A light in the flame

He glanced over his shoulder. Torches along the wall flared to life in a shower of sparks. One after another, they lit, casting a rippling orangey glow over narrow, steep, winding stairs. “A stairwell.”

I shot him a bland look. “You’re so helpful.”

“I don’t think you mean that as a compliment.” He started down the steps. “But I’ll take it as one.”

“You do you,” I murmured, trailing my hands along the damp walls as I descended behind him. The musty, stale scent that gathered in the cramped space reminded me of the maze of chambers beneath Wayfair Castle that led to tu

“You’ll be happy to know that when you Ascend, you’ll be able to use the essence in the same way I just did,” he said, nodding at the flickering torches.

I stared at the width of his broad shoulders, my hands still on the walls. I liked how confident he was concerning the outcome of his plan. It was reassuring. “So, I’ll be able to light fires with my mind, cast light, and move super fast with little effort?”

“You won’t be able to power electricity. That is something only a Primal can do, but lighting fires and moving fast? Yes. And that is not done with your mind. It is done by your will.” He followed the sharp turns of the stairwell with the ease that said this was a well-traveled space for him.

“Sounds like the same thing to me, but whatever.”

“But it’s not. Your mind takes thought. Time. Your will just is. It’s immediate.”

I made a face at his back. “Either way, I’m going to be so lazy.”

Nyktos chuckled. “Careful,” he warned as he turned, taking one of my hands from the wall. “The last step here is rather steep. About a foot.”

The embers gave a happy little wiggle in response to his grasp. Or maybe it was my heart. I wasn’t sure anymore. Holding his hand, I went down the last step and into the mouth of a wide, torch-lit hall.

My chest tightened as I took in the damp, shadowstone walls and the bars. The rows of bars the color of bleached bones on either side of the hall. Cells. “Should I be worried?”

It was Nyktos’s turn to send me a bland look. “I really hope that’s not a serious question.”

I said nothing as I eyed the bars lining the cells. They weren’t entirely smooth or straight. Some were twisted, and inside the cells, I saw chains that resembled the bars. I started toward them, noticing there were things etched into them. Symbols.

“Putting you in a cell now after everything,” he said, stopping me with the hold he still had on my hand, “and especially after striking what is likely an ill-advised but very enjoyable deal with you wouldn’t make very much sense, would it?”

I slowly looked over my shoulder at him. “Ill-advised?”

His eyes glimmered in the firelight. “I also said very enjoyable.”

I started to point out that one thing didn’t erase what’d come before it, but I remembered what he’d also said. That his attraction to me, and the subsequent pleasure-for-the-sake-of-pleasure deal we’d made, was something he considered a distraction. But I was begi

And I knew what Nyktos believed would happen to those he allowed himself to care for.

Part of me was also begi

Turning back to the cells, I stopped the rise of sorrow before he could pick up on it. “The bars? Is it just me, or do they look like actual bones? As do the chains.”

“They are.” Nyktos started walking, taking me with him. “Bones that once belonged to gods or the children of the gods.”

My lip curled. “Like the kind that entombed those in the Red Woods?”

He nodded.

“What’s carved into them?”

“Primal wards that make them very difficult to break,” he said as we continued down the seemingly endless hall of cells. There had to be dozens of them. “The bones will even hold a Primal once weakened. The only thing they have no effect on is a being of two worlds.”

“Dual life. The draken,” I murmured, remembering him saying that before. “You said your father created more like the draken?”

“He did create more of dual life,” Nyktos said as we came to the end of the hall, where it split into two more. He took me to the left, where a door was held open by a shadowstone sword speared through the wood and embedded into the stone behind it. I frowned at the blade, shaking my head. “But the draken are like the Arae. The dragons they came from are of ancient creation. What my father created after the draken are gods, and if there were ever others given dual life, they too would be godlike.”

“What are the ones he gave dual life to?”

“There are only two. Ones that can shift into forms of large felines. They’re called wivern and can usually be found in Sirta. They are fierce fighters in both forms, and most gods know better than to get cornered by a pissed-off wivern.”

It didn’t surprise me that the gods who could take the form of such predators would be found in Hanan’s Court.

“And then there are the ceeren,” he continued, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was aware that he still held my hand. “They are usually found in the Triton Isles.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “Do they live in the water?”

“They can.” He arched a brow. “You’ve heard of them?”

“I’ve heard stories of them—old ones. Legends of sailors being lured from their ships by beautiful creatures in the sea that were half mortal, half…fish.” I wrinkled my nose. “Not quite sure how one is half fish.”

He gri

I really wanted to see a ceeren. “And they’re the only ones who can shift forms?”

A faint grin appeared. “Some Primals and even fewer gods can.” Nyktos stopped then at the end of the hall, then pushed open a door. Letting go of my hand, he stepped inside. “Here we are.”

Flames from dozens of sconces cast a soft glow over the wide chamber, which appeared to have been carved out of shadowstone, the walls not nearly as smooth as they were on the floors above. Some sort of stone table had been built from the wall, standing a little bit higher than my waist, but what rested in the middle of the chamber caught and held my attention as I slowly walked forward. It was a…a large body of water. Like a lake—but not.

The door closed behind me as Nyktos joined me. “It’s a pool,” he explained.

“A pool?” I repeated, clasping my hands under my chin.

“Yes, like a very large bathing tub. The end here,” he said, gesturing to where water rippled over some steps, “is pretty shallow, but it gradually becomes deeper. Small mills at the end, where it is even above my head, keep the water moving, and the minerals that run off the shadowstone help to keep the water clean and cool.” He tipped his head back to look at the low ceiling. “The kitchens are above us, and the fires there help keep this chamber heated. It’s the closest thing I could get to a lake.”

My gaze cut to him. “Did you create this? With eather?”

“Using that kind of energy to create something like this could’ve destabilized the whole palace. This was done by hand,” he said, and my eyes went wide. “I didn’t do this alone. Rhain and Ector helped carve out the stone. Even Saion and Rhahar pitched in over the years. So did Nektas.” Another grin appeared. “Bele mostly just stood by and supervised.”

I snickered at that. “How long did this take?”

“A very long time, but it was worth it.” Pride crept into his tone. “Especially when sleep is hard to attain, or the mind is in need of a quiet place.”