There was a hitch in my throat and a highly idiotic shiver below my belly in response to the blade-edged sharpness of his tone. The unmistakable heat in his stare. The branding feel of his cool hands on my skin. “I didn’t ask if I was allowed,” I told him.

“Actually, you did.” His hands tightened, squeezing the flesh on my hips. “You asked, and I’m telling you no.”

Wet hair clung to my shoulders and breasts as I tipped my chin down, grabbing his wrists. “Do you want me to just stand here?” I challenged, my voice a heady mix of anger and desire. “You should hand me a towel, then. I wouldn’t want my nakedness and your inability to look away to be mistaken for another forced seduction attempt.”

Nyktos’s laugh was like smoke and fire, rolling over my stomach, and my earlier taunting now felt like it would leave nothing of me but embers and ash.

I pressed my fingers deeper into his skin. “Let go—”

“You were right. I did look at you longer than I should have while you slept in this bath, thinking about that damned offer you made,” he admitted. “There are far more important things to think about, but I was staring at your breasts. Those perfect nipples.” His lashes lowered. “Your pussy. And I thought about how it tasted, how it felt around my cock. That little jewel there and how just one touch makes you wetter than I ever imagined.”

Air stalled in my lungs, and a dizzying heat swamped my senses.

“But I’m thinking about that even when I’m not looking,” he continued, his gaze fixed on me now, lips parting to reveal the sharp points of his fangs. “Thinking about it so much that I’m dreaming of you riding me.”

I jerked as his lips brushed the skin just above my navel, his hands sliding back, fingers gripping the curves of my ass.

“I kept telling myself you didn’t know I was there when you touched yourself. That was the only thing that kept me from getting between your legs and fucking you until neither of us could walk.”

My legs went weak, and I would’ve fallen if he hadn’t been holding onto me.

“And I sat here, looking at you and all your loveliness—wanting you so fucking badly.” His voice was the silk whisper of midnight as he lifted his head, bringing his mouth to the skin below my navel. “Trying to remind myself of all the reasons—and they are vast—why I cannot acknowledge what you do to me. Why I cannot afford for you to be anything more than a distraction.”

My heart stuttered, and I started to pull back.

His fingers splayed across my ass, stopping me. “But instead, all I seem to be able to think about is how I actually look forward to you doing the exact opposite of what I’ve asked. Or how much I enjoy your teasing and your boldness. I think about how much that fucking mouth of yours amuses me.” The edge of his fang skated over my skin, sending a shiver coiling around my spine. “I fixate on how you felt under me. Soft. Warm. How I felt inside you when you came.”

A series of tingles, much like when he’d heated the water, swept over me in waves. He guided me so my knees were on the floor of the tub. His hands left my ass. One caught the strands of my hair as he rose, tugging my head back as my thighs pressed against the side of the tub. The sudden change in positions sent my pulse racing as he towered over me. The way he had my hair caused my back to arch and my breasts to jut out and brush against his thighs.

My gaze dropped, just for a second, and that was all it took to see the hard, thick ridge of what I’d felt pressed against my back in the courtyard.

My heart tripped slightly—a realization that he had likely been on the edge, and I’d goaded him right over it. And every single reckless part of my being delighted in it. Wanted it. Needed it. I looked up at him, and the lust in the brutal set of his features—the baring of his fangs—was potent and all-consuming. My hands landed on the cool ledge of the tub as I steadied myself.

“Is that brave enough for you?” Nyktos demanded. “Real enough?”

There were many things I could say or even do, but the impulsive part of my nature had joined with the recklessness. That part of me was in

control. “Are you thinking about it now?” I asked, my voice throaty and thick. My skin flushed with arousal. “Or are you thinking about how it felt for your cock to be in my mouth? Is that what you want now?”

“Fuck,” he groaned, his eyes slamming shut. “What do you think,

liessa?”

Liessa.

Gods, that one word had so much power, and right now, it was an astonishing aphrodisiac. “Show me, then.”

His eyes flew open. They were pure, glowing silver.

My fingers pressed into the porcelain of the tub. “Show me that’s what you want. Or are you back to being nothing more than talk?”

Nyktos didn’t move. His chest didn’t rise or fall with a breath. Not for several seconds.

Then he did.

He reached down, grabbing the flap of his leathers. The tear of material and the popping of buttons sent a wicked thrill through me. He tore his pants open and wrapped his hand around the base of his rigid cock. A small bead of liquid had already formed on the tip.

My lips parted on a heady exhale as I lifted my eyes to his. “Prove it.”

The sound that came from him was raw and primitive and nothing mortal. The hand in my hair tightened further and then he proved that was exactly what he wanted.

Nyktos tugged me to him, but it was I who took him into my mouth. He kept pulling me closer, and I kept taking him, as far as I could—until my lips reached his hand. He pulled back slowly, but I only let him get so far, clasping his hips much like he had mine. His head fell back as he groaned.

This wasn’t a seduction. There were no teasing licks or tastes. No easing into it. I sucked hard and deep, moving my head and my mouth in rhythm with his hand. His ragged breaths and groans filled the chamber. The earthy taste of his skin and how he thrust into my mouth heightened my arousal.

His hips began to lose any sense of rhythm. When I felt him stiffen, he didn’t pull away as he’d tried to the time before. He held me to him, my name ground out between clenched teeth as he emptied himself.

I stayed with him as the spasms eased. His muscles were slow to loosen, as was his grip. Then I pulled back, and I…I did what I had done the first time. I leaned in to kiss one of the drops inked on his inner hip.

His hand fell away from me, and I sank a little into the tub, my breathing shallow. Seconds passed, and I began to lift my head, bracing myself for—well, whatever came next.

Nyktos came over the side of the tub, forcing me back. Water sloshed over his leathers. My eyes went wide. “What are you—?” My words ended in a sharp inhale as he grabbed my arms and lifted me.

Cool air swirled over my skin as he turned us, sitting me down on the ledge of the tub. His hands left me again, and then he went down on his knees, the water rising to his thighs.

“What are you doing?” I gasped.

A lock of hair fell across his face as his hands landed on my knees. “I’m assuming your offer wasn’t a one-sided deal, was it?”

“No, but you’re getting your clothing soaked—”

“Really don’t care.” His palms skated up, pressing my thighs apart, open and wide—to him. “You told me to prove it. My cock in your mouth wasn’t the only thing I was thinking about.”

“Nyktos.” I gasped as his shoulders replaced his hands. “Tasting you was one of them,” he told me.

And he proved that, too.

His mouth was on me, his tongue delving deep. His lips closed over the bundle of nerves. My hips jerked off the tub, but he folded his arm around them, forcing me back.

He…devoured me. Licking. Tasting. Sucking. Feasting. For someone with little to no experience, he sure knew what to do.

Or maybe it was simply that he couldn’t do it wrong.

That I was just that aroused by him because it was his mouth on me, his

tongue inside me.

Either way, he was magnificent. We were. My head fell back as I gave in to him. His finger replaced his tongue, first just one and then another, thrusting deep as he sucked on that throbbing piece of flesh. My head pitched forward, eyes wide and fixed on his bent head, on the strands of hair splayed across my thighs. Tension tightened and curled as I rode his fingers, his mouth—

I cried out as he lifted his head. His glossy lips were parted, his fingers still buried inside me, moving slowly.

“When I was talking about tasting you,” he said, “it wasn’t just your pussy.”

I jerked. “W-what?”

His head snapped down. The graze of his fangs was an icy-hot fire and then he struck, sinking into the skin just above the sensitive joining of nerves. The shock of the bite dragged a scream from me. Pain-tinged waves of pleasure swept over me. My legs stiffened. My hips tried to lift, but he held me there, his fingers plunging in and out of me, his mouth moving over my clit, sucking on the nub of flesh—sucking on the blood running from the punctures above. The sensation…

“It’s too much,” I gasped, my hands slipping on the ledge. I squirmed desperately, pressing my knees into his shoulders, wanting to move away. Needing to be closer. “I—I can’t take it. Please, Ash—”

His growl rumbled through me, in me. He sucked harder, deeper, and the coils spun and spun. A quake hit me. I gripped a fistful of hair. I was coming apart.

Pleasure took me, and I fell into it without hesitation, shamelessly. I broke, shattering into silk-adorned shards of bliss. My entire body shook, the release leaving me limp as my hand slipped from his hair. If it had not been for Nyktos’s hold on me, I surely would’ve fallen.

I moaned as he tugged on my skin one last time—one last pull of my blood as he eased his fingers from me. The warm, wet slide of his tongue along the very center of me and then over his bite was bliss. I shuddered, nearly going limp.

He lifted his head, gently easing my legs into the water. Stunning wisps of essence swirled in his eyes. Neither of us spoke for several moments, and I closed my eyes before I saw any hint of the regret that was sure to form in his features. That might make me a coward, but what I’d just experienced had been wonderful. And at no point during any of that did I think about anything other than how I felt and how I was making Nyktos feel. I had just been myself. Not the Consort. Not an assassin or a weapon. Not a monster.

And I didn’t want anything to ruin that.

Not when his hands were still on me, the feel of his skin a little less cool and welcome against my hips.

“Stay here,” Nyktos said roughly, the water splashing as he rose. “Please.”

I nodded, palms braced against the ledge of the tub. He stepped out of the water. There were sounds of him undressing, of wet, heavy clothing

hitting the floor. I still couldn’t believe that he’d climbed into the tub fully dressed. A tired smile tugged at my lips.

“Beautiful,” Nyktos murmured.

“What?” My eyes opened as I lifted my head. He stood by the tub, a towel knotted around his waist.

“You. Your smile,” he said. “You’re beautiful, Sera.”

Cheeks warming, I opened my mouth but couldn’t find words as he turned, reaching for another towel. It was then that I realized I’d called him Ash.

Oh, gods.

He returned to the side of the tub, his lashes lowered, but I could feel his gaze on me—on my face. Was he counting the freckles to see if they’d changed? Then his stare moved to the swells of my breasts, the curve of my hips. “Stand?”

Hoping my legs wouldn’t fail me, I did as he asked, facing the small window across from the tub. From behind, he wrapped me in the fluffy, soft towel, arms and all. Before I could thank him, he lifted me from the tub into his arms and against his chest.

Shock hit me in waves, nearly as powerful as the release had been. The show of strength was quickly lost in the act itself. I was stunned into complete silence as he carried me from the bathing chamber and to his bed. He laid me down in the center, my hair no longer soaked but still thoroughly wet. He shucked off the towel at his waist, and I caught a glimpse of the ink along the inside of his lean hips and his semi-hard arousal before he too climbed into the bed beside me.

I lay there in my towel cocoon, covered from my shoulders to my thighs, utterly confused. It wasn’t nighttime when he kept me within arm’s reach. This was different. Yes, we had enjoyed each other. Sure, frustration and maybe a little anger had spawned it, but there had been no pretense. What we had shared wasn’t a consequence of desire-fueled feeding, but I wasn’t naïve enough to think it meant that the past or the future had suddenly changed. Nyktos wanted me then and now, that much was clear.

But what wasn’t clear was this.

Just like it hadn’t been clear when we’d had sex before and he’d wanted me to stay in his bed. Did he think it had to be this way after? Nyktos was a…a quick learner, naturally following what his body liked and paying attention to how I responded to what he did, but he had been a

virgin. His experience was limited here. Hell, my experience was limited to getting off and getting going, but I knew enough to know that when he brought me to his bed at night, it was different than this.

“You’re quiet,” Nyktos said. I peeked over at him. He lay on his back, nude as the day he was born, an arm thrust behind his head and the other on his chest as he stared at the ceiling. “You’re never quiet.”

A short laugh left me as my gaze shifted to the ceiling. “I know an entire kingdom that would disagree with that.”

“Really?” I nodded. “Why?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer that, so it took a couple of moments. “As your Consort, I was not to be known by most.”

There was a beat of silence. “What does that mean?”

“It’s like with the Chosen, but even more. I…I don’t know how to explain it other than to say that I…I didn’t exist.”

“You existed.”

“I didn’t, though,” I told him, not able to blame this bit of honesty on whiskey like I had when I’d spoken about Tavius. Maybe this time, it was the orgasm. “I was shrouded like the Chosen, and that was what most assumed I was, but I was sure people questioned it because I wasn’t at the Temples like the other Chosen. Either way, the same rules applied to me when I was veiled. But even after you didn’t take me, and I no longer wore the veil, it remained the same. The people of Lasania didn’t even know that I was the true heir to the throne. They didn’t know that Princess Seraphena even existed. And the few who did, like the older servants who worked in Wayfair and had to suspect who I was? They never acknowledged it. Or me. I was a ghost.”

Nyktos said nothing, but I felt his gaze on me.

Like before, I didn’t look at him. But I couldn’t deal with the silence that fell between us, which was highly ironic given the topic. I cleared my throat. “Anyway, I’m actually used to being quiet.”

“But not with me.”

“That’s because you usually annoy me,” I stated dryly, and his answering chuckle warmed my skin. There was that strange, pleasant sensation in my chest again, and that was…well, it could be concerning. “And because seducing you required me to actually speak, unless that’s not

what you liked. Then I would’ve been silent.” The moment those words left my mouth, I cringed. “I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

Several moments passed. “You would’ve become whatever you believed I wanted?”

Closing my eyes, I pictured punching myself in the face. Hard. Repeatedly. I didn’t even know why I’d brought that up when I wanted nothing more than to forget it.

“Sera?”

I swallowed. “I would have.”

He shifted, drawing up a leg. “You talked before you realized I was the Primal of Death. You were never quiet then.”

“Like I told you, you annoyed me,” I said instead of what had immediately popped into my head. That it was because of how I’d felt heard and seen when I was with him. Respected. Counted. Opening my eyes, I finally turned my head to him. There was an ease about him and the lines of his features. Our eyes met. Words swelled in my throat. Ones best not given life. “I should get going. I’m sure you have—”

“Don’t,” he said softly, and I froze. “I have a few hours before anything needs to be done. I’m tired. You must be tired. So, here we are.”

“Arm’s reach?” I whispered.

“Yeah,” Nyktos said after a moment.

I nodded, but he and I both knew that keeping me in his bed wasn’t necessary during the day, when the palace and courtyard were teaming with gods. Honestly, it wasn’t really necessary at night.

It suddenly struck me as I stared at him that maybe he…he had to be just as lonely as I was, but for far longer than I. And right now, we didn’t have to be. I closed my eyes and just let myself be here, in the moment and nothing more.

“Sera.” I thought I heard Nyktos whisper my name as I began to doze off. “You were never a ghost to me.”

I woke sometime later, half-sprawled on my belly, toasty and covered in something far thicker and softer than a towel. A fur blanket.

Nyktos.

He wasn’t there. The warmth was gone from my chest, and as I lay there, I thought that maybe falling asleep together was entirely different than waking up together.

That was an intimacy I knew neither of us had ever experienced. One that seemed to go deeper than what we’d shared in the tub and the words spoken afterward.

You were never a ghost to me.

My chest tightened and then loosened. Had he really said that? The words sounded like something one would conjure in a dream, but if he had spoken them, they were…they were kind and far more beautiful than he probably knew, and I would cherish them for what they were.

Words.

I started to roll onto my side but stopped. Something was lying across my feet. My eyes cracked open.

Jadis lay on her belly much like I was, her limp arms and legs widespread. She made a soft, snoring sound as her nearly translucent, greenish-brown wings twitched before stilling. I had no idea how long I stared at her before I realized that she wasn’t the only one in the chamber.

I lifted my gaze, my breath stalling in my lungs as I saw Nektas sitting with his feet resting on the foot of the bed. A wicked sense of déjà vu hit me. But this time, there was an odd half-grin on his handsome face.

“Are you watching me sleep?” I asked, my voice a little hoarse. “Again?”

He shifted slightly, resting his elbows on the arms of the chair and loosely clasping his hands together on his lap. “Possibly.”

Frowning, I snuggled deeper into the blanket as I eyed him. “That’s… creepy.”

“Is it?”

“Yes.”

He shrugged a shoulder, drawing my attention to the single black-and- crimson braid lying there. “Jadis wanted to see you.”

I glanced at the softly snoring draken. “You mean she wanted to nap on my feet?”

“Well, she wanted to wake you, but Ash told her you needed the rest,” he shared, and my heart give a little wiggle. “It quickly became obvious that

he spoke the truth since you slept through her jumping up and down on the bed.”

My brows rose.

“Anyway, she likes to nap like that,” he continued, sending his sleeping daughter a fond look. “I think it’s her way of making sure you don’t get up and leave her.”

“Makes sense,” I mumbled.

“And since she decided to sleep, I figured I’d wait for one of you to wake.” He uncrossed his ankles, letting one knee bend.

“Oh.” I zeroed in on his grin. There was something…satisfied about it. I became highly aware of the fact that Nektas had to suspect what’d led to me being in Nyktos’s bed in the middle of the day. Naked. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

“What does it look like?” “Like I’m in his bed—”

“Because he wanted you there,” he cut in. “As did you?” I snapped my mouth shut.

“Unless that’s not what you wanted, and he somehow trapped you here.” A pause. “Completely nude.”

My eyes narrowed. “He didn’t trap me here,” I muttered. “He let me use his bathing chamber, and I was tired afterward.”

“You don’t need to explain any of this to me.” “I wasn’t.”

Nektas stared at me blandly.

“Whatever.” I tugged the edge of the fur up to my eyes, feeling my cheeks warm. “I think I’m just going to go back to sleep.”

His chuckle was rough and low. “Before you do that, I thought you would like to know that Erlina was here earlier while you were sleeping.”

I popped my head up. “Why didn’t anyone wake—?” I cut myself off. “Nyktos thought I needed the rest.”

“You would be correct.”

My head fell back onto the pillow as I let out a long sigh. “He was only trying to be considerate,” Nektas began.

“I know.” I stared at the shadowstone ceiling. “And that bothers you?”

“Maybe,” I muttered. “I don’t know.”

“Irrational emotions can be a symptom of the Culling.”

My head snapped up again as my eyes narrowed on the draken. “I am not being irrational.”

“Just thought you should know.” He grinned. “Erlina left what clothing she finished. She will return when the coronation is held to make any last- minute alterations.”

Whenever the coronation was held. My stomach took a tumble, and I decided that I couldn’t think about that right now. Doing so made me too antsy to remain still, and considering that I had a baby draken sprawled across my feet and was naked, pacing was out of the question. “Where… where is Nyktos?”

“At Court.”

The next breath I took could’ve ignited a wildfire, and it took everything in me not to launch myself from the bed and set something on fire.

Nektas arched a brow. “Your current expression reminds me of Jadis in the moments before she throws herself onto the floor and starts screaming.” “I’m likely to do way worse than that. I told him…” I trailed off, realizing that Nyktos actually hadn’t agreed to any of the demands I’d made in the courtyard, not even the part about the Vale or going to see Ezra.

Damn it. I flopped back, groaning softly as I closed my eyes.

“You told him that you wanted to attend Court with him,” Nektas finished for me.

I frowned. “How do you know? You weren’t there.”

“Ector and Rhain gave me a minute-by-minute breakdown of what happened.”

“Great.” I glanced at him. “I told him I didn’t want to wait on going to the Vale.”

“I haven’t spoken to him about that, but I’m sure he’ll address it soon enough,” he said. I wasn’t so sure. “Ash was supposed to hold Court this afternoon, but he was otherwise occupied. It had to be rescheduled for this evening.”

Nyktos had said he had a few hours before he was needed. He’d missed Court to be here with me? Or had he simply slept longer than he’d planned? And why was I even thinking about it? None of that changed the fact that he hadn’t done as I asked, whether or not he believed I needed my rest. “I’m assuming he’s still at Court?”

“He is, but it’s not being held here. With you and the newly Ascended Bele lurking the halls, he is holding Court in Lethe at the City Hall. He figured it would be safer that way until the coronation and whenever someone figures out what to do with Bele.”

“I didn’t even know he held Court anyplace other than here,” I muttered. Hell, I hadn’t even seen the building the coronation would’ve taken place in. I’d only seen the city at night and from a distance. A City Hall wouldn’t likely have been visible from the places I had been, if they were anything like the old ones in Lasania. They were usually open-air, consisting of amphitheater-type seating surrounding a dais.

“He usually prefers to have them there,” Nektas said. “Ash likes to be seen in Lethe. His presence is welcome, and it’s also a reminder to those who travel in and out of Lethe that he is no absentee ruler.”

And, of course, I didn’t know any of that. “Gods, there’s so much I don’t know about Lethe or even the Shadowlands.”

“Have you asked him about Lethe?” Nektas asked. “Have you shown any interest in learning these things?”

I opened my mouth, but I…I hadn’t asked.

Nektas eyed me. “When Ash decided to honor the deal his father made, he didn’t want to force any of the responsibilities of being a Consort— something he knew you never agreed to—onto you. If he’d learned you were interested, I’m sure he would’ve volunteered whatever information you wanted to know. Instead, he learned that you never had any intention of fulfilling that deal either. That you had other plans.”

My jaw snapped shut.

“Even though he understands what drove you and accepts it, why would he think you wanted to know these things when it was just recently that you told him you wanted to be of use?”

“Okay, you have made a lot of valid points,” I admitted, my cheeks warming at the truth in most of what he’d said. “But there is no way he has truly forgiven me.”

“I never said he has. I said he understands, and I’ll tell you the same thing I told him when he was much younger. Forgiveness benefits the forgiver, and it’s easy. Understanding is acceptance, and that is far harder.” His gaze held mine as Jadis gave a little wiggle. “And if Ash didn’t understand and accept your past actions, you would not be where you are

right now. You would not carry his scent on your body, and I would’ve never sensed what I did when I found him with you.”

“What did you sense?” I whispered, my heart stomping in my chest. “What I sensed before.” That odd little half-grin returned. “Peace.”