“He’d believe that?” I asked, looking back at him.

“I’ve had to convince Kolis of many things,” he told me. “I will convince him of this when he issues his summons—whenever he’s damn good and ready. Which—”

“Presents many issues,” Nektas finished.

That was an understatement.

“Believe it or not, Kolis’s interference isn’t the only issue we’re now facing,” Nyktos said. “Not after Attes met Sera.”

I twisted back to him with a frown. “I doubt Attes thinks I’m anything more than a mouthy pair of breasts.”

Ector snickered.

Nyktos’s eyes flared with eather. “He was provoking you.”

My scowl deepened. “When he called me an accessory?”

“Not then. Later. I could sense him using eather. He was feeding into your emotions, amplifying either calmness or violence.”

There was a reason Primals didn’t often enter the mortal realm. Their presence could change the moods and minds of mortals and impact the environment around them. The Primal Maia could evoke love and fertility. Embris could increase one’s wisdom or guide them into making poor choices. Phanos could stir the oceans into a frenzy. Attes’s brother, Kyn, could engender peace or vengeance.

“You really think he was trying to do that?” I asked, thinking of when the eather in Attes’s eyes had grown brighter. “To me?”

“Without a doubt,” Nyktos confirmed.

“But I didn’t feel calmer or more violent…than normal,” I said, and he huffed out a laugh. “I didn’t feel anything.”

“Exactly,” Nyktos said.

“Oh, shit,” Ector murmured. “Attes would’ve realized that his presence had no impact on you.”

A sharp slice of unease lanced my chest. “But Nyktos told him I was a godling—”

“Neither godlings nor gods are immune to a Primal’s abilities,” Ector said. “We don’t react to their presence as quickly or recklessly as a mortal might, but it would affect us if a Primal wanted it to. That’s why the gods in Kyn’s Court are a bunch of bastards, and the ones in Maia’s are a horny lot.”

My lips pursed.

“Besides the Arae and the draken,” Ector continued, “only one other would be immune.”

Nyktos’s gaze caught mine. “Only a Primal is immune to another Primal’s presence.”

“Good gods, that could mean…” I squeezed my eyes closed. It could mean that Attes might suspect the truth. That it was me who carried the embers of life. The Consort-to-be, who was about to be summoned by Kolis. My breath scraped against my throat.

“Give us a minute,” Nyktos said, and when I opened my eyes, both Ector and Nektas were gone, the doors closed once more. More than a few seconds passed in silence before Nyktos spoke again. “It’ll be okay.”

A strangled laugh left me. “Attes might now realize it is I who carries the embers of life. And Kolis is going to summon both of us. How in the world is that okay?”

“It could be worse.”

“How?”

“Kolis could’ve outright denied the coronation. Forbidden that I take a Consort.”

“He can do that?”

Nyktos nodded. “I could still take you as my Consort, but you would not be recognized as such by the other Courts.”

Meaning whatever protection the position offered would have no longer existed. Neither the gods nor the draken could defend me against a Primal. If one of the other Primals or Kolis himself seized me, Nyktos would have no support if he retaliated—and I knew he would. “Will he do that?”

“If you asked me that yesterday, I would’ve said no. Now? Anything is possible.”

Anything…

My heart started beating in a way that made breathing difficult. My thoughts raced. Muscles tensed. “What if I…what if I look like Sotoria?” I whispered.

“He will not touch you.” Nyktos cupped my cheek, and my eyes closed at the faint trace of energy moving from his fingertips to my skin. “I will not allow it.”

The safety in his promise, the security of it, threatened to wrap around me. It was already beginning to calm my heart, and I didn’t want to fight it. I wanted to rely on the promise. On him.

Nyktos’s forehead touched my temple, and some of the rigidness eased from my muscles. I started to relax into him. “He will not have a chance to learn if you look like her.”

Eyes flying open, I jerked back. “Nyktos—”

“You will not go anywhere near him.”

My stomach lurched. “You just told me what happened when one delays in answering Kolis’s summons. I will not be the reason for more death.”

“You have never been the reason.”

“Bullshit.”

“Kolis has been the reason. Not you. Not your actions. It has been him. Always him.” Wisps of eather stirred in his eyes. “You need to understand that, Sera. You are not at fault.”

It was hard to accept that when Kolis had been reacting to my actions.

Unable to stay still, I pulled on his hold. Nyktos’s arm fell away. I rose, backing away from him. “I will not hide from his summons, Nyktos.”

His hand fell to the arm of his chair. “And I will not allow you to be in danger.”

“I’m already in danger! I’ve lived my whole life that way.” The crack in my chest threatened to spread and deepen as I stared at the empty bookshelves. “If my refusal to answer his summons caused something to happen—for people to be hurt or killed—I couldn’t…” I shoved the hair back from my face as I turned away from him. “I couldn’t deal with that.”

“Is that really why you are determined to answer his summons?”

Slowly, I faced him. “What other reason could there be?”

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” His grip on the arm of the chair tightened, bleaching his knuckles. “To get to Kolis?”

I opened my mouth, but it struck me that I should be celebrating this. Not once—not from the moment Attes had delivered his message until now—had it even occurred to me that Nyktos wouldn’t be forced into taking me as his Consort tomorrow. I could come face-to-face with Kolis without the risks of escaping. And if I looked like Sotoria, my duty would be even easier to achieve. Not only lives would be saved. Entire realms would be. I should be thrilled.

But I wasn’t.

I felt anything but that. A wild mix of emotion brimmed beneath the surface, causing the crack in my chest to weaken even further. I was scared. Horrified. Angry. Desperate. On the verge of losing control—

I sucked in deep gulps of air, shutting it all down. Silencing the storm much like I had when I donned the veil.

Nyktos hadn’t taken his eyes off me. His stare was as hard as it had been earlier. “This way, you wouldn’t have to try to escape, would you?”

The breath I took fell short as the back of my neck burned. “Fuck you.”

A muscle flexed in his jaw. I thought he might have flinched, but I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t care. I turned stiffly, leaving his office before the crack in my chest exploded again.

Before I lost control.

Nektas was waiting in the hall when I stormed out of Nyktos’s office. I didn’t see Ector as I turned, walking past the draken. I swallowed a curse as Nektas fell into step beside me.

“Great. You’re following me,” I muttered.

“You’re very astute, meyaah Liessa.”

I sighed.

“You don’t like being referred to as a Queen, do you?”

“You’re very astute, meyaah draken.”

Nektas’s laugh was short and rough as I opened the door to the stairwell. “I didn’t know I was your draken.”

I started climbing the narrow steps far less grand than the main staircase. “Yeah, well, you’re my draken as much as I’m your Queen.”

“You are our Queen with or without a coronation.”

“That makes little sense, but whatever,” I muttered, reaching for the door on the fourth floor.

Nektas stretched his arm over my head, pulling it open before I could. “You carry the only true embers of life in you, Sera. You’re the Queen.”