Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Nyktos runs a bath for Sera later, telling her to use his tub at her discretion, knowing she likely still has post-traumatic stress about hers.
What a sweetie.
When she takes longer than expected in the tub, he checks on her and finds her asleep. He warms the water for her with a touch, and when she wakes, he’s surprised that she lets him still look upon her unmentionables. As he watches her, he breathes that everything she does is seductive.
She tells him that it’s her choice to want him and says she’s at least brave enough to admit it. He confesses to wanting her and thinking about being with her, even when he’s not looking at her. He’s been dwelling on the deal she offered in his office—pleasure for the sake of pleasure—and tried convincing himself she hadn’t known he was in her chambers the other night as shadows. He admits he wants her. Enjoys her boldness and rebellion. Then asks her if what he said was a brave and real enough confession.
Sera taunts and teases Nyktos, prompting him to call her liessa again. She finally pleasures him, and he gets into the tub. He lifts her onto the ledge and returns the favor. As he feeds slightly from her most delicate places, she calls him Ash, reestablishing some of their connectedness and making him growl. When they finish playing in the tub, he calls her beautiful and carries her to bed.
Nyktos learns that Sera was not to be known in her kingdom. She was kept hidden away as if she didn’t exist. He also learns she was veiled and never acknowledged as a Princess. She was virtually a ghost. He tells her she was never a ghost to him.
I love that so much. All anyone wants is to be seen. Understood. Even if you don’t particularly like or engage in socialization, as with Sera, we just want someone to look and see. We want to be alive for someone other than ourselves.
After he holds court in the city, Nyktos and Sera discuss their intimate endeavors and how Nyktos can heal the wounds he creates. They have dinner together, something she requested when they sparred, and he tells her about his day. He realizes that Sera is used to blaming herself for just about everything and reminds her she didn’t fail. He states that he expects her to live longer than it takes them to transfer the embers.
Talk turns to the Pools of Divanash, and they realize that time isn’t on their side. The plan is to go in three days. Nyktos confesses that he worried Sera would feel like he was trying to control her and didn’t like it. He then admits that he’s having a hard time finding balance between protecting her and doing what needs to be done.
They talk about her demands and discuss Dorcan. Sera tells him it’s okay to have friends and apologizes that he had to kill another because of her. He argues that it’s not okay to care for others if doing so gets them tortured and killed.
They discuss Kolis a bit more, and he tells her that the King of Gods treats him and all the other Primals the same, and they fall out of favor as often as he changes clothes. Sera tells him she hopes their plan works, but not because she’s thinking about the future. He reminds her that he’s not good, tells her not to mistake his handling of her as him being good, and urges her to keep that in mind.
He’s good. He’s so very good…he just doesn’t like to admit it. But with Nyktos, his goodness is a strength that not many have, and countless others can only hope to achieve.
He reminds her that she was willing to sacrifice herself for others and is thus good, but there is no such thing as a good Primal. He adds that the embers don’t make her good or bad either.
Nyktos counts Sera’s freckles as he disrobes her and decides he needs to name the constellation of birthmarks on her thigh. They make love, and his appearance shifts—skin becomes harder, shadows gathering under his flesh, eather filling the veins in his eyes. He calls her liessa again as he finds his release.
Before she wakes, he leaves, but returns to draw her a bath and have breakfast. As they set out for the mortal realm, he promises to bring her back to her lake once it’s safe enough to do so, and tells her she can go as often as she’d like. He then explains to Sera what mortals sensing him feel, and relays that their self-preservation instincts don’t bother him.
Once in Lasania, Nyktos takes Sera’s hand as they approach Ezra, remarking that she’s holding a town hall. He scares a guard into going to the new Queen. When Sera talks to Ezra about some of the things that have happened, Nyktos is shocked that Ezmeria seems to believe her without question.