Pure silvery-white eather slammed into Nyktos, spreading over him as he rose and something threw him backward. His wings spread, stopping him in midair.

“Nyktos,” I screamed. Real fear exploded in my gut as I jackknifed up, scrambling onto my knees. Eather crackled, racing through his wings and body, filling the network of veins.

My gods, what had I done?

Darkness spilled out around Nyktos, thick and churning. His mouth opened, and the sound he made…it was power. A roar hit the dried-out branches behind him, shattering them. The temperature dropped so severely that it momentarily seemed to freeze what air I could get into my lungs. I was chilled down to my bones as he drifted forward—

A great shadow fell over me, blocking out the trees and the faint glimmer of the stars. I tensed. Air whipped through the clearing as Nektas came from above, a wing sweeping over my head as his front talons slammed into the earth before me. The ground and the still-standing trees shook as if they were nothing more than matchsticks.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I didn’t dare move. I knew death was coming

—a painful, fiery death. There was no way it wasn’t. I’d attacked Nyktos. I’d hurt him. I knew this because what had come out of me had been pure, unfettered power. It hadn’t been intentional, but that didn’t matter. Nektas was not only bonded to Nyktos, he also saw the Primal as a member of his family.

Nektas would kill me.

Except the flash of intense silvery fire I knew I would see, even with my eyes closed, didn’t come. Neither did the pain.

Trembling, I opened my eyes. I was inches from the thick, grayish- black scales of Nektas’s side. I knew he was big, but even on the road into the Shadowlands when I first saw him, I hadn’t been this close to him in

this form. His body alone had to be at least twenty feet. He had one of his leathery wings above me and was…crouched. Around me.

Nektas’s head swooped down, the row of spiked horns vibrating as his lips peeled back from massive, bone-crushing teeth. The low growl of warning sent chills down my spine.

“It’s okay,” Nyktos rasped.

My gaze flew to him. Dizzy with relief to hear him speak, I swayed unsteadily on my knees, slowly becoming aware that the air no longer felt as if it were freezing.

“Nektas isn’t…a threat to you,” Nyktos forced out between gritted teeth. Snapping, silvery light continued rippling through his body. “He’s… protecting you.”

“From what?” “Me.”

That didn’t make sense, but the large draken was eyeing the Primal.

Not me. “I-I hurt you.”

“He’s worried…that I will…retaliate out of reflex.” Nyktos twisted his head side to side. “That I…will do more than…just hurt you.”

“You wouldn’t.” I twisted toward Nektas. “He wouldn’t hurt me.” “I almost did.”

Not a single part of me believed that. Maybe that made me a fool, but if he’d wanted to harm me, he could’ve done so a thousand times over by now.

Nektas didn’t budge, though. He had his attention fixed on the Primal, his rumble of warning lower.

Nyktos suddenly lowered, going down on one knee. The shadows around him receded as he pitched forward, planting a hand on the ground. He bowed his head, his broad shoulders shuddering as the waves of eather eased and faded. His wings turned to smoke and scattered. The midnight- stone skin receded. Strands of hair fell against his golden-bronze jaw. He didn’t speak. Minutes ticked by, and only his shoulders moved, up and down with his short, rapid breaths.

Maybe he wasn’t really okay. Concern ate away at the relief. Still on my knees, I started to inch forward. “Nyktos?”

Silence.

Nektas had finally stopped growling. He stretched forward, gently nudging Nyktos’s shoulder.

“I’m fine,” Nyktos said hoarsely, reaching up and flattening a hand against the side of Nektas’s broad jaw. “I just need a minute.”

Nektas withdrew but didn’t take his eyes off him, and that minute felt like an hour.

Slowly, Nyktos lifted his head. Essence-filled eyes met mine. “That was…” He cleared his throat, and when he spoke again, his voice was steadier, stronger. “That was unexpected.”

“I…” Tears pricked my eyes as I shook my head and looked down at my hands. “I didn’t mean to do that. I swear. I don’t even know how I did that.”

“It has to be the Culling. I didn’t think it would happen—figured it would be more like a godling with you. But those embers in you—they’re strong. They’re making you stronger…” He trailed off, that damn awe in his voice returning and lingering in the silence. “When a god enters the Culling, their essence increases and grows stronger. And as they get closer to completing the Culling, they can have…outbursts. It’s usually tied to heightened emotion, but that doesn’t happen with a godling. Not when they go through the Culling. Many of them can’t even harness the essence like that, even if they Ascend. They simply don’t have enough eather in them for that.”

Curling my hands against my chest, I looked up at him.

Nyktos had gotten closer. I hadn’t heard him move. He was still on his knees. Nektas hadn’t made a sound, but Nyktos was now under the shelter of Nektas’s wing, too. “You were definitely feeling heightened emotions when it happened.”

A shaky, weak laugh rattled out of me as the backs of my eyes burned. I quickly looked away, closing my eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do it. I really didn’t.”

“I know,” he whispered, and I jerked at the touch of his fingers against my cheek. His fingers—

“Your skin is cold again.” “It’s okay.”

“How is this okay?” I tried to lean back, but his hand followed, curving around my cheek. His skin was cool like it had been before. “I did that without even meaning to. I hurt you.”

“You didn’t.”

“I think I did.” I reached up, touching the hand on my cheek. Had the eather somehow undone what my blood had done for him? I dropped my hand. “Do you need to feed—?”

“That’s not something you need to worry about.”

I didn’t understand how he could even suggest that. Or why he wasn’t more disturbed by what I’d done. “What if I do that again? And I hurt someone else who’s not okay afterward?”

His eyes closed briefly, his features softening. “We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen, Sera.”

That sounded easier said than done. “How—?” I jerked back, this time falling on my ass as I remembered what I’d done before Nyktos had found me. “I touched a Shade.”

“You shouldn’t have been anywhere near them.” “That’s not the point.”

The gentling of his demeanor vanished as his jaw hardened. “That’s the actual entirety of the point.”

“You’re not listening. I touched it, and it started to come back to life.” “What?” His hand lowered then as Nektas turned his head toward us.

“I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t try. But I saw its…its veins and its muscles form. Its heart. The heart started beating,” I said. “Right before you killed it, its heart was beating, and it spoke to me.”

Nyktos drew back, his eyes widening. “That’s not possible.” He twisted toward Nektas. “Is it? I didn’t feel it.”

The draken…

Nektas shifted forms, right there beside us. A dazzling explosion of a thousand tiny silver stars appeared all over his body and above us where his wing had been. My mouth dropped open as the shimmery spectacle faded, and fingers took the place of talons, wings sank in, and flesh replaced scales. Red and black hair slid over lots of hard, faintly ridged, coppery flesh.

“You’re naked,” I whispered.

“Does that bother you?” Nektas asked. “Maybe?”

Nyktos turned his head to me. “Perhaps you shouldn’t continue staring then.”

“How can I not?” I mumbled.

Nektas smirked as he waved a hand. There was a brief, faint burst of light, and then only his upper body was exposed. Loose, linen pants covered the rest. “Better?”

“I guess…” I blinked. Was I hallucinating?

“I wasn’t asking you.” Nektas turned a pointed stare on Nyktos.

The Primal’s eyes narrowed as the corners of his lips pointed downward.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

“Magic,” Nektas answered. I frowned as he knelt beside Nyktos. “You sure the Shade spoke?”

I nodded, letting the whole magic-pants thing go for the time being. “It said meyaah Liessa.”

“My Queen,” Nyktos repeated.

“Fuck.” A slow grin spread across Nektas’s face. “It’s the embers.”

I was getting really sick of hearing about the embers, but that did confirm that Nektas knew there were two embers in me and not one. Nyktos had obviously confided in him, but had he told the draken the whole Sotoria part?

“Eythos could do it,” Nektas continued. “He could raise the bones of the dead. It was rare. I can only remember him doing it once. It’s not the same as restoring life to the recently dead. That’s why nobody felt it.” He tilted his head as he eyed me. “Those embers are really strong in you.”

“So I’ve been told,” I muttered.

Nyktos frowned. “I didn’t know my father could do that.”

“I don’t think even Kolis knew.” He brushed a stripe of red hair back over his shoulder. “You should probably avoid touching anything dead until you get a handle on those embers.”

My hands fell into my lap. “I’ll definitely try to avoid doing that. It’ll be hard because I do like to touch dead things.”

Nektas’s smile spread, and then he looked over his shoulder. “You level?”

Nyktos nodded, his attention fixed on me.

“You two should head back to the palace. The Shades won’t be scared off much longer.” Nektas rose, clasping Nyktos’s shoulder before walking off into the maze of dead trees. A few moments later, branches rattled violently, and Nektas rose into the sky in his draken form once more.

“So…draken can conjure clothing out of thin air?” I asked. “Can Primals do the same?”

“Only clothing we’ve worn. It becomes an extension of us.”

“Oh. That makes sense, I guess.” Slowly, I met his stare as bone-deep exhaustion set in. So many things went through my head. “You’re not going to let me go, are you?”

“Never,” he swore.

Disbelief and frustration clashed. “So, you’re going to hold me captive here, then? Against my will?”

Eather flared in his eyes again. “How you remain here, as my Consort or my prisoner, will be your choice.”

“That’s not really a choice when it’s the same thing.”

“If you choose to see it that way, then so be it.” He rose fluidly, showing no sign that I had injured him. “Your destiny is not to die at the hands of Kolis.”

My chest rose and fell sharply as the finality of my failed attempt and what it meant settled over me. This had been my one chance. There would be no more, not when he now expected it from me. “Then what is my destiny?”

“To be my Consort,” he said. “Whether you like it or not.”

Anger rose as I stared up at the Primal of Death. I latched onto it because it was far better than desperation and hopelessness. “You mean it’s my destiny to die as your Consort?”

A muscle ticked in his temple as he glared. “There may be another way to prevent your death.”

“Really?” I laughed. “Like what?”

“If I had five seconds of peace and didn’t have to worry about you getting yourself killed, I might be able to think of one.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Sure.”

He made a noise that sounded like he was choking on a scream of frustration. I smirked, my gaze falling on the dagger. I reached for it.

“I sincerely hope that whatever you plan to do with the dagger doesn’t involve me,” Nyktos warned as I quickly slid it into my boot.

“Don’t…don’t take it from me,” I ordered, but it sounded more like a plea, which brought heat to my cheeks.

“If I planned on taking it from you, I would’ve done so already.”

I watched him warily. “You’re not afraid I’m going to slit your throat to your spine like you instructed?”

“No.”

My eyes narrowed. “You should be.”

He smirked, brushing his fingers over the cuff on his biceps, drawing forth a thin tendril.

I stiffened as the smoke rapidly spread out in the space before him, quickly taking the form of his warhorse. Odin shook out his black mane as he pawed at the ash-covered ground. I’d forgotten all about the fact that his horse apparently lived in his cuff.

“How is…?” I quieted when Nyktos glanced at me. “What?”

“Nothing,” I muttered, attempting to quash my curiosity about how he could conjure Odin into existence from a silver cuff. I failed five seconds later. “Is that also magic?”

“Primal magic, yes.”

I thought about the chair he’d moved earlier, and the fire he’d started without touching either of those things. “So, he’s not…real?”

“He is flesh and blood.” He was silent for a moment. “I hope you’re not planning to spend what remains of the longest night ever in the Dying Woods.”

“And if I was?”

“I would pick you up and put you on Odin myself.” “I’d like to see you try.”

Nyktos faced me, and his expression told me he was willing to do just that.

“Whatever.” I pushed to my feet and sidestepped him, trudging toward Odin. I halted when the horse whipped his head in my direction. He pawed at the ground once more.

“He’s not that happy with you.” “What did I do to him?”

Nyktos came up behind me, dipping his head as he said, “You held a dagger to my throat, and you hit me with eather.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t do those things—” I cut myself off. Primal magic. “He’s an extension of you. Got it.” I sighed, eyeing the horse. “I’m sorry.”

Odin huffed, turning his head from me.

“He’ll get over it.” Nyktos gripped my hips and lifted me into the air before I even had a chance to react. I grasped the pommel, seating myself before I was flung over the other side. Nyktos swung into the saddle behind me. “Eventually.”

Odin shook his mane.

I wasn’t sure about that.

Nyktos reached around me and picked up the reins. “The next time you put a dagger to anyone’s throat,” he said, his breath coasting over my cheek as he guided Odin toward the palace, “you’d better mean it.”

I stiffened. “Even if it’s yours?”

Nyktos’s arm folded over my waist, tugging me against his chest. “Especially if it’s mine.”

Orphine was waiting just inside the stable-facing doors, in the narrow entryway that led to the hall opposite Nyktos’s office. She wasn’t the only one. Ector leaned against the wall as she stepped forward, lowering herself onto one knee. “It was my duty to watch over her,” she said. “I failed. I’m sorry.”

Guilt rose. “It’s not your fault.”

“For once, Sera’s right,” Nyktos replied, and I shot him a narrow-eyed glare. “You don’t need to apologize for her recklessness—”

“Recklessness?” I hissed. He made it sound as if I’d been out for a jaunty stroll through the Dying Woods.

“Or her bravery,” he continued, returning my glare. I snapped my mouth shut, surprised that he’d even thought that, let alone said it. “Foolish bravery,” he tacked on.

I was starting to regret feeling bad for hurting him.

Ector pushed off the wall as Orphine rose, his curly hair even paler in the lamplight. “Bravery?”

“She was attempting to make her way to Dalos.” Nyktos took hold of my arm. “To kill Kolis.”

“Damn,” Orphine muttered, stepping back from us.

The blood drained rapidly from Ector’s face. “You can’t be serious.”

“I wish I wasn’t.” Nyktos steered me around them, starting for the back set of stairs.

Ector followed. “Why would you do something like that? Even think about doing that?”

I stopped. “Because—”

Nyktos was having none of it. He let go of my arm, pointing up the stairs. “Go—”

“Do not order me about as if I’m a child.” “I wouldn’t if you didn’t behave like one.”

I saw red. “You sure as hell didn’t think I was behaving like one when you had me in your bed and your fangs in my throat!”

“Whoa,” Ector murmured.

Fiery, silver eyes locked with mine. “Sera.”

Choking on more words I really didn’t need to speak, I stomped up the stairs like a full-grown-ass woman. I made it to the fourth-floor landing before Nyktos caught up to me.

“Whatever you were thinking about saying down there,” he began, reaching around me and yanking open the door, “don’t think it again.”

“What?” I stalked into the hall. He’d been right. I had been about to tell Ector why I’d gone after Kolis. “You don’t trust your guards with the truth of exactly what I carry inside me? Or are you afraid that if they know, they might actually agree with me?”

“None of them would agree with what you were attempting to do, nor would they aid you in such a thing.”

I laughed. And, boy, did it sound scary. “You don’t know them all that well if you think that.”

“And you do?”

“I know them well enough to be aware of the obvious. None of them like me, and they’d be glad to see me gone—either walking out or being carried out dead.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Is that a serious question? They haven’t forgiven me for what I once planned—” I gasped, stumbling back as Nyktos appeared in front of me. “Stop doing that!”

“What have they said to you?” His voice was low, but it hummed with the promise of violence.

“Nothing.”

He came toward me. “Tell me what they said and who said it.”

“They don’t need to say anything for me to know!” My hands closed into fists. “Look, the last thing I need to do is make them more unhappy with me. And I don’t want to. They already have every reason to dislike me. They’re loyal to you, and I’m just the Consort you never wanted—who planned to kill you. If they had their way, I wouldn’t be here.” I stepped around him and continued down the hall, the exhaustion from earlier returning. “It is what it is.”

Thank the gods, Nyktos didn’t stop me. I reached my bedchamber, relieved to find it unlocked. I went in, closing the door behind me without saying another word. I moved past the bed and unclasped the cloak. It fell to the floor. I needed quiet. Time to think and plot—

The door flew open behind me. I whirled around. Nyktos swept in like a storm. “No.”

I took a step back. “No, what?”

“No to this. I would like to get at least a few hours of rest tonight,” he announced.

“You’re the one in my chambers!” I threw up my hands. “No one’s stopping you from sleeping.”

“You have proven that you cannot be trusted to be in here alone, and I need to rest. So, if I’m sleeping, you’re sleeping.”

“You cannot be serious,” I exclaimed. “Do I look like I’m joking?”

He looked like he wanted to murder an entire kingdom. “I’m not going to try anything right after you caught me.”

“I would like to believe that, but I know better. I cannot have guards stationed outside your door and in the courtyard, dedicated solely to making sure you don’t do something reckless. At least, not until I have locks put on the balcony doors…” He swung his head in the direction of said doors and then snapped his attention back to me, his brows raised. “How did you get down from the balcony, by the way?”

I had a feeling he wouldn’t like the answer. “Magic? You know, those embers are really strong.”

Nyktos’s growl raised tiny hairs all over my body. “Did you climb

down the side of the palace?” “Possibly?”

He stared at me. “Part of me is impressed by the fact that you managed that.”

“Can we stop with that part?”

“You could’ve broken your neck.” “But I didn’t.”

“For fuck’s sake, Sera. There is such a thing as being too bold. Too brave.”

“Aren’t you tired? Let’s skip this conversation.” I crossed my arms. “Especially since I’m sure we’ve already had it like five hundred times.”

He let out another curse. “You’re right. I can yell at you more in the morning.”

“You sure about that? Or will you be conveniently gone all day?” I snapped.

“Did you miss me?”

“No,” I huffed. “You can go to bed.”

“That is what I’m trying to do, but as I said, if I’m sleeping, you’re sleeping. And you will be doing so within arm’s reach.”

My jaw had to be on the floor. “In your chamber?”

Nyktos drew in a breath, clearly searching for patience. “Where else?” “No.”

His brows flew up. “No?”

“That’s what I said. It should be a simple enough word for you to understand. You can leave now.” I pointed at the door he’d come through. “Good night.”

Nyktos stared at me. “I don’t have time for this.”

“Well, neither do—” My eyes went wide as he started toward me. “What are you doing?”

“I’m not going to stand here and argue with you.”

That look had come over his face again, the one he’d had when he said that he would pick me up and put me on Odin. I took several steps back. “Don’t.”

He prowled forward.

My eyes went wide, and I held up my hands. “I’m feeling really emotional right now. I might lose control and hurt you again.”

“I would love to see you use eather like that again. That too was impressive.” One side of his lips curled up. “But now that I know it can happen, I’ll be prepared.”

I bumped into the column of the bed and then turned—

Nyktos caught my arm and spun me around. One arm went around my waist as he bent, shoving his shoulder against my stomach. I shrieked as he lifted me off the floor. Suddenly, I was hanging from his shoulder—his actual shoulder—and staring at his back.

I was stunned speechless. Then Nyktos turned.

“Let me down!” I screamed, my braid slipping forward and smacking the side of my face.

“Nope.”

“Put me down!” I went to kick my legs, but his other arm folded over the backs of my knees, trapping them. “Nyktos, I swear to the gods—”

“You shouldn’t swear to the gods. It’s blasphemous.”

I screeched, swinging a fist back as he opened the door that adjoined our chambers. I froze, staring into the dark corridor of the short hall. The door…had it been unlocked? Or had he used his power to unlock it?

“I have a feeling you’re about to punch me in a kidney,” Nyktos said as he carried me down the passageway and into his bedchamber.

My fist opened as the scent of citrus—of him—increased. “No, I wasn’t.”

“I don’t think I’ve met someone who lies as much as you do.” Nyktos turned sharply, dumping me onto the bed.

“Asshole!” I bounced roughly as the scant items in his chambers came into view, lit by the glow of the wall sconces. A wardrobe. A few chests, and the long settee beside a table and lone chair. I was a little startled by being in his chamber again.

Nyktos caught my legs before I could even move, tucking one between his arm and chest as he grabbed the boot of the other. He slipped the dagger out, thrusting it into the wooden footboard of the bed, then tugged the boot off.

“What the fuck?”

“Your boots are as filthy as your mouth.” He grabbed hold of the other boot, and that too hit the floor with a thump. “And while I enjoy that mouth in my bed, I won’t enjoy the boots.” He glanced down at my soiled, bloodied breeches. “They need to come off, too.”

“Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever had a man ask me to remove my clothing so romantically before.”

His eyes flicked to mine. They were the shade of the sky outside the palace. My fingers pressed into the thick blanket beneath me as he stared down at me, and I knew I looked as much a mess as my mind was. More hair pulled free of the braid it was in. Skin nicked from branches. He was furious with me, and I wasn’t exactly thrilled with him and his manhandling, but…but something shifted between us. A different kind of tension thickened the air, quickening my pulse and sending a bolt of awareness through me. Suddenly, I wondered if he was thinking of the last time I had been in his bedchamber and on his bed. Or of us in the receiving chamber. I was. Heat hit my blood, followed by a pulsing ache.

Nyktos’s nostrils flared, and his chest rose sharply. “Take your pants off, Sera.”

Those words hit me like a hot stroke, lashing the particularly impulsive side of my nature. “You want them off?” I leaned back on my elbows and raised my brows. “You’re going to have to take them off.”

Nyktos went completely still. Not even his chest moved, but thin wisps of eather slipped into his eyes. He wouldn’t do it. I’d known that when I made the demand.

My lips formed a tight smile. “Then I guess I’ll be sleeping in them.”

He came forward then, planting one knee on the bed. Air lodged in my throat. I tightened all over as his hands moved under the hem of the sweater, and then I loosened as his fingers curled under the band.

His eyes never left mine. “Will you lift your ass, or will I need to do that for you, too?”

I bit my lip and lifted my ass.

The wisps of eather in his eyes grew brighter as he tugged the breeches over my hips and then down my thighs, not even bothering with the buttons. Muscles low in my stomach coiled as he drew them down my legs, the backs of his fingers grazing my skin like a cool kiss. I didn’t even hear the breeches hit the floor. His stare remained locked on mine as his fingers snagged my wool socks. They too fell somewhere beyond the bed.

Slowly, those thick lashes lowered. “Fuck.”

The sweater and slip had bunched up around my upper thighs, and from his vantage point and that one word, I knew he could see that I’d skipped undergarments in my haste to leave earlier.

My heart was thundering as his gaze rose to meet mine again. The essence churned lazily in his eyes. “The sweater is also dirty.”

Hollows formed under his cheekbones, and the tips of his fangs appeared. “Lift your arms.”

I rose so I rested on my knees, my breath catching as it brought our bodies within inches of touching. I lifted my arms. His hands sank into the thick material. My eyes closed as he tugged the sweater up and over my head. Tiny goose bumps broke out over the skin of my now-bare arms. The slip bordered on gossamer, cinched tightly to my breasts and falling looser over my waist and hips. It barely hid anything, and I was nearly as naked as I had been when he gave me his blood. I could feel his stare, as heavy as a caress, over my shoulders—without even a hint of a wound now—and the swell of my breasts. Then lower.

The tips of his fingers brushed my arm, drawing my eyes open. He was silent as he reached behind me, collecting my braid. I watched his fingers smooth down the thick length, stopping when they reached the band doing its best to contain the mass. He tugged it off, sliding it onto his wrist. He began to slowly and carefully unravel the braid. My gaze flew to his.

“The braid can’t be comfortable to sleep on,” he murmured, his voice thicker, richer.

I fell quiet, holding completely still as he meticulously separated the curls. I was inexplicably moved by the act.

He draped the length of hair over my shoulders and back when he was finished, but his fingers lingered in the strands, moving toward the ends that touched my waist. “Are you done fighting me?”

“For now.”

The curl of his lips returned as he lifted his gaze to mine. “And yet it feels as if we’re still locked in battle.” He eased his fingers from my hair and raised his thumb to my cheek, touching the skin beneath the scratch and then my throat, just below the healing bite.

Nyktos stayed there for several moments and then pulled back. He watched me as he kicked off his boots, as if he expected me to bolt. But I hadn’t lied when I’d said that I was done fighting for the night. The exhaustion had returned once more, but this time, it was warm instead of brittle. I stayed where he’d left me, watching him as he stepped back and turned to the side. My gaze dipped, and I saw the hard line of his arousal, clear against his breeches. A pleasant ache settled in my breasts and lower when he pulled his tunic off. The swirls of ink along his sides and back were a blur in the dim light as he walked around the side of the bed, to his

wardrobe. He opened a door and then reached down to his breeches. My lips parted as he undid them, revealing the hard curve of his ass. I didn’t look away as I’d done at the lake. I soaked in the golden-bronze flesh and the dusting of dark hair on his legs.

His body was…it was indecent.

Nyktos pulled on a pair of loose, black pants like the ones Nektas had manifested. He turned back to the bed and freed his hair from the knot at his neck. As the strands fell against his shoulders, I couldn’t help but think how intimate this felt.

The lights in the wall went out as he approached the bed, plunging the room into darkness.

“That was me,” he said upon my gasp.

It took my eyes a moment to adjust. He was at the side of his bed. “More magic?”

“Yes.”

The bed dipped under his weight, and I…I was still where he’d left me. In the darkness, he came to me. He folded his arm over my waist, and I didn’t resist—mainly out of shock—as he tugged me back and then down, bringing a blanket over my legs. My head hit a pillow, and then the bed shifted more as he settled behind me.

His arm was still draped over my waist, but no other parts of our bodies touched, even though there couldn’t be more than an inch or so of space separating us. My eyes were wide and fixed on the darkness. Several moments passed. “I didn’t think you meant within arm’s reach in the literal sense.”

“I did.” His cool breath touched my shoulder, sending a faint shiver through me.

The weight of his arm was…it was too grounding. Too everything. “I don’t think I can sleep like this.”

“If I can, you can.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Just close your eyes and try, Sera.”

Gods, when he said my name like that—like it was a solemn vow—it always left me rattled and thrown. I closed my eyes, hearing only the sound of my heart and his deep, steady breaths, and focused on those breaths until I… I did the impossible and fell asleep. I didn’t know how much time passed before I was jarred awake.

Something…something had happened.

I stared into the darkness, quickly becoming aware of how tightly Nyktos held me. He had his arm clamped down on my waist, and the slip was an inconsequential barrier against the cold press of his flesh to my back. His chest rose and fell sharply, and his breath came in rapid, short bursts against the curve of my neck and shoulder.

Was he dreaming?

I tried to turn my head to look back at him, but his arm clenched, drawing me deeper against the curve of his body. “Nyktos?” I whispered.

There was no answer.

Concern rose. I reached down, touching the tense, corded muscle of his arm.

A tremor ran through his entire body. “Promise me,” he rasped. “Promise me you’ll never go after Kolis again.”

My heart stuttered as I sucked in a shallow breath. “Promise me, Sera. Never again.”

I squeezed my eyes shut against the sudden dampness gathering in them and spoke two words I shouldn’t. “I promise.”