conversation, nor would I submit to authority or in battle. But with him, with this? I could. I could let go and be taken if I wanted because I knew I was safe with him. Because I…I trusted him.

“You are always safe with me, liessa.”

I wasn’t alone. A lone figure sat on the bank, watching. A white wolf. The wolf waited in the shadows of the elms, its thick fur a lush silver in the fractured beams of moonlight.

“I want to tell you that you look beautiful,” he said, his voice as soft as the shadows moving around us, warm against my cheek. “But beautiful doesn’t adequately capture what I see. I don’t know if there is a word that does. You have taken my breath with yours.”

My gaze connected with a Primal with smoky, reddish-brown skin and curly, russet-colored hair beneath a stunning, pale blue quartz crown of many branches and leaves.

This Primal gave me a small smile and pressed a hand free of jewels to the center of her chest before nodding.

Now, the two daughters? That has always confounded me. Still does a little, but I do believe it’s Mycella. She was, after all, promised to the once King. My brother.” He tapped his chin. “The second daughter? You. You are promised to the future King—or who would’ve been the future King once Eythos entered Arcadia, and Nyktos Ascended to take his place. “Three parts. The beginning. The middle,” Kolis continued before I could wrap my head around the fact that Ash and I had believed the middle part was some time in the future.

You and Ash are right. This isn’t about you, it’s about Poppy and her sister.

“‘For the one born of the blood and the ash, the bearer of two crowns, and the bringer of life to mortal, god, and draken. A silver beast with blood seeping from its jaws of fire, bathed in the flames of the brightest moon to ever be birthed, will become one,’”

This doesn’t mean what he thinks… this is her creating the wolven.

“‘And the great powers will stumble and fall, some all at once, and they will fall through the fires into a void of nothing. Those left standing will tremble as they kneel, will weaken as they become small, as they become forgotten. For finally, the Primal rises, the giver of blood and the bringer of bone, the Primal of Blood and Ash.’”

This is actually talking about Poppy, not Seraphina. But also about the Primals going to ground. This isn’t about them dying. He really is stupid.