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)
When Hanan meets Seraphena, he calls her “a diamond that will inevitably be shattered into tiny pieces.” Nyktos takes offense and threatens to break every bone in his body and bury him so deep in the Abyss it’ll take him a hundred years to claw himself out if he so much as looks or speaks to her again. Not afraid, he challenges and tells Nyktos that he knows Bele Ascended. Nyktos says that no one in his Court can Ascend a god and taunts Hanan about doubting Kolis. Still, Hanan questions Nyktos’s explanation because he doesn’t believe that Kolis would Ascend someone in the Shadowlands for no reason and then just leave.
Later, when everyone is together, he speaks up without permission, and Kolis reprimands and scolds him, telling him to leave his sight and not return until summoned.
At the coronation, Hanan joins Kyn in a little too much drink and disrespects Nyktos again by not approaching the new couple.
Later, Hanan comes to back up Kolis in Dalos when Nyktos busts in trying to save his Consort. Unfortunately, he doesn’t succeed, and Nyktos kills him, ripping out his heart and taking off his head.
His title transfers to Bele.
ECTOR †
Court: Originally, Vathi
Hair: Curly. Fair.
Eyes: Deep amber.
Body type: Tall. Slender.
Facial features: Sharp cheeks, eyes, and jaw.
Personality: Loyal. Likes to tease.
Other: Older than Nyktos by several hundred years.
Background: Knew Eythos and Mycella fairly well. Knew about King Roderick’s deal. Sometimes joined Lathan to watch over Sera—starting on her seventeenth birthday.
Family: Sister.
ECTOR’S JOURNEY:
I’m going to admit that when I started seeing Ector in my visions of the past, I immediately had a soft spot for him. And the more I saw, the more I learned by researching and viewing others, the more endearing he became.
The first real glimpses I got of Ector started when he hands Sera a narrow birch box that he was ordered to give to her—the box containing her special crescent moon shadowstone dagger.
Ector accompanies Nyktos to the mortal realm to retrieve Sera and tends to her after Tavius’s assault, freeing her from her bonds and calling her stepbrother an animal. When Nyktos orders everyone out of the hall, Ector escorts the mortals.
When they return to the Shadowlands, Ector stands guard outside Sera’s room, even though he feels he has much better things to do. However, he remains for her safety since he’s heard that she likes to wander off into dangerous situations. He also takes it upon himself to bring her meals.
Ector accompanies Sera as she watches Nyktos hold Court, though he was against letting her come. Rhain teases him that he worries Daddy Nyktos will be upset and send him to bed with no dinner. When Veses arrives, he is ordered to take Sera somewhere safe and gives her the option of her chambers or the library. When she chooses, he deposits her and reminds her to adhere to what they agreed to.
Later, when Erlina arrives, Ector brings Sera to her chambers and stands guard outside. When the seamstress leaves, Ector offers to walk with Sera in the courtyard instead of keeping her in her room. He tells her that the draken understand when someone talks to them, even when not in their god forms.
Ector sympathizes with the shock Sera must have felt learning the truth about the Chosen. They discuss Gemma, and Ector tells Sera that she hasn’t been in the Shadowlands long. He then reveals what Court he’s from and tells her how old he is, teasing her about how good he looks for his age.
As they discuss Nyktos’s parents, Ector tells Sera that Eythos loved Mycella, even more so after she died, and would never have remarried.
A ruckus arises at the south gate, and Ector asks Sera to stay put as he goes to investigate. He finds Gemma, injured, and carries her into the palace, then orders Rhahar to get Nyktos. He tells Sera to return to her chambers.
He tries to argue that Gemma isn’t dead, but then he sees that she is. When the draken start acting strangely, he remarks that he’s never seen anything like it and then stares in shock as Sera starts to glow. He watches in awe as Sera brings Gemma back to life.
Later, Ector enters the war room with Bele and helps to relay the tale of Kolis’s treachery, how he exchanged destinies with his twin and then destroyed all records of the truth. When they discuss recent happenings, Ector remarks that it makes sense now why the poppies returned.
After Sera’s secret becomes known and during the dakkais siege, Ector asks what to do with Sera but ends up fetching a hooded cloak and meeting Nyktos by the gates to the bay. He doesn’t believe that Sera cares about Nyktos’s safety and tells her so later when he relays that monsters are in the water. He adds that Nyktos won’t kill her until he figures out what’s up with the embers.