“What did he tell you?”
“That’s the thing.” Ash hesitated, his eyes darting away from mine before returning. He curtly shook his head. “I don’t remember.”
His denial hung in the air between us, and I bit down on the inside of my lip, tasting a hint of the sweet, smoky flavor again…
Wait.
“You gave me your blood.”
“I did.”
“Ash.” Worry spread through me like a weed left to grow. He’d been imprisoned for weeks, and what blood he’d taken after being freed couldn’t have been enough to restore him. “You shouldn’t have done that—”
“You shouldn’t have used the eather to free my father,” he cut in gently. “So, we both did what we believed the other shouldn’t have.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“What you did caused you to deplete your energy and pass out,” he countered, the essence in his eyes dancing. “I, on the other hand, didn’t suffer those consequences.”
“Passing out probably has more to do with climbing those damn Temple steps than using the eather to free Eythos.”
A small smile appeared. “Sera.”
“I’m serious. I hate stairs, and it’s not any different. You need to conserve your energy.”
Ash sighed. “I didn’t give you very much blood, just enough…”
“Just enough to make sure I woke up,” I finished for him. Part of me was surprised that his blood had even done that at this point. Because the pain I’d felt in my chest? I wouldn’t have been surprised if my heart had imploded. “You shouldn’t have done it.”
“And what should I have done?” The softness vanished from his features. “Let you die?” His eyes narrowed when I opened my mouth. “If you say yes, so help me Fates, Sera… Because I will not let you die.”
I started to sit up, but the arm I rested on tensed, and his hand curved around my shoulder. Frustration swept through me. “I wasn’t going to say that.”
“Really?”
“No.” I struggled in his hold. “You know what you should’ve done.”
“I did exactly what I should’ve done,” he shot back. “And stop trying to move around. You need to take it easy.”
“What is taking it easy going to do for me?” I threw up my arms, almost smacking him in the face. “The same as giving me blood? Delaying the inevitable while wasting time?”
The skin of his cheeks thinned. Shadows blossomed, thickening. “Disagree.”
“Disagree?” I sputtered.
“I believe that is what I just said. You being angry with my response doesn’t change it.”
My eyes widened as I stared at him. “I’m not angry with you.”
“Really?” he repeated dryly.
“Yes,” I hissed, trying to rein in my temper. I wasn’t angry with him. I was furious with this—the situation he’d been put in. That I was in. What couldn’t be avoided. “You needed—”
“I did what I needed to do, Sera.”
“You two are arguing.” A deeper, raspier voice intruded. “I suppose that means Sera is feeling better.”
I twisted in Ash’s arms so fast I started to topple off the couch.
“For fuck’s sake,” Ash muttered, catching me. “Did I not just tell you to take it easy?”
My gaze swung toward gauzy turquoise curtains rippling in front of open doors and then to the tall male with long, black hair streaked with red who’d walked out. “Nektas.”
I saw his lips curve slightly as he crossed the veranda, ridges of scales visible across his bare shoulders. “Hello, Seraphena.”
Emotion swelled so intensely in my chest upon seeing him in his mortal form that it caught me off guard. Once again, I felt tears crowding my eyes. I had no idea why I was so freaking emotional all the time.
It probably had something to do with me dying.
But Nektas…he had always been kind to me. He’d never held what I had originally planned against me. And he…he’d told me that if I were ever not feeling okay, I could come and talk to him. That we would make sure I got back to being okay together.
“We weren’t arguing,” Ash said, giving up on keeping me prone. He sat up, bringing me with him. I ended up sitting half in his lap and half between his legs.
Nektas lifted a brow.
“We were having a discussion,” Ash tacked on. “Where we disagreed.”
Laughing under his breath, Nektas sat beside us. “You’re both right and wrong.”
I drew back. “You heard us.”
“Anyone near the veranda heard you two.”
“Oh.” My cheeks flushed as I glanced at the swaying curtains.
Ash folded his arm over my waist again. “What you meant to say is that I was right, and she was wrong.”
I shot him a glare over my shoulder. “That is not what he said.”
He glanced down at me. “It’s what I heard.”
“Then there’s something wrong with your hearing.”
“Is this a continuation of the discussion where you two were not arguing but disagreeing?” Nektas asked.
“Yes,” Ash and I snapped at the same time.
“At least you can agree on that.”
“I was simply telling him that he needs to take the embers,” I began.
“Not to sound repetitive,” Ash said, “but I disagree.”
“Oh, my fucking gods.”
“Now, you’re just being sacrilegious.”
I glared at him.
His lips twitched.
“That wasn’t even funny.”
Ash opened his mouth.
“If you say disagree again, I cannot be held accountable for my actions—my extremely violent actions.”
“As I was saying,” Nektas jumped in again, a lock of crimson-streaked hair sliding over his shoulder as he tilted his head. His eyes met mine. “You’re right. Ash cannot afford to weaken himself. But,” he said before Ash could intervene, “he only gave you a little of his blood. Not nearly enough to have stopped this inevitability.”
I snapped my mouth shut.
“I think it was more like his sheer will made it so you woke up,” Nektas continued.
His sheer will?
“And is waking up in the arms of the one you care so deeply for a waste of time? There is nothing I would not give to have one more moment with Halayna.”
My breath snagged at the raw honesty and lingering pain in his voice. I twisted toward Ash. “I don’t think any extra time with you is a waste. I wasn’t thinking.”
“I know.” Ash cupped my cheek.
“But Sera doesn’t have much more of that precious time,” Nektas said quietly. “And that cannot be denied. I can feel it.” He placed a hand against the coppery skin of his chest. “Scent it.”
My upper lip curled. “You can…smell it?”
“The body goes through natural changes when it begins to die. That is something we can smell,” he explained. I thought about the last time he’d said I smelled like death. Had I smelled like this the whole time? “And we can sense the fading of the embers.”
I looked at where Ehthawn rested and thought about the low, mournful sound I’d heard him make.
“So can Ash,” Nektas continued. “So can any Primal who is near you.”
Reaching down, I folded my hand over the arm at my waist.
Nektas lifted his ruby eyes to Ash. “You know what has to be done. And soon.”
Ash was completely still behind me. I didn’t even feel him breathe. “I do.”
Briefly squeezing my eyes shut, I leaned against Ash’s chest. There was so much I wanted to say, but most of it would only make things worse. I knew that.