Aios stopped before us, bowing slightly. “Yes?”

“Can you please show Sera to her room and make sure she has food sent to her and a bath readied?” Ash asked.

The desire to tell him that he didn’t need to speak for me died on the tip of my tongue. He’d said “please” to who I assumed was a god. But maybe she was a household servant of some sort. To many, the use of the word seemed like a common courtesy, but growing up around nobles and the wealthy, I knew that too few ever spoke it. And I honestly didn’t expect it to come from the lips of someone who had impaled gods on his wall as a horrific warning.

Then again, I would never have expected such a sight from Ash.

“Of course. I’ll be happy to.” Aios turned to me. She blinked rapidly and then her expression cleared. “Yes. Definitely a bath.”

My lips pursed, but before I could say a word, she hooked an arm through mine. The same strange jolt of energy nearly overshadowed the ease with which she touched me.

Aios’s brows lifted as her gaze flew to the Primal. “Nyktos…”

“I know,” he said, and he sounded weary. I glanced at Ash, wanting to hear what he knew, but he spoke first. “I’ll return to you in a little bit. You can trust Aios.”

I didn’t trust any of them, but I nodded. The sooner I was alone to think, the better. Surely, this ache in my temples would fade by then. Ash remained there for a moment, his eyes deepening to the shade of a thundercloud. He turned stiffly, joining Rhain. They headed beyond the archway.

“Come,” Aios insisted softly, leading me toward the staircase.

The stone of the steps was cool under my feet as we climbed and then headed to our left.

“The room has been readied for you. Well, it’s been ready for quite some time and dusted frequently just in case. I think you will find it most pleasing,” she said, and my head jerked to hers. She appeared as if she were my age, but I knew that could be incredibly misleading. “It has its own adjoining bathing chamber and balcony. It’s quite a handsome room.”

Several things occurred to me at once. “How did you know I was coming?”

Aios’s gaze flicked away from me. “Well, I didn’t know for sure. I just knew there was a chance.”

For her to have expected me, she must have some knowledge of the history. “You knew about the deal?”

“I did,” she said, smiling brightly as she ushered me beyond a second flight of stairs.

“Can you tell me how long you knew there was a chance?”

“A couple of years,” she announced as if that meant nothing, but it said a whole hell of a lot.

We continued to the fourth floor. From there, she steered me toward a wide hall lit by sconces with frosted glass globes. The walls were otherwise bare.

We passed a set of black-painted double doors with some kind of silver, swirling design etched into the center. Aios stopped at the next set of double doors, ones that were identical to the only other set I could see in the entire hall.

“Are there no other rooms on this floor beside the one we passed?” I asked as she fished a key from the pocket of her gown.

“There is only one room in the other wing, but most guests stay on the third or second floors.” She unlocked the door, and I glanced over my shoulder at the doors down the hall.

“What about the staff—you?”

A look of confusion briefly pinched her striking features. “I am not staff.”

“I’m sorry.” I could feel my face reddening. “I just assumed—”

“It’s okay. Anyone would assume that. There is no staff.”

“Well, now I’m confused,” I admitted.

A faint smile appeared. “There are those of us who help out because we choose to. We’ve sort of…forced our assistance upon Nyktos,” she said, and it was a little jarring to hear her use his real name. “Otherwise, Haides would be a mess, and he would probably never eat.”

I could only stare.

“Anyway, I tend to be around during the day.” She laughed. “I know. It doesn’t look like day outside, but you’ll see that the skies do tend to darken as the hours pass.”

“Wait.” I needed to make sense of this. “You help, acting as household staff by choice, but you’re not paid?”

“We don’t need to be paid. Nyktos provides for those who see to Haides’ functionality. Actually,” she said, her brow pinching, “everyone you will come across here and in Lethe are well provided for, even if they do have more official responsibilities.”

“Well provided for?” I repeated those words as if they were a language I didn’t understand.

“Shelter. Food,” she said, lips parting as if she wished to add more to the list but then changed her mind. Her smile turned a bit brittle. “But to answer your other question, no one else lives here.”

“Not even the god downstairs? Rhain?”

“No, he has a home in Lethe.”

“What about the men and women near the wall—I mean, the Rise? The draken?”

“The guards? They have their own quarters—a dormitory of sorts between here and Lethe,” she explained, gripping the handle. “The draken also have homes.”

Only Ash lived in this enormous palace? Normally, the core staff and a set of guards resided within a residence. “Why does no one else live here?”

Aios’s smile finally faded away. “It wouldn’t be safe for them to do so.”

Chapter 23

Icy fingers trailed down my spine. “What do you mean by it wouldn’t be safe?”

“Well, Nyktos wouldn’t want—” Aios’s eyes widened as she twisted toward me. “I’m sorry. I just realized how that sounded.” She laughed, but there was a nervous quality to it. “You see, all manner of people need to speak with His Highness, and some of them can be a bit…unpredictable. Of course, you are completely safe here.”

“Really?” I said doubtfully.

She nodded emphatically. “Yes. It’s just that Nyktos likes his privacy, and it’s…it’s better this way.” Turning back to the door, she pushed one side open and then motioned me inside before disappearing into the darkness.

I didn’t believe for one second that she had misspoken, but I took a tentative step inside as light appeared from another stunning, glass chandelier hanging from the center of a massive space.

A couch, a settee, and two armchairs in what appeared to be a lush, cream velvet were on one side of the room. A small, circular, low-to-the-floor table sat in the middle of the sitting area. Behind it, near curtained doors, was a table with two high-back chairs and a clear vase full of some kind of blue and gray stones. A chaise was positioned in front of an enormous fireplace, and it looked as if it were made of the finest, luxurious material dyed to a shade of ivory. A plush rug sat under the chaise. There was even a basket full of rolled blankets.

I turned slowly, my heart dropping upon seeing a four-poster, canopied bed that would’ve made Ezra’s appear fit for a child. The room had a large wardrobe against the wall by a window. There were three more sets of double doors: one beyond the sitting area, a set near the table, and another past the bed.

“This is my room?” I asked.

Aios nodded as she walked toward the nightstand. She twisted a switch on a lamp. “Yes. Is it not suitable? If not, I’m sure—”

“No, it’s fine. It’s more than fine.” It was unbelievable. My mother’s private quarters weren’t even this size.

“Perfect.” She breezed past the bed. “You’ll see a switch on the wall by the doors. That controls the ceiling light. The rest of the lights can be turned on and off by just twisting the switch. Your bathing chamber is here. Come. Have a look.”

I followed her in a daze. Aios flicked another of those wall switches. Light flooded the space, and I thought I might faint.

My bathing chamber at Wayfair had the barest necessities—a toilet, sink, and a small copper tub barely big enough for me to sit in. That was it. This was…extraordinary.