A light in the flame

Veses slid down the stone, twitching and shaking as she came to a stop, slumped over. The crackling energy faded, leaving behind the scent of charred flesh. Blood dripped from her nose, mouth, and trickled from her ears. The skin above her elbows and wrists was dark and burnt.

Veses was out, but I didn’t know for how long.

“Take her,” Nyktos ordered as he crossed the chamber, the faint outline of his smoky wings briefly visible once more before they faded. “Lock her in one of the cells.”

I blinked as Orphine came forward, along with who I guessed was her brother, Ehthawn.

“I wish we could just toss her ass in the Abyss,” Ehthawn muttered, gripping the arm of the unconscious Primal and hoisting her over his shoulder like a sack of lumpy grain. I thought I might be smiling.

“Sera.”

I jerked at the sound of my name.

Nyktos knelt in front of me, and I saw no one else. Blood smeared his left temple, and I didn’t know if it was his or someone else’s.

“Reaver was hurt,” I rasped, glancing down at him. “She hurt him.”

He touched the young draken’s cheek as I felt his gaze on me. “But he’s not hurt any longer.”

“He’s just sleeping right now.” I trembled as I stared down at Reaver, his skin having returned to its usual dusty, golden hue. “I had to do something. He was really hurt, and I couldn’t—”

“It’s okay.” Nyktos’s hand rose, and just his fingertips touched my cheek. “You saved him. That’s all that matters.”

“But she knows,” I warned him. “And she’s not like Attes. She won’t keep this secret. No matter what is going on—”

“She won’t get a chance to tell Kolis,” Nyktos interrupted, carefully dragging his fingers along the curve of my jaw where the skin ached. “She won’t be able to get out of the cell.”

“She didn’t want to tell Kolis. She wanted to kill me once she realized what I could do.” My back throbbed as I leaned forward. I winced. “That doesn’t make sense, right? But she…she was afraid once she realized what I could do.”

Eather flared in his eyes as his gaze swept over me. His jaw tightened. “Bele? You okay?”

“Yeah.” The goddess drew close. “Sera is right. Veses looked freaked the hell out.”

“She felt what happened earlier today,” I told him.

“What the hell happened earlier today?” Bele asked.

Nyktos held up a hand, silencing her.

I drew in a shallow, pained breath. “But she came here because she said she’d felt something different about me when I saw—when she was here last,” I said, not looking at him then. It was important that I tell him this. “And that’s why she came back. The Shades—”

“It was her,” Nyktos interrupted. “I didn’t realize that until Rhain found us. He would’ve gotten to me sooner, but there were a lot of Shades. So many they were overwhelming Orphine and Ehthawn.”

I winced, knowing that meant he’d had to kill the Shades, and I knew that would get to him. “I’m sorry.”

Nyktos jerked so forcibly that I looked up at him. His eyes were wide and fixed on me.

Figuring he was confused by what I was apologizing for, I said, “I know you don’t like to kill the Shades. I’m sorry you had to do that.”

He continued staring at me as if I’d sprouted two heads.

“It was her.” I pushed past the growing pain. “One of her draken freed the entombed gods. She sent them and one of her guards to take me. She said it was because she knew there was more to why you’d take a Consort,” I said, and the eather lashed through his eyes. “She was behaving as if she were helping you.”

“That is the last thing she was doing.” He looked at Bele. “Take Reaver to my quarters. Stay with him. He’ll likely be confused when he wakes.”

“Will do.” Bele bent, but I held onto Reaver’s small body, reluctant to let him go. She looked up at me. “I’ve got him.”

I knew he was okay, but for some reason, I held on.

“You can let him go, Sera.” Nyktos carefully turned my head to his. Pressure clamped down on my chest. “He’s okay. You’re not. Let Bele take care of him so I can take care of you.”

My heart tripped up as my grip on Reaver loosened enough for Bele to gently work an arm under Reaver’s shoulders. Nyktos drew the blanket up, keeping him covered. “Thank you,” I whispered, feeling a little out of it. “Thank you for coming when you did.”

“No need to thank me.” Bele lifted the slumbering youngling in her arms. “I’ve been waiting for ages to get my hands on that bitch.”

I laughed, and it hurt in my jaw, chest, and other places too numerous to count.

A muscle ticked in Nyktos’s jaw as he looked over his shoulder. I saw Saion and Theon. “Keep watch over Veses.”

The gods nodded. Both looked a little ragged around the edges, as if they’d been through battle, and I wondered exactly how many Shades Veses had managed to work into a frenzy.

“Ector?” I called out, sucking in a breath as a sharp ache skated across my ribs. “Is Ector okay?”

Saion nodded. “He will be.”

Relieved, I closed my eyes and leaned back against the chaise. “Ector tried to stop Veses from coming in here,” I shared, vaguely aware of the others leaving. “Why would he do that? He knew better.”

“So did Bele.” Nyktos brushed my hair over my shoulder. “They were willing to take that risk to protect you.”

I opened my eyes. “They could’ve died.”

“They know that.”

“They could still be punished if Kolis or anyone else finds out they went up against a Primal.”

“They know that, too.”

He was on his knees, leaning over my legs. “You’re injured, Sera.”

“Yeah,” I breathed. There was no denying it. “I think a couple of my ribs might be broken.”

Shadows gathered in his cheeks. “I don’t think that’s all,” he said, ru

“True, but I stabbed her in the eye. It was gross.” I gave him a grimace of a smile. “But worth it.”

His laugh was soft and a little strained. “You’re going to need my blood.”

My heart gave a sluggish lurch, even though I wasn’t surprised to hear that. Because there was a good chance that I was hurt in a far worse way than when the draken had attacked. I didn’t feel right inside. Like important parts of me weren’t exactly co

“We can’t risk you going into another stasis, Sera. You may not wake up,” he said, sensing my hesitation. “I will leave immediately afterward. You don’t have to worry about how my blood will affect you.”

“It’s not that.”

A look of doubt crept into Nyktos’s features as I lifted a strangely weak arm and touched the hand that rested on the floor beside my hip. The charge of energy was faint. “Your skin is icy. As cold as it was before.” The why suddenly occurred to me, and my chest twisted. “It was…her feeding from you, wasn’t it? That’s why your skin is so cold.”

His features tensed. “I told you why my skin is cold. I’m Death.”

He had told me that, but that hadn’t really made that much sense to me.

Nyktos stared at me for a moment. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, and I thought it did. “I’ll be okay. You, however, may not be.”

I sighed, knowing it wasn’t wise to argue over this. I didn’t want to slip into another several-days-long sleep that I might not wake up from. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s get this over with.”

Nyktos raised a brow but wisely didn’t respond to that. He shifted closer, sitting on the floor beside me. I couldn’t stop myself from watching him as he lifted his wrist to his mouth. I caught only a brief glimpse of his fangs before they sank deep into his flesh. I winced, just like I had before. He lifted his mouth, revealing the seeping puncture wounds. Shimmery, bluish-red blood pooled in two perfect circles, and his scent, that citrus and fresh air, was more potent.

Neither of us spoke as he brought his wrist to my mouth, but I didn’t hesitate like I had before. It almost felt natural as I lowered my head. And maybe that was the embers. But perhaps it was me.