His eyes closed briefly, his features softening. “We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen, Sera.”
That sounded easier said than done. “How—?” I jerked back, this time falling on my ass as I remembered what I’d done before Nyktos had found me. “I touched a Shade.”
“You shouldn’t have been anywhere near them.”
“That’s not the point.”
The gentling of his demeanor vanished as his jaw hardened. “That’s the actual entirety of the point.”
“You’re not listening. I touched it, and it started to come back to life.”
“What?” His hand lowered then as Nektas turned his head toward us.
“I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t try. But I saw its…its veins and its muscles form. Its heart. The heart started beating,” I said. “Right before you killed it, its heart was beating, and it spoke to me.”
Nyktos drew back, his eyes widening. “That’s not possible.” He twisted toward Nektas. “Is it? I didn’t feel it.”
The draken…
Nektas shifted forms, right there beside us. A dazzling explosion of a thousand tiny silver stars appeared all over his body and above us where his wing had been. My mouth dropped open as the shimmery spectacle faded, and fingers took the place of talons, wings sank in, and flesh replaced scales. Red and black hair slid over lots of hard, faintly ridged, coppery flesh.
“You’re naked,” I whispered.
“Does that bother you?” Nektas asked.
“Maybe?”
Nyktos turned his head to me. “Perhaps you shouldn’t continue staring then.”
“How can I not?” I mumbled.
Nektas smirked as he waved a hand. There was a brief, faint burst of light, and then only his upper body was exposed. Loose, linen pants covered the rest. “Better?”
“I guess…” I blinked. Was I hallucinating?
“I wasn’t asking you.” Nektas turned a pointed stare on Nyktos.
The Primal’s eyes narrowed as the corners of his lips pointed downward.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
“Magic,” Nektas answered. I frowned as he knelt beside Nyktos. “You sure the Shade spoke?”
I nodded, letting the whole magic-pants thing go for the time being. “It said meyaah Liessa.”
“My Queen,” Nyktos repeated.
“Fuck.” A slow grin spread across Nektas’s face. “It’s the embers.”
I was getting really sick of hearing about the embers, but that did confirm that Nektas knew there were two embers in me and not one. Nyktos had obviously confided in him, but had he told the draken the whole Sotoria part?
“Eythos could do it,” Nektas continued. “He could raise the bones of the dead. It was rare. I can only remember him doing it once. It’s not the same as restoring life to the recently dead. That’s why nobody felt it.” He tilted his head as he eyed me. “Those embers are really strong in you.”
“So I’ve been told,” I muttered.
Nyktos frowned. “I didn’t know my father could do that.”
“I don’t think even Kolis knew.” He brushed a stripe of red hair back over his shoulder. “You should probably avoid touching anything dead until you get a handle on those embers.”
My hands fell into my lap. “I’ll definitely try to avoid doing that. It’ll be hard because I do like to touch dead things.”
Nektas’s smile spread, and then he looked over his shoulder. “You level?”
Nyktos nodded, his attention fixed on me.
“You two should head back to the palace. The Shades won’t be scared off much longer.” Nektas rose, clasping Nyktos’s shoulder before walking off into the maze of dead trees. A few moments later, branches rattled violently, and Nektas rose into the sky in his draken form once more.
“So…draken can conjure clothing out of thin air?” I asked. “Can Primals do the same?”
“Only clothing we’ve worn. It becomes an extension of us.”
“Oh. That makes sense, I guess.” Slowly, I met his stare as bone-deep exhaustion set in. So many things went through my head. “You’re not going to let me go, are you?”
“Never,” he swore.
Disbelief and frustration clashed. “So, you’re going to hold me captive here, then? Against my will?”
Eather flared in his eyes again. “How you remain here, as my Consort or my prisoner, will be your choice.”
“That’s not really a choice when it’s the same thing.”
“If you choose to see it that way, then so be it.” He rose fluidly, showing no sign that I had injured him. “Your destiny is not to die at the hands of Kolis.”
My chest rose and fell sharply as the finality of my failed attempt and what it meant settled over me. This had been my one chance. There would be no more, not when he now expected it from me. “Then what is my destiny?”
“To be my Consort,” he said. “Whether you like it or not.”
Anger rose as I stared up at the Primal of Death. I latched onto it because it was far better than desperation and hopelessness. “You mean it’s my destiny to die as your Consort?”
A muscle ticked in his temple as he glared. “There may be another way to prevent your death.”
“Really?” I laughed. “Like what?”
“If I had five seconds of peace and didn’t have to worry about you getting yourself killed, I might be able to think of one.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Sure.”
He made a noise that sounded like he was choking on a scream of frustration. I smirked, my gaze falling on the dagger. I reached for it.
“I sincerely hope that whatever you plan to do with the dagger doesn’t involve me,” Nyktos warned as I quickly slid it into my boot.
“Don’t…don’t take it from me,” I ordered, but it sounded more like a plea, which brought heat to my cheeks.
“If I planned on taking it from you, I would’ve done so already.”
I watched him warily. “You’re not afraid I’m going to slit your throat to your spine like you instructed?”
“No.”
My eyes narrowed. “You should be.”
He smirked, brushing his fingers over the cuff on his biceps, drawing forth a thin tendril.
I stiffened as the smoke rapidly spread out in the space before him, quickly taking the form of his warhorse. Odin shook out his black mane as he pawed at the ash-covered ground. I’d forgotten all about the fact that his horse apparently lived in his cuff.
“How is…?” I quieted when Nyktos glanced at me.
“What?”
“Nothing,” I muttered, attempting to quash my curiosity about how he could conjure Odin into existence from a silver cuff. I failed five seconds later. “Is that also magic?”
“Primal magic, yes.”
I thought about the chair he’d moved earlier, and the fire he’d started without touching either of those things. “So, he’s not…real?”
“He is flesh and blood.” He was silent for a moment. “I hope you’re not planning to spend what remains of the longest night ever in the Dying Woods.”
“And if I was?”
“I would pick you up and put you on Odin myself.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
Nyktos faced me, and his expression told me he was willing to do just that.
“Whatever.” I pushed to my feet and sidestepped him, trudging toward Odin. I halted when the horse whipped his head in my direction. He pawed at the ground once more.
“He’s not that happy with you.”
“What did I do to him?”
Nyktos came up behind me, dipping his head as he said, “You held a dagger to my throat, and you hit me with eather.”