A light in the flame

“Should I be taking notes?” Rhain asked from where he leaned against the boulder Saion sat on.

“No need.” Those silver eyes were locked onto mine. “I won’t forget a thing.” He wiggled his sword at me. “What else, Sera?”

He spoke my name like a kiss. I barely suppressed a shiver. “I want to be involved in any plans regarding Kolis instead of being told about them after the fact,” I said. “Or not told at all. I want the truth when it comes to your plans regarding him.”

“Is there more?”

There was, and it came to me just then—something that should’ve been apparent the moment Attes left after delivering his message. I lowered my voice so only Saion and those by the boulder could hear. “I don’t want to wait to go to the Vale. We need to act on that, sooner rather than later, no matter the risks involved.”

A muscle flexed in Nyktos’s jaw. “Anything else?”

“I want to see my stepsister.”

“Sera—”

My sword clattered off Nyktos’s. “I know the charm only works on me while I’m in the Shadowlands, and that going into the mortal realm is also a risk, but it is one I’m willing to take. That is my right.”

That muscle in his jaw was ticking even faster.

“And I know you are trying to keep the embers safe—”

“Not just the embers.” He deflected my blow. “You.”

I stumbled, quickly regaining my footing. “I…I appreciate that, but it is my choice, and I have gone along with everything you’ve wanted…”—I saw the incredulous lift of his brows—“mostly. I need to let Ezra know that we are doing what we can to stop the Rot but that she should prepare just in case something goes wrong.”

“Is there more?” Nyktos growled.

More?

“Suppers,” I blurted out.

“What about them?”

I lifted the sword, blocking his blow. “I no longer want to take them alone,” I said, keeping my voice low.

His sword lowered an inch. “Just your supper?”

I swung, driving his sword to the side. “Just my supper. And I…I want to help.”

“In what way?”

A fine sheen of sweat dampened my forehead as we thrust and parried. “In whatever way I’m needed.”

Nyktos’s eyes brightened. “And who determines how you’re needed?”

“I do,” I said, starting to pant while Nyktos showed absolutely no signs of tiring. “As do you.”

Nyktos halted.

I struck. My blade cut through the air, nicking Nyktos’s arm. I spun, kicking out and aiming for his chest.

He caught my ankle and held on. The halves of the skirt parted. My skin, from my mid-thigh to where his hand circled my ankle, was exposed to the heated caress of his gaze. His callused palm was rough against my bare flesh, sending my blood pulsing through me in a dizzying rush.

“You’re staring at my unmentionables again,” I said breathlessly, and it had nothing to do with the fighting.

His stare flicked to mine. “I know.”

“Pervert.”

Nyktos smiled, then dropped my ankle and slammed his sword, tip down, into the ground. I turned, but he caught my arm, spi

“Why?”

“Because they too have glimpsed your unmentionables.”

“Worth it,” someone called out.

Nyktos growled, and I felt the rumble of warning all along my rear and back, where I…I felt the hard length of him. An aching heaviness settled in my breasts and lower as my chest rose and fell rapidly.

“That’s u

“Is it?” His fingers pressed into the tendons with just enough pressure that my hand opened. There was no fighting it. The short sword slipped from my grip and hit the ground.

“It also makes you seem quite…possessive.” I turned my head to the side, my stomach clenching as his lips grazed my cheek. I dropped my voice to a whisper as I lowered my right hand to my thigh. “Of what you refuse to claim.”

Nyktos stiffened behind me.

Jerking to the side, I shoved my elbow into his stomach hard enough to catch him off guard. He let go, reaching for the sword he’d put in the ground as I whirled, but I didn’t go for it.

I didn’t need to.

Nyktos froze as silence fell over the courtyard. His gaze dropped to the shadowstone dagger I held at his throat and then flicked to mine.

I smiled at him.

“Bravo,” he murmured.

A round of applause and hoots broke out across the courtyard, and my smile grew wide. “Who will train with me?”

“I’m sure there is now an exceedingly long list of volunteers,” Ector commented, his words met by several raucous affirmatives.

“I will,” Nyktos said, his voice stirring thoughts of tangled limbs and balmy nights. “You going to lower that blade now?”

Laughing under my breath, I withdrew the dagger and sheathed it. “Better?”

“Not sure.” He straightened, his eyes never leaving mine.

Warmth crept up my neck as I clasped my hands once more, fully aware of the avid stares. Clearing my throat, I pulled my gaze from his and looked at Saion. “I think I will return to my chamber now.”

Saion stared and then tipped his head back, laughing deeply. “Fates,” he murmured, sliding off the boulder.

“Until later,” I said to Nyktos.

Nyktos watched me with intense silence as I picked up Saion’s discarded sword and handed it, hilt first, to the god. I took a couple of steps toward the doors and then stopped, turning back to Nyktos and his guards and giving them the most elaborate curtsy I was capable of.

There were chuckles, even from the reluctantly amused Rhain, but it was Nyktos’s deep, rough laughter that stayed with me.

Chapter 18

A knock came about an hour after I returned to my chambers. Unsure who it could be, I cracked open the door first and then swung it wider when I saw the young mortal.

I stepped aside, allowing him entry. “Hello, Paxton.”

He made his way into the chamber, favoring his right leg over his left. A curtain of blond hair fell forward as he bowed. “His Highness asked that I see if you were in need of fresh water for a bath.”

“I have the water that was brought in this morning,” I told him.

He investigated the bathing chamber, immediately spotting the full, unused tub. “The water has to be freezing by now.”

Probably, but it wasn’t like I pla

“It’s no trouble.” He’d already turned, making his way into the hall.

He was faster than I expected him to be. I hurried after him. “It really isn’t—”

“I’ll get His Highness.” Paxton headed straight for the door next to mine. “He’ll fix it right up for you.”

“You really don’t have to do that—”

“It’s no problem.”

“I understand, but—”

“He’ll take care of it. You’ll see.”

Nyktos’s door opened before Paxton could even knock on it. The Primal stepped out into the hall, and all coherent thought sort of abandoned me.

His damp hair was free, brushing his shoulders, and that piece I’d cut with the sword kissed the curve of his right cheek. He wore no shirt. Beads of water lingered on the hard, lean lines of his chest and stomach. His soft leather pants clung indecently to his lean hips as if he barely allowed his body time enough to dry from the bath before pulling them on. He hadn’t even fastened them.

“What’s going on out here?” Nyktos asked.

“I was doing as you asked, Your Highness, seeing if she would like water to bathe, but she said she’d use what was brought in this morning.”

Nyktos said something, but I wasn’t exactly sure as I was really engrossed in the swirl of tattooed drops that traveled along the sides of his waist and i