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Bele’s gaze briefly met mine as she managed to get between Veses and us. “How bad?”
A knot of emotion lodged in my throat. “Bad.”
“He’ll be fine.” Veses rolled her eyes, but her voice wavered. “He’s a draken.”
“He’s a child!” I spat.
“So?” Veses lifted her chin. “He shouldn’t have come at me.”
“Veses.” Bele tsked softly. “Are you that weak that you saw a youngling as a threat?”
“Not a threat. A disrespect.” Veses sneered. “And you didn’t answer my question about the sword. You can’t attack me.”
“I can’t?” Bele continued edging toward Veses, forcing her farther away from me—and Reaver.
“You know the rules,” Veses said. “She’s not his Consort yet, and the draken, youngling or not, has no right to defend her against me. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Ah, yes, the rules. But as you said, there’s already a bounty on my head,” Bele said. “One I’m sure involves bringing me to Dalos, dead or alive. So what if I break a rule?”
“Reaver?” I touched his cheek. His skin was clammy. Wincing, I grabbed the soft blanket from the chaise and draped it over him. His chest barely moved. Concern grew rapidly. He hadn’t woken up, and he seemed to have unconsciously shifted forms. I’d seen draken do that when gravely injured.
My throat dried as I sent Bele and Veses a quick glance, knowing I was about to take another huge risk. Veses might only suspect that I was the source of the power she’d felt, but I had to do something. I couldn’t let Reaver die, and I feared the throbbing embers were warning me of that. They sensed that death was imminent.
I sensed that.
And whatever risk I was taking by confirming what embers were inside me was worth it. Reaver’s young life was worth it. Just as Thad’s had been.
The embers continued to buzz, pressing against my skin. My senses opened and stretched as I laid the dagger beside Reaver and placed my palm flat on his chest. It was almost like when I’d done it earlier with Thad, but that had been faster, even more instinctive, as if using the embers made them stronger and more responsive. As if the embers were truly mine as I called upon the eather, and it responded to my will.
Pure, ancient power poured out of my chest, flooding my veins for the second time that day. A hot, heady thrill flowed with my blood. The rush of energy felt different this time, like a reckoning. A…homecoming.
There was a gasp as I inhaled deeply, catching the scent of lilacs—freshly bloomed lilacs. Life. Eather hummed through me, sparking from my fingertips and off Reaver’s chest. The shimmering light swept over Reaver’s small frame in one rippling wave and then seeped through his skin, filling the veins beneath the pale, slightly ridged skin and bruised flesh.
The eather flared and pulsed, then receded slowly into a faint glow that lingered for only a few more moments. The bruise on his chest faded, and then the most beautiful thing happened.
Reaver’s chest swelled with a deep breath, and his eyes opened—eyes a shining, cobalt blue before returning to crimson. “Liessa,” he whispered. Tears filled his eyes, clinging to his lashes.
I shuddered, brushing his hair back from his cheek. “It’s okay.”
“The fuck it is,” Veses exploded as Reaver’s eyes closed. My head snapped toward her as I placed my hand on the hilt of the dagger. “I was actually right. It’s been you.” She took a step back, her eyes—the one I’d stabbed now healed—widening and filling with horror. “What has Nyktos done?”
“He hasn’t done anything,” I said.
Veses shook her head. “You’re what—?”
Bele lifted the sword.
The Primal struck like a pit viper, moving faster than I could even track. She caught Bele’s sword. The blade shattered in a flare of silver light. Veses slammed her hand into Bele’s chest, throwing her back several feet.
Bele hit the wall by the balcony and fell forward onto her knees. She lifted her head, shoving the dark strands of her hair back from her face. “Ouch.”
Veses brushed the shadowstone dust from her hands as she started toward Bele. I moved, sucking in a sharp breath of pain as I lifted my arm and threw the dagger at the back of Veses’ head. The Primal spun. Her head tilted. “Really?”
The dagger stopped in midair and then flung back toward me.
Gasping, I ducked. The blade whizzed over my head, embedding deeply into the wall behind me. “Shit.”
Bele rose, rushing Veses—
The Primal held up her hand, and Bele went flying. I didn’t take my eyes off Veses, but I heard Bele’s fall. It was hard. “If you were smart, Bele, you would stay down. If you do, you may live to see another day,” the Primal warned, turning her attention to me. “But you? You’re definitely going to die. Because you”—she inhaled sharply—“you’re an abomination.”
“That’s rude,” I wheezed.
Eather sparked along her flesh, charging the air as I positioned myself over Reaver, tensing.
“What if I don’t stay down?” Bele asked, rising to her knees.
Veses’ eyes turned into silver orbs. “Then you can die, too.”
Bele spun on her knee, rising as silvery-white light spiraled down her arms and erupted between her palms. Eather arced, rapidly forming the shape of a bow and arrow. Smirking, she pulled the string of eather taut. “Bitch, I hope you try.”
My mouth dropped open. Taric had summoned a sword of pure eather, but I’d never seen Bele do that before.
“You let go of that arrow, and all you’ll do is piss me off,” Veses warned. “And I mean, really piss me off.”
“Oops.” Bele released the arrow.
Veses spun. The projectile grazed her cheek, splitting it open. She shrieked, lifting into the air as eather sparked from her eyes and fingertips—
The ember belonging to Nyktos suddenly vibrated frantically. A faint tremor moved under the shadowstone floor as Veses’ head whipped to the open doors, to where night had gathered, thick and dark. Another charge of energy swept through the chamber, dancing across my skin. Tiny hairs rose all over my body. The breath I exhaled formed a faint, misty cloud. Every part of my being recognized the source of power pouring into the space.
Thick tendrils of midnight and moonlight spilled into the room, reminding me of what I had seen in my bedchamber that night. Coils of churning mist rolled along the floor and climbed the walls. Whatever air was in my lungs left me as Nyktos stalked forward, his eyes locking on mine. I tried to regain that breath, but the temperature of the air continued dropping, becoming so frigid that my lips started to tingle. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
His skin had thi
Nyktos was a storm of whirling fury. Shadows laced with thin strips of silver lashed out from him and blossomed beneath his skin. He’d never looked colder, harsher, or more like a Primal of Death than in that moment.
“She knows.” Bele rose, the crackling bow of eather still trained on Veses, another arrow of pure energy at the ready. “About Sera.”
Golden ringlets whipped around Veses’ head like snapping serpents as she lowered herself to the floor. “Nyktos—”
“Shut up,” he snarled, his gaze remaining fixed on me as he lifted his hand. A bolt of eather exploded from his palm and arced across the chamber like lightning. I flinched against the blinding light, gathering Reaver close to me out of instinct.
Veses wasn’t faster this time.
The blast of energy hit her in the chest, throwing her back. I gasped as her entire body lit up. For a moment, she was suspended in the air, her veins glowing as light flooded her mouth, nostrils, and eyes. Then she flew backward more, slamming into the wall, and I didn’t think I’d ever been more thrilled to hear the fleshy sound of a body smacking into an unyielding surface.