“What?” I whispered.

“Argue with me,” he repeated, his voice full of smoke and ice. “Distract me. Something to stop me from going after Attes and taking my anger out on him. That will not end well for the Shadowlands or Vathi, and that’s the last thing we need.”

I twisted toward him. His eyes were nearly pure silver orbs. His jaw was as hard as the shadowstone walls. Churning darkness had blossomed across his cheeks. Eather lit the veins beneath his eyes, and the hardness in the stare fixed on the doors beyond me told me that he wasn’t exaggerating in the least. So, I did the first thing that came to mind.

Clasping his now-icy cheeks in my palms, I did what he’d asked of me when he held me in the sweetly scented tunnels of the Luxe.

I kissed him.

His lips—cooler than before—were still that strangely enticing juxtaposition of soft and firm as his entire body jerked. He didn’t pull away, but he went completely rigid against me. He was as still as he’d been in the vine tunnel, and I did once more what I’d done then.

Catching his plump lower lip between my teeth, I bit him.

Not hard enough to draw his blood or hurt him, but, like before, he was no longer still.

I kissed him, but he devoured. His head tilted, and he parted my lips with a fierce stroke of his tongue. The sharp scrape of his fangs against my lips sent a tight shudder through me as his hand fisted the hair at the nape of my neck. He held me there, his kiss hard, demanding, and I loved his nearly immediate, raw response as I flicked my tongue over his. A rumble came from deep within his throat, his chest. He tasted as decadent as his blood, smoky and sweet, and I quickly lost myself in the kiss. In him.

My fingers slid back, sinking into the soft strands of his hair as I pressed against his chest, wanting to be closer. Needing it. Because he kissed me just like he had the first time. As if he wouldn’t let a single inch of my mouth go unexplored. As if he’d been waiting his entire life to do this. The thought no longer felt silly or whimsical. It felt like sinking under the surface of my lake. It felt like a wild sort of peace. It felt right.

And that scared me.

I broke the kiss but couldn’t retreat far. His hand was still on the back of my head, buried in my hair, and I was close enough to feel his cool breath coming fast and shallow against my tingling lips.

Only then did I realize that the temperature of the room had risen.

“I hope that worked,” I whispered, swallowing.

His chest rose with a deep breath against mine as his hand eased from my hair. “I’m level.”

“Good.” I started to put some distance between us, but his arm around my waist remained as tight as before. “I’m still in your lap.”

“I know.”

“It’s not exactly comfortable,” I lied. I’d never felt more comfortable, which made me unsteady. Vulnerable.

“Neither are you.”

My brows shot up. “That was—”

“My dick was hard the whole time you were sitting in my lap,” he said. “The kissing didn’t help.”

“—rude,” I finished, blinking.

The shadows under his skin had slowed and were fading. “And here I thought getting my dick hard was what you were aiming for before Attes arrived.”

My mouth dropped open. “Not anymore.”

Some of the intense brightness eased from his stare. “Liar,” he whispered in the scant inches between our mouths.

I was such a liar.

His eyes met mine. “I had to behave that way.”

I knew immediately that he was speaking about how he’d acted in front of Attes. There were far more important things to discuss, but I said, “Really?”

“Attes is driven by three needs—peace, war, and fucking.”

“In that particular order?”

A trace of a smile appeared. “In any order. If he so much as had an idea there was little attraction between us, he would’ve been more interested in you than he already was.”

“More interested? I don’t see why you’d think he was interested at all.”

“You threatened to make him eat his eyes.”

“Exactly. If that gained his interest, it would be a little bizarre.”

“You stabbed me in the chest.” Nyktos inclined his head. “And threatened to claw out my eyes. That didn’t deter my interest at the time. What does that say about me?”

“Good question,” I muttered, not missing the at-the-time part of that statement. “But you started the whole removing the eyes thing.”

“I didn’t want Attes thinking that either of us would welcome him acting upon his interests.”

My eyes narrowed on him. “I don’t think you have to worry about me welcoming that.”

“Really? Did you not suggest mere minutes before his arrival that you were willing to seek out others to satisfy your needs?”

I gaped at him. “That is not what I said!”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what you said.”

“It was not—” I cut myself off. “Okay. Now, I’m annoyed. I hope you’re in control of your anger issues because if you don’t let me go, I’m likely to hit you.”

“I’m going to have to risk that,” he replied. “Because we need to talk about the shit Kolis just pulled, and there’s a good chance I won’t remain level.”

“What does that have to do with me staying in your lap?”

“Because if he loses his cool, he could hurt you.”

My head whipped toward the now-open doors. Nektas stood there, and he wasn’t alone. Ector was beside him. I didn’t even want to think about how long they’d been standing there.

“And with you so close to him,” Nektas continued, “he won’t risk it.”

I opened my mouth, but I really didn’t know how to respond to that. At all. So, I said nothing. No one said anything.

“We just ran into Attes,” Ector said, breaking the awkward silence. “Guessing what he said is true. Kolis is demanding you ask for his permission?”

“It is,” Nyktos confirmed, his forearm tensing under my fingers. Remembering his reaction in the war room, I pulled my hand back.

“Fuck,” Ector uttered.

I seconded that emotion as I glanced over my shoulder at Nyktos. “Did you know he could do that?”

“Gaining the King of Gods’ permission was a tradition back when my father ruled.” Nyktos leaned back in the chair, putting a little more space between us. “Primals and gods sought his approval before a coronation, hoping he would give his blessing. But Kolis hasn’t done it once. Nor has he ever shown any interest in such a thing.” The muscle along Nyktos’s jaw flexed. “But I should’ve expected this—that he’d pull this shit.”

After all, you are his favorite.

“He’ll use this as a chance to find out how the embers of life were felt here,” Nektas said. “I bet he’ll offer that in return for his permission.”

Ector’s amber gaze darted from me to Nyktos. “You can’t let him know the truth.”

“No shit,” Nyktos replied.

“But what will you tell him if that’s the case?” As soon as I finished asking the question, I understood. “Attes said that neither he nor the other Primals had forgotten who your father was or who you were meant to be. Kolis could think it was you.”

“That’s far better than him thinking it’s you,” he countered.

I gaped at him. “No, it’s not.”

“Kolis would know it’s not Ash,” Nektas interrupted. “He’s already tested Ash enough to know that he has no embers of life in him.”

“Tested…?” I trailed off, thinking of the ink swirling over Nyktos’s skin. I knew as Ector looked away, rubbing his hand through his hair. I knew without even asking. Some of those drops represented those that Kolis had killed to see if Nyktos could bring them back to life.

Gods.

Nyktos had gone still behind me, and I hoped I wasn’t projecting and that he wasn’t reading me. I didn’t think he’d appreciate the sorrow I felt for him.

Nyktos finally spoke. “I would lie. I would tell him that I felt it, searched for the source, but haven’t found it.”