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)
Nektas reminds Ash that he saved her, and Ash tells Sera he’ll be waiting for her.
She starts to wake, and Ash tells her not to rush it. He reminds her of how they are together. How they like to be. He tells her she needs him. His blood. Says he’s hers.
She intones that the Primal of Life has never fed from the Primal of Death before. They’re meant to be two halves of a cycle but separate. He insists that all of him is hers, and she feeds.
After, he asks if she knows him, and she says she always will.
Ash tells her he was terrified he’d lose her. She says he didn’t; he saved her. He adds that he was afraid she wouldn’t remember and that he’d still lose her. She insists he won’t. Ever. He tenses and tells her that when he releases her, she should run, saying he needs her too much and won’t be able to control himself. He’ll become his other self. She says she trusts him. Tells him she’s his. Urges him to take her.
He does, using his shadow tendrils to bring her extra pleasure. He tells her that he loves her and says he’s not sure when it started. She says she thought she’d die without ever knowing what his love felt like. He says he would never allow that and that he’ll spend eternity making sure she knows how deeply his feelings run.
Nektas asks if they’re okay, and Ash threatens him. When Sera says she’s now the Queen, Ash agrees and adds that he’s her Consort. She corrects him and calls him her King.
He agrees.
The King then fucks his Queen.
Ash feels Sera tensing when he goes to feed and knows that more happened in Dalos than she’s letting on. He hopes she will tell him eventually. He mentions that every Primal felt her Ascension and makes her understand that they’ll deal with whatever comes. Together.
He comes clean about why he didn’t take her as his Consort initially. Part of it was to keep her unknown to Kolis, but also because he had a dream the night she was born. It was her at her lake, smiling at him. Then, he saw her dying, and him destroying everything. It terrified him so much he had his kardia removed right before he brought Sera to Iliseeum.
He laments what his choices meant for her life and insists he was a coward. She denies it, but he tells her what the vision showed him. His actions showed that he’d fallen in love. So, he tried to stop it. He tells her he fell in love anyway, and she tells him she felt more than love when he held her in the lake. Ash says there’s only one reason for that. They’re heartmates.
He talks about how when the Arae see threads of fate joining, they cannot intervene. He says their joined souls created the first-ever Queen of the Gods. They talk about the Arae pushing the boundaries of what’s allowed and what’s considered interference.
When Sera goes out onto the balcony, he follows her, and they take in the life that’s returning to the realm.
Ash and Sera share declarations of love, and he tells her that he wants them to trust each other, adding that he’ll always see her as strong no matter what. He hints that he thinks he knows what happened to her in Dalos, and they talk more about Rhain. She urges Ash not to do or say anything about what happened when her plans were first revealed. He agrees.
Sera tells Ash what Holland really said to her the day he came with Penellaphe. That love is more powerful than the Fates. They think and talk about how powerful life is.
She asks Ash to tell her again that he loves her, and he does. Repeatedly. Happily. And then they make love.
EYTHOS †
Primal of Life turned Primal of Death
Court: Dalos to The Shadowlands
Hair: Shoulder-length. Black.
Eyes: Silver.
Facial features: Bronze skin. Strong jaw. Broad cheekbones. Straight nose. Wide mouth.
Personality: Clever. Strategic. Wise. Kind. Generous. Fair. Protective.
Habits/Mannerisms/Strengths/Weaknesses: Fascinated by silver hawks. Partial to wolves—can even shift into one. Fascinated by life—especially mortals.
Other: Not able to see souls but knew their names and lives. Things that represent him = silver, winged masks like the silver hawk.
Background: Was the Primal God of Life until Kolis switched fates; then he became the Primal God of Death.
Family: Consort = Mycella †. Son = Nyktos. Twin = Kolis.
EYTHOS’S JOURNEY TO DATE:
My knowledge of Eythos only comes in the form of stories. So, that is how I shall relay Eythos’s journey…
A very long time ago, a powerful Primal befriended the dragons. He wanted to learn their stories, and being young, was rather impulsive. He knew one way to talk to them was to give them a voice by bestowing on them a godly form—allowing them to shift between the two. This Primal was Eythos, the then Primal God of Life. But the draken aren’t the only creatures the young god gave dual lives to.