A light in the flame

“Where are we?” I whispered.

“In a place of bad life choices,” Nyktos muttered.

Wind suddenly roared across the balcony, whipping my hair as something large and black swept up. Wings. Large, leathery draken wings. Nyktos hauled me against his chest as a horned tail glided a hairsbreadth from where I’d stood.

“What the hell are you two doing here?” Attes demanded. “Without invitation or warning, I may add.”

Vathi.

Nyktos had brought me to Vathi.

I almost collapsed with relief as we turned to the open doors. Attes was striding toward us, patches of his tunic burned straight through to exposed, raw flesh.

“The draken,” I said in a hurry. “Where is he?”

Attes drew up short. “Kyn took him to burn—”

“Stop him! You need to stop him right now.” I lurched forward, panic blossoming. “Please. Go get him and bring him to me. Please.”

A deep frown appeared as he glanced at Nyktos. “What the hell?”

“Go!” I shouted, causing Attes to blink.

“Do it,” Nyktos ordered. “Quickly.”

Attes hesitated for just a moment, then a silvery mist whirled around him. A heartbeat later, he was gone. Slowly, I turned to Nyktos. We weren’t exactly alone. Across the courtyard, a black draken perched on the Rise, eyeing us warily.

“Thank you,” I uttered.

“Don’t thank me.” Nyktos stepped away, scrubbing a hand over his head.

“I’m sorry. I have to do this.” Heart twisting as Nyktos looked away, I rubbed my bloodless palms over the bodice of my gown, jerking them away when I felt tiny holes there. The draken’s blood had burned through my gown but hadn’t reached my skin. Memories of his pale, resigned face appeared once more, and bile choked me.

Nyktos made a rough sound as he turned, reaching for me.

“No! Don’t—” Unable to bear the contact, I stepped to the side. A gods-awful sourness settled in my chest, curdling my stomach. “I need to bring him back because he didn’t deserve that—I mean, he was basically a kid. And I don’t understand why Kolis would do that to one of Kyn’s draken. Simply because he can?”

“He did it because he knew the draken are one of the few things Kyn cares about. Kolis obviously pla

I’d seen the hatred in Kyn’s eyes. There was no doubt in my mind that Kolis had succeeded. “But that draken did nothing wrong—”

“You’re right. He didn’t.” Tension bracketed his mouth. “But that doesn’t matter to Kolis. I doubt it ever has.”

I inhaled, but the breath barely went anywhere. “Do you think we can trust Attes?”

“It’s a little late to ask that question now,” he said. “But I fucking hope so.”

I shoved a mass of tangled curls back from my face as that oily, insidious weight slithered through my veins again.

What if we were too late? What if this didn’t work? I’d never brought back someone with a dual life.

Pressure began to build, and I turned, grasping the railing. I felt…sick in my own skin. As if I couldn’t scrape off the ugliness even if I took a wire brush to it.

“He returns,” Nyktos stated as I felt a faint tremor in my chest.

I turned back to the room, almost crying out when I saw Attes laying the slender, fair-haired draken on a table inside. I rushed in, nearly knocking over a potted snake plant in my haste.

“Kyn left to find himself some whiskey before he got started,” Attes said, his brows pinched as he drew a hand over the draken’s bloodless cheek. He looked at us. “I really don’t know what either of you think you’re going to do.”

“Yeah, well, you’re about to find out.” Nyktos stalked in behind me as I reached the draken’s side. “No one comes here.”

The blow I had delivered had been clean, but not all that quick. It would’ve taken several minutes for him to bleed out, and I hated thinking about those minutes, but I needed that extra time. The draken’s soul could’ve already entered Arcadia, and I couldn’t let myself think on what it meant to pull his soul back. And maybe I should. Because who was I to make this choice?

But nothing about this draken’s death had been natural. It hadn’t been his time. It hadn’t been my choice.

This was.

And right or wrong, I was willing to live with this one.

I placed my hands on his chest, mindful of the dried blood.

“No one ever comes into my private chambers,” Attes said in response to Nyktos’s order. “Until today, that is.”

“And you will not speak of what you’re about to see,” Nyktos continued, coming closer to the table as I closed my eyes, summoning the embers of life. “If you do, I will level your Court, Attes. And I will hunt you down. And it will not be your eyes I remove when I find you.”

The embers responded with a rush of heat and energy, flooding my veins. I saw silver, even behind my closed lids. I felt the power rushing through me, ru

“You know, I’m getting really tired of your threats, Nyktos. You could actually think to—” Attes cut himself off with a gasp as the scent of freshly bloomed lilacs filled the space. “Holy fuck.”

I opened my eyes, sucking in air as a silvery glow rippled over the draken, washing over the puncture wound in his chest and then seeping inside. A staggering, high-pitched sound came from outside, something I recognized as a draken’s call. It was answered in a chorus that must have echoed through the entirety of the Court.

“Holy fuck,” Attes repeated, stumbling back from the table.

All the draken’s veins lit up, first at the chest and then along his neck and cheeks. For a brief second, the draken was luminous, bright as a star. Then the eather faded.

Heart pounding, I lifted my hands. “I…I don’t know if it will work.”

Nyktos leaned in. “If it doesn’t, it will—”

“It won’t be okay,” I whispered. “Maybe I need to try again. I might need to try harder.” I went to place my hands on the draken’s chest.

“Sera.” Nyktos reached over, catching my hand. I started to pull free—

The draken’s chest rose in a deep, ragged breath as his eyes fluttered open—eyes that were an intense, cobalt blue. Just as Nektas’s had briefly been. The staggered call came again from outside.

“Thank gods,” I whispered, falling against the table as I smiled. “It worked.”

Nyktos squeezed my hand. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his whirling eyes. “It did.”

“I…” The young draken cleared his throat, blinking eyes that deepened into their normal polished, ruby hue. He looked down at his chest, placing a shaking hand against the now-healed skin. His gaze flew to mine. “Meyaah Liessa,” he rasped.

“No. Just Sera,” I told him, voice thick and trembling. “How do you feel?”

“I feel…okay,” he answered, glancing at Attes as the Primal inched closer to the table. “Just tired. Really tired.”

“I think that’s normal,” I said, lightly touching his arm. “You’ll likely need rest for a while. I hope you’re—” I cut myself off. “You will just need rest.”

“Yeah.” He looked at Attes again.

“He’ll need to shift forms,” the Primal explained, glancing at me before focusing on the draken. “You’ll be safe here to rest.”

He nodded, eyes closing. “Thad.”

“Excuse me?” I questioned.

“Thad,” he repeated sleepily. “My name is Thad.”

“You’re going to have to keep him hidden,” Nyktos said as I stood by the open doors. The mountains of Vathi were beautiful, but it was hard to see them with the dozen or so draken now lining the Rise. “Kolis likely felt that.”

Attes snorted. “Yeah, he did. We all felt that.”

“He may even need to be hidden from Kyn.”