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)
After besting him just a little bit—I’m sure he probably let her—he says he’ll train her, totally shocking her. Needing to get in the last word, she curtsies to him and leaves.
Nyktos draws a bath for her in his chambers, and she eventually falls asleep in the tub. She wakes, and he reheats the water for her. Driven by her desire, she tells him that her want of him is a choice; one she’s at least brave enough to admit. Then, she tries to leave.
Before she can go, he admits to wanting her, too, and tells her how badly. He admits that he thinks about her all the time. She taunts him about the blowjob she gave him and asks if he wants that again or is back to just more talk.
And then it’s not just talk…
They share how each of them felt in their early lives, and Sera tells him she was basically a ghost in Lasania. He tells her to sleep and says she was never a ghost to him.
She wakes with only Nektas in the room and they talk a little. Sera remarks that there’s no way Ash has forgiven her, even if he understands and accepts why she planned what she did. He tells her that if Ash didn’t understand or accept, she wouldn’t be where she is, smelling of the Primal, and he wouldn’t have detected peace from Ash when he found them together.
Ash and Sera share dinner, and he tells her they’ll go see Ezra tomorrow in the mortal realm but makes sure she understands they can’t stay long. And they can’t say anything about Kolis.
They talk about their plans for going to the Pools of Divanash and more. She tells Nyktos she hopes his plan works because he’s good, and he should be the Primal of Life. He tells her not to mistake his handling of her as him being good. She explains that she isn’t good either. Nyktos reminds her that she’s been willing to sacrifice herself for others and thus is good, but then goes on to say that there’s no such thing as a good Primal, telling her their history. He adds that she’s neither good nor bad because of the embers.
Sera feels a shift between them and notices that his skin is warmer again. He remarks on her freckles once more, and she feels even more of a shift. It’s not desire fueled by the need for blood or sustenance, nor is it spurred on by anger. This is real. She kisses him because it’s different now, and he calls her liessa.
They head to the mortal realm, and Sera takes in how the mortals act in Ash’s presence. They meet with Ezra, and Sera tells her stepsister that killing the Primal wouldn’t have stopped the Rot. When Ezra confesses that she doubted Sera could make the Primal of Death fall for her, Sera is surprised. Ezra adds that she figured she’d end up getting killed after becoming impatient and just stabbing him, which makes Sera laugh.
On the way out, Sera and Ash run into Calliphe. Sera tries to leave, but her mom stops her, telling her she didn’t know what Tavius had planned. Ash tells her that she should count her blessings and thank her daughter, because it’s the only reason she still breathes.
Back in Iliseeum, after training with Bele and spending some pleasurable time with Ash, Sera goes to his office to see him. He takes her belowground to show her something, and she sees the cells. She realizes that she can’t tell the difference between the embers and her heart being excited around him and believes that he had his kardia removed to protect others, not himself. He tells her about the bone chains and those with dual lives and then takes her to the pool room. She’s amazed and asks him why he went to the lake if he had this. He tells her it’s because it was her lake.
Be still my heart.
Sera learns that Ash checked on her before her seventeenth birthday because he was curious—I now know it was much, much before that. Him wanting to know more about her makes her happy.
Wanting to test things, he says he plans to draw the eather out of her by goading her into using it on him, then tells her if she behaves, she can go for a swim or be fucked. She doesn’t want to do it, doesn’t want to accidentally hurt him, but he asks nicely, and she confesses to hating when he says “please.”
They fight hand-to-hand, and eather ramps up in her as she thinks about losing the fight with Taric. When Ash grabs hold of her, she distracts him with talk of sex to break away. He pins her, and she confesses that she likes to submit to him—then does. He takes her on the stone and tells her that she’s always safe with him, calling her liessa.