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“You are the heir to the lands and seas, skies and realms. A Queen instead of a King. You are the Primal of Life,”
“The Primal of Life is the most powerful being in all the realms, usurping all other Primals and gods,”
But he touched me. After everything, Nyktos touched me
I’d been Nyktos’s first. And he…he would be my last, no matter what happened from this point forward.
“Prophecies are the dreams of the Ancients,”
I didn’t know how to come to terms with learning that I’d lived countless lives that I couldn’t remember. That I had been Sotoria, the object of Kolis’s love—his obsession—and the very thing that had started all of this.
“If Kolis had seen you and you’d looked like Sotoria, he would’ve taken you right then.”
“Sotoria didn’t belong to him then, and Seraphena doesn’t belong to him now.” Seraphena. I could count on one hand how many people called me by my full name, and none of them spoke it like he did. As if it were a prayer and a reckoning.
“These things called Revenants?” “I know that what he calls Revenants are not the only mockery of life he’s managed to create.”
“She came back to life or something. Sat up and opened her mouth. She had four fangs I do not recall her ever having before.”
“It is what becomes of a mortal when their life force—their blood—is stolen from them, and the loss isn’t replenished. It does not matter who the mortal was before. The act rots them, in body and in mind, turning them into amoral creatures driven by an insatiable need for blood. Craven.”
“The kind of power they’d wield? It would be truly absolute. They could unravel realms in the same breath they created new ones.”
“I made sure that would never be a weakness someone could exploit.”
“And how can you ensure that?” “Maia,” he said, speaking of the Primal of Love, Beauty, and Fertility. “I had her remove my kardia.”
“What is a kardia?” “It’s the piece of the soul—the spark—that all living creatures are born and die with. It allows them to love another not of their blood irrevocably, selflessly.” Penellaphe swallowed. “It must have been terribly painful to have that torn from you. To truly be unable to love.”
“Can we not warn them?” I asked of Holland, my heart twisting. “Perhaps if we do, Ezra can work to—” “Queen Ezmeria has already begun implementing much-needed changes in Lasania,” Holland interrupted. I gasped. “Queen?” A small, fond smile tugged at his lips as he nodded. “She married?” I whispered, hopeful. “Marisol?” “Yes. She took the throne not long after you were taken into the Shadowlands.”
“Ward is actually my surname,” he responded. “Vikter is my name.” I belted out a quick, sharp laugh. “You’re a viktor named Vikter?” “He is the viktor,” Penellaphe said, sitting beside me on the dais. “The first.”
“He saved the life of someone very important and paid a very steep price for doing so. The Fates decided to reward him and, later, realized they could give aid without upsetting the balance.”
Become his weakness. Make him fall in love. End him. Not Nyktos. Kolis. I was a weapon meant to be used against Kolis.
“Why do you even care how I feel about any of this? You don’t trust me. You don’t really even like me. The only reason I’m still standing here is because of the embers of life inside me.”
“That is what infuriates me. From the first moment I saw you, you’ve behaved as if your life holds no value for you.”
Sera. Not liessa. He hadn’t called me that since I’d been in his bed, after I’d given him my blood.
“What you carry inside you is far too important. They have to be part of the key to ending what Kolis has done. You may value those embers as little as you do your life, but I do not.” What I carried inside me. The embers were important. Not me. Never me.
Our people.
Nyktos gripped the fallen by the head and ripped him in two. Straight down the middle. With his bare hands
“Because you just tore apart a god with your hands, and I found that…kind of hot.” A ragged laugh came from someone, and I heard Ector mutter, “For fuck’s sake…”
“The wounds aren’t that bad. I…I’m not going to die.” “No, but you’re in pain, and I cannot allow that to continue. I won’t.”
“Let me help you, Sera.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Please.” A shudder went through me. Please. Hearing him saying please…it was a weakness.
Cleaning all the blood from my skin and hair without using the tub had been difficult. I’d tried to get inside. I’d even made it as far as standing in it, but as soon as I began to lower myself, I started feeling the sash digging into my throat. I’d scrambled out, nearly slipping on the tile in my haste. I’d felt foolish as I resorted to dunking my head in the water to wash my hair. I still felt silly. Weak. But I didn’t know how to get past it.
The air crackled. “Almost,” I reiterated quietly. Whirling silver eyes met mine. The essence slowed, and the charge of energy gradually faded from the room. His gaze dropped to where my fingers rested on his arm. I was touching him.
Nyktos deserved better. So did everyone in the Shadowlands. And now I posed an entirely different threat to him and all who sought sanctuary here.
And I was one obstacle closer to fulfilling my duty—my true destiny.
Killing Kolis wouldn’t be easy. Obviously.
Eyes full of intelligence locked onto mine—eyes that weren’t black like the bird I’d healed, but a vibrant, unnatural, intense shade of blue even brighter than the goddess Penellaphe’s eyes. It was a color I’d never seen in a bird before.
I had a sinking suspicion that I knew exactly what I was dealing with. Shades.
wrinkled heart that was a flat, gray color. A heart that suddenly beat
“Meyaah,” it rasped. “
My chest warmed once more and hummed, the eather inside me—the embers of life—vibrating in response to the wave of pure, unfettered power. A silver, crackling light suddenly filled the woods, so bright and iridescent that, for the briefest second, I saw the swirling, circling Shades above me. And then they were simply…gone. That kind of power was unthinkable.
He would’ve felt the extreme burst of fear, even if it had been brief—just as he had in the courtyard earlier.
“Did you seriously just try to run?” Nyktos’s breath stirred the hair on the top of my head. “From me? Why? Why would you do that?” “Why not?” I shot back, cringing at how utterly childish that sounded. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
“I wasn’t running from you.” “Then what were you doing? Striving to be the most difficult person I’ve ever crossed paths with?” “Yeah, that’s exactly it. Not that I was actually trying to save you, you jackass!”
liessa.” Liessa
“Turning yourself over to Kolis is not the answer.” “You know it is!” I shouted. “Why else would your father put her soul in me? Why else would I have been trained to kill a Primal?”
“You h-have to understand.” I shuddered as frigid air blasted off him. “I’m his weakness. What I’ve been preparing for my whole life? It was for him. Not you.” My breath formed a misty, puffy cloud. “I can still try. Just help me get there, or…or let me go. Either one. I will fulfill my real destiny.”
“I’m going to die no matter what. The mortal realm will be lost. You can’t stop that. No one can. But I can at least do something about Kolis. Then, he won’t be able to hurt anyone again. He won’t be able to hurt you.” He lowered his head even more, his mouth barely a breath away from mine. “I will gladly suffer anything Kolis dishes out as long as my blood is spilled instead of yours.” I pressed into the ground, stunned. “Why? Why would you do that for me?” “The embers of life and you—” “Fuck the embers of life!”
I threw my head back, a scream of frustration and fury burning my throat. From inside the vast cavern that had shattered open, heat rose from within the emptiness. Power. It felt like it had always been there, bright and hot, ancient and unending. Power flowed through my veins. Silvery-white light crowded my vision— I slammed my hands into his shoulders as that energy, that pure Primal essence erupted from my palms and flowed into— Nyktos
this close to him in this form. His body alone had to be at least twenty feet. He had one of his leathery wings above me and was…crouched. Around me. Nektas’s head swooped down, the row of spiked horns vibrating as his lips peeled back from massive, bone-crushing teeth. The low growl of warning sent chills down my spine.
“He’s worried…that I will…retaliate out of reflex.” Nyktos twisted his head side to side. “That I…will do more than…just hurt you.” “You wouldn’t.” I twisted toward Nektas. “He wouldn’t hurt me.” “I almost did.”
“It said meyaah Liessa.” “My Queen,” Nyktos repeated. “Fuck.” A slow grin spread across Nektas’s face. “It’s the embers.”
“How you remain here, as my Consort or my prisoner, will be your choice.”
