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“More like your father is giving you that gift.” I scratched Gala behind an ear. “I’ve never had a horse.”
Nyktos drew closer. “I imagine that wasn’t for a lack of readily available horses. A Crown’s stables are usually filled.”
I shrugged.
“Did your mother believe that the promised Consort of a Primal didn’t deserve her own horse?”
My chest tightened. “I don’t think my mother believed it was necessary for me to have one. I wasn’t allowed to leave the grounds of Wayfair until I was seventeen. All I needed to know was how to ride one, and Holland taught me that.” I patted Gala’s side, forcing my breath out, slow and easy. “Will you be riding Odin then?”
“I will when I head back.” Nyktos lifted the reins. “You’ll have to share Gala with me for now.”
“Not a hardship.” I gripped the pommel, hoisting myself into the saddle.
Wisps of eather brightened in his eyes as he gri
“Probably.”
Nyktos chuckled as he easily swung himself up behind me. All of my senses immediately became hyperaware of the proximity of his body, the press of his thighs to mine, the arm around my waist, and the feel of his chest against my back. I’d fallen asleep in his arms last night, and it had felt different than him keeping me within arm’s reach. Our limbs had been tangled. Both of his arms had been wrapped around me. One of his knees had been tucked between mine. He hadn’t been in bed when I woke but had been in the quarters beyond the bathing chamber. I lay in bed, listening to him speak quietly to who I believed was Rhain.
“You said you weren’t allowed to leave Wayfair until after I refused you as Consort,” he said, and I guessed me trying to be polite about the timeframe had been u
I frowned as he reached around me and picked up the reins. I knew that Nyktos had had his guards, Lathan and Ector, keep an eye on me, but that was after he’d rejected me. “The Dark Elms are technically part of Wayfair,” I told him. “Was that one of the times you were watching me?”
He guided Gala out of the stall. “You don’t need to make it sound like I was stalking you.”
“You weren’t?”
“No,” he muttered.
My lips twitched, but then I thought of something else. “Exactly how much did Lathan and Ector see of my…travels in the mortal realm?”
“Enough.”
I widened my eyes as we exited the stables, figuring that he must have known about my trips into the Luxe and possibly even what I’d been doing there. But I felt no shame. There was no reason to. He’d rejected me then. Or set me free. Whatever.
Movement at the Rise caught my attention. The guards there bowed as we rode past. I didn’t recognize any of them, but my cheeks heated, nonetheless, remembering what they’d seen. Even if they were simply bowing for Nyktos, I wasn’t used to such a show of respect.
Nyktos’s hand left my hip. He lifted the hood on my cloak as my gaze swept over the terrain. The road to the palace split into two, one heading northwest and the other northeast toward Lethe. Gala followed the narrower road to the left. Buttoning the top clasp on the cloak that held the hood in place, I peeked at the walls of the Rise, glad to see them bare.
“Where do your guards think we’re going?” I asked.
“They likely think I’m taking you to see the Pillars.” Nyktos’s hand returned to my hip. “But I’m sure some will be curious. Kars had questions.”
Remembering the guard from the courtyard, I asked, “And what did you tell him?”
“That it was none of his business.”
I snorted at that. “But I imagine all know what your prior plans regarding Kolis were, don’t they?”
His chin grazed the top of my head. “I think you know the answer to that, Sera.”
I did. His guards knew. I almost pointed out that it was just me that he’d kept in the dark, but I managed to stop myself. I eyed the crimson-leafed branches of the nearby woods, remembering what Nektas had said about my seeming lack of interest in the world here. In Nyktos’s life.
I glanced up at the star-speckled, gray skies. No one else traveled the road. There was no wind. No scents other than Nyktos’s fresh citrus one. The only sound was the clap of Gala’s hooves against the packed ground as I worked up the nerve to ask again. I didn’t know why it made me nervous to do so. Him being evasive or flat-out refusing to answer was the worst that could happen.
I took a shallow breath. “I…I would like to know what your prior plans were.”
Nyktos remained silent.
Clamping my jaw shut until I thought my molars might actually crack, I ignored the sting of disappointment I felt.
“You were right, you know?” he said, breaking the silence. I had no idea what I was right about. “The day you asked me if I’d accepted this way of life. I haven’t. From the moment I Ascended, I’ve searched for a way to destroy Kolis. To weaken him enough that he could be entombed. As you already know, I couldn’t find anything.”
It could’ve been the surprise flickering through me that prevented me from making the same mistake I did before by pointing out that he had. “Is that why you have an army?”
“It is why I began to build one.” He was quiet again for several moments. “Are you at all familiar with war, Sera?”
“Lasania has been on the verge of war more than a few times, usually with the Vodina Isles, but there were other kingdoms that thought to exploit us as the Rot started to spread,” I said. “Even if I wasn’t party to the conversations between my mother and the King, I always knew when we were on the precipice again. The armies would intensify their training, there were drafts of those of age, and all was done to ensure the soldiers were as well-fed as the nobles.”
“But your kingdom never went to war.”
“Not during my lifetime, thankfully.” A rattle of dry branches drew my attention to the woods. I stiffened at the sight of a large, onyx-hued draken gliding over the dead trees.
“Ehthawn,” Nyktos observed. “He must’ve been near and saw us leave. He’s just keeping an eye on us.”
I nodded, relaxing.
“There have been times when Primals have fought over one offense or another,” Nyktos continued. “In the end, they are left standing while thousands fall. And all because one felt insulted. But those skirmishes were never wars. If I were to go to war with Kolis, it would be a war of Primals, and it would spill into the mortal realm. Hundreds of thousands would die, if not more.”
My skin chilled.
“But then I found you.”
I tilted my head back to look at him. “You didn’t find me. Your father basically…gave me to you.”
“That’s one way to look at it.” He shifted, his arm tightening around my waist, drawing my back flush to his chest. I faced forward, unsure if he was even aware of the act. “Up until the moment I learned that you carried the embers in you, I had no hope of avoiding such a war. It seemed inevitable. Not only because of what Kolis has wrought upon the Shadowlands, but because, eventually, he will turn his sights on the mortal realm. He’s already started.”
The back of my neck tingled as we finally passed the length of the Rise and a sea of untouched, crimson trees rose along the road.
“Kolis believes all mortals should be in service to the Primals and gods. That their lives should be dedicated to appeasing the whims of those more evolved than they are,” he continued, and my stomach tightened. “That those who do not worship the Primals with dedication and respect should be punished. He has already ordered the Primals and gods to punish mortals more harshly, even for the simplest indiscretions. You may not have seen this play out in your kingdom yet, or were simply unaware, but failure to even bow before a statue of a Primal could result in death in other places.”