Gods, what can I say about the prophecy? It has changed more than I take new bed partners. But then again…has it? What has changed is the interpretation of what was prophesied in the bones of Penellaphe Balfour’s namesake, a God of Divination. And that is still changing even now.

Let’s take a peek at what we know so far, shall we?

From the desperation of golden crowns and born of mortal flesh, a great primal power rises as the heir to the lands and seas, to the skies and all the realms. A shadow in the ember, a light in the flame, to become a fire in the flesh. For the one born of the blood and the ash, the bearer of two crowns, and the bringer of life to mortal, god, and draken. A silver beast with blood seeping from its jaws of fire, bathed in the flames of the brightest moon to

ever be birthed, will become one.

When the stars fall from the night, the great mountains crumble into the seas, and old bones raise their swords beside the gods, the false one will be stripped from glory as (NOT UNTIL) the great powers will stumble and fall, some all at once, and they will fall through the fires into a void of nothing.

Those left standing will tremble as they kneel, will weaken as they become small, as they become forgotten. For finally, the Primal rises, the giver of blood and the bringer of bone, the Primal of Blood and Ash.

Two born of the same misdeeds, born of the same great and Primal

power in the mortal realm. A first daughter, with blood full of fire, fated for the once-promised King. And the second daughter, with blood full of ash and ice, the other half of the future King. Together, they will remake the

realms as they usher in the end. And so it will begin with the last Chosen blood spilled, the great conspirator birthed from the flesh and fire of the Primals will awaken as the Harbinger and the Bringer of Death and Destruction to the lands gifted by the gods. Beware, for the end will come from the west to destroy the east and lay waste to all which lies between.

I know, I know, it is a lot. Even I, with some inside knowledge, have not been able to decipher it all. I can tell you what I do quote-unquote know, however. I shall break it down incrementally and tell you what I have deciphered. Please note that while I’m a Seer, I am not a God of Divination. And as events unfold; so, too, does the interpretation and the possible double meanings of some of the prophecy’s stanzas.

From the desperation of golden crowns [the Golden King, King Roderick, to stop the Rot] and born of mortal flesh [King Lamont and Queen Calliphe], a great primal power rises as the heir to the lands and seas, to the skies and all the realms [Seraphena Mierel, the true Primal of Life, the Queen of Gods, carrying the only ember of life, thus the only reason anything still lives/exists]. A shadow in the ember [Nyktos], a light in the flame [Sera], to become a fire in the flesh [the union to eventually

become Poppy]. For the one born of the blood and the ash, the bearer of two crowns [Sera], and the bringer of life to mortal, god, and draken [the Primal]. A silver beast with blood seeping from its jaws of fire [Ash], bathed in the flames of the brightest moon to ever be birthed [Sera again], will become one.

When the stars fall from the night [the War of the Primals], the great mountains crumble into the seas, and old bones raise their swords beside the gods [The Consort’s soldiers and draken], the false one will be stripped from glory as [not until!] the great powers will stumble and fall,

some all at once, and they will fall through the fires into a void of nothing. Those left standing will tremble as they kneel, will weaken as they become small, as they become forgotten. For finally, the Primal rises, the giver [Sera] of blood and the bringer [Nyktos] of bone, the Primal of Blood and Ash.

Two born of the same misdeeds [the capture of Ires and Jadis—how Isbeth got pregnant], born of the same great and Primal power in the mortal realm [Millicent and Poppy, born of Ires, son of the true Primal of Life and a Primal of Death]. A first daughter [Millicent], with blood full of fire [Revenant with embers in her blood], fated for the once-

promised King [Malik’s heartmate]. And the second daughter [Poppy], with blood full of ash and ice [granddaughter of the Asher and…Death—

like Ash], the other half of the future King [Casteel’s heartmate]. Together, they will remake the realms as they usher in the end [the Awakening]. And so it will begin with the last Chosen blood spilled [Poppy was the last Chosen, and her blood was spilled—her birth], the great conspirator

[Kolis] birthed from the flesh and fire of the Primals will awaken as the

Harbinger and the Bringer of Death and Destruction to the lands gifted by the gods. Beware, for the end will come from the west [the mortal realm] to destroy the east [Iliseeum].

**Note to self. Make sure to update these records as pieces become clear or visions manifest.

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POTENT NOTABLES

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You know how someone can say something to you, and it strikes you in such a way that you automatically make a mental note? Well, there have been a plethora of those moments as I got glimpses of Poppy, Cas, Sera, and Nyktos over the years—not to mention others. Here are just some that I made sure to notate for my records.

FROM BLOOD AND ASH

“‘You’re an absolutely stunning, murderous little creature.’”

“’Fear and bravery are often one and the same. It either makes you a warrior or a coward. The only difference is the person it resides inside.’”

“’Death is like an old friend who pays a visit, sometimes when it’s least expected and other times when you’re waiting for her. It’s neither the first nor the last time she’ll pay a visit, but that doesn’t make any death less harsh or unforgiving.’”

“‘With my sword and with my life, I vow to keep you safe, Penellaphe.

From this moment until the last moment, I am yours.’”

“‘Promise me you won’t forget this, Poppy. That no matter what happens tomorrow, the next day, next week, you won’t forget this, forget that this was real.’”

“‘Nothing is ever simple. And when it is, it’s rarely ever worth it.’” “Some truths do nothing but destroy and decay what they do not

obliterate. Truths do not always set one free. Only a fool who has spent their entire life being fed lies believes that.”

“‘The next time you go out, wear better shoes and thicker clothing.

Those slippers are likely to be the death of you, and that dress…the death of

me.’”

“‘You’re such a bad influence.’”…“‘Only the bad can be influenced, Princess.’”

“‘Bravery and strength do not equal goodness.’”

“‘I’ll say it again. I don’t care what you are. I care about who you are.’” “Some things, once spoken, were given a life of their own.”

“There was always someone whose pain cut so deeply, was so raw, that their anguish became a palpable entity.”

“Loneliness often brought with it a heavy, coarse blanket of shame, and a cloak constructed of embarrassment.”

“‘You’re important to me, Poppy. Not because you’re the Maiden, but because you’re…you.’”

“Hawke wasn’t the catalyst. He was the reward.”

A KINGDOM OF FLESH AND FIRE

“‘Your heart, Poppy? It is a gift I do not deserve. But it is one I will protect until my dying breath.’”

“‘The world, no matter how big, is often smaller than we realize.’” “‘You don’t deserve everything that I’ve laid at your feet, and you sure

as hell don’t deserve the fact that I’m still trying to hold onto you. That when it comes time for you to leave, I’m still going to want you. Even when you inevitably do leave, I’ll still want you.’”

“‘I don’t want to pretend. I’m Poppy and you’re Casteel, and this is real.’”

“He was the first thing I’d ever truly chosen for myself.”

“‘Let’s make a deal that we don’t borrow tomorrow’s problems today.’” “‘Always. Your heart was always safe with me. It always will be. There

is nothing I will protect more fiercely or with more devotion, Poppy. Trust in that—in what you feel from me.’”

“‘You can’t spell dysfunctional without fun, now can you?’”

“‘I fell for you when you were Hawke, and I kept falling for you when you became Casteel.’”

“‘But even so, sometimes, the heartbreak that comes with loving someone is worth it, even if loving that person means eventually saying goodbye to them.’”

“He was both the villain and the hero, the monster and the monster- slayer.”

“‘I need to feel your lips on mine. I need to feel your breath in my lungs. I need to feel your life inside me. I just need you. It’s an ache. This need. Can I have you? All of you?’”

“‘You’re beautiful when you’re quiet and somber, but when you laugh?

You rival the sunrise over the Skotos Mountains.’”

“‘Dear gods, you have her on her own horse? Soon, she’ll be running one of us over instead of stabbing us.’”

“‘There is no side of you that is not as beautiful as the other half. Not a single inch isn’t stunning. That was true the first time I said it to you, and it is still the truth today and tomorrow.’”

“He had my whole heart, and he had from the moment he allowed me to protect myself, from the moment he stood beside me instead of in front of me.”

“‘A cell is a cell, no matter how comfortable it is.’”

“Feelings were not stagnant. Neither were opinions or beliefs, and if we stopped believing people were capable of change, then the world might as well be left to burn.”

“‘I don’t know what you want from me.’”…“‘Everything. I want everything.’”

“‘When it comes to bacon, the answer is always yes.’”

“’But I was once told that the best relationships are the ones where passions run high.’”

“‘Beauty, my sweet child, is often broken and barbed, and always unexpected.’”

“‘Change can be good just as much as it can be bad.’” “‘Thank you.’”…“‘For what?’”…“‘For choosing me.’” “And kissing Casteel was like daring to kiss the sun.”

A CROWN OF GILDED BONES

“‘You will bow before your Queen. Or you will bleed before her. It is your choice.’”

“‘You need to understand that I will do anything and everything

for my wife. No risk is too great, nor is anything too sacred. Because she is my everything. There is nothing greater than her, and I do mean nothing.’” “‘You are the foundation that helps me stand. You are my walls and my

roof. My shelter. You are my home.’”

“‘Bravery is a fleeting beast, isn’t it? Always there to get you into trouble, but quick to disappear once you’re where you want to be.’”

“‘I love you, Penellaphe. You. Your fierce heart, your intelligence and strength. I love your endless capacity for kindness. I love your acceptance of me. Your understanding. I’m in love with you, and I will be in love with you when I take my last breath and then beyond in the Vale.’”

“‘The heart doesn’t care how long you may have with someone. It just cares that you have the person for as long as you can.’”

“‘You. All I ever need is you. Now. Always.’”

“‘Life doesn’t wait to hand you a new puzzle until you’ve figured out the last one.’”

“‘There cannot be equality in power if there is no choice.’”

THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS

“‘You people and your concern for nudity is tiresome.’”

“‘Whether she ruled over all the lands and seas or was the Queen of nothing but a pile of ashes and bones she would—will—always

be my Queen. Love is too weak an emotion to describe how she consumes me and what I feel for her. She is my everything.’”

“‘We’re two hearts…one soul. We’ll find each other again. We always will.’”

“‘Be careful but be brave.’”

“‘I love you…with my heart and my soul, today and tomorrow. I will never get enough of you.’”

“‘I’m never not in awe of you. I’m always utterly mesmerized. I’ll never stop being that. Always and forever.’”

“‘From blood and ash…we have risen!’”

“‘To speak her name is to bring the stars from the skies and topple the mountains into the sea.’”

“This cold, aching hollowness that had woken in the last twenty-three days. It tasted like the promise of retribution. Of wrath.”

“‘You’re more than a Queen. More than a goddess on the verge of becoming a Primal. You’re Penellaphe Da’Neer, and you’re fearless.’”

A SHADOW IN THE EMBER

“‘I know what I am. I’ve always known. I am one of the worst sort. A monster … But don’t you ever tell me how I feel.’”

“‘It is far easier to be lied to than to acknowledge that you have been lied to.’”

“‘I want to kiss you, even though there is no reason for me to other than I want it.’”

“‘You are the heir to the lands and seas, skies and realms. A Queen instead of a King. You are the Primal of Life.’”

“I wasn’t sure how one could seduce another into falling in love with them after stabbing them in the chest.”

“‘One of the bravest things to do is to accept the aid of others.’”

“He was like the brightest star and the deepest night sky given mortal form. And he was utterly beautiful in this form, wholly terrifying.”

“‘Where’s all that bravery?’”…“‘My bravery ends when I’m faced with something that can swallow me whole.’”

“‘I believe he slipped and fell upon my blade.’”…“‘Was it his throat that fell upon your blade?’”…“‘Odd, right?’”…“‘Odd, indeed.’”

“‘In case you’re wondering, this is me intentionally staring.’”…“‘Pervert.’”

“‘Don’t. Not a single word.’”…“‘Excuse me?’”…“‘In case you have trouble counting, that is two words.’”

“‘You are trouble.’”

“‘A monster wouldn’t care if they were one.’”

“‘You interest me because there seems to be little time between what occurs in your head and what comes out of your mouth. And there seems to be little regard for the consequences.’”

“‘That life for any being is as fragile as the flame of a candle—easily extinguished and stamped out.’”

“‘Love is the one thing that not even fate can contend with.’”

“‘You’re a blessing, Sera. No matter what anyone says or believes, you are a blessing. You always have been. You need to know that.’”

A LIGHT IN THE FLAME

“‘I never wanted to love. Not until you, liessa.’”

“‘I would have loved you if I could have. There would’ve been no stopping me.’”

“‘I can sense your need. Feel it. Taste it. You’re drowning in it.’”…“‘I’m fucking drowning in it.’”…“‘Then drown with me.’”

“‘Needing me or anyone to look out for you doesn’t mean you’re weak, that you can’t defend yourself, or that you’re afraid. We all need someone to watch over us.’”

“For the first time in my life, I felt like I was more than a destiny I’d never agreed to. More than the embers I carried within me. I felt like… more.”

“‘Because you just tore apart a god with your hands, and I found that… kind of hot.’”

“‘Just because someone shares the same bloodline as you doesn’t mean they deserve your time or thoughts.’”

“‘Daddy Nyktos is not happy.’” “‘You’re a viktor named Vikter?’”

“‘I will gladly suffer anything Kolis dishes out as long as my blood is spilled instead of yours.’”

“‘Just don’t forget how to be so exquisitely reckless later.’”

“‘You never know how much you can take until you can’t take more.’” “‘Forgiveness benefits the forgiver, and it’s easy. Understanding is

acceptance, and that is far harder.’”

“‘Fate just sees all the possible outcomes of free will.’”

A SOUL OF ASH AND BLOOD

“‘You can call me that. Or you can call me death, whichever you prefer.’”

“I wasn’t a good man. I was just hers.”

“When I was around her, I didn’t think of the past or the future. I simply lived.”

“I would come back. I would look for her. And if she wasn’t here? I would find her again. Sooner rather than later. She would be mine.”

“Again, I couldn’t help but think…that in a different life, I would’ve been built for this.”

“Poppy…she was worth the risk. To give her a chance to actually live.” “‘Are you going to put some clothing on?’…‘Do I need to?’ ‘I mean, it’s

your dick hanging out, not mine.’”

“It was too damn easy to…to live right alongside Poppy. And, gods, I wanted that. Badly.”

“I knew this was real. What was between us. What she felt for me. What I felt for her. This. It was real.”

A FIRE IN THE FLESH

“I knew nothing bad could reach, scare, or disturb me here. Because I wasn’t alone. A wolf sat on the bank of my lake, one more silver than white. He watched. And I knew I was safe.”

“Because I loved him. I was in love with him. And right or wrong, I would do anything for him.”

“‘I’m nothing without you, liessa,’ he whispered as he started to slip away, and the embers hummed in my chest. ‘And there will be nothing without you.’”

“‘I will always find you, Sera.’”

“‘Even if I’m not looking at you, you are still all I see.’” “‘I never wanted until you.’”

“‘I’ve lived because of you.’”

“I knew I was not a part of the cycle of life. I was the cycle. The beginning. Middle. The last breath before the end. Death’s steadfast companion. I was Life.”

“He was the nightmare that had become my dream. The calm in my storm. My strength when I was weak. The breath when I couldn’t breathe. He was more than my King. My husband. Ash was the other half of my heart and soul.”

“‘But I still fell, Sera. Hard and fast. Irrevocably. Even without my

kardia, I fell in love with you.’”

“‘You’re simply my first, Sera, and you will be my last.’”

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PLAYLISTS

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Have you ever had moments of your life that just seem as if they should be set to music? Sometimes, I feel that way about my visions. Occasionally, I even hear notes floating on the breeze while the scene plays out in my mind. Poppy and Casteel’s and Sera and Nyktos’s journeys are like symphonies in themselves, but the beat and tempo and cadence of each milestone in their lives is a perfect complement to some actual musical scores out there.

Here are some that I think you should check out and tie back to what happened in the stories of their lives.

FROM BLOOD AND ASH:

Mr. Brightside by The Killers

The Hand That Feeds by Nine Inch Nails

Coming Undone by Korn

Heavy in your Arms by Florence and the Machine

Stand By Me by Ki: Theory

Freak On a Leash by Korn

Story of My Life by One Direction I Am the Storm by Ramin Djawadi Hunger of the Pine by alt-J Carrion Flowers by Chelsea Wolfe Everybody Knows by Sigrid

If I Had a Heart by Fever Ray

Castle (The Huntsman, Winter’s War Version) by Halsey

Running Up That Hill by Placebo

Spoils of War, Pt. 1 by Ramin Djawadi

Hunter (featuring John Mark McMillan) by RIAYA

A KINGDOM OF FLESH AND FIRE:

Hunger of the Pine by alt-J

If I Had a Heart by Fever Ray Legend Has It by Run the Jewels Heathens by Twenty One Pilots You Don’t Own Me by Grace

Something in the Shadows by Amy Stroup

Animals by Maroon 5

Hunter (featuring John Mark McMillan) by RIAYA

Deadcrush by alt-J

Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones

Spark by Tori Amos

Precious Things by Tori Amos

Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon In Every Dream Home by Roxy Music What I’ve Done by Linkin Park Running Up That Hill by Placebo

No Light, No Light by Florence + the Machine

Everybody Knows by Sigrid

Take it All by Ruelle

I’m Afraid of Americans by David Bowie

Castle by Halsey

The Outsider by A Perfect Circle Young Forever by Jay-Z ft. Mr. Hudson Freak on a Leash by Korn

Suga Suga by Baby Bash

Elastic Heart by Sia ft. The Weeknd and Diplo

Flesh Blood by Eels

Wrong by Max ft. Lil Uzi Vert

Grey Blue Eyes by Dave Matthews Bottom of the River by Delta Rae Hurt by Johnny Cash

Cry Little Sister by Gerard McMann

Keep Hope Alive by The Crystal Method

Welcome to the Party by Diplo

Scars to Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara

Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran

Say You Won’t Let Go by James Arthur

Titanium by David Guetta ft. Sia

Set the Fire to the Third Bar by Snow Patrol

OTEP by Head

The Hanging Tree by James Newton Howard ft. Jennifer Lawrence

Just Say Yes by Snow Patrol

Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine

The Bells by Ramin Djawadi

The Last War by Ramin Djawdi

Heroes by Peter Gabriel

Closer by Nine Inch Nails

The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails Human by Rag’n’Bone Man Khalessi by Ramin Djawadi

Guardians at the Gate by Audiomachine

O’Death by Jen Titus

Requiem for a Tower by London Music Works

Seven Devils by Florence + the Machine Crown by Camila Cabello and Grey Gold Dust Woman by Hole

THE CROWN OF GILDED BONES:

All Your Rage, All Your Pain by Secession Studios

Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley

Arcade by Duncan Laurence

What a Wonderful World by Alala

Heart of Courage by Two Steps From Hell Mythical and Mighty by Secession Studios Dracarys by Ramin Djawadi

Wicked Game (ft. Annaca) by Ursine Vulpine

Get Your Freak On by Missy Elliot

The River by Blues Saraceno

Woke Up This Morning by Alabama 3

Wildest Dreams by Duomo

#1 Crush by Garbage

Bomb Intro by Missy Elliot

Cold Wind Blowin’ by The Barrows

Killing Machine by Tony Crown

Heathens by Twenty One Pilots

Heart of Darkness by Secession Studios

My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark by Fall Out Boy

Power by Kanye West

The Night King by Ramin Djawadi

WAP by Cardi By ft. Megan Thee Stallion

Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin Why Can’t We Be Friends by War Wrong by Max ft. Lil Uzi Vert

The Army of the Dead by Ramin Djawadi

Guardians at the Gate by Audiomachine

THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS:

Hurt by Nine Inch Nails

Deadwood by Really Slow Motion My Body is a Cage by Peter Gabriel Stand by Me by Ki Theory (VIP Mix)

The Rains of Castamere by The National

Coming Undone by Korn

Desperado by Love Shayla (Rihanna Remix)

Wildest Dreams by Duomo

Cold Wind Blowing by The Barrows

Red Warrior by Audiomachine Heathens by Twenty One Pilots Find My Baby by Moby

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes

I Am the Storm by Ramin Djawadi The Storm by Secession Studios Human by Rag’n’Bone Man

If I Had a Heart by Fever Ray Raspberry Swirl by Tori Amos Precious Things by Tori Amos Arcade by Duncan Laurence

Elastic Heart by Diplo, Sia, The Weeknd

Monster by Bon Iver, JAY-Z, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross

Make Me Bad by Korn

Warrior by Atreyu, Travis Barker

Take it All by Ruelle

Running Up That Hill by Placebo Counting Bodies by The Perfect Circle Castle (Winter’s War) by Halsey Tokyo by Tomandandy

Warriors to the End by Epic Score

Closer by Nine Inch Nails

Don’t Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers

Earned It by The Weeknd

Head by Step

In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins All Your Rage by Secession Studios Industry Baby by Lil Nas X

No Light, No Light by Florence + The Machine

Centuries by Fall out Boy

Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine Collapsing Universe by Really Slow Motion Change by the Deftness

Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran

WAP by Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding Winds of Winter by Ramin Djawadi

The Bells by Ramin Djawadi

The Night King by Ramin Djawadi Mythical and Mighty by Secession Studios Hunger of the Pine by alt-J

A SHADOW IN THE EMBER:

Venom by Eminem

Freak On a Leash – Korn

Heathens by Twenty One Pilots

Not Meant for Me by Wayne Static

Change (In the House of Flies) by Deftones

Bodies by Drowning Pool

Slept so Long by Jay Gordon

Down with the Sickness by Disturbed

Cold by Static X

Excess by Tricky

No One Quite Like You by Trentemoller/Tricky

Running Up That Hill by Placebo Wicked Games by Ursine Vulpine Arrival to Earth by Steve Jablonsky Desperado Slowed (Remix) by Rihanna Power by Kayne West

Hurt by Johnny Cash

Legend Has It by Run the Jewels

The Last War by Ramin Djawadi

My Body is a Cage by Peter Gabriel

A LIGHT IN THE FLAME:

Venom by Eminem

Darkness by Eminem

My Little Box by John Frizzell

Money Power Glory by Lana Del Ray

I Did Something Bad by Taylor Swift

Requiem for a Tower by London Music Works Mythical and Mighty by Secession Studios Seven Devils by Florence + the Machine

The Bells by Ramin Djawadi

Heavy In Your Arms by Florence + the Machine

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

Let it Rock by Kevin Rudolf, ft. Lil Wayne

Paint It, Black by The Rolling Stones Say Something by Christina Aguilera The Monster by Eminem ft. Rihanna

Sucker for Pain by Lil Wayne, Logic, Imagine Dragons, Wiz Khalifa, and Ty Dolla $ign

Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Heathens by Twenty One Pilots

Running Up That Hill by Placebo

Fallout by Neoni

Figured You Out by Nickelback

Cry Little Sister by Gerald McMann

Out of My Mind by Reuben and the Dark

Red Right Hand by Nick Cave

Wrong by MAX, ft. Lil Uzi Vert

Alone and Forsaken by Epic Geek (The Last of Us)

Darkside by Neoni

When It’s Cold I’d like to Die by Moby

Glitter and Gold by Barns Courtney

Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore ft. Ryan Lewis

Otherside by Macklemore ft. Fences

Protector of the Earth by Two Steps from Hell

All Your Rage, All Your Pain by Secession Studios

Day Ones by Baauer ft. Novelist, Leikeli47

Tokyo Drift by Teriyaki Boyz

New Blood by Zayde Wolf

I Am the Storm by Ramin Djawadi

Jenny of Oldstones by Florence + the Machine

Warriors to the End by Epic Score

In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins

Ligeti Requiem: ll. Kyrie by Gyorgy Ligeti, Jonathan Knott

Every Other Freckle by alt-J

Gold Dust Woman by Fleetwood Mac

A SOUL OF ASH AND BLOOD

Save Yourself by Stabbing Westward

Happy by NF

What Do I Have to Do by Stabbing Westward

Welcome to the Party by Diplo, French Montana, et al.

Tear Down the Bridges by IMAscore

Let You Down by NF

Sick Boi by Ren

Out Of My Mind by Reuben and the Dark Keep Hope Alive by The Crystal Method Andrew’s Song by IMAscore

NF – The Search by Sound Audits

Interests of the Realm by Ramin Djawadi

Hi Ren by Ren

Homeland by Jenna Carlie et al.

Illest Of Our Time by Ren

The Outsider by A Perfect Circle

Human by Rag’n’Bone Man

Fate of the Kingdoms by Ramin Djawadi Unholy (Ft. Kim Petras) by Sam Smith Fading Memories by IMAscore

Castle of Ice by IMAscore Where We Rise by Neoni Darkside by Neoni

Fallout by UNSECRET and Neoni

Money Power Glory by Lana Del Rey

House of the Rising Sun by Five Finger Death Punch

When It’s Cold I’d Like To… by Moby Let It Rock by Kevin Rudolf, Lil Wayne Last to Fall by Will Van De Crommert Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift

Warriors to the End by Epic Score

I Am the Storm by Ramin Djawadi Godzilla (Ft. Juice WRLD) by Eminem Animal Flow by Ren

A FIRE IN THE FLESH

Start a Riot by BANNERS

A Dangerous Thing by AURORA

Hollowed Kings by Ursine Vulpine and Annaca

Shady by Birdy

For This You Were Born by UNSECRET and Fleurie

We Have It All by Pim Stones Faint by Oliver Riot Ultraviolet by Freya Ridings

Risk It All (Ft. Ruth) by Christian Reindl

After Night by MXMS

Fangs by Little Red Lung

Tears of Gold by Faouzia

Lost Without You by Freya Ridings Wolves by Freya Ridings Something Sweeter by LUME

Handmade Heaven by MARINA

Slip Away by UNSECRET and Ruelle

Waking Up Slowly – Piano Version by Gabrielle Aplin

If the World by Josh Levi

Love and War by Fleurie

Believe by Tales of the Forgotten et al.

Walking on Fire by Skylar Grey and Th3rdstream

One Last Time by Jaymes Young

Down by Simon and Trella

Hypnotic – Vanic Remix by Zella Day

Exit for Love by AURORA

Cold by Oliver Riot

The Enemy by Andrew Belle

Comply by Llynks

Fallout by UNSECRET and Neoni Heartbeat (Acoustic) by Ghostly Kisses I am not a woman, I’m a god by Halsey I Feel Love by Freya Ridings

Play With Fire by Sam tinnesz, Ruelle, and Violents

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ILISEEUM AND THE SHADOWLANDS MAP

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Click here to see a full-size image of the Iliseeum and the Shadowlands map by Hang Le.

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FLESH AND FIRE HISTORY TIMELINE

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This is a look at how things shook out before Sera entered Iliseeum.

Some details were gathered via research and speaking with others; therefore, could be slightly inaccurate due to knowledge not yet known or available. Other bits are things I have seen.

CLOSE TO 1000 YEARS BEFORE SERA IS BORN:

Kolis sees Sotoria picking flowers and instantly falls in love with her. She sees him, gets scared, and falls from the Cliffs of Sorrow.

Callum tries to take his life but Kolis makes him a Revenant. Kolis begs Eythos to bring her back to life, and he refuses.

Eythos believes his twin accepted his decision. Eythos meets Mycella, and she becomes his Consort.

SEVERAL DECADES LATER:

Kolis discovers a way to bring Sotoria back to life, by becoming the Primal God of Life.

Kolis destroys all record of the truth in both realms. He switches fates with his brother.

Thousands of gods and several Primals die as a result of what Kolis does.

Kolis brings Sotoria back to life. She’s horrified by what’s been done.

Kolis doesn’t understand why she’s so morose. Sotoria possibly starves herself.

Nothing Kolis does gets her to love him. Sotoria possibly fights back against him. She dies again.

Eythos and Keella mark her for rebirth.

Sotoria’s soul will never enter the Vale, it will continuously be reborn. Kolis murders Mycella while she’s pregnant and destroys her soul.

Somehow, Nyktos miraculously survives.

TWO HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE SERA’S BIRTH:

King Roderick promises that the firstborn Mierel daughter will become the Consort of the Primal of Death.

Nyktos is about nineteen years old when the deal is made.

Eythos takes embers from himself and Nyktos and hides them in the Mierel bloodline.

He believes he’s hiding the embers in the one being able to stop Kolis— Sotoria’s reincarnation.

Eythos dies—killed while weakened by a shadowstone stab to the heart. Kolis retains his soul and puts it in the Star diamond.

THE START OF SERA’S LIFE:

Sera is born—an en caul birth.

Rot begins in the mortal realm—possibly Iliseeum, as well.

The mortals believe it’s a countdown to the expiration of the deal that King Roderick made.

TEN YEARS LATER:

An oil spill happens in the Stroud Sea, and an enraged Phanos erupts from the water in a hurricane and destroys every ship in port, killing hundreds. His roar of fury sends shockwaves across the land and makes ears bleed. After, the waters were free of pollutants.

It seems to me that Phanos is channeling the Ancients a bit there.

SEVENTEEN YEARS AFTER SERA’S BIRTH (BIRTHDAY):

Sera is presented to the Primal God of Death to become his Consort. Nyktos rejects her.

TWENTY YEARS AFTER SERA’S BIRTH (ANOTHER BIRTHDAY):

The Primal God of Death claims Sera.

TWENTY-ONE YEARS AFTER SERA’S BIRTH:

Sera is fated to die at age twenty-one unless she’s Ascended by Nyktos.

But the catch is…he has to love her. And he’s incapable of love with his

kardia removed.

It’s unclear if she’ll die due to the Culling/Nyktos’s blood, by Kolis’s hand, or another way.

If Sera dies, both realms die with her.

Thankfully, the fact that they’re heartmates means that Nyktos can love her. So, when he decides to be selfish and Ascend her instead of taking the embers and letting her die, she becomes the true Primal of Life.

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FLESH AND FIRE CHARACTERS

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As with the earlier part, this section contains information on individuals of note in the time of the gods. Here, too, I have recorded things I’ve found via research or saw, documenting them to be used for reference. If something happens to be missing, it’s likely because nobody recorded it— which is entirely possible since, for example, any and all mention of the Consort was erased—or I never saw it in my visions. If things come to light later, either through unearthed references or my sight, I will update the records as needed. But for now, this is a fairly comprehensive detailing of what happened when Seraphena Mierel entered Iliseeum, and those involved in the subsequent impactful and multi-realm-changing events.

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SERAPHENA “SERA” MIEREL

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Consort to the Primal of Death / The Primal of Life Court: The Shadowlands

Click here to see a full-size image of Sera by Alicia MB Art.

Click here to see a full-size image of Sera’s crown by Creatively Agnes.

Oh, dear Sera. She has a fire I envy and a past I condole. Promised to another over two hundred years before she was even born, her future was never hers. Used as a tool, a pawn in a bid to right a wrong, she was stripped of her rightful honors and forced to commit unspeakable acts.

Thankfully, things worked out for her—at least mostly—but it certainly wasn’t an easy road.

Because I have no firsthand knowledge of the Consort, my files on her are extensive. I wasn’t sure what someone would find important, so I detailed most everything I saw. She and Ash also fascinate me, so I found I wanted to record as much as possible.

Hair: Pale blond. Curly. Down to her waist/hips.

Eyes: Deep forest-green that become silver with Ascension. Tilted at the corners.

Body Type: Tall. Voluptuous.

Facial features: Stubborn chin.

Distinguishing features: Crescent moon birthmark above left shoulder blade—unseen by mortals but sometimes felt. Thirty-six freckles on her face. Twelve on her back. A constellation of birthmarks on her thigh.

Golden Consort imprint on her right hand. Right-handed—wears her dagger on her right hip.

Preternatural features/abilities: Can sense emotions. Can sense death.

While healing/reviving, glow erupts under the skin and seeps from hands. Power sometimes comes with the scent of fresh lilacs. Can use compulsion on Primals. Can turn into a silvery-white cave cat with green eyes spliced with silver.

Personality: Impetuous. Brave. Stubborn. Contrary. Curious.

Impulsive. Reckless.

Habits/Mannerisms/Strengths/Weaknesses: Afraid of snakes. Suffers from severe anxiety. Trained with weapons. Trained as an escort. Not good at remembering voices. Can’t swim. Walks when she can’t sleep. Rambles when she’s nervous. Likes to read. Extraordinarily good at not remaining unseen. Can hold breath underwater for ~two minutes. Holds breath to get anxiety under control.

Other: Twenty years old. Winter birthday. Full Consort title = The One who is born of Blood and Ash, the Light and the Fire, and the Brightest Moon. Before Kolis kidnapped her, she had killed twenty-two individuals with her hands.

Background: Promised as a Consort two hundred years before she was born. Attempted to take her life.

Family: Mother = Queen Calliphe. Father = Lamont †. Ancestor = Roderick Mierel †. Stepsister = Ezmeria “Ezra.” Stepbrother = Tavius †. Stepfather = Ernald †. Shared soul = Sotoria †.

SERAPHENA’S JOURNEY TO DATE:

At six summers, Sera discovered her gift. A beloved barn cat, Butters, died, and Sera and Ezra found him. Sera brought him back to life without even trying. Unfortunately, her stepbrother Tavius saw and reported it to the Queen, making Sera’s life even more difficult.

At age seven, her family left her behind when they went on holiday to their country estate, and she was never allowed to have dinner with them. She wasn’t even allowed a lady’s maid, for fear they’d be a bad influence on her. I find this so very sad, and my heart breaks for her.

At a much too early age, she began training in weapons and hand-to- hand combat, becoming even more skilled than most of the Royal Guard.

At age eleven, she sprained her ankle, and Sir Holland, the knight in charge of her training, bandaged her and gave her more affection than anyone in her family.

Her father died by suicide when she was young—I’m not sure at exactly what age…young enough for her to not really know him at all. It changed her.

In the months leading up to her seventeenth birthday, she trained with the Mistresses of the Jade in sensual warfare, being told that the most dangerous weapon isn’t a violent one.

They are absolutely correct. I’ve been known to use my wiles to get my way, but I was never forced to, and certainly not as a teenager. And especially not for a task I was told I could not fail at like Sera: becoming the Primal of Death’s Consort, making him fall in love with her thus weakening him, only to…end him.

Despite being the daughter of the current Queen and the deceased King of Lasania, Sera has only been recognized as a Royal and a Princess three times in her life. Still, being the Maiden made her a target. There were at least two kidnapping attempts.

At age seventeen, Sera was made to feel naked, exposed, and helpless as she was trussed up and readied to be presented to the Primal of Death.

Unfortunately, he rejected her in a very public manner, making her life even harder for the years to come—something he would come to regret deeply later.

Despite the increased hardships and her miserable living situation, Sera found ways to fill her time and feel useful. Ezra started helping the less fortunate in Lasania, and Sera helped her stepsister, stealing excess food

from the kitchens and getting her hands on anything else that could potentially help. She also helped the less fortunate in other ways and protected the lost.

At the age of nineteen, Sera started having severe, troublesome, and worrisome headaches. At about that same time, she became sexually active and used it as a way to feel less hollow inside.

Gods, I feel for the poor girl so much. What a dear. Sex should be a celebration of life, not a substitute for the things one needs to survive and thrive. But Sera makes the most of everything that has gone wrong, taking comfort in the ironic twist that failing to become the Primal’s Consort means she’s no longer hidden away and doesn’t have to remain pure.

As you can see, she did not have an easy upbringing, and her teenage years were even more fraught with unease as Queen Calliphe sent Sera out to commit unspeakable acts of violence for even the most minor perceived slights.

But let’s get back to when things all changed. Leading up to her seventeenth birthday, she was already undergoing training with the Mistresses of the Jade, was better in combat than a lot of the guards, and kept at arm’s length because of her Chosen Maiden status. All of this contributed to her growing anxiety, which she desperately tried to control with breathing exercises.

As I mentioned before, on her seventeenth birthday, she was readied for presentation to be offered to the Primal of Death as his Consort as a way to honor the deal struck between the Primal and King Roderick Mierel some two hundred years before Sera’s birth.

Lady Kala leads Sera to three Shadow Priests, who take her to a circular chamber to be presented to the Primal. They summon him, and Sera feels real terror when he arrives. However, as she’s been trained to do, she smiles shyly and goes to kneel in supplication, only he suddenly comes before her. He feels cold to her, and that coldness only grows as he leans in and tells her that he has no need of a Consort. Just as quickly as he arrived, he’s gone. At first, she feels relief at being left behind, but then panic flares— and rightfully so. The next three years would be ever so dreadful for dear Sera.

Despite it not being her fault at all, she’s blamed by all—her mother one of the worst—and it shatters and shrivels something inside her, changing her irrevocably.

The Priests present her on each of her next three birthdays, but the Primal of Death never shows himself again. I later discovered they never actually summoned Nyktos.

In her twentieth year, Sera’s mother orders her to show some Lords of the Vodina Isles what a hot piece she is—something crude they said to her

—and kill them all.

Every year the Primal of Death didn’t claim her made things harder for Sera, but the six months following her twentieth birthday were some of the worst. Food was no longer sent to her chambers, making it necessary for her to raid the kitchens. She no longer received clothing. And she was always left alone. The only time she even saw her mother was when she was ordered to send a message.

Now, I know that Calliphe had trouble looking at Sera, even from a very young age because she looks so much like her father and the Queen missed him like a limb, but to neglect and abuse your child like that? It makes me furious.

But back to her ordered assassination. Going after the Lords of the Vodina Isles, Sera heads to the docks and kills all four of them, setting their ship free to be found later by whomever. She then heads to the Luxe, hears a shrill cry, and follows the sound, only to see a woman killing a man with eather. She feels warmth in her chest and sees a man tossing a dead child aside. She realizes that both the man and the woman are gods and vows to kill at least one of them—the male for sure. She knows she’ll likely die in the process and makes peace with that knowledge.

Just as she’s about to launch her attack, someone grabs her and carries her away. Something about his voice is strangely familiar. She pulls a dagger on him and ends up pinned against an outdoor wall. Meeting his gaze, she realizes that he’s also a god. She wonders if he’s from the Shadowlands, the Court of the Primal of Death, and therefore knows who she is.

Oh, he knew all right.

When the three murderous gods return, she and the god she’s with hide in plain sight by making out against the wall. Once the coast is clear, he orders her to go home. In true Seraphena fashion, she simply walks away, ignoring him.

Meeting up again, Sera realizes he’s been following the other gods, too.

They decide to investigate the Kazin house together, and she finds it odd

that the gods would kill and want it to remain unknown. She learns that this isn’t the first time these gods have done something like this and hears about the other victims.

Sera feels jolts of static whenever she and the god touch, and the eather in the god’s eyes makes her think of the Primal of Death. Despite what she feels and the confusion it raises within her, she doesn’t hesitate to pull her shadowstone dagger and put it to his throat. He comments on the weapon and asks her where she got it. She lies and says she took it from her stepbrother.

Easily disarmed, she has to answer why she so eagerly rushes toward death. She tells him to just get on with killing her but finds herself wanting to relax into him. Before she can unravel that thought more, he tells her to be careful and leaves.

The next time Sera trains with Sir Holland, he tells her she’s been off lately, and she realizes she’s been trying to come to terms with the fact that she threatened and kissed a god. And the more she thinks about it, the more she realizes how right it felt to be around him.

When Holland calls her Princess, it annoys Sera, and she corrects him, saying she’s an assassin and bait. He corrects her, but she once again insists she’s merely a weapon and nothing more…except for maybe a martyr. She was prepared to die killing the murderous gods, but she knows she won’t survive killing the Primal of Death.

Sera goes to see Odetta and asks her what it means to be touched by life and death—something she’s been told before. Odetta says that only the Fates know.

That’s a loaded answer if I ever heard one. It makes me wonder if Odetta knew more than she let on.

After visiting her father’s painting in her mother’s room and getting into it with the Queen, Sera heads to Stonehill and feels warmth in her chest, indicating that someone close has died. She sees the god, Madis, again and enters Joanis Designs, only to find the seamstress dead. The smells of charred flesh and something fresher permeate the air. Lilacs, perhaps?

She feels someone sneaking up on her and whirls, stabbing out with her dagger and getting…the god—her sexy god—right in the chest. Stunned, she watches as he pulls the blade free and destroys it. She threatens him and says she’s unimpressed by his show of force, not surprising given her usual lack of self-preservation. He asks her if anything scares her and calls her

liessa. Once again, she feels a sense of…rightness being with him. Even more so when he tells her that she feels terror but isn’t afraid.

Nobody has ever seen her like that.

As they discuss what keeps bringing them together, he confesses that he’s watched out for her, but more than that, he’s wanted to.

Now that is a comment that means so much more than it sounds on the surface, especially since we know he’s watched her since she was a child.

Sera suddenly gets an odd feeling in the center of her chest, right in the spot where she normally feels her gifts responding to death. The heaviness unfurls within her, and she turns back to the seamstress’s body for no discernible reason, suddenly catching the scent of stale lilacs in the air.

The dead seamstress stirs, rises, and attacks. The god steps in and stabs Andreia with his shadowstone sword. Once she’s dead, Sera asks the god what liessa means—the word he’s been calling her. He explains that it has many meanings, but it always means something beautiful and powerful.

If that didn’t give her a boost, I’m not sure what would.

While training later with Sir Holland, Ezra comes for her—stirring the knight’s ire—and asks for her help, telling her about an abusive guy named Nor and his children. Sera agrees.

After donning the appropriate attire, she goes to see Nor. On the way, she and Ezra discuss the Rot overtaking the land. Near the Temple of Keella, Sera hears protestors speaking about the Rot and the Crown. While their rants are true, the words spoken bother her. Despite that, she has a job to do and does it, killing Nor, taking care of a battered woman, and rescuing the man’s abused son.

While walking through the elms to her lake, Sera sees a reddish brown kiyou wolf that’s been shot in the chest with an arrow. She approaches and tries to help, ultimately bringing it back to life. It licks her hand, and she feels the same warmth in her chest that she usually does around death or when she uses her healing gift, only it’s stronger this time. She wonders if it’s because of the wolf’s size.

She makes it to the lake and is filled with wonder at how it feels like home. Heading in, she enjoys herself until she realizes she’s not alone. She calls out for whoever is there to show themselves and is stunned when the god walks out from behind the waterfall. She tries to scold him for being there. When he tells her he was there before her, and she realizes that he watched her undress, she’s shocked—more so when he says she’s like a

goddess made of silver and moonbeams. Regardless, she demands that he leave.

Once again, his voice—like a smoky, shadowy caress—feels familiar to her, and she grows inexplicably warm.

She asks him about his ink, and he hedges. As their talk progresses, she threatens him again—shocker, right?—and then reveals she’s a Princess.

She asks him his name and sees his tattoo in its entirety. He says that some call him Ash, and tacks on that it’s short for many things.

Sera exits the lake and gets dressed but only dons her slip before he warns her that they’re not alone. Sera sees Gyrms for the first time, and their scent reminds her of something. She’s worried they will kill the god but can’t help but bicker with him as they fight the creatures.

Eventually, she ends up unconscious from the battle. When she wakes, she calls Ash beautiful and realizes that she’s on the grass with her head on his thigh. Surprised he stayed, she engages in more conversation with him, and he fills her in on some stuff she questions. Many of the things Ash says utterly surprise—and delight—Sera, and she finds herself a little awed.

She realizes she’s been smiling, and he teases her that she’s gifted him with three. When she asks if the other gods are kind, he corrects her that he’s not kind but then says he maybe has one kind and decent bone in his body—for her.

Unable to stop herself, she asks him why, and he tells her that he wants and needs to kiss her. She realizes that she is attracted to him on a visceral level, as well, and tells him to go ahead.

He smiles, and she sees his fangs for the first time before sharing a kiss to end all kisses. When Ash tells her to show him what she wants, she doesn’t hesitate. She demonstrates what ramps her up and controls his movements as he pleasures her with his hand. When she crests that peak, he sucks her flavor from his fingers and tells her that she tastes like the sun.

Sera moves to reciprocate, and he confesses that it’ll become more than kissing and touching if she does that, admitting how badly he wants her.

She tells him that she feels the same before they kiss, cuddle, and chat a bit more, and then part ways.

Back at the castle, she learns about the riot the night before and talks to Ezra about the ruler Lasania needs. Despite the gravity of their conversation, she finds she can’t stop thinking about Ash.

Sera raids the kitchens and takes what she finds to check on some of the farmers on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately, she discovers the Coupers have succumbed to the hardships of the Rot. Distraught, she heads to see the King and talks to him about the Coupers and what’s going on in the kingdom. Tavius is there, and they argue as usual. During the exchange, she feels something dark in the center of her chest where her gift generally springs to life, but this time, it’s slick and cold.

On her way to training, Sera hears a servant calling for help and goes to investigate, only to find it’s a trap. During the attack, she tells her assailants that killing her won’t stop the Rot and learns that the Royal Guards were paid to take her out. She defends herself and ups her body count to seventeen. When discovered later, she lies and says she found the guards dead. She also sees the golden god we eventually find out is Callum—and not a god at all.

Later, Sera overhears Ezra giving instructions to a carriage driver and follows her. She ends up helping Healer Dirks with some injured townsfolk. She and Ezra discuss her attack and the role the servant girl played, and Sera finds out that Tavius is broke—an insinuation that he couldn’t have been the one who paid off the guards. She’s not sure she believes that.

Ector arrives in the mortal realm and confronts Sera. She knows he’s a god, but he tells her not to kneel to him, making her realize that she’s never knelt for Ash. Ector tells her that he was ordered to give her something and presents her with a narrow birch box. Inside, she’s stunned to find a gorgeous new shadowstone dagger and feels a flush of emotion. She’s never been given a gift before.

That is just so very sad. Everyone should be given a gift at some point in their life, especially when they’re young.

Sera’s nursemaid passes away, and Sera starts feeling more and more ill after the funeral. She tells Sir Holland about her symptoms, and he instructs her to rest and says he’ll bring her something to help her feel better. When he returns, he tells her the story of Sotoria and says that Sera reminds him of her. He also assures her that everything will be okay regarding her becoming Consort and the fate of the realm.

As an Arae, he would know… But Sera doesn’t know that yet.

The Rite arrives, and Sera attends, posing as the Queen’s handmaiden.

In the Sun Temple, Sera feels the energy of the place coating the air and

crackling across her skin. It reminds her of the jolt she got when Ash touched her.

As she watches her stepsister, she realizes that she’s jealous of Ezra and wishes she was worthy of her family. A Chosen is presented to the King of Gods, and Sera is shaken when Kolis looks directly at her. She wonders if she only imagined the Primal’s attention, but thinking about it only makes her head hurt worse.

Later, Ezra comes to Sera, clearly shaken and asking for her help. When she sees why, Sera realizes that Mari—Ezra’s friend—is dead. Her sister begs her to save Marisol, and Sera realizes that Ezra loves the other woman. Sera brings her back from the dead and worries for a moment that she’ll come back like the seamstress did—not mortal any longer. Her fears are assuaged when she realizes that Mari doesn’t have fangs. Ezra thanks her and tells her she is and has always been a blessing, not a failure. They hug, and her stepsister says she loves her. Despite the positive outcome, Sera worries about the feeling of dread overtaking her. She fears she’s playing like a Primal and will be punished for it.

After a night full of nightmares of chasing a dark-haired man and having wolves and serpents chasing her, Sera wakes late the next morning, thinking—and hoping—the Primal of Death doesn’t know what she did.

Unfortunately, she rouses to find Tavius in her room. She immediately reaches for her dagger, only to find it gone. Sera accuses Tavius of being behind the attack the other day, and he tells her that he wouldn’t waste his coin on her.

Seeing that Tavius has her dagger, she lunges for it, and he pins her to the bed. He tells her the King is dead, and he is now the ruler of Lasania. She also finds out that Sir Holland has been reassigned and sent to the Vodina Isles to work on a so-called peace treaty. She knows that’s not true. He was sent there to die, as the people of the Isles no doubt want revenge for what she did to their Lords.

Sera asks her stepbrother why he hates her and realizes that he sees her, the last rightful Mierel heir, as a threat. She hadn’t considered that… Still, she tells him that he is not and will never be her King. He calls in the guards, and they take her to the Great Hall.

Tavius secures Sera to the statue of the Primal and whips her. As she feels something dark and oily spark within her, icy fire pours out of her body, her blood hums, and the center of her chest throbs. She feels as if she

can taste shadows and death in the back of her throat. She vows she’ll kill Tavius—slice his hands from his body and carve his heart from his chest before setting him on fire. When laughter erupts from her, it’s an ancient, endless, dark sound that isn’t hers.

Suddenly, the Primal of Death appears, and she’s stunned to see that it’s Ash. He shatters one guard, making her laugh darkly. When Ash claims her as his Consort, she laughs again.

She had to be in shock, and her injuries certainly didn’t help.

Ash confronts Tavius, and the icy fire in Sera’s veins returns as she watches her mother beg for her stepbrother’s life. Instead of killing him, Ash leaves Tavius to Sera, and she kills him. Still riding on the high of taking care of that menace, she realizes the familiarity she’s felt with Ash makes sense now, and it enrages her. Furious, she attacks him.

He tells her that if he leaves her in the mortal realm, she’ll become a target, even if she escapes punishment for killing the new King. So, he claims her. He tells her she no longer has a choice and apologizes, promising that her family will be safe.

They leave the castle, and she asks Ash why he didn’t tell her who he was. He asks her if she would have still been interested in him if she’d known he was the Primal of Death. She has no real answer for that.

When they reach her lake, Sera discovers why she’s felt so at home there all these years—it was a way for her to get to him. They pass through to Iliseeum, and Sera is stunned to find that one of the hills she sees is actually a dragon. Well…a draken. She meets Nektas and Ash tells her to pet him. She hesitates, afraid to be swallowed whole, but does it anyway.

Three other draken emerge.

Sera sees the palace and assumes that Ash impaled those she sees hanging on the wall. It makes her wary. Rhain approaches, and they meet. Ash confesses that he’d hoped there would be some time before the others realized he’d arrived with a guest. He tells her that very few know about her but asks if he can introduce her as his Consort. She agrees.

After she meets Aios, the goddess takes her to her room and has food and bath water prepared for her. Ash arrives sometime later when Sera’s in the tub and tells her that Tavius was sent to the Abyss. He offers to help her wash her hair, and she accepts. As he goes about the task, they talk, and Ash asks about her training. She lies and inquires why he never returned. He tells her that the Priests never resummoned him. He admits what he felt

from her that day he came and explains why he did what he did, stunning Sera with the knowledge that he can feel and taste emotions.

Sera asks Ash why he made the deal and is told the answer is complicated. He says he’ll tell her when she’s dressed. The sexual tension ramps up between them again, and Ash tells her he knows she enjoys and wants his touch, which has nothing to do with the deal. Both of them are very interested in certain aspects of their union. He pleasures her again with his hand and admits to thinking about their time at the lake every time he takes care of himself.

He applies healing ointment to her back and reminds her that he’s the same person he was before, despite her knowing that he’s the Primal of Death. He then goes on to say that she knows more about him than most.

More than most? She knows him completely. They are heartmates, after

all.

Sera wonders about the deal with King Roderick and learns that Ash

didn’t make it; his father did. He goes on to explain that the deal transferred to him when his father died, along with all the power and responsibilities of the Primal of Death. Sera suddenly realizes that what he said when he brought her to Iliseeum, about her choice ending, pertains to him, as well.

He didn’t choose any of this either.

She learns more about his parents. He also reveals that he’s had others watching her. When talk turns to Madis, Cressa, and Taric, Ash tells her that he doesn’t think the murders are connected to her, though he says he waited so long to come to her again out of fear of exposing her.

Sera realizes that everything she believed about the Primal of Death is wrong. He’s a good man, but it doesn’t matter because she has a duty. She returns to the subject of Lathan—the friend he had watching her that he was forced to kill—and asks why Ash had him watching over her. He explains that his enemies will now become hers. As the reality of her situation sinks in, she laments the unfairness of it and considers everything that will happen after she kills him.

Aios arrives and fills Sera in on several things she’s been wondering about. The goddess tells her how she came to be in the Shadowlands and how she and the others feel safe in Nyktos’s Court. After she leaves, Sera finds that Ector is guarding her room and realizes she isn’t allowed to leave. The god tells her that he’s there for her safety. When she calls Nyktos Ash,

it stuns Ector, and he tells her that he doubts even the Primal of Death knows what to do with her.

Not many would. Sera is truly unique and wonderful.

Davina takes over maid duties and calls Sera meyaah Liessa. Sera learns that it means: my Queen. The draken tells her about the dangers surrounding the House of Haides.

Saion escorts her downstairs, and Ash returns the dagger he gifted her, now with a sheath. She immediately secures it to her right thigh before asking him some questions.

Sera learns he can’t read her mind, and that he doesn’t feed anymore.

When she inquires about him being a prisoner, he tells her he has been many things and hesitates to answer. She wonders if he’d rather them get to know each other or be strangers and is stunned when he confesses that he wants them to be as close as they were at the lake once again, but that talk of his imprisonment isn’t up for discussion.

Sera meets Jadis and learns more about the draken, which she finds utterly fascinating.

When next she sees Ash, she runs into him, and he jerks and hisses. It concerns her. Even more when he urges her not to touch him. She insinuates she doubts his interest in her and says he’s all talk. He backs her against a wall and tells—plus demonstrates—how real and potent his interest is. He explains how badly he wants to be inside her and knows she wants it too without even having to read her emotions. She tells him that she doesn’t like him—a lie—and he responds that it’s better that way.

They can resist it all they want, but it’s futile. Don’t you sometimes wish you could just tell people that so they would stop wasting their time and appreciate what’s right in front of them?

Sera tours the House of Haides and learns that her coronation will happen in a fortnight. When she asks if she’ll be Ascended, she’s surprised by Ash’s response. He tells her that this was never her choice, and he won’t force an eternity of it on her. She also learns that he views love as an unnecessary risk.

With some thought, Sera realizes that Ash’s mother was likely murdered by another Primal and considers that Ash may actually be incapable of love given what happened to his parents. She also wonders how he’ll respond to her unusual gift.

Some days later, another Primal arrives, and Ector escorts Sera to safety.

She chooses to be sequestered in the library instead of her chambers and ends up spying on the interaction between Veses and Ash. The feelings it rouses in her are confusing, but she chooses to push them aside for the time being.

Later, she wanders the grounds and winds up in the Red Woods. She finds a wounded silver hawk—that she later discovers was one of Attes’s chora, an extension of him in his nota form—and heals the animal, compelled by an old, powerful instinct. After, she sees the similarities between the Rot back in Lasania and what is happening to the Dying and Red Woods.

Hunters and entombed gods attack Sera, and she realizes she can’t kill them all. Ash suddenly appears and saves her, and she learns about the entombed gods and the blood trees. After the attack, Saion escorts her back to the House of Haides and realizes she’s been injured. She falls unconscious and wakes to find Nektas with her in his god form. He tells her the only reason she isn’t dead is because Ash used a rare antidote on her.

She believes that all of Ash’s decisions and actions are because of the deal. She has no idea that he already loves her, though even he doesn’t realize it yet because of his lack of kardia.

Ash arrives and asks Sera how she got so strong as she seems truly unfazed by almost dying. She says she had to be strong. Talk turns to the attack in the woods and how the gods got free, and Sera learns that the Shadowlands dying has nothing to do with the deal.

Ash tells her that he’s asked everyone to give her space and admits he’s been avoiding her too because spending more than a few minutes in her presence has his desire overwhelming his common sense. She scoffs. He kisses her and admits that he doesn’t know why he fights it since she’d let him have her. He pleasures her once more.

Randomly, he tells her that he counted her freckles and reveals that she has thirty-six, telling her there should be no doubt in her mind about his interest in her. She realizes that he found release this time, too, even though he wasn’t touched. He asks if he can lie with her, and she agrees, confessing to him that she’s had sex before and learning that Ash is a virgin. It shocks her, and she wonders aloud why. She realizes that his life is as lonely as hers, and that he’s risking everything with her because he can’t help himself

—even though he thinks they’ll both end up hating him for it. He falls asleep beside her but is gone when she wakes.

Aios brings Sera breakfast and eats with her in her chambers before they go for a walk and help Reaver with his flying. The goddess tells her that Ash has never had any sexual or romantic interest in anyone before Sera.

She then meets Bele and Rhahar. Bele is the first to bow to her and tells her why it’s so important that everyone does it. She also shares that the other Courts are taking bets on how long she’ll live.

Later, a seamstress arrives to do a fitting and talk revolves around the coronation, the Chosen, and the Ascension. Ash checks on her and reveals that no mortal has Ascended for several hundred years, then tells Sera the truth about the fate of the Chosen and that Kolis knows and doesn’t care. He also explains how some Chosen are simply disappearing. She demands they find a way to stop the Rites and learns that Ash has been hiding the Chosen away, though he prefers it appear as if he’s doing nothing. She has to steel herself. Lasania is all that matters. She can’t worry about the mortals. The Chosen aren’t her problem.

That night, unable to sleep, she goes out onto the balcony and finds Ash.

She tells him she’s dealing with what she learned, and they discuss the difficulties of their positions, and the way death has affected them both. He says she’s not a monster and touches her, causing another jolt of energy to pass between them. He then goes on to say that a monster wouldn’t care if they were one. She kisses him.

Seeing that he’s struggling, too, she tells him that he isn’t responsible for the actions of others and moves to explore. Enjoying the playfulness she has with Ash—something she’s never had with another—she pleasures him, delighting in making the Primal of Death shake. After, they spoon, and she falls asleep, thinking over all the new things she’s experienced in the short time she’s been with Ash.

The next morning, she realizes she felt something shift the night before when they fell asleep, like something growing between them that was more than mutual lust. She feels connected to him in a way that goes beyond the deal, and it warms her chest. She’s shocked to find Nektas with her, and even more surprised when he tells her he’s never seen Ash sleep so peacefully before and claims her as one of his.

Denied going to court because of the risk and with nothing to do but think about things, she’s happy to be able to walk with Ector, despite her

thoughts spiraling about how Ash lifts the darkness from her and the growing feelings between them. She learns more about the god and finds out he knew Ash’s parents and knows about the deal.

She and the draken follow him to see what’s going on at the southern gate, and she feels warmth in her chest when she sees Gemma, realizing the mortal is dead. The heat in her chest vibrates, striking against an instinct she’s never felt so powerfully before. She wonders if the draken can sense what’s building inside her.

She starts to glow a faint, silvery-white, and the scent of freshly bloomed lilacs rises. Humming grows in her ears, awakening a calling in her that overrides all thought. Eather swirls around her fingertips, her throat goes dry, and her pulse races as light flares along Gemma’s skin, and the girl revives. Ash remarks with astonishment that Sera carries an ember of life.

Sera’s thoughts flash back to Sir Holland telling her that she carries an ember of life, hope, and the possibility of a future. As she thinks on that, she’s told the gods and draken in attendance felt the power ripple, and it’s likely that everyone in Iliseeum felt it. She learns that many will come looking for the source and that could be a very bad thing.

And it is. A very bad thing. Even though most who were the real threats already knew.

Ash tells her that he’s felt it before and asks her how many other times she’s used her gift. He reveals that the Hunters and the murderous gods were likely looking for her, and if he’d been closer, it would have drawn him out, too. She reveals how she healed the hawk in the woods and brought back Marisol before she left the mortal realm. He tells her that her gift is from the Primal of Life, but not Kolis. The real one: Ash’s father. She learns that Eythos was the true Primal of Life, and that the ember was his— and Ash’s once upon a time—until Kolis, Eythos’s twin, stole it.

Sera learns the story of Eythos, Kolis, and Sotoria. She admits that she’d never used her gift on a mortal before Mari because she didn’t want the power or the ability to decide someone’s fate or use the power anytime the choice was presented. She thinks that makes her weak, but Nektas tells her otherwise. She wonders—with some horror—if she and Ash are related and is happy to find out they are not, but she still questions how her gift can help. She then learns that Kolis has Eythos’s soul. And given the poppies

started blooming once she arrived after being dormant for hundreds of years, Nektas insists her mere presence is bringing life back to the realm.

The Rot in Iliseeum is from Kolis losing his powers, and while she argues that it’s the deal expiring, she’s told it has nothing to do with that. She’s shocked to find out that what’s happening in Lasania would have happened regardless of the bargain, and suddenly realizes the clock ticking down wasn’t for her kingdom, it was for her.

Sudden relief sweeps through her at not having to manipulate and kill Ash as she was trained to do. It lightens her load yet overwhelms her with guilt. Bele outs Sera’s motives, and she confirms when asked outright. She explains that was why she kept going back to the Temple. Sera believes she’ll die now and can no longer think of Ash as…well, Ash. He’s Nyktos. He tells her that she would have died the second she pulled the shadowstone blade from his chest after killing him. She attempts to apologize but is told they’re under siege.

She offers to help and reminds them that she’s trained, saying the danger is there because of her and she will not just stand by and do nothing. She’s not a danger to their people and means them no harm, even though Ash believes she’s a danger to him. Still, she rides with Ash, Rhahar, Saion, and Rhain to the gates at the bay, revealing that she can feel death—the souls leaving their bodies. Ash tells her to stay with Ector and Rhain, and she takes up a post firing arrows at the dakkais.

After the fight, Sera learns the rules for attacking another Primal’s Court. Suddenly, she realizes that if Kolis wants her dead, she will be. He knows something is in the Shadowlands, though doesn’t know the source. Nyktos insists he’ll keep it that way, no matter what.

With a divide between them, they trade barbs and Sera screams at Nyktos to stop reading her emotions, especially if he isn’t going to believe what he feels. She goes on to say that she never wanted to fulfill her duty and nothing she did with him was an act.

Feeling like a monster, she offers to heal Nyktos’s wounds, and he lets it be known that he doesn’t trust her enough to let her try. That stings. She’s concerned about him and doesn’t want anything to happen, so she asks Nektas how she can get him to take sustenance. He says he thinks they can probably get Ash to feed from her because he’s mad enough to do it.

Well, alrighty, then.

The draken asks Sera if she would have killed Ash if she’d never learned it wouldn’t save her people. She can’t say yes. Nektas says that Ash knows that, too, and that’s why he’ll feed. So, she goes to him and tells him to take from her. She admits that she always knew she’d die young. He tells her to leave and says if she doesn’t, he’ll feed from and fuck her. She taunts him, asking if that’s a promise. He admits that he might kill her. Still, he calls her liessa.

They engage in a little hate sex, though it’s anything but, it’s more frustration, and he starts to heal.

After asking if he took enough blood, she goes to leave. He tells her to rest, and she says he can go fuck himself. When he grabs for her, Sera notices that he feels warm for the first time. He tells her that she’s no real threat to him because he’d never love her, and she asks him if he’s sure about that. Sera submits as he takes her again, biting his thumb and drawing blood. He spanks her, and she knows that neither of them will ever be the same.

Later, she wakes alone with a headache, wondering if Nyktos’s body was warm because he fed. She doesn’t think she can repair things with him, but she wants friendship if nothing else. If she can. She thinks on whether there’s another way for her to save her people. Maybe the ember was put in her for another reason. She suddenly feels sickened at the thought of Kolis going after Nyktos before and admits, even if only to herself, that she cares about him and his people. She knows that getting caught by Kolis means she’ll die, and that will hasten the death of both realms.

Paxton brings water for a bath and Sera feels like crying at the thoughtfulness of the gesture. She learns the boy’s story, and he tells her that they can’t wait for her coronation and are proud to have her as their Consort.

While in the bath, Sera is attacked. Hamid strangles her. She fights, breaks a stool in the process, and stabs him with a jagged leg. He falls and cracks his head on the tub. When the others arrive, they discuss the mortal and his motives, and she remembers that Hamid visited Gemma.

Suddenly, Sera becomes unsteady on her feet, her face and head hurting terribly. She gets dizzy and tells them she gets migraines like her mother but adds in the bit about her teeth bleeding lately. Nyktos brings her some healing tea—the same she had with Sir Holland—and they recount when things started. They tell her she’s going through the Culling and why.

Nyktos keeps her at arm’s length and tells her she’ll be his Consort, though in name only. He adds that she’s merely a vessel for the ember she carries—no friendship or love will be involved.

Low blow, Nyktos. But given what I saw sometime after this, I understand what you’re trying to do here…

After breakfast, Sera sees Gemma and finds that her touch removes all wounds. She tells the girl that Nyktos won’t hold her accountable for Hamid’s actions because she didn’t tell him to attack Sera. Then things get complicated. She learns that she is who Kolis is looking for. His graeca— his love or life. She also learns what Kolis is doing with the missing Chosen

—turning them into Revenants.

We know he’s actually turning them into Ascended and Revenants.

Compelled to do so, Sera apologizes to Gemma for bringing her back to life and then tells Bele and Aios what Odetta said about her being touched by life and death. She asks them if they can seek out the Fates, then insists they find Nyktos immediately and tell him what Gemma and Odetta said.

Cressa, Madis, and Taric show up. Sera gets knocked around, and Taric takes her blood, doing something else that Sera can’t pin down. She stabs him in the chest with the butter knife she hid from her morning meal. In the skirmish, he attempts to use compulsion on her, but it doesn’t work.

Saion checks on Sera, and she tells him to go to Bele, who got injured in the fight. She feels a flare in her chest that chills her to the bone, knowing it’s the goddess. She watches the murderous gods die, and then Nyktos appears. She explains that Taric did something to her.

He tells her to remember that she may feel fear but she’s never afraid and gives her back her dagger. She asks if she can try to save Bele and is told the ember in her isn’t strong enough to bring back a god. When she insists that the goddess died because of her and again asks to be allowed to try, Nyktos tells her not to take on that guilt but allows her to go to Bele anyway. She brings the goddess back to life and finds that isn’t all she did. She also Ascended her.

Afterward, she waits with Saion and Ector in Nyktos’s office and asks them if they’re afraid of her. She doesn’t know what Ascension means for a god, so Ector and Saion tell her. Nyktos walks in and thanks her for saving Bele. He takes care of her wounds and tells her he summoned the Fates, saying that Kolis will back off until he figures out what exactly he’s dealing

with. She’s also told that not every god she brings back will Ascend—they have to be fated to do so.

This made me wonder about the history. If the Primals took to ground because the gods were Ascending so rapidly, how and why did that happen? Hopefully, I’ll be able to fill in that puzzle piece at some point.

After dozing for a bit, Sera wakes and is told the Fates have answered.

Nektas is waiting for her and Nyktos in the throne room. Nyktos seems concerned about Sera’s wellbeing, and she tells him that if she lost too much blood, it’s on Taric, not him. He kisses her, and his lips are warm. After, he tells her that the kiss changes nothing. Still, she feels hopeful.

And she should. It changes nothing because he already knows she’s it for him.

When Sera walks into the throne room, she’s shocked to find Sir Holland. She’s instantly relieved to see that he wasn’t sent to the Vodina Isles, but then realizes why he never seemed to age in all the years she knew him. She learns that the Arae cannot affect her fate anymore and learns from Holland what Eythos did—she has the essence of his power in her.

Sera also learns that she and Nyktos are soulmates. It explains why they feel so right together. She confesses to feeling that and says she’s had a hard time walking away from him. It makes her wonder if that’s why he seems to find her so interesting. The soulmates thing isn’t the only reason. She’s drawn to who he is.

Sera and Nyktos try to tease out the prophecy and imagine it means that Kolis will destroy all the lands. Holland tells her she has many possible paths, but they all end the same. She says she wants to know more and learns that she is fated to die before the age of twenty-one. It’ll either be at the hands of a god, a misinformed mortal, Kolis, or even Nyktos himself— though one could possibly be an accident.

She learns that Nyktos’s blood will force her to go through the Culling, and because she’s mortal, she will not survive it. There’s also no way to stop it. Nyktos is horrified, and she assures him it’s not his fault.

Holland stresses that her recklessness and impulsivity may give whatever Eythos believed upon hearing the prophecy a chance to come to fruition and then shows her the broken thread of fate. He explains that the only thing the Fates can’t control is love. He goes on to say how she won’t survive the Culling, not without the sheer will of what is more powerful

than fate or even death—not without the love of the one who would aid in her Ascension.

Sera asks if she needs the blood of a god who loves her to survive and finds out it needs to be the love of a Primal. And not just any Primal. The one the ember belonged to. Nyktos.

That is so very unfair to both of them.

She then learns something that shakes her even more. She’s had many lives and is the reincarnation of Sotoria, Kolis’s obsession. She denies it, and then things get worse. She finds out that life has only continued because of the ember in her bloodline, the one she now carries that is the only ember of life in both realms. And what that means is…if she dies, everything and everyone in both realms goes with her.

She is the Primal of Life.

Nyktos bows to her, and she asks him not to, then starts to have a panic attack. Nyktos calms her. Once she has her breath again, she remarks that the prophecies are pointless and learns more about them, the oracles, and the Gods of Divination.

They discuss Bele’s Ascension, if she looks like Sotoria, the Craven, and whether she’ll run to Kolis versus running away from him.

Sera asks what Kolis will do to Nyktos if he finds that he’s hiding her from him and learns that Kolis cannot kill his nephew. Life cannot exist without death. Which leads her to wonder about a Primal of Life and Death.

Nyktos admits to having his kardia removed. When she appears confused, Penellaphe tells Sera what that is and what it means—he’s truly unable to love. It stuns her.

Then she gets pissed that Holland didn’t tell her there was no point in her duty when they were in the mortal realm and worries about how long the realms have.

Talk turns to how to safeguard her as much as they can, and Vikter Ward, a viktor, arrives to place a charm on her arms, explaining what it will do. Holland sees her distress and tells her not to give up, reminding her of the broken thread and saying that fate is never written in bone and blood. It can be as ever-changing as one’s thoughts and heart. She reminds him that Nyktos can’t love, and he tells her that love is more powerful than the Arae can even imagine.

Before he leaves, Sera asks Holland if she’ll ever see him again, and he can’t answer. Still, he reminds her of something she already knows: All that

she trained for wasn’t a waste. She is his weakness. Only the him isn’t Nyktos, it’s Kolis. She realizes that her true destiny is to be a weapon against the false Primal of Life, though she doesn’t want to seduce Kolis. The thought makes her ill.

Nyktos leads her back to his office and asks what she’s thinking. They discuss when he had his kardia removed and who knows about it, and she wonders if it hurt and why he did it. He tells her, though we find out that was only part of the truth. They decide to continue with the plan and keep her hidden.

Sera doesn’t see the point of the coronation if she’s just going to die in five months, and Nyktos asks if the idea of her death even bothers her. In answer, she lists all the things she’s currently dealing with—including death. Dealing has nothing to do with how she feels about it. When he says it’s unfair, it surprises her, and she tells him that it’s not fair to him either.

Sera tells Nyktos that whatever safety the coronation would provide isn’t worth it, and he tells her that her safety is worth everything, even the Shadowlands. However, he ruins the moment when he says that the embers are important. He doesn’t say she is.

The next time Saion escorts her to her chambers, they have a very serious discussion about where she stands now that the truth is out.

Sera meets Orphine, who also wants to kill her for even thinking about hurting Nyktos. However, she adds that Sera is special to them, too, because she’s life.

Later, Sera wakes to a deafening crack, covered in a blanket she didn’t get. Orphine rushes into the room and tells her not to go out onto the balcony. She does it anyway and sees the battle underway.

Orphine and Sera argue over Sera helping, and she learns all sorts of things about the draken. During the battle, Orphine stops her from reviving a fallen guard, and Ector keeps her from bringing Davina back to life.

A blast of eather almost hits her but gets Orphine instead. A pale-haired and light-skinned god comes to Sera, clearly looking for her. He doesn’t stop an entombed god from attacking her. In the melee, Sera is wounded in her shoulder and on her forearm.

Sera sees Nyktos take on his true Primal form and wipe out the rest of the entombed gods, ripping the last one in half. She admits to him after that she found it kind of hot.

I mean…there is something sexy about that kind of savage beauty and control.

Nyktos carries her inside, and she tries to tell him that she’s not hurt. He says he can feel and taste her pain, adding that she needs blood, especially since she won’t be able to heal while in the Culling. He refuses to let her stay in pain and asks her to let him help her.

Sera takes his blood and thinks it tastes like honey. It makes her feel tingly all over, and she can feel his power vibrating in her chest. Her pain fades, and she feels at peace. She also feels his touch more than ever. Her skin humming and blood hot, she realizes it’s a side effect. He tells her that he can feel and taste her need. That he’s practically drowning in it. She tells him to drown with her.

They have sex, and Sera doesn’t hold back. She wants him to hear, see, and know what he does to her.

Later, with the guards, Sera reassures Bele that she’s not to blame for anything. The goddess thanks Sera for saving her life. When Sera tells the group about the god who was ready to let her die, Nyktos gets visibly upset. They come to the conclusion that the attack had to be led by another Primal since they are the only ones who can control the draken.

Knowing the embers and Sotoria’s soul make her the perfect weapon to be used against Kolis, she scales the palace wall and makes it to the Black Bay, hoping to stow away on a ship and head to Dalos and Kolis in a bid to save the Shadowlands.

A silver hawk—which is actually Attes in his nota form—saves her from some Shades in the woods, and she somehow almost brings one back to life. When Nyktos appears, Sera runs from him, determined to fulfill her destiny. She can’t stop the Rot nor can she protect him. She has no other purpose but this. Furious, he tackles her but absorbs the blow, demanding to know why she was running from him. She tells him that she was trying to

save him.

Sera confesses what she believes is her true destiny. She’s Kolis’s weakness, and whatever happens to her will be worth it. The mortal realm can be saved, he can be saved, and no one else needs to get hurt. Nyktos tells her that he will gladly suffer anything Kolis dishes out so long as she’s spared, though he doesn’t stop from mentioning the embers yet again. Sera gets angry and screams. Power explodes from her, throwing Nyktos into the air.

In seconds, Nektas is crouching in front of Sera, protecting her from any reflexive retaliation the Primal of Death may deliver. Almost in tears, she apologizes and says she doesn’t even know what happened but worries it will happen again.

She realizes that Nyktos will never let her go, and he confirms as much.

She argues that she’s no better than a prisoner, and he tells her that’s her choice. He says her destiny is not to die by Kolis’s hand and insists there may be another way for them to go about things.

Back at the palace, Nyktos tells her the next time she puts a dagger to someone’s throat—even his—she’d better mean it, and then orders her to her room. He follows her into her chambers and informs her that she’ll sleep within arm’s reach from now on, then carries her to his room and throws her onto the bed. Stubborn, she refuses to undress, making him do it for her before they fall asleep.

The next morning, Sera wakes alone, and Baines brings her water for a bath. Orphine says she’ll escort her to Nyktos once she’s ready. As they walk, Sera notices the design on the throne room door for the first time— the wolf. Once inside, Nyktos tells everyone that Sera tried to go after Kolis to protect the Shadowlands and says her bravery is unmatched among them. He then whispers that none shall harbor ill will toward her now and should see her as she is: brave and daring. If not, the negative thoughts will be their last. He vows to destroy them, no matter how loyal they are to the Shadowlands. He tells Sera that she’s brave and strong and more than worthy of them.

She feels like he’s saying more.

Nyktos suggests they try to remove the embers from her and she’s stunned. She didn’t think that was even possible. Nektas tells her the embers aren’t fully hers until she Ascends, so they should be able to remove them. Nyktos’s blood would ensure she’d survive the Ascension then, though she learns she might Ascend into an actual god.

After they discuss when to go to the Pools of Divanash, talk turns to other things, and Sera learns how Nektas’s mate Halayna died, and that he was the first draken and the one who helped Eythos create the mortals.

They talk more about removing the embers, and she finds out that only the usual suspects in the Shadowlands know of the plan—and they only know she has one ember. They also support it, even the bit about Ascending

her. Only Nektas knows about Sotoria’s soul, though, and it needs to stay that way. It would be too risky for the others to know.

Sera asks Nyktos if he will continue the Rite after becoming the Primal of Life and then learns why it was started in the first place. She explains what life is like for a Chosen in the mortal realm and finds out the mortals started that, not the gods. Sera wonders if all the missing Chosen have been turned into Craven like the seamstress—though she knows about the Revenants, too. She then asks what will happen to Kolis and the Rot if they succeed in removing the embers. They tell her they may never be able to kill the false Primal of Life because of the necessary balance, but they can weaken him enough to entomb him. She tries to tell them there is a way to kill him and it’s right in front of them—her—but Nyktos refuses to hear it.

The sound of chaos outside interrupts them, and Sera finds out about the Cimmerian and how they fight. She decides to push her luck and goes outside to join the battle. She kills a Cimmerian primed to attack Rhain and is reminded that she can be killed; the enemy doesn’t know what’s inside her.

During the fight, Sera gets injured on the left side of her waist, and Nyktos comes to her. They flirt a bit, even as fighters die around them. Her gift flares to life at the deaths, and Nektas growls at her in warning, telling her to control herself.

Once the fight is over, Rhain reluctantly thanks her for her aid and verbally roasts her a bit. He casually mentions that Nyktos has endured and sacrificed things for her, which piques her interest. Ector tries to cover and quickly chimes in that Rhain is merely being dramatic.

Nyktos reappears, and Sera yells at him, telling him that she won’t be ordered around as if she has no control over her life anymore, especially when she can help—no matter the risks. Then she reminds him that she’s never really been allowed to value her life or think for herself.

He asks her what kind of life she’s lived, and she won’t answer. And he won’t tell her what he’s sacrificed when she asks.

Sera wonders if Taric could taste the embers in her blood when he drank from her. Nyktos tells her that no one else will feed from her—he won’t allow it—but…yes, the god would have tasted the embers. He then goes on to tell her that her blood tastes like a summer storm and the sun. Like heat, power, and life. Soft and airy like sponge cake.

The Primal is a poet. Seriously.

Nyktos explains about shadowstepping, and Sera asks if she’ll be able to do it once she Ascends. He tells her that she will, reconfirming his faith in their plan. They also talk about Tavius, and he calls her brave and strong.

It chokes her up.

He says she needs to rest—she’s going through the Culling and got cut with shadowstone. Then he adds that he wonders how else the embers are protecting her since a mortal or godling would have died. Not even his blood in her would have been enough.

Later, back in her room, she notices that her wound looks several days old instead of hours. Which makes her wonder just how strong her embers are. Settling in, she thinks about Ash as she masturbates, somehow knowing he’s in the room watching her, even if she can’t see him. She does see dark tendrils and intuitively knows it’s him. She can feel his touch. She climaxes and calls to him as she does but gets no answer. Just as she dozes off, she swears she feels the bed shift as if someone lowered themselves to the mattress.

The next day, Nektas asks her what she thinks of the plan to remove the embers, and she says she’s tentatively hopeful. As they talk about their journey to the Vale, she finds out that it isn’t dangerous, but the road to get there is.

Nyktos arrives not long after, just after Jadis manages to set a chair on fire. He makes a flippant comment about Sera’s dress that annoys her and then talk turns to more important matters. She discovers that the army in wait is because Nyktos plans to go to war with Kolis. Unfortunately, she realizes that he doesn’t trust her enough to speak plainly or truthfully around her, and that bothers her greatly.

Nyktos dismisses her, but she tells him she chooses to stay with him. As he works, she asks him about the Books of the Dead. She tries to goad him, referencing others she should or could be spending time with, and he warns her that she should be selective of how she spends her time with others.

They discuss the night before and their needs, and she offers him a deal: pleasure for the sake of pleasure.

Nyktos calls her reckless, but then suddenly asks if she has her dagger, saying they’re about to have company. He apologizes for what’s about to transpire, and Sera meets Attes for the first time. The Primal refers to Sera as an accessory, and she threatens him without hesitation. Nyktos tells her to behave, but Attes asks if she knows not to repeat what she hears, and she

can’t hold her tongue, snapping at him again. She learns that Kolis is denying her coronation.

After hearing that Nyktos must be granted permission to take a Consort, she curses. Attes tells them that Kolis will summon them when he’s ready. After the Primal leaves, Nyktos tells her to argue with him to distract him from his anger. She kisses him instead.

Sera assumes that Kolis must think the embers are in Nyktos and that he’s the one who Ascended Bele, but she’s told the false Primal of Life knows they aren’t in his nephew. He already tested Nyktos. When she realizes what those tests likely were, she discovers that Nyktos has had to convince Kolis of a great many things.

He tells Sera that Attes was provoking her by trying to influence her with his Primal essence. When she had no reaction to it, Attes knew and realized that she’s more than what they said. Ector tells her about who is and isn’t affected by a Primal’s presence, and she realizes that Attes could know that she is the one who carries the embers.

Sera learns that Kolis could have outright forbidden Nyktos from taking a Consort, and while he can still claim her, she’d have no protection.

Thinking about how that meeting with Kolis will go, she fears she looks like Sotoria and worries. Nyktos vows not to let the Primal touch her. She argues, saying that she won’t be the reason for any more death, and he tells her she never was. She’s not so sure. However, she won’t hide, and he won’t put her in danger—even though she’s always been in danger.

Nektas follows Sera back to her chambers and calls her meyaah Liessa. She calls him meyaah draken in return, saying she’s as much his Queen as he is her draken. He asks if Ash was wrong to doubt her motivations, and she confesses that getting to Kolis never crossed her mind—at least not recently. She then learns what Nyktos has had to convince his uncle of and what Kolis will do if he learns the truth. It hits deep.

Sera argues that it isn’t personal for her like it is for Nyktos. She’s not Sotoria. Nektas asks her why she no longer calls Nyktos Ash and proceeds to tell her that his father called him that. He says it means something that he introduced himself to her as that right off, saying that he is as she wishes him to be.

She spends the remainder of the afternoon training and realizes she doesn’t want Nyktos to have to choose between the Shadowlands and her. Later, in his room to sleep, he apologizes for questioning her motives,

saying he won’t hide the summons from her when it comes. Talk turns to why she holds her breath and how she manages her anxiety, and she suddenly realizes that she left her dagger in her bedchamber. She’s unprotected for the first time in her life…

The trust has been solidified.

Sera wakes on what should be her coronation day and once again thinks about fading away. Shaking herself out of it, she goes to have breakfast with Saion and Reaver and asks Saion where he’s from. He tells her the story of how Nyktos saved both him and his cousin, Rhahar.

Later, she sees others training and learns they do so every day in the morning for a few hours. She’s shocked when Saion refuses to train with her. Undeterred, she squares off with Nyktos. She ends up cutting off a lock of his hair. As they spar, Sera makes a list of demands.

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.

They spend some time in the pool, and Ash tells her more about Lathan. He admits that Sera’s one of the strongest people he knows, both mentally and physically—mortal or otherwise. Then he adds that his assertion has nothing to do with the embers. They play a bit more in the pool, and once again, Sera feels as if he and she have become…more.

She spends the rest of the day with Aios and the younglings, realizing that she’s not only been calling Nyktos Ash, she’s also started seeing him as such. Calling him Nyktos doesn’t feel right anymore. She wants to stop Kolis and the Rot and restore Ash’s rightful destiny, but she doesn’t want to do what’s needed to weaken Kolis. She wants a future of her own, and she wants it with Ash. She wants to be his Consort.

Sera decides to deal with her epiphany that she cares about Ash like she does everything else—by not dealing with it at all.

Talking to Ash later, she tells him about Nektas’s eyes flashing blue earlier, and finds out that all the draken had blue eyes until Kolis did what he did. After, they turned red. However, Nektas’s changing color may mean that Sera is closer to her Ascension than they realize.

Sera decides that Ash doesn’t need to know how she feels about him.

She knows he cares about her, though she thinks the way she feels might be more. Could it be love?

They leave for the Pools of Divanash, and Nyktos shows her the poppies growing in the Red Woods. As they near the Pillars, Sera’s embers vibrate, and she sees the souls of the departed. Ash tells her about Eythos’s struggles being near the Pillars as the Primal of Death and asks if she feels the need to use the embers or if it wears on her. She lies and tells him no.

He reminds her that she’s stronger than she thinks—her, not the embers

—and tells her to see if she can glean anything about the souls. She tries but then stops, deciding she doesn’t need to since the embers will be back in Nyktos soon. Still, they throb within her.

They come upon the riders, and the three bow to her. When they finally reach their destination, Ash tells Nektas to watch out for her because she’s important to him. Again, her, not the embers. Unable to help herself, she blurts out to Ash that she wants to be his Consort. He kisses her knuckles and palm and tells her he’ll be waiting for her when she returns.

Nektas and Sera enter the Vale. She confirms to the draken that she meant what she said at the crossroads: she cares about Ash. She also tells him that if she’d been able to kill Nyktos, Nektas wouldn’t have had to kill her because she would have done it herself. He says that if that’s true, he’s even more right than he thought. He expounds by saying how Ash could have messed him up in the Dying Woods after she blasted him, but he stopped himself because he cares for her. She admits that she knows he does.

The draken tells Sera that Ash had his kardia removed not so he didn’t become like his father but so he didn’t become like his uncle. Nektas implies that he thinks she loves Nyktos, and she quickly says she doesn’t, insisting she doesn’t even know what love feels like.

After encountering the Shroud and resisting the sirens’ song, they finally reach the Pools. Nektas explains what to do—she needs to reveal a deep secret. Her truth is to confess that she tried to take her life. The Pools accept her sacrifice, and she sees Delfai with Kayleigh Balfour in Irelone.

Once they’re out of the Vale, Nektas insists she can talk to him if she’s ever not okay. If she does, he’ll make sure she is.

That draken can be surly, but he, like his bonded Primal, has a heart of gold.

He halts her on their journey and says they’re about to have company, warning her not to strike first. He tells her about the nymphs, and they end up fighting them. Fury explodes from Sera, and she winds up killing them with her eather—the kind that only the Primal of Life can wield. The type that can kill another Primal.

I can only imagine hearing that made Sera wish she could kill Kolis instead of entombing him.

When they return to the House of Haides, Sera sees Veses straddling Ash and feeding from him. She flees to the pool room underground, her anger shaking the palace. Roots wrap around her in a protective gesture. Ash tries to calm her, reminding her of her breathing exercises, but he’s finally forced to compel her into falling asleep.

Sera wakes naked in Ash’s room with Bele and Rhain, shocking Rhain a bit. He tells her she’s powerful and says he’s never seen anything like what she did—not even from a Primal in their Culling. She finds out she was in stasis for three days and that it could have been weeks. She could have even died. When she asks about the roots, she finds out they were trying to protect her. Rhain goes on to tell her that if she loses it like that again, she might not wake up. They explain what she needs to do to keep herself strong.

She learns where Ash is, and the gods tell her he was worried about her.

She goes to her room and decides there will be no more physical contact with Ash. She’ll stay in her quarters and use her bathing chamber despite the bad memories there. Somehow, she needs to create distance between them, and she wants her own future.

Sera requests bath water and actually bathes in her tub. After, Bele wants to know what happened before the events in the pool chamber and reveals that she knew Veses was in the palace. She goes on to say that she thought the Primal’s visits would stop and tells Sera that Nyktos has never acted the way he does with Sera before—and it’s not just because of the embers.

Bele tells Sera that he verbally slayed them after his bravery speech and adds that she’s seen Veses feed from Nyktos before but has never seen them having sex. She explains that sex doesn’t always happen with feeding and tries to reassure Sera that Nyktos doesn’t trust or even like Veses.

Sera’s not quite so sure. Seeing is believing, after all.

Ash comes to see Sera and apologizes for what she thinks she saw. She reminds him that it happened only hours after she told him she wanted to be his Consort but refuses to admit that she’s hurt. She does lash out and snap that his claim of virginity was a lie, though. Trying to get to the bottom of it, she asks him what she saw, and he tells her it’s complicated. She finally admits that it hurt her feelings and breaks off their pleasure deal, stating she wants to be free of him completely once the embers are out of her.

Later, she goes to talk to him about Irelone and is super polite—not like herself at all. She figures Nektas can go to see Delfai with her, but Ash says he will go so he can hear what is said about removing the embers. She states that she wants to leave immediately, and he asks her to wait because there have been sightings of Kyn’s draken near.

Finally, he comments that he doesn’t like how she’s become: how she was trained to be—empty and blank. He tells her to be herself and accepts the blame for what happened, pleading with her not to change. She admits that she doesn’t want to be like she is now, but she won’t allow herself to feel like that again.

Self-preservation is a slippery slope.

The summons comes, and Sera realizes she could be kept in Dalos. She worries that Kolis will be able to sense the embers in her and is told how him sensing anything can be explained away—she has taken a lot of Ash’s blood. When she asks how nice they’ll have to be to the false Primal, Rhain tells her to do anything and everything Kolis orders her to do, adding that Nyktos can only refuse a few things on her behalf.

Sera refuses to be a part of whatever Kolis does in retaliation for Ash not answering the summons in a timely manner and insists they should go soon. He tries to say she’s more important, and she cuts him off. Reaver sticks up for her with Nyktos, and it delights Sera. Though she is surprised to hear that he’s protecting her from Ash.

Once again, she refuses to do anything until they answer the summons.

He capitulates, and they make plans to leave for Dalos in an hour. Sera changes, and Aios asks her if she’ll go after Kolis. Sera opens up to the goddess about Sotoria and her being Kolis’s graeca. She explains that killing Kolis is her destiny. Being Nyktos’s Consort never was.

Aios asks her why it can’t be both, then tells Sera about her time in Dalos as one of Kolis’s favorites. Sera can’t believe what she’s hearing and apologizes, telling Aios how strong she is. The goddess tells her that Kolis is incapable of love, even for his graeca. Which means…he has no weakness.

Sera doesn’t believe that can be true of anyone. When she meets up with Ash, he tells her she’s beautiful, and she tells him not to say that. He explains that they’ll have to act as they did with Attes while in Dalos—as if they can’t get enough of each other. All that manages to do is irritate Sera because she can’t believe he doesn’t get that she was never pretending. She tells him it’s too late for that, and he asks why she even wanted that from him to begin with.

She confesses that she wants a life and a future and won’t try anything with Kolis. Though she does worry that he will recognize her and try to claim her. She’s reminded that she doesn’t belong to anyone. Nyktos says

he will protect her, but Kolis could try to keep her. Ash says he’ll level Dalos and leave it in ruins before he lets that happen. She begs him not to intervene if Kolis recognizes her as Sotoria, and he snarls that the embers aren’t the only important thing. She is.

Sera asks Ash what she should expect and learns that the ink on his skin is a collection of one hundred and ten tattooed drops of blood signifying the things Kolis demanded of Ash. He reminds her again that she’s good, no matter what happens, saying she’s not a monster now nor will she be when they return. He holds her close and kisses her forehead as they shadowstep.

Sera barely fades, and Ash tells her they need to get the embers out of her soon—it’s clear they’re getting even stronger. As they make their way, he tells her not to let anyone lure her away and warns her not to trust anyone. He tells her that Dalos is also called the City of the Dead, which she believes when she sees the gods strung up outside the palace. Her primal essence flares.

She begs Ash to stop her from attempting to resurrect them and tells him to use compulsion. Instead, he kisses her, using his shadows to block her sight. He calls her strong and brave.

In the presence of Attes and Dyses, Sera goes to bow, and Nyktos stops her. She learns that Dyses was testing her. Ash kills him, but she swears she sees his hand twitch. And she didn’t feel her embers respond to his death.

After talking with Attes, she remarks that the Primal finds perverse pleasure in provoking Ash and that it almost seems as if Attes is looking out for her. She wonders if he might be a friend—or at least an ally.

Nyktos helps her breathe and bow, and she slips on her veil of nothingness again. Sera is relieved when Kolis doesn’t recognize her as Sotoria. The relief is short-lived, however, when Dyses—whom she witnessed Ash kill—walks into the room. She wonders then if he’s a Revenant.

When Kolis chastises them for their faux pas of not asking for permission, she blurts that their failure to seek approval was her fault and says she feared Kolis would find her unworthy. Kolis decrees what her punishment should be, and she’s sickened when she realizes he expects her to kill a draken youngling. She asks what the boy did to deserve it and what will happen if she refuses. The young draken answers her, saying that Kolis will still kill him, then her, and then end with summoning a draken from the Shadowlands to be killed.

Sera asks Kolis why he’d use this as punishment. She wants to know what he gains from it. His reply? “Everything. It will tell me everything I need to know.” Before she goes through with it, she asks the draken his name. He tells her it doesn’t matter and that he’s not worth remembering. Suddenly, she feels something shift within her. She senses the twisted and evil bits in Kolis’s essence and feels an ancient power come to life inside her. It’s rage, pure and primal. She realizes that the power in him was hers, stolen from the Primal of Life. Then she feels Sotoria and thinks that his pain, retribution, vengeance, and blood will be hers. Sotoria, through Sera, pays the price Kolis demanded.

Sera knows the draken’s death will mark her and she’ll leave some of her goodness in the atrium. Still, she feels Sotoria and knows the woman is settling in to wait for what she’s owed.

Later, after they leave, Sera asks Ash to take her to Vathi. She even goes so far as to beg him. He tells her they should survive to honor the sacrifice the draken made, but she tells him it’s not enough. He caves and takes her, and she urges Attes to bring the youngling’s body to her. She thanks Ash for doing as she asked and explains that she has to do this. She refuses his touch and instead asks why Kolis would do something like this. He says the false Primal of Life was making Kyn their enemy.

And boy did he ever. Not that the Primal needed much help…

When Attes returns, Sera wonders if they can trust him. Ash tells her it’s too late for that now. When she brings the young draken back to life, he calls her meyaah Liessa. They exchange names—his name is Thad. After, Attes bows to Sera and vows not to betray her confidence and tell anyone what she did. He also calls her meyaah Liessa. Sera tells him not to and insists she’s not anything.

Ash asks her why she spoke out and says she doesn’t deserve what she was made to do. She argues that he doesn’t either and then goes on to say that she did it for him.

Sera asks about Dyses being what Gemma mentioned—a Revenant. Perhaps a demis. She also asks why Kolis didn’t act on the fact that he knows his nephew knows who has the power to Ascend and that it’s not Kolis. Ash tells her it’s so Kolis doesn’t expose himself as a fraud.

She reminds Ash that they now have permission to go forward with the coronation, and he tells her that’s not all they have. They also discovered that Kolis didn’t recognize her. He asks her what happened back in Dalos,

saying she felt different to him. She tells him that the rage wasn’t only hers, it was also Sotoria’s. Ash says he thinks Holland was wrong. It’s clear Sera has two souls: hers and Sotoria’s.

The plan is to have the coronation the following day and then leave for Irelone to talk with Delfai. Sera walks around the halls and courtyards with Reaver and cries, noticing that she’s crying blood. Later, she has supper with Aios, Bele, and Reaver in her receiving room before returning to her bedchambers.

Not much later, she feels something similar to what she feels with Ash just before Ector comes flying into the room, followed by Veses. Sera realizes that the Primal likely unleashed the Shades as a distraction like Taric did. When Veses tells Rhain she hasn’t come for Nyktos, Sera sees fear in the god’s eyes.

The Primal insults Sera and wants to know how she became the Consort, stating she knows it’s in title only. Sera tells Veses that Ash called her the worst sort and continues to taunt the Primal, telling Veses that her future with Nyktos has nothing to do with her. To top it off, she calls her pathetic.

Reaver moves to protect Sera, and she tries to hold him back.

Unfortunately, she isn’t able to stop Veses from hurting Reaver. In her rage, Sera plunges her dagger into Veses’ eye and gets hit by eather. She learns that Veses sent the draken into the Shadowlands, thinking she was helping Nyktos.

Veses insinuates that either Sera has a lot of Nyktos’s blood in her, or he found a Primal in their Culling. Sera tells her she’s had all of Nyktos, not just his blood, and punches Veses in the throat. She then scrambles toward Reaver but is thrown across the room and into the couch.

When Bele arrives, the goddess tells Sera the draken is hurt badly. Sera senses that death is imminent. Luckily, she is able to save him, and it somehow feels like a homecoming this time. She throws a dagger at Veses, but the Primal stops it in mid-air.

Sera freaks out about Veses knowing her secret, but Ash tells her she won’t get a chance to tell Kolis about it because she’ll never get out of the cell they’re about to put her in. Sera tells him that Veses didn’t want to tell Kolis about her, she wanted to kill her. But the Primal was afraid to go through with it once she saw what Sera could do.

Sera apologizes to Ash for him having to kill the Shades—she knows he doesn’t like doing it, thus giving them their ultimate end—and tells him that Veses sent the enemy draken that attacked them and released the entombed gods.

She thanks Bele for her aid with Veses and learns from Saion that Ector will be okay despite what the Primal did to him. She knows she’ll need Ash’s blood to recover from the skirmish—she can’t risk another stasis— then takes what she needs from Ash and feels peace, seeing a memory of her fighting him in the courtyard during her training request.

Sera asks him about it and learns why she saw that. She then tells Ash that she doesn’t hate him at all. He orders her to fuck him, and she gladly accepts. Once again, it feels like more to her. After, she tells him that he can feed from her if he needs to. He declines, saying he doesn’t deserve to.

Later, Sera feels the embers vibrating in her chest but not with the kind of energy that restores life. It’s the kind that ends it. Ash explains why Veses could feel Sera but Kolis couldn’t, and she learns that Veses never let on that she felt her.

Resting with Reaver, Sera doesn’t want to leave the youngling or risk waking him by moving but asks why Ash told Veses she was his Consort in name only. He tells her that Veses is different, and it’s complicated. Sera asks him point-blank if he cares for Veses, and Ash says he pities and loathes the other Primal. She then asks him what he feels for her, and he tells her he feels curiosity, excitement, amusement, yearning, need, want, anger, always awe, and…peace.

Erlina arrives, and Sera discusses the coronation with her and Bele. The seamstress addresses Sera formally, and she goes to tell the woman not to. Bele merely glares at her. Sera’s thoughts then turn to Veses, and she worries that the Primal goddess will be missed. She learns that she won’t— most will be happy she’s gone.

Sera asks to see Rhain to learn what’s going on with Veses and Nyktos and discovers the price Nyktos had to pay for Veses’ silence, which was done solely to protect Sera from Kolis. She then realizes that Ash wasn’t protecting the embers at all, he was protecting her.

When she discovers that Ash is always cold because of how Veses feeds, it makes her furious. Her emotions explode, and she starts shaking the palace again. Rhain does his best to calm her. She’s able to quiet herself, but vows to Rhain that she’ll kill Veses, making a move to do just that.

The god blocks her and promises Veses will be dealt with. Sera suddenly realizes that once Nyktos Ascends, he will be able to Ascend a god to replace Veses in the Callasta Isles. Rhain calls her Your Highness, stupefying her. He goes on to say that she will be and has been his Queen.

Sera learns that only Rhain, Ector, and Nektas really knew about what was going on with Veses and Nyktos. After thinking about it, Sera says that Ash shouldn’t feel shame over the blackmail, though she would feel the same.

Rhain asks her if she loves Nyktos, and Sera can’t answer. He tells her the hesitation is all the answer he needs, and says he was wrong about her. Sera suddenly realizes she does love Ash, and it makes her a little sick to her stomach.

Acknowledging one’s truth will sometimes do that.

Without thought, she blurts to Ector that she wants to be Nyktos’s Consort, stunning both him and her.

Rhahar, Rhain, Ector, Saion, and the twins escort Sera to the coronation.

Aios and Kars—a guard—take her the rest of the way. Sera asks Aios if she’s ever been in love, and the goddess tells her that it doesn’t feel the same for everyone. She adds that, to her, it was like feeling at home in an unfamiliar place. As if you’re finally seen, heard, and understood. And when you think of what you would do for the person and realize it’s anything, that means it’s love.

That’s actually a wonderful way to put it.

Sera comes to realize why she paid the price for Ash in Dalos and why sex with him has felt like more—because it is. He’s always been Ash to her. Despite her wanting that to change given everything going on and all that happened, it never has. She’s most definitely in love with him.

Ash comes to her and takes her hand from Aios, telling Sera to breathe.

He uses shadows to block them from view as she calms.

She notices Ash’s crown, and he tells her she won’t have to wear hers until after tonight. He reads her a bit, and she politely asks him not to. But she does open up to him, telling him that she still wants the coronation, calling him Ash to his face.

He confesses that counting her freckles has become a habit and relays that she has twelve on her back. It makes her feel warm, and she notices the embers buzzing in her chest. There was a feeling of rightness before with him, but this is different. Once again, more.

Sera sees her crown for the first time, and it’s beautiful. When Ash bows to her, she and the crowd are stunned. He’s the Primal of Death, after all.

Ash crowns her and bestows her new title upon her: the One who is born of Blood and Ash, the Light and the Fire, and the Brightest Moon. A golden imprint suddenly appears on her right hand, and she asks Ash if he did it.

He explains that the Arae must be acknowledging their union.

He tells her about the imprint and blessings, and she wonders if it’s because of the embers. He explains that the imprint only fades upon death. He also tells her about Keella and the other Primals. Sera asks if Keella knows about Sotoria’s soul, given she’s the Primal of Rebirth. He says he isn’t sure. After all, it wasn’t a rebirth. However, it is possible.

Sera realizes that her new title contains bits from the goddess, Penellaphe’s, prophecy. She asks Ash about it, and he tells her that his mind kept returning to thoughts of her hair and how it was like moonlight. He also tells her the different symbolism of blood and ash.

She discovers that nothing has happened in Vathi since she was last there and is relieved to hear that the Court didn’t come under siege after what she did with the young draken—bringing Thad back to life.

Ash insinuates that she’ll be involved in discussions to come, and it satisfies her, projecting it for him to feel. She explains that it’s nice to be included. Still, she wonders what Attes wants to talk to them about. Ash apologizes for contributing to her feeling of unimportance before. He says that she matters. Always. And kisses her temple.

Keella approaches the couple, and Sera feels a charge of energy skitter up her arm as the Primal holds her imprinted hand. She intuits that Sera’s title may be another blessing, just like the mark. The embers inside Sera hum in response to their exchange, and Sera notices Keella’s clever, knowing smile as she says things without really saying anything at all.

They go through the procession of Primal greetings and Ash keeps her grounded with a hand on her. Finally, their crowns are removed, and Ash tells her that he has soldiers making sure the road is safe. He asks her to sit with him and rubs her neck. She calls him Ash again when she thanks him, and then inquires if it bothers him. He admits that he missed it.

Ash comes clean about some things that have been on his mind. 1—Her calling him Ash in her coronation dress. 2—Seeing her out of the dress. 3— Seeing her naked on her new throne. And 4—Seeing her bare, with nothing but the crown. He then wonders if he’s worthy of exploring the above

things that have quickly become obsessions. Running his hands over her body he finds her dagger and revises his list. He says that seeing her in nothing but the dagger has taken second place, and that thoughts of hearing her call him Ash when she comes have become the first. She replies that she’ll call him whatever he wants.

Sera gives in to the desire and tells him that she needs him inside her when she calls him Ash. Then, in a vulnerable moment, she admits that she doesn’t want to sleep alone—she wants to be with him. To talk or… whatever. He calls her beautiful, coaxing a smile.

He asks her what she thought of the coronation, and she goes on to ask him about the dakkais and Vathi. She reveals that she believes Keella knows Sera has Sotoria’s soul, and Ash says that the Primal of Rebirth is one of the few he somewhat trusts, though he doesn’t trust anybody completely when it comes to her.

Sera is both nervous and excited about going to Irelone and happy that Ash will finally be the Primal of Life he should have always been. He tells her that saving her life is the most important part of their plan. He then asks her what changed with her wanting to become his Consort. She sasses that she should be allowed to change her mind, and he tells her that she’s entitled to the realm, making her feel warm all over.

She goes on to explain that her emotions didn’t change, only how she wanted to proceed. She projects her feelings, but she can tell he doesn’t understand what he feels. And she knows why. It saddens her. She confesses to knowing about his deal with Veses and thanks him for his sacrifice. Still, she makes it clear that she’ll kill the Primal if he doesn’t.

Ash finally opens up about things with Veses, and Sera is furious to find out that she’s forced pleasure on him, too. The fact that the Primal actually wants Kolis and not Ash at all makes things even worse. When she discovers that the deal has been going on for three years, it incenses her.

Ash calms her and says that he doesn’t regret keeping her out of Kolis’s hands, then thanks her for being her. He begins to tell her what he wishes but stops himself mid-sentence and simply kisses her instead.

Sera tells Ash to feed when he confesses that he’s hungry and realizes his reluctance is tied to his past and being forced to take blood. It makes her sad.

It makes me sad, too.

He indulges, and she wants to move beneath him but remembers how Veses used to push the limits, so she lets him have all the control. He takes her as he feeds, and his body warms. It’s something that’s beginning to bring a sense of pride to Sera. Once more, he starts telling her what he wishes but stops himself again.

They go to Irelone to meet with Delfai. This time, Sera doesn’t black out at all during the trip. She realizes the embers are getting even stronger. Projecting anxiety, Ash comments, and she finds out what the emotion tastes and feels like to him.

When they reach their destination, Sera sees how the guards react to Ash and his display of power and realizes how Kolis would have been greeted in the mortal realm—how Sotoria likely reacted to him.

She and Ash meet up with Kayleigh, and Sera asks about Delfai, telling the Princess what she knows about him. Kayleigh seems perplexed at the situation given the last time she saw Sera, but Sera decides she won’t tell her how she’s come to be with Nyktos. She fears that her true mortal identity—Kayleigh never knew she was a Princess—and her new title will cause problems.

Sera finds out that Kayleigh has been waiting to hear if she’d be forced back to Tavius and Sera feels bad. She wishes she had sent word about his death so Kayleigh could move on. As they chat, Kayleigh insinuates that Sera was no handmaiden to the Queen, and Sera refuses to acknowledge.

Then, Ash tells the Princess the truth, utterly stunning Sera.

During the meeting with Delfai, Sera learns about the Star diamond and realizes that Holland lied about not knowing how Kolis took the embers.

She remarks that a Fate giving The Star to Kolis should be considered interference. She’s told that Kolis still has The Star, but it isn’t needed to take the embers out of her. Her process is a bit different.

Delfai refers to her as a vessel and it makes Ash furious, stunning Sera. She then learns that taking the embers from her will have little effect on the realms, making her feel both relief and dread. Until she discovers how it’s done and what it means: she’ll die.

She can’t hold back a sardonic laugh, given she had assumed she would die all along. Delfai tells her there are only three options. Either Nyktos becomes the true Primal of Life and restores balance to the realms.

Someone else takes the embers on. Or Sera completes her Ascension, and…

Sera snaps at him not to finish that sentence, knowing exactly what it means.

Ash can’t hold back his anger and moves to attack Delfai. Sera pleads with him not to kill the God of Divination because it isn’t his fault. And Ash doesn’t deserve another mark for another death. Delfai is shocked when Ash calms since he foresaw his end. Then he spouts some nonsense about a silver beast, the brightest moon, and two becoming one.

Oddly, Sera feels a little freer at knowing the end is truly coming for her.

She tells Ash he has to do it; that he needs to take the embers and kill her. Suddenly, she realizes that he knew how to remove them from her the entire time and could have done it already but didn’t want to because he knew he’d have to end her life. She reminds him that getting the embers out of her will kill her no matter what and then confesses that she doesn’t want to die. She says she wants to live but needs a future where Kolis is defeated, and the Rot is no more. She needs the realms to be safe. That’s all that matters. Ash argues that she matters. Not the realms. Her.

She tells him he did nothing wrong and apologizes for everything. She says there was never any guarantee he would have loved her, even with his kardia. He insists he would have, that nothing would have stopped him, and that he could have saved her. Once the words are out, he lets the despondency take him.

She instructs him to kiss her, and he lets out a soul-torn groan.

They have sex, and he confesses that he wishes he’d never had his

kardia removed, saying he never wanted to know love before her. She sees his eyes turn red, full of Primal tears of grief, and it breaks her heart. Still, she has to accept what needs to happen. She asks Ash to take her to her lake when the time comes, and he promises he will.

That lake is such a catalyst for change in Sera and Ash’s love story.

As they shadowstep back into Iliseeum, they find the Shadowlands under attack. Saion comes to tell them what’s going on and explains how bad it is and who is involved. When Sera goes to look at what Saion is hesitating to say, he tries to stop her. She shakes off his hold and sees, then wishes she could stop Ash from seeing what she just did—so many of his people dead.

Sera has Saion help her get Aios down from where she’s been hung on a spike. He hesitates, but she demands it as his Consort. When they finally get her down, Saion warns her what using her power will mean for the dakkais.

She says, “Fuck the dakkais,” and Saion tells her he likes her. She returns the sentiment.

After helping Aios, she goes to save Ector, but Saion stops her, physically holding her back this time. He reiterates that using the eather will draw in more dakkais and she’ll be swamped and killed. The dakkais attack anyway, and all that’s left of the god is a mess. Seeing Ector like that tears something open within Sera. She screams in rage and unleashes a pulse of power that vaporizes the dakkais. Her nose bleeds, and she feels bone-deep exhaustion. She can’t even feel Rhain’s touch when he catches her, and she tries to stop herself from losing consciousness.

Sera sees Ash drawing the dakkais to him with Primal mist and feels tendrils of it on her skin. Suddenly, she hears his voice in her head telling her to run. Instead, she runs toward him, and the shadows swallow her.

If you could see me, you wouldn’t see a shocked face at Sera not following orders. She’ll likely never change. And, honestly, I hope she doesn’t.

Sera loses the sword she found and hits a wall, falling and seeing only glimpses of gold hair and clothing. She realizes she needs to find Ash and have him take the embers from her now before any more innocents die.

Feeling someone behind her, Sera swings, finding Attes. Believing he’s come to her aid, she thanks him, but he tells her not to do that quite yet.

Confusing her, Attes tells her that what he’s about to do is the only way. He disarms her and hauls her against him, and she hears Ash shouting for her. Attes tells her that all they want is her and orders her to remove the charm that keeps her in the Shadowlands. He promises that if she does as he asks, no more lives will be lost.

Sera once more hears Ash roaring her name and hesitates. Attes tells her that if she refuses to come with him, Kyn will leave none but the Primal— Ash—standing. Sera sees Ash then and hears him roaring for her. She locks eyes with him for a moment and then makes Attes promise again that no one else will be harmed. He gives his word, and she agrees to leave. At those words, she feels a similar sensation to what she felt when Vikter placed the charm. Attes tells her she made the right choice, though Sera knows it was never a choice.

It wasn’t. But the reasons behind that will only become clear much later. As much as I adore Attes, I absolutely hated him in this moment when I saw these things.

Unconscious, Sera dreams of her lake and a wolf more silver than white in moonlight watching her as she swims. She feels safe, submerges herself, and then surfaces to see Ash where the wolf was. She remembers the smell of smoke and charred flesh and death from the battle. The musty smell of the ship Attes shadowstepped them to. She recalls the explosion of pain in the back of her head when Attes finally released her.

She wonders how long the Primal of War and Accord has been working with Kolis and if he kept his word to stop the attack on the Shadowlands.

She worries whether their people are all right. With all her might, she wishes she could see Ash one last time and tell him she loves him.

She wakes to the scent of stale lilacs and feels a shackle around her throat—effectively chained. Someone comments that she’s awake, and she recognizes the voice. She’s told she’s been out for two days and that Attes wasn’t supposed to hit her quite so hard.

When she looks, she sees the imprint on her hand, so she knows Ash is alive. Looking around, she finds she’s in a gold cage, and the voice— Callum—reveals that they know she’s a mortal with embers in her. Sera realizes that said embers are unnervingly quiet for once.

The person speaking comes into view then, and she recognizes the Revenant. He greets her using her full name and tells her that Attes kept his promise. Kyn pulled back on the attack. That news should have brought her relief. Instead, it only makes her more aware of her current circumstances. She sees that she’s been dressed in sheer gold gossamer. Callum tells her she was covered in filth and stank of the Shadowlands and the Primal there, which had to be rectified. She tells him that the only stench on her is from where she is now. Callum warns her not to let Kolis hear her say things like that.

Sera learns that Callum told Calliphe how to kill a Primal, and that Kolis has known everything since Sera was born. Apparently, her father summoned him to try to make a new deal to replace the one King Roderick made, trying to spare Sera. The more she hears, the more she realizes that graeca, which she was told meant both love and life, has always meant life to Kolis—the embers of life. Kolis knew they were inside her the day she was born.

With sickening clarity, she realizes that everything Ash did and sacrificed was for nothing. She notices, however, that Callum never mentions Sotoria and assumes that Kolis still doesn’t know that bit. She

asks why the false Primal of Life didn’t just take the embers early. Why did he wait until she was in the Shadowlands? She’s reminded of the blood and ash.

Sera sees Kolis and thinks about her true duty. All of a sudden, she feels a wash of terror and fury rush through her, but realizes the emotions are only partly hers. She knows Sotoria was in a cage like the one she’s in when Kolis brought the mortal back to life. Suddenly filled with numbness, Sera dons her veil of nothingness and refuses to kneel before the false King.

Talk of the last oracle ensues, and Sera learns that the goddess Penellaphe’s vision wasn’t quite complete, and those who know the whole thing haven’t lived to tell the tale. She learns prophecies often come in threes and seem unrelated until they’re pieced together. Callum and Kolis tell her more of the prophecy, and Sera remarks that Kolis is the great conspirator. He tells her that her attitude amuses him. They finish telling her the prophecy, and she recognizes her new title in it. Sera assumes that Delfai, Keella, and Veses likely knew the whole prophecy, just as Kolis does.

The Primal tells her she’s the bearer of two crowns, and she realizes he needed her to be coronated and to restore the draken’s life to fulfill those bits of the prophecy. He reveals that he needed to be sure the embers had reached a certain point of power for the rest of the prophecy to take place.

They finish relaying the rest of it, and Sera realizes it references a Primal of both Life and Death. When she learns more about Kolis’s plans, she laughs at him and says the prophecy will bring his death.

As more details come to light, Sera is shocked to discover that Kolis wants to kill all the Primals. She asks him why he needs more power and tells him he’s selfish. In response, he grabs her by the neck, telling her that Nyktos would have taken the embers the moment he felt he was ready.

Eythos was setting up his son to become the Primal so that Nyktos could raise his father from the dead once he assumed the role. Kolis then tells her he’s going to drain her, take the embers, and complete his final Ascension, then taunts her that she knows what that means for his nephew.

He gloats that nothing will be forbidden or impossible once he Ascends and bites her above the shackle around her neck. She wonders if Ash can sense and feel her pain and realizes he’ll know she’s dead when his imprint vanishes.

Suddenly, she feels the embers flare and hears Sotoria in her head yelling, “No!” She speaks aloud, using Sotoria’s voice and saying, “You’re killing me again, after all these years.” Despite his best efforts, Sera feels no pain anymore, only rage. She laughs and tells Kolis she’s Sotoria and then explains everything Eythos did.

Kolis releases her and hugs her to him. She sees the horror on his face as he realizes who he has to kill—again—in order to get what he wants.

Fading, Sera’s gaze drifts to the open doors where she sees a silver- white wolf crouched by the trees and bathed in moonlight.

She knows it’s Ash.

Sera awakens chained in a cage in a circular chamber. Kolis tightens his hold and asks her if she’s really Sotoria. Crying, Sera wonders if the tears are hers alone. She’s scared—even of just Kolis’s voice.

Attes tells Kolis that Sera isn’t well and urges him to see. Callum takes another tack and tells Kolis to take the embers. Says if she dies, they die right along with her. He tells Kolis he needs to take them and Ascend. Attes chimes back in that if Sera dies, Kolis’s graeca will be lost.

Hearing the word again, Sera thinks it has a third meaning outside of love and life. Obsession. It’s clear that’s the root of what Kolis feels for Sotoria. With that thought, Sera loses consciousness again.

She senses a storm of gathering power, and the wolf comes—mist and shadows everywhere. Sera watches as the throne crumbles and a shockwave tosses Attes aside and lifts Callum, slamming him into the cage’s bars.

Ash shifts into his Primal form and challenges Kolis. Suddenly, Hanan appears, and Sera watches as Ash destroys the Primal’s spear and then kills him. For some reason, she finds his display of power disturbingly hot.

An earthquake shakes the building, and Hanan’s crown disappears. Sera knows everyone, everywhere likely felt it and realizes that Bele probably just rose as the new Primal of the Hunt.

Kolis lowers Sera gently, but before he can let go, Ash tells his uncle to get his hands off his wife. She watches the exchange and realizes that Kolis can’t kill Ash. Balance is required.

Ash gathers Sera into his arms but is ripped away. The two Primals argue about war, treason, custom, and faith. Then, they battle.

As they fight, Attes grabs Sera. She calls him a traitor. Attes says he knows what he’s done, but there’s no time for that. He warns her that Kolis will kill Ash. Begrudgingly, Sera asks Attes to help her stand, then takes

one of his shadowstone daggers. When he rages, she uses the little strength she has to tell him to calm down, saying he’s not worth the effort.

She taps into the embers, compels Ash and Kolis to stop fighting, then lifts the dagger to her throat. She threatens to end herself, and they plead for her to stand down.

When Kolis stabs Ash in the chest, Nyktos tells Sera to run. Attes reminds her that Ash is still alive and then yells at Kolis that Sotoria needs his help, hoping to stop the false King from wounding Ash worse. He finally lets up and comes to Sera, lifting her.

Inside Sera, Sotoria whispers that it isn’t fair, speaking of dying again. Sera comes to in Kolis’s arms, thinking about Ash. The false King tells her that she’ll live as long as she is who she claims to be. He takes her into

the water, and Sera sees ceeren swimming all around her.

Kolis calls to Phanos. When the Primal arrives, he says he thought Sera was Nyktos’s Consort. Kolis brushes that off and orders him to help her.

Phanos takes Sera and mentions how Nyktos took Saion and Rhahar from him as he walks. He says that he should be amused by what’s happening, but he finds no joy in it. He tells her they’re in the water off the Triton Isles near the coast of Hygeia, adding that water is the source of all life and healing.

Sera suddenly hears singing. Phanos says that what is about to happen would cure most, but with the embers inside her, that’s impossible for Sera

—it’s merely a temporary solution. He mentions a steep price and tells her to remember the gifts she’s about to be given.

He breathes into her mouth and then sends her into the water, where the ceeren do the same, dying as they give their lives for hers.

It’s utterly tragic, and nearly broke my heart when I saw it.

Sera asks Kolis why he did what he did, and he tells her that he won’t allow her to die. Sera tells him she doesn’t want anyone dying for her, and he tells her she has no choice, then taunts her that if she were Sotoria, she’d know that.

He says that if he looks and listens hard enough, he can see Sotoria in her.

She runs for the guards and grabs a sword. Kolis orders her not to be touched and tells the guards to leave, remarking that he expected her to run. He demands she put down the weapon, and she tells him to make her, then

stabs him in the chest. He says he’s not amused and tells her how she could have done better.

She starts to run, and he stops her by her hair, saying he’s more accustomed to this—her running. They fight. Kolis hits Sera, then feels bad about it. She mouths off, and Kolis says he never wanted to be a villain, blaming Eythos for that.

Sera asks him if there’s anything he doesn’t blame his brother for. Kolis tells her not to push him and calls her so’lis.

The false King threatens Ash, and Sera threatens him. He grabs her by the throat, and she gasps that he’s killing her again.

When he says they’re going home, she tells him off. That really angers him, and he shifts into his deathly form, scaring her, then compels her.

Once the compulsion lifts, Sera finds herself wet and in another grander gilded cage. She thinks about Aios and her captivity and falls into despair. Eather cracks the cell. She tries to calm herself and looks the space over, seeing what appears to be a cluster of diamonds at the top of the cage, the throne, and the layout of the sitting areas. Her rage flares again, and it cracks the shadowstone.

She knows she needs to calm and taps into a memory of Ash’s voice telling her to breathe. As she does, she weeps, noticing she’s crying the blood tears of a Primal.

Sera thinks about how Eythos’s plan was not well thought out at all.

Sotoria has woken up, and Sera doesn’t like the idea of her being trapped. She laments everything that’s happened so far.

Knowing she needs a weapon, she begins looking around. She searches through some chests in the cage and finds one full of glass cocks. Taking one, she breaks it, turning it into a fairly decent—albeit unusual—weapon.

When she touches the bars of the cage, she feels pain and realizes it won’t be easy to get out of her predicament.

Needing to shed her wet clothes, she searches for something else to wear and finds herself disgusted by the choices. Without options, she picks a gown and changes, then feigns sleep when Callum enters the room.

As he nears her, she repeatedly stabs him with the makeshift dagger, then takes his key. She’s about to take off with it, then decides it’d be smarter to leave it in case she’s captured and returned. She tosses it far under the bed and runs. On her way out, she encounters a guard and stabs

him, then sees some Chosen. She tells them she won’t hurt them, but one calls the guards.

Making her way farther, she encounters an orgy in progress, then smells blood. When she comes upon a woman feeding from a man, it doesn’t look like the feedings she’s seen. With pitch-black eyes, the woman says that Sera smells of Revenant and god. Like life. She comes at Sera, and Sera stabs her, watching her crumble into nothing and shocking her. She checks on the male and finds him dead.

The guards enter, and Sera grabs one, only to find out it’s a draken. He’s amused, and that just pisses Sera off, so she nails him with eather.

The previously dead male rushes out and attacks, having turned Craven.

Sera falls unconscious and dreams of her lake. When she wakes, she’s back in the cage, and Kolis is with her. She mentions being kept as a prisoner, and he tells her she’s a guest. Sera asks him how long he’s been watching her, and he wonders if it bothers her. She swears, and he tells her that her language is far more uncivilized than he remembers.

He smells her, mentions what he scents, and she realizes that he’s picking up on her lake. Somehow. He tells her he’s irked and reminds her what happens when she displeases him.

Sera brings up his favorites, and he tells her they were all ungrateful, then says he can sense the embers in her. When he calls her so’lis again, she asks him what it means. He explains how the old Primal words break down and says that Kolis means “our soul;” therefore, so’lis is “my soul.” It disgusts Sera.

She remembers some things Holland told her and considers what she needs to do, weighing her options. She brings to mind all those she knows and thinks about how they matter. All of them. With those thoughts, she realizes she needs to become the blank canvas and do what’s required.

She takes the key from under the bed and hides it with the menstruation rags—somewhere a male would never look.

Callum enters the room and asks how he should refer to her, clarifying that he doesn’t believe she’s Sotoria. She asks him about Ash, and he ignores her questions, continuing with giving her instructions.

He mentions being familiar with her mother, Calliphe, and brings up the wards Nyktos put on her family. When he says something about being invited inside, Sera realizes that Revenants must need to be invited into places.

Callum tells her that he’s been watching her for years. She taunts him and threatens to tell Kolis that Callum was the one who shared how a Primal could be killed.

He brings the Chosen in and tells her that if she doesn’t follow his directions, he’ll kill them. She’s stubborn, and he doesn’t hesitate to break a Chosen’s neck. Before he can kill another, she behaves. He tells her to bathe, and she threatens to kill him. However, she begrudgingly does as he says, stuffing down her post-traumatic stress at having to use the tub.

When she looks in the mirror, she sees eather in her eyes. Hearing a sound, she looks up at the window near the ceiling and sees a shadow blocking out the light. An enormous silver hawk flies in a second later, locking its blue eyes with hers. Sera swears she feels a Primal. As she thinks that, the bird shifts and becomes Attes.

Sera lashes out, and Attes says he deserved the blow, though he reminds her that he saved her, calling her a hellion. When she scoffs, he explains that he stopped what could have happened by taking her.

Attes conjures some clothes, making Sera jealous of his ability. Once dressed, Attes tells her this wasn’t the first time he saved her. She’s skeptical, but he reminds her about when the hawk saved her in the woods. It was him. When she asks about Primals shifting and then brings up Eythos, he tells her that he shifted into a wolf, not a hawk, but that Kolis

does take his hawk nota form.

She wonders why she didn’t feel him, and he explains that they’re not detectable in their nota forms. It’s them, yet…not. He tells her that the other silver hawks she saw were Attes’s chora—an extension of him and very much alive.

Attes explains that he’s known about her longer than even Kolis or Nyktos. When she asks why he was surprised about Thad if he knew she had the embers, he says it had been a long time since he’d seen real life restored, then says he assumes she can do what she can because the embers are bonding with her.

As they talk about the events that led to the present, he tells her that the Fates prohibited Eythos from telling Nyktos what his father did. It was their way of trying to reestablish balance.

Sera tells him to get Ash out of Dalos. He says he would if he could, then tells her about the bones of the Ancients and what they can do. When she mentions that the bones can be destroyed, given what Ash did to

Hanan’s spear, he tells her that only the Primal of Life and the Primal of Death can destroy them.

She asks him how Ash is, and he tells her he’s not conscious, then explains how he’s being kept in the Carcers, saying the prison is terrible. He establishes that he can’t help. When she tells him he’s only saying that because he’s worried about himself, he corrects her and says he’s more concerned about what Kolis will do to her or Nyktos. He adds that he’s loyal only to the true Primal of Life, and that’s her now.

He points out the scar on his face and tells her that Kolis gave it to him. He also reveals that Kolis took and killed Attes’s children, saying he’s never really stood with the false Primal of Life.

He explains how things are different now because of her but not because of the embers. It’s because of the one who can kill Kolis. Sotoria. He outright asks her if she’s Sotoria but then says himself that she’s not, adding that if she were, she’d look just like her, and she wouldn’t have spoken

through Sera earlier.

Sera asks about the differences between rebirth and being reborn, and Attes explains. Then he wonders why the Arae told Kolis how to take the embers.

He insinuates that Sotoria’s soul is trapped within Sera, and it bothers her. She asks if anyone knows what will happen to Sotoria if Sera dies, and Attes tells her no.

Their discussion ends with him asserting that she’s not the weapon Eythos thought he created.

When she insists she can still fulfill her duty, he says she might be right, but she can’t kill Kolis.

She hopes he’s wrong.

Sera tells Attes that she stabbed Kolis, and it shocks him. He says the false King must be weaker than he thought.

Attes mentions Sotoria’s soul being lost again, and it angers Sera. She snaps that she knows Sotoria’s soul is the most important thing, and he tells her that she matters, too.

Sera mentions having a plan, and Attes is shocked—she hasn’t been there long. As she thinks about it, she asks what will happen if she manages to free Ash. He won’t return to the Shadowlands quietly. Attes tells her he will if he’s smart. He then explains how word of what he’s done will have

spread, and he’s powerful, the second Primal most wouldn’t want to piss off. Sera assumes Attes is the third, and he calls her clever.

She tells him he’s incredibly stab-worthy, and he says he’s heard that before. Assuming her role as the Primal of Life, she orders Attes to back Nyktos, and Attes swears—an unbreakable bond. Then he bows and pledges his sword and his life—even though he doesn’t actually have a sword at present.

Sera asks about Sotoria again, and Attes says he’s been searching for a way to safeguard her soul. When Sera asks if Sotoria’s name means something like Kolis and so’lis do, he tells her it means “my pretty poppy.”

She asks Attes to get her a weapon made from the bones of the Ancients, and he tells her all the reasons it’s a bad idea. She capitulates. He then asks Sera if she can feel Sotoria. When she says she can, he says he hopes she hears what he’s about to say and says he will save her this time. Then, he leaves.

With nothing else to do, Sera trains, wondering what exactly she was trained for and if Holland knew all along that she wasn’t a weapon.

She remembers the wolf she saw while gathering rocks as a child and gives in to her feelings of missing Ash like a limb. She thinks about making Ash swear to live before she dies and getting him to see that he’s not to blame.

Sera wakes later, but she really doesn’t. She’s at her lake, and the colors of the landscape remind her of the Shadowlands.

Ash arrives.

He asks her to look at him. She does, and each of them thinks they’re the one dreaming. In reality, it’s a shared dream. Not caring what it is, they give in to their desire to touch each other and have sex. She tells him that she loves him, and he calls her beautiful.

Suddenly, he sees her bruises and gets upset. Sera starts to wake, telling him she can no longer feel him. Then, she’s back in the cell, but can still feel where they touched and what they did.

The Chosen come to take care of their chores, and Sera behaves. Callum stares, and she asks him if he wants something, then tells him she doesn’t think he’s right in the head—what with dying all the time and all.

She asks him about the Chosen she saw during her escape attempt.

Before he can answer, Kolis enters the room and asks what they are

discussing. Callum explains that they were talking about Antonis—the one who turned Craven.

Kolis tells her they’re an unfortunate side effect of creating the Ascended. When Sera points out the differences between Eythos Ascending the Chosen and what Kolis does, it angers him. He tells Callum to leave and then asks if she’s been resting. She reminds herself to stick to the plan and plays nice.

He orders her to have some fruity water, and Sera asks where Nyktos is.

Kolis wants to know why. She tells him it’s merely a curiosity, then asks about the army. He tells her they haven’t left the borders of Dalos and explains they’re in the Bonelands to the south along the coast beyond the Carcers. He tells her it’s full of forgotten Temples and bones of dragons.

Sera asks him why he hasn’t forced them out since he wants to be all- powerful, and his answer makes her realize that he needs things to rule over. He says the mortals have become complacent, and says he plans to take a more active role.

She asks if her abduction will heighten tensions, and he says his taking her will only be a problem if the other Primals think that she’s worth going to war over. He says a little more, and she realizes he basically admitted that, in his current state, he thinks he’d be defeated if things escalated.

He asks again why she inquired about Nyktos, and she gives him the same answer. He tells her that she never screamed in terror for him, then warns her not to say anything unwise. She admits that she’s fond of Ash, tempering what she really wants to say, then tells Kolis that he scared her.

He tells her it wasn’t his intention, and she goes on to explain her

fondness for Ash. Kolis shatters the glass he holds. She tries to calm him by saying that Nyktos only wanted the embers, not her, and tells Kolis Ash didn’t know what Eythos did. He tells her not to lie, and she says she’s not.

Kolis then asks her if she’s fucked Nyktos, and Sera carefully answers that they’re attracted to each other. Kolis tells her that someone wouldn’t kill another for a person they don’t love, and she says people kill for any and all and no reason. He argues that Primals don’t and then says that every life he’s ever taken has been for love. Sera tells him that she’s sorry love has only ever inspired death for him.

She reveals that Ash removed his kardia, and Kolis tells her Nyktos is currently in stasis. She confirms that he’s gone to ground, and Kolis acknowledges. She asks why it didn’t happen sooner, and he explains that

the chamber is made of shadowstone, which is dragon fire and anything dead. Not much can penetrate it, and the earth isn’t one of the few. He explains how shadowstone absorbs eather like it does light.

As they talk more, Sera insists she’s telling the truth about Ash and his kardia, and Kolis says he can believe it. It sounds like something his nephew would do. He would think it would stop Kolis from striking out at

someone Nyktos loves. He admits that Nyktos fears becoming him and says he made sure he felt that way.

Sera’s embers flare, and Kolis tells her to calm herself. She starts glowing. Once he orders her to sit and calls her good like a pet dakkai, he tells her he doesn’t believe what she said earlier about her feelings for Nyktos. He says the marriage imprint proves there’s love and mulls over what to do. She says it just appeared and then explains the difference between loving someone and being in love with them. After, she shuts it all down again and becomes the empty vessel she needs to be.

Kolis says he’s in love with Sotoria, and Sera asks him how he can know. Then tells him to prove it by releasing Nyktos. He grumbles that her demand proves she loves his nephew. She doesn’t deny it—she already told him she loved Ash—but says it would show her that he’s willing to do anything for her. He lists what he’s already done, and she tells him that it’s the bare minimum required to show love, adding that releasing Nyktos would matter because he doesn’t want to do it but knows it would please her.

When he asks her why, she tells him and adds that Kolis has only endangered her. He asks why she would be interested in falling in love, and she says it’s because she’s never known it. She reasons that commonality could bring them closer, and he asks if she thinks he’s a fool. Her reply is that love makes you idiotic. He counters that she tried to kill him, but she says she also stabbed Nyktos.

Kolis asks her what will change if he releases Nyktos, and she tells him she won’t fight him. He thinks that means she’ll submit… Kolis tells her that if she’s lying about Sotoria, he will take her soul in both life and death.

Later, Callum reads a book as Sera nibbles on her meal. She asks him if Revenants eat, and he tells her they don’t need food or blood—they need nothing. She assumes it’s because they’re dead, and he tells her that assumption is rude but won’t correct her with the real reason.

They discuss that Revenants must die, and Sera asks Callum if he was Chosen. He says he wasn’t, and she points out that he’s not like the other Ascended Chosen. He tells her there are no others like him.

Well…not yet. We know that changes. Sort of.

Sera peppers him with questions, and he eventually talks about how painful her death will be when Kolis discovers she’s not Sotoria.

She asks about the painted masks they all wear, and he says they’re symbolic. They show who the Chosen, Revenants, and gods serve.

When she says she’s seen Kolis go full Primal, it shocks Callum. He tells her that means she’s seen the true Death.

The next day, the Chosen prepare Sera. Kolis walks in wearing his crown and tells her not to engage with anyone.

She’s not sure what to expect, so she simply watches Kolis sit on the throne. Elias escorts the gods into the chamber, and Sera doesn’t like the looks and expressions on their faces. In thinking about things, she realizes she wasn’t clever enough in clarifying what state Ash should be in when he’s released. With that thought in mind, she behaves as Kolis gets progressively edgier.

The false King suddenly asks a god if he finds her distracting. The god apologizes and says she’s interesting to look upon. Pleasing to the eye.

Kolis makes him detail which bits are pleasing. As the god details the parts, Sera can’t hold back and finally asks: what the fuck?

Kolis tells Uros—the god—that he may have offended Sera, then asks her if she is. She says she’s just unimpressed. Kolis turns back to the god, says that Uros offended him, then implodes him. Sera can only stare and gape when he turns to her and asks if she finds Uros more impressive now.

He tells her he’s impressed by her calmness, then calls Elias in and tells him to get Callum to find the Sun Temple Uros was from a replacement.

The god asks if he should get someone to clean up the mess, Kolis waves his hand, and it all disappears.

A goddess walks in and states her business. Kolis cuts Dametria off, clearly tense, and suddenly excuses himself.

The goddess prowls to the bars of Sera’s cage. As Sera watches, Dametria asks if Sera likes what she sees because she likes what she sees beneath Sera’s gown. Sera asks the goddess what kingdom the Sun Temple she represents is in, and Dametria is shocked that Sera spoke. She says no

others before her have—meaning the favorites. She then tells Sera she’s heard rumors she is the Shadowlands’ Consort.

She reveals that the Temple is in Terra. Based on what Dametria says about people from Lasania coming, too, asking for blessings on their work with Terra, Sera surmises that Ezra succeeded in strengthening the relationship between the kingdoms.

The goddess insinuates that Kolis is off pleasuring himself, disgusting Sera. Elias swears, and Dametria tells Sera she was at the coronation, so she knows she’s the Consort.

Sera uses the bathing chambers while Kolis is gone. When he returns, he looks more relaxed, lending credence to what Dametria insinuated.

Kyn shows up, and Kolis asks if he’s brought news. The Primal answers that he has but suggests they speak privately. Kolis says talking in front of Sera is fine since she’s not going anywhere.

She watches and listens as they discuss the armies and what should be done next.

Kyn suggests that a clear message can still be sent and is likely needed because of Sera, calling her that. The discussion continues, and Kyn says he’s not worried about retribution, including Nektas, and Sera laughs. He asks her if he made a joke.

Sera reminds Kolis that he said he didn’t want to go to war, and he tells Kyn he’s brave and loyal and has his gratitude. Kyn tells Kolis he has more than bravery and loyalty from him. He says Kolis has his army and his command, then adds that their plans have changed. He reasserts that Kolis needs the embers.

They talk about balance, provocation, and need, then discuss that Nyktos will be a problem if he’s released.

When Kolis notices Kyn looking at Sera, he asserts that she draws the eye. Sera doesn’t want a repeat of what happened with Uros. Instead, Kolis asks her to come closer. She becomes blank once more and moves. He then asks Kyn what he thinks. Kyn eye fucks her and again says she draws the eye.

Kolis agrees and then adds that you don’t want to think it but do. He then asks the Primal what he would do if Sera weren’t in a cage and his. He insinuates that Kyn would be between her thighs or in her ass in a heartbeat.

Kyn asks what happens if she’s not Kolis’s graeca, and Kolis says Kyn can have her when he’s done if she’s not. The Primal seems pleased and

agrees.

Sera knows she won’t survive if it comes to that.

The Primals make the deal, and Kyn tells Kolis he’s honored. Says the King’s potential gift moves him. Then mentions he’s glad he brought a gift for Kolis, as well.

He calls to Kolis’s draken, Diaval, and the male brings in someone bound with a hood over their head. Diaval shoves whoever it is to their knees, and Kyn says the gift is a bit battered and bloody, but it required some convincing.

He rips off the hood, and Sera sees that it’s Rhain.

He’s been bitten and beaten. If he weren’t a god, he’d likely be dead. Kyn confirms his name for Kolis and then says he’s originally from the Callasta Isles. It shocks Sera to find out that he’s from Veses’ Court.

Kolis confirms that he’s the son of Daniil and says Rhain resembles his father the last time he saw him, alluding to the fact that he was beaten, too.

Rhain lashes out, then they discuss Rhain’s father and brother. Sera realizes she knows very little about Rhain.

As they trade banter and insults, Sera thinks about the key and has an almost prophetic vision. Because she knows why Kyn brought Rhain alive. So Kolis could kill him.

Sera listens as they talk about the gifts that Rhain’s father and brother had and the assumption that he has them, as well. Suddenly, Sera hears Rhain’s voice in her head saying her name.

As Kolis drones on, Rhain tells Sera to listen to him, urging her to use the essence and bring down the palace.

When Kolis finds the necklace Rhain is carrying in a pouch around his neck, Sera’s shocked to see it, knowing it’s Aios’s. She lies and tells Kolis it’s hers but insists she didn’t know what Rhain could do.

All lies are at least partial truths…

She then reveals that Rhain doesn’t even like her. When Kolis asks why, she says it’s probably because she stabbed Nyktos, then adds the personality traits the god probably dislikes.

Sera tries to talk around the assumption that Rhain is there as a spy, saying that everyone already knows she’s at Cor Palace. But then Kolis tells her she’s not.

Kyn and Sera bicker, and Kolis warns her. He then turns to Rhain and says he believes Sera, so he’ll make the god’s death quick.

Sera cries out and urges that Kolis doesn’t have to kill him, adding that he’s only loyal to Nyktos. Kolis snaps that he should be loyal to him. Sera amends and says he’s worried about Nyktos, and Kolis should be thrilled.

Kolis is clearly confused, so Sera says that the gods in the Courts should care about their Primals. If they don’t, how can they care about their King? She says loyalty shouldn’t be punished by death or torture.

Rhain tells Sera telepathically that it’s okay. He’s prepared to die. Sera’s not having that.

She tells Kolis there’s another option. He can release Rhain. It would show that he’s a benevolent ruler. That if the god were to be released in his current condition, it would prove that Kolis can be both fierce and giving. She tells him she’ll do whatever he wants as long as he lets the god go.

Kolis renders Rhain unconscious and asks Sera why she wants to save the god. She tells him she’s trying to prevent a war and says she’ll do anything if Kolis promises that Rhain will return to the Shadowlands no more hurt than he is now. Another deal.

Kolis dismisses Kyn, but the Primal gloats in his last look at Sera. After Rhain is removed from the chamber, Kolis tells Sera they’ll share a bed tonight.

After dinner, Sera bathes and sees the gold nightgown set out for her.

Kolis appears and tells her she’s far bolder than before—meaning as Sotoria. He asks if what he requested of her was a surprise, and she tells him it only surprised her because he offered her to Kyn just moments before. He tells her that her advice was wise and that releasing Rhain shows he’s reasonable and fair—and worthy of loyalty. He tells her Rhain is back home, and Sera thanks him. She assures him of things that are a lie and fears she’s all lies now.

They go to bed.

And Sera remains awake.

The next day, Callum tosses a dagger into the air and asks her if she slept. She lies and says she got tons of rest. Callum tells her she’s being quiet and insinuates that she learned she could whore herself to get her way. She gets pissed and uses eather to redirect the Revenant’s dagger, almost stabbing him. Unfortunately, he moves quickly enough to avoid it.

She calls him Cal, and he gets pissy. Then she tells him she realizes she’s not in Cor Palace. He reveals she’s in the Vita, a sanctuary in the City of the Gods.

Kolis comes in wearing his crown, leading a timid-looking goddess. He introduces her as Ione and says she’s from Keella’s Court. He then adds that the goddess is unique. She can see into others’ thoughts and uncover truths, lies, and all that is needed.

Uh-oh.

Kolis tells Sera it won’t take long, that Ione will be quick and efficient. He orders Sera to sit, and she feels Sotoria rise, filling her with anger and fear. Kolis says she seems nervous, and she says it’s because a god did this to her before, and it hurt.

Callum fills Kolis in about Taric. Kolis asks Sera if Taric found her, and she says it was him, Cressa, and Madis, then asks him why he had Taric searching for the embers if he already knew where they were. He tells her that he ordered Taric to look for his graeca.

Kolis asks Sera if the other gods fed from her, and she says only Taric did. He then asks if the god told her what he saw, and Sera says he didn’t have a chance to say anything before he died.

Ione tells Sera that what she’s about to do doesn’t have to hurt. She adds that it will be uncomfortable and likely make her tired and headachy. Sera says she can’t do it, and Kolis compels her, telling Ione to be quick.

Ione kneels and explains that she needs to take Sera’s blood. When the goddess realizes Sera can’t respond, she lifts Sera’s hand, sees the imprint, then looks into her eyes. Kolis asks what’s wrong, and Ione tells him it’s nothing before lowering that hand and picking up Sera’s other one. She bites her wrist, and Sera feels a sting travel through her until she feels scratching at her mind.

Visions flash, and Sera shakes on the inside. Tears threaten. She is in terrible pain and worries that Ash can feel it, even in stasis. The embers inside her swell, and Sera pushes with her mind, snapping Ione’s head back and sliding her across the shadowstone floor.

Callum calls what she did inappropriate, and Kolis demands to know what Ione saw. The goddess says the embers in Sera are strong, and he says he already knows that much. He asks if Sera is his graeca, and Ione tells him she carries the one called Sotoria. That she is her.

Sera freezes, realizing the goddess lied. Kolis asks her more questions, and she gives more half-truths. Sera realizes that Ione is lying about basically everything and wonders why.

Kolis gets all emotional, and Callum says it has to be a lie. Ione tells him she doesn’t lie and has no reason to. Sera realizes what a huge risk this is for the goddess.

They discuss how Sera doesn’t look like Sotoria, and Ione tries to explain it away. She then tells Kolis she’s glad he found his graeca, and Sera almost chokes on her water.

The goddess asks Kolis if he requires anything more of her, and he thanks her for her assistance. When she turns to leave, she addresses Sera as Consort. Kolis interjects, saying the coronation was neither recognized nor approved.

Sickened, Sera realizes that nobody can contest Kolis’s claim. Callum continues to argue, but Kolis brushes him off. When Sera snaps that she was always telling the truth, Kolis says he sees that now and dismisses Callum. He approaches her, telling her she looks more like Sotoria when she smiles. When Sera asks about Nyktos and Kolis honoring their deal, he gets angry and bites her.

Agony seizes Sera, and Sotoria screams within her. The embers swell, and Sera fights for control. She tries to employ her breathing techniques to regain calm and pictures Ash in her mind, distancing herself from the present.

Kolis finally loosens his hold, and Sera jumps to her feet. She realizes he found his release while feeding and is disgusted. He apologizes, saying he shamed both himself and her. He lost control. Sera can’t help her fight or flight response, and he insists it’ll never happen again. He begs her to say something, and all she can say is that she needs a bath.

As she bathes, she thinks over everything that happened. The violation.

And hates that she feels weak over what happened.

After breakfast the next day, the silver hawk flies in again and becomes Attes. He calls her his Queen, then manifests clothes again. Sera tells him how jealous she is. He apologizes for not returning sooner but says he has news. Then he notices her bite wound. It clearly upsets him, but she tells him she’s okay. He doesn’t believe her, but she insists.

Attes tells Sera that Nyktos is being awakened from stasis and assumes she’s made progress with her plans. She tells him Kolis promised to release Nyktos and says she needs to make sure he doesn’t have a reason to go back on that word and find a loophole.

Attes confirms that he knows about the deal she made to free Rhain and asks if she made a similar deal to free Nyktos.

Sera calls Kyn a dick. Attes agrees but says he wasn’t always like that.

He tells her about how the Primals deal with their long lives and what happens if they don’t rest or go to Arcadia.

Sera asks how Kyn will respond to Nyktos taking his rightful place as the King of Gods, and Attes says he hopes he will respond wisely. Then he asks if she’s okay, shocking her.

She says she is, and he begrudgingly accepts and then turns into his hawk to leave.

Later, Callum waits in the chamber wearing black, which almost disturbs Sera more than his white does. She realizes it’s been at least a day since Attes visited, and Sera worries Kolis has changed his mind. However, she reminds herself that he can’t because he made a deal.

Callum tells Sera he doesn’t believe her, and she asks him about what.

He says he doesn’t believe she’s open to loving Kolis as she said and thinks she will try to escape the first chance she gets.

She tells him she doesn’t care what he thinks and calls him insignificant.

He says she should care because Kolis will find out. He insists again that she’s not Sotoria, and she asks him why he’s so sure. He tells her it’s partly her appearance, and Sera realizes he must be old if he knew Sotoria before. She asks him. He says he’s old but didn’t know her.

What he really means is that he didn’t know Sera…

Callum points out that Kolis cares about her, and she insinuates Callum is worried she will replace him in Kolis’s life. He says he’s concerned about the destruction of the realms due to a charlatan.

He insists Kolis is trying to save the realms, and Sera can only stare. He amends that he was, but is now more concerned if his great love is returning to him.

Sera clarifies what’s going on and asks at what point between becoming a Primal who’s never existed and killing all who refuse to bow to him would he save the realms. Callum says that life must be created. No matter what.

Sera asks if that’s what Kolis is doing with the Chosen, and Callum waves her off, saying it doesn’t matter.

She disagrees.

He says she’s trying to change the subject—she is. He then says that Kolis has personal reasons for wanting to be the Primal of Life and Death/Blood and Bone. He tells her it’ll be bad when Kolis discovers the truth, and she shrugs it off, saying she’s been validated, and has had her truth confirmed.

Callum says Ione lied.

Sera worries about Ione if Kolis ever discovers she lied. Sera tells Callum he must be delusional if he thinks a god would risk Kolis’s wrath.

He basically calls her a whore again, and she has to hold herself back. Still, she asks him if he remembers what she promised him. He sasses, and she details how his death will be the thing of nightmares.

The embers take control and conjure a storm. It takes Callum by surprise, but he remains composed. Kolis walks in and asks them why they always look like they’re about to go at each other’s throats. Sera tells Kolis that Callum still doesn’t believe that she’s Sotoria. Kolis tells her the Rev is in denial, then drops a bomb.

Callum is Sotoria’s younger brother.

The news makes Sera choke, and she can barely get her words of disbelief out. It sinks in that he’s telling the truth, and she wonders about the overabundance of terrible brothers in the realms. She bickers with the Revenant, and Kolis comments on their fighting reminding him of how he used to quarrel with his brother, then going on to tell her how she had two siblings: an older sister and Callum, the younger brother.

Kolis tells Sera how he went to Sotoria’s family when she left him—he means when she died while running from him—and apologized. He tells her the parents were frightened and cowered. Only Callum remained unafraid. He tells her that they talked, and Callum shared details about Sotoria, saying she was strong and fierce and always looked out for him.

Kolis continues, saying he—Callum—grieved her death and felt responsible. When Sera asks why he would feel that way, Kolis tells her that Callum was supposed to be with Sotoria but was instead screwing the baker’s daughter.

Sera asks how Callum became a Revenant, and Kolis tells her how Callum used a small knife to cut his throat. He tells Sera how he held them both as they died, adding that he couldn’t allow him to perish, so Death gave life.

She asks for clarification, wondering if Revenants are demis. Kolis tells her they’re not and then adds that they’ll discuss it more when there aren’t more pressing matters to attend to. Kolis tells Callum to go on ahead.

He calls Sera so’lis and wants to talk about the deal they made. He tells her that Nyktos has not been released, adding that he’s not reneging, but Nyktos is in stasis, and that needs to be resolved first.

She asks what that means, and he tells her Ash is young but powerful.

So, when he woke, Kolis had to ensure he behaved himself.

Sera asks how he is, and Kolis says telling her would likely upset her. She argues that not knowing will only make her worry more. Kolis says he had Nyktos incapacitated, and he will need time to recover. When Sera reacts, he says it’s not easy seeing her affected so by news of another. He adds that worry practically seeps from her pores.

Warning bells sound for Sera, and she reminds him that she told him she cared about Nyktos. Kolis gripes that it’s all he can think about and mentions watching him in stasis. Sera assumes he was probably seething.

He wonders what inspires her care for Nyktos and her fear for him. He says she wasn’t afraid of him at first, but that’s changed. He then mentions Eythos having heightened intuition and foresight. He says he gets why she seemed frightened after he threatened someone she cares about and saw him as Death, but he doesn’t get the timing of the changes in her.

She is shocked that he doesn’t understand why she’s frightened, and he reasserts that he apologized and said it would never happen again. She realizes she should probably lie but can’t, telling him that his apology and promise don’t make what he did okay. She comes right out and says that he forced himself on her.

He rewords and says that he realizes his display of love was intense. The word disgusts her. He then adds that he realizes he lost control. She says it was much more than that, and it’s not all right. He asks what will make it okay.

She tells him she needs some time.

He argues that his word should be sufficient to make her trust him, and she tells him she doesn’t know him. He gets upset and booms that he’s the King of Gods.

She asserts that his display isn’t helping her fear. He pulls back and then orders her to say something. She begrudgingly utters a thank you.

Sera once again wonders what kind of state Ash is in.

Kolis turns to her and apologizes once more. It almost sounds sincere, but then he shifts to scolding her for using the embers. She argues that Callum provoked her, and he says the essence does not belong to her and is not hers to use. The embers throb in response before he gives her a final warning. Sera vows that as soon as Ash is free, she will become Kolis’s worst nightmare.

When alone, Sera checks for the key and finds it still in place. After dinner, she trains to burn off her excess energy and combat boredom. As she does, she worries about Ash. Rhain. Aios. Orphine. Bele. And the rest. She starts going over and over the should’ve, would’ve, could’ves and vows not to be powerless again.

When she sleeps, she arrives at her lake. Ash joins her again, and they talk about how it doesn’t feel like a dream to either of them. Ash asks her if Kolis has hurt her and says he knows he has—he remembers the last time they were together and the bruises. She tells him she doesn’t want to discuss that. She’s Sera here at the lake, and someone else back in the cage.

He reminds her she’s brave and never afraid, even when she feels fear.

He then asks if she can access any weapons, and she tells him about the glass cock. He asks if she told Kolis about what will happen once she begins the Ascension—that only he—Ash—can Ascend her. He urges her to tell Kolis that she’ll die without Ash, saying Kolis will do whatever’s necessary to keep Sotoria alive because she’s his weakness.

He mentions that only the Primal of Life can summon the Fates and makes Sera promise that she’ll tell Kolis and call on the Arae. She does but then asks how she’ll know he’s been released. He tells her that Kolis will make it into a spectacle. She’ll know.

He says he’ll fight for and free her even if it means Dalos’s ruin, then tells her he’s nothing without her, and there will be nothing without her.

She wakes, only to find Kolis watching her sleep. Again. He asks who she was dreaming of and tells her she was smiling. He then says she smells of mountain air and citrus, which shocks her, as that’s how Ash smells to her.

She says she doesn’t remember her dreams, and he instructs that they’ll start fresh. He asks how he can make that easier, saying there’s no limit to what he’ll do for her. He offers her frivolous things, and she tells him she wants out of the cage.

He thinks that means she wants to spend time with him, so it makes him happy. She asks him what he plans to do about the embers, and he tells her he’ll take them and Ascend her, not knowing she is already on her way. She asks what Ascension will mean for her, and he says she’ll become an Ascended. Sera can only think about the woman she killed.

She then asks what will happen when he Ascends, and he tells her he will ensure loyalty in both realms.

After breakfast, Kolis frees her. They walk, and Elias joins them. Sera asks if it’ll be night anytime soon, and Kolis says it will be in about a week. He explains that it’s only night once per month, which is the equivalent of three days in the mortal realm. Sera’s shocked that she’s been there for three weeks already. Kolis tells her that she slept for several days after her escape attempt.

Looking at the city, Sera remembers telling Ash that it was beautiful and him telling her that it is on the surface and from a distance. She asks Kolis how many live within the City of the Gods, and he says there aren’t many.

When she asks what happened, he tells her they’re dead. She thought he killed them, but he tells her it was the Fates. She then asks about the current scent of death, and he tells her that was him. Some gods disappointed him.

Kolis walks away, and Elias reminds Sera to be careful how she speaks to Kolis, warning her that he’s easy to rile. She thanks him.

The false King returns, and they continue their walk. Sera sees all the alcoves, and Kolis tells her she looks perplexed. She replies that it’s just a lot of sex. He asks if it bothers her, and she says it doesn’t; it’s just a lot. He explains that being near Death makes the living want to live. And what better way to capture that feeling?

They get to the Council Hall, and the embers hum within her, making her nervous. He asks her why, and she says it’s the crowd. He tells her she needn’t worry. When she says she knows, he takes it as her thinking she’s safe with him.

It’s so not.

When they enter, Sera sees a napping draken and the throne. She locks gazes with Kyn and wonders if he knows Kolis’s gift is no longer on the table for him. Then she sees Attes. And Keella. The Primal goddess has sadness in her eyes. Sera wonders if she knows her plans went awry.

Phanos and Embris aren’t there, nor are Maia or Veses—though that one is to be expected since she’s still a prisoner at the House of Haides.

Callum brings in a floor pillow, and she’s made to sit at Kolis’s feet like a hound. She watches as the servants enter and listens as Kolis addresses the gathering. Sera notices Diaval, another beautiful god next to him, and more draken. She also sees the Revenant, Dyses.

Kolis orders her to drink when a server brings around a tray, then shifts his focus to Keella. The Primal goddess says she’s come because of Sera and knows who she is. Kolis says she should, insinuating that Keella knows whose soul Sera has. He then asks her if she knew before the coronation.

Keella addresses Sera using her Shadowlands title and asks about Nyktos. Kolis snaps and says he is where he should be, given he killed Hanan. Keella then asks if he did it to protect his Consort, referencing the law. Kolis says his nephew’s actions could have had lasting consequences. Keella counters that another has risen, and it should be a blessing, then asks if he’s going to stop what he’s doing since it goes against tradition and honor.

He asks her since when, then adds that he didn’t sanction the coronation.

Turning to Kyn, he asks if he gave permission, and Kyn lies and says he didn’t.

Keella asks if Sera will be released when Nyktos is, and Kolis tells her that she’s not going back to him. When the Primal asks if she is there of her own free will, Kolis tells her to ask Sera herself. Sera wants to yell that she’s not there of her own accord, but she knows better. She says she’s in Dalos by choice. It makes her feel ill.

Sera watches as a god grabs a passing servant and bites her. It makes her see red. She asks if the Chosen have choices, and Kolis says they’ve had nearly all their choices made for them all their lives. He looks at the couple and says it appears as if the servant is enjoying herself. Sera disagrees. He tells her that where they couldn’t be touched or spoken to in the mortal realm, they can in Dalos. He says Sera views them as victims, whereas he sees those starved for what’s been forbidden. He tells her that the Chosen have opportunities in Dalos. They can shed their veils or Ascend.

He reveals that the couple’s names are Orval and Malka, and they are known to each other. She asks what would happen if they weren’t, and Kolis wonders if it matters. She emphatically says that it does, and he points out another couple. He mentions the servant’s name is Jacinta and the god is Evander. He then tells her that pain is what turns Evander on. Looking at

Sera, he asks her what she would do if she could. She says she’d kill him and then asks what Kolis would do to her. He says he wouldn’t do anything.

When Sera sees tears on Jacinta’s face, she stands and asks for a weapon. Kolis calls for Elias, and he hands her one of his daggers. Sera looks at Callum and sees him smiling.

That should have been a red flag.

She walks up to Jacinta and Evander, grabs the god by the hair, and tells the woman to leave. Then, she strikes.

And the screaming starts.

Sera starts to tell Jacinta that she’s okay now, and the woman freaks. She tries to rouse the god, calling him, “Evan.” Naberius—the sleeping draken—rouses, and Sera sees that Keella has a hand pressed to her chest.

Kolis orders Jacinta and Evander’s body to be removed, and Naberius moves toward Sera. Kolis tells him to stand down.

Attes calls to Sera and tells her to return to the dais. She panics and asks why Jacinta would act like that if she were being abused and traumatized.

Kolis asks her how she knew that was going on. She starts to say that he told her, and he interrupts, saying he asked her what she would do, not that Evander was forcing Jacinta.

Sera argues that she saw the tears on Jacinta’s face, and Kolis asks her if they were tears of pain or pleasure. He goes on to say that she only hears what she wants to hear and thinks about herself. She argues some more and then asks whose Court Evander belonged to. Kolis tells her he was from the Thyia Plains. Sera gets it then. Kolis wasn’t proving some twisted version of reality. He was getting back at Keella and using Sera as the weapon.

When Kolis smiles, Sera can only think how vile and corrupt he is. The embers start to hum, and she feels Sotoria. The ancient power swamps her and riles her primal rage.

Attes calls to Kolis, telling him it’s time to start court. Kolis orders Sera to sit, and she watches a dakkai eating a leg bone, then watches as Kolis just kills a god. When he tells her she appears displeased, she asks if this is really how he wants them to spend time together. He says he’s multitasking. She adds that she never expected this when she asked for time out of the cage, and he asks what she means. She tells him that he’s only shown her death. He questions more, and she mentions Evander. He says that’s on her, and she breaks down the errors in that statement, then adds that he killed a god for calling another a cheat.

He says it’s about maintaining control and balance. She questions that, and he says every action has a reaction. Disrespect is met with a response: death. She asks if she is to be sentenced to death, and he says she’s different. He won’t punish her.

He tells her to stand and come to him, ordering her to sit on his lap. He continues with what he was saying, repeating that he won’t punish her but will rethink their deals. He asks if she understands. When Sera says yes, he tells her he’s capable of more than just death.

Sera scans the crowd and finds Kyn with a woman on his lap, drinking from and fondling her. And he’s looking right at Sera.

She suddenly sees a flash of red and gold and follows it, her breath leaving her when she sees a crown and then a familiar lithe figure and golden hair.

Veses.

The Primal goddess is free and looks pretty good. Veses smiles, and fury rises within Sera. She feels the embers rise with it. Sotoria stirs, and Sera senses her nervousness. She worries what Kolis will do about the surge of power. Sera remembers what he said about punishment and can only imagine what he did to Sotoria.

Veses addresses Kolis, and he beckons her forward. As she and Kolis talk, Sera ruminates on Veses and Ash and her true feelings.

Kolis asks Veses if she recognizes Sera. The Primal says she isn’t sure, and Sera calls her out as a liar. She tells Kolis they met in the House of Haides.

Veses and Kolis talk some more, and as Kolis goads Veses, Sera realizes that he’s enjoying himself. As things turn crass and Kolis insinuates that Veses would do anything he asked of her—and she agrees—it turns Sera’s stomach.

Veses asks Sera why she’s there, saying she thought she was the Shadowlands’ Consort. Kolis tells her she’s wrong and says he never gave permission. Veses then assumes that Sera’s presence must be punishment, and he corrects her. Veses snipes and says she could find something less crushing for Kolis to use to warm his lap if that’s what’s going on. He orders the Primal goddess to apologize, and she’s taken aback. He tells Veses that she’s speaking to his graeca. Veses says it’s impossible and must be a lie, but Kolis insists he had it confirmed.

When Kolis orders her to apologize again, Veses does, but with scathing venom. Then she grits out that she’s happy for Kolis. Before she leaves, Kolis summons her back and says that she still disappointed him and must be punished. He calls Kyn over, and Sera knows what’s about to happen.

She watches in horror as the events start to play out, and just as it’s about to get really bad, she cries out. Veses tells her she doesn’t need her to interfere, and the embers within Sera start to hum.

Kolis asks her what she’s doing, and Sera says what he’s doing isn’t right and asks him to stop. He pushes back, and she tells him it’s the right thing to do. Seething, he rises and says they’re returning to her quarters. Before they leave, Phanos tells Kolis he needs to talk to him. Kolis says he’ll be back shortly.

They return to the cage, and Kolis chastises Sera, reminding her that he told her not to question him or use the embers, yet she did both. He details what he’s done for her and says she isn’t appreciative. He tells her that he wanted to show her what he’s risking for her, confusing Sera. He calls her his soul again but tells her he’s her King and will be obeyed.

He chains her, stretching her painfully, then says he wants to hate her for making him do this to her, but he can only love her. She scoffs. He tells her that she still lives. Nobody else would. That’s proof of his love. Then he weeps.

After Kolis leaves, Callum gloats, thinking aloud how much pain she must be in. He says he almost feels sorry for her. She doesn’t give him the satisfaction of responding. He goes on about her not really being his sister, and she tells him the fact that he thinks what is being done is wrong only if she’s his sister makes her feel justified in her disdain.

He admits that the Hall punishment was wrong and below Kolis, then insists he’s better than that. She asks when he was better. Callum says he was before Eythos died. He tells her that Kolis loved his brother.

She thinks things over and knows the display was all about Kolis exerting power. Callum says everything changed after Eythos’s death and asks if Sera believes she’s better than everyone after she gives details that she was the only one willing to step in at the Hall. She agrees with him and says she is better—anyone who would at least try is.

She calls Callum a loyal lapdog, and he says he’ll always be loyal. Kolis forgave him for not keeping Sotoria safe and gave him eternal life. Plus, he’s keeping the realms together.

It irks Sera. She wonders if Callum was ever good but calls him delusional. Like Kolis. Callum says he’ll be happy to share that with the King. In response, she threatens to tell Kolis how his firstborn shared how to kill a Primal with Calliphe. They bicker about Kolis’s motives and whether Sera is who she claims to be. She slips up and calls Sotoria her, and Callum catches it. Sera backtracks, only for Callum to reveal that Eythos was the one who killed Sotoria the second time. Sera can’t believe it. She goes over all the questions and her plight.

Finally, Kolis enters and releases the shackles. Sera cries out and can’t do much but sag into his arms. Kolis apologizes repeatedly.

The Chosen bring in stuff for a bath, and Kolis tells her to bathe, rest, and all will be well. She barely keeps herself from laughing. Before he leaves, he mentions that he stopped Veses’ punishment. She does laugh then.

And can’t stop.

This time when she sleeps, Sera doesn’t dream. Callum is in the room on the sofa again when she wakes, and she feels a Culling headache coming on. Kolis enters, and she realizes she needs to act like nothing has happened. He tells her she looks lovely, and she plays her part and apologizes, shocking both Kolis and Callum. Kolis says he understands, and she lays it on even thicker.

Callum seethes, and Sera tries to contain her glee.

Kolis tells her to come for a walk with him, Callum and Elias trailing along after them. He takes her somewhere, then calls for Iason and Dyses. The Revenant and draken walk in with a Chosen. Suddenly, Sera knows exactly what’s going on.

She tells him he doesn’t have to prove anything, and he insists he must show her what he can do. She tries to talk him out of it, and he simply instructs the Chosen to unveil himself. Kolis asks the Chosen—who she finds out is named Jove—how he is and says he’ll be blessed.

Jove says it’s an honor, and Sera tries again to stop Kolis, knowing it’s anything but. When she moves to stop him, he tells her she’s always had a kind heart, making both her and Sotoria shudder.

He tells her she needs to know why it’s so important and leaves how it’s done up to her—Jove can be remade or used as sustenance. Balance is necessary.

She asks if he can at least make it so it doesn’t hurt. He does, and then Sera realizes she may have turned pain into forced pleasure. She’s not sure which is worse. It makes her sick.

Kolis explains the process of what he’s doing and calls Elias over to give Jove his blood. Sera realizes Kolis can’t use his blood because he’s the true Primal of Death. He tells her that without the embers of life, the Chosen become the Ascended. Then says he’s been working on the drawbacks, like their sun intolerance and bloodlust.

Sera wonders what happens if they can’t control their hunger, and he says they’re put down. He tells her that gluttonous gods were killed under Eythos’s rule, as well, and he was used as the weapon to do it.

Kolis appears to truly believe that he’s creating life and cares about it besides. She asks about the difference between the Ascended and the Craven, and he tells her that the Craven are dead, revealing more about them. Sera thinks about Andreia.

He tells her that newly made Ascended are watched, and the one she encountered would have been too if she hadn’t tried to escape and pulled the guards from their posts.

She asks what happens if an Ascended chooses not to feed, and he tells her they will weaken, and their bodies will eventually give out. She asks why an Ascended would decide that, then guesses it’s maybe so they don’t become an indiscriminate killer. Kolis says that everything created or born has the potential to be a murderer.

Sera gets frustrated when Kolis just isn’t getting her points about choice and consent, and he brings up balance again. He goes on to say that the Primal of Death is supposed to remain distant from anyone they may have to judge—all but the other Primals and the draken. He complains that it isn’t the same for the Primal of Life. He goes on to say that it made sense to the Arae, and all comes back to the balance established when the Ancients created the realms.

Sera chimes in that she thought Eythos created the realms, and Kolis tells her that he created some but not the realms. The Ancients were not the first Primals, nor can any Primal become an Ancient. He tells her there must always be a true Primal of Life and a true Primal of Death.

Sera realizes that means Kolis can never be killed.

She feels disheartened and wonders about Holland, Eythos, and Keella.

Why did they do what they did if he can’t be killed?

Later in the cage, she thinks about The Star and wonders if it could hold embers and a soul simultaneously. Callum asks her what she’s doing, and she tells him she’s praying. When the embers respond to a Primal nearing, Callum says it’s strange because Kolis is occupied.

Veses blows in, nailing Callum in the face with the door. He tells her Kolis isn’t around, and she says she’s not there for him. Callum says it’s unwise to go against His Majesty’s edicts, and Veses says she doesn’t intend for him to find out she came.

Sera calls Callum an ever-faithful servant and insinuates that he will tell.

Veses tells Sera that she and Callum have something in common: loyalty. Callum warns her, and Veses tells him she isn’t going to hurt Sera and manipulates him by saying she wants to talk to her about what happened in the Hall.

Frustrated, Callum tells her she has ten minutes and leaves. The moment he’s out of the room, Veses reveals her true colors. She tells Sera she enjoyed what Kyn did, going into way too much detail.

Sera tells her that while she may have gotten off, it was still without consent. She asks Veses how she got free of the House of Haides dungeon, and Veses outlines chewing off her arms. She says Hanan’s death woke her from stasis, and she knew that Nyktos had killed him.

She then details all her shocks after and says she was devastated. But she wasn’t all that torn up about Hanan.

Veses tells Sera she’s excited that the Shadowlands are about to invade Dalos and says she knows about the deal Sera made for Nyktos’s freedom. She goes on to reveal there’s doubt about who she claims to be and says the Primals alive when Kolis became the Primal of Life remember what Sotoria looked like.

Sera reiterates what she keeps hearing: wrong hair color, too many freckles, more curves…

She tells Veses she doesn’t get her. She’s beautiful—at least on the outside—and could have anyone. Why would she waste her time pursuing the two most ineligible beings in both realms? She warns Veses she’ll likely tell Kolis about Veses’ visit, and the Primal goddess says she won’t because she knows how he would react, and she’s too good to put Veses in that position.

Sera says she’d rather see her dead than punished, then goes on to tell her she knows about her deal with Nyktos. The Primal tries to goad Sera,

but Sera isn’t having it. She tells her she doesn’t get how she could do that to someone, clearly knowing what it’s like to be forced.

Veses insists she’s tried to protect Nyktos, and Sera calls her a mess.

Veses reacts by telling Sera she’s a whore. They reveal how much they each know about the other, and Veses says their violent reactions when it comes to those they love are the same.

She goes on that when the truth comes out about Sotoria, Sera will get to see just how sadistic Kyn can be. Sera calls her a sick bitch, but Veses says she’s not. She’s just tired. Then she adds that she won’t lose Kolis to Sotoria again. She’d rather see him dead.

She says she’s worried about Nyktos and suggests that maybe Sera should just sacrifice herself.

Before Veses leaves, Sera apologizes about what happened in the Hall but mentions she still plans to watch the Primal goddess burn.

When Sera emerges later, Kolis is on the bed, waiting for her. She tells him that she’s tired, and he says that’s good. They can sleep together again.

Sera asks about Nyktos, and Kolis says he’s being prepared for release

—unless he gives a reason for that not to happen.

She hesitates to go to him and covers by saying she doesn’t know what he expects of her. He points out that he waited for her, while she didn’t wait for him. Her virtue is safe.

Later, Sera’s gums start bleeding, and she realizes that whatever the ceeren did must be wearing off. She’s barreling toward her Ascension.

Kolis suggests a walk, and Sera asks him where Callum is. He tells her that he sent the Revenant away to handle something important. Sera asks about the Revs. She wants to know if they need things like friendship, love, and sex. He says they don’t. They are only driven by their desire to serve their creator.

She says she can’t imagine not wanting anything, and he counters that he thinks it’s probably freeing. She thinks it’s a poor imitation of life.

She goes back to the subject of Callum and says he’s different. Kolis acknowledges and reveals he’s full of wants and needs. He then tells Elias to stay back and moves with Sera to a staircase. He says he was told that motivation plays a role—the magic in creation. Feeling = becoming. He says he’s not so sure because he tried with others, and it never worked. Sera thinks it’s because the feelings were real with Callum. With the others, he was only pretending.

He takes her high to look over the City of the Gods. She sees the glimmering buildings and the Carcers, noticing the shadowstone deposits within. She realizes that’s where Ash is. She asks Kolis about the Fates clearing the city, and he tells her they do whatever they like. Especially when the balance is upset.

He explains that when he became the Primal of Life, he gave the gods in Dalos a choice. They could serve him or die. He killed half. It displeased the Fates, so they wiped out the rest. Kolis admits he could have acted less rashly.

He looks at Sera and says he sometimes sees Sotoria how she was in her, but everything is amplified. He says he wishes she looked how she used to. It offends Sera, and he doesn’t get it. Once again, he asks what she wants or needs in order to forgive him. She immediately thinks of The Star when he says “jewels,” and decides to try.

She makes up a story about her mother and an irregular silver diamond.

He offers to get it for her, and she thinks fast and says she doesn’t think Calliphe even has it anymore. He tells her he has one, and she asks to see it. He takes her back to the cage, and it confuses her until he summons down the cluster at the top, and it transforms before her very eyes into a silvery diamond shaped like a star.

He tells her that it’s called The Star and says it was created by dragon fire long before the Primals could shed tears of joy. He adds that he came upon it by chance, which she knows is not true at all.

She asks why he keeps it hidden, and he says he keeps it with what he cherishes the most. The comment makes her sick. She asks to hold the stone. When he lets her, she feels a jolt and sees the streaks of milky white inside the diamond. Images form in her mind, and she sees an Ancient, a dragon, and the destruction of a mountain creating the Star diamond. She watches as it buries itself. Then the visions shift to Eythos and Kolis and the events that played out for Eythos’s last moments.

Sera suddenly blurts, “You cried,” and Kolis freaks out. He asks what she saw and rips the diamond away. He turns Primal, and she becomes nothing but rage. She uses the embers, and he reminds her what he warned, saying what happens next is on her.

He traps her, and she panics, then has a moment of clarity. The bars can be destroyed by her since, for all intents and purposes, she is the Primal of Life. She takes control, letting out the rage and dismantling the cage and

chamber. Then she attacks him. He tells her to stop, but she throws the words from her vision back at him.

He realizes she saw Eythos’s last moments, and she stabs him with a bone. After, she gets in close and tells him she wants him to remember that she wants nothing more than to kill him. Then, she stabs him repeatedly, leaving the bone buried somewhere sensitive.

She astral projects and finds Ash, seeing him coming. She watches as he annihilates all in his path while looking for her. She fills with eather but doesn’t feel right, then collapses. He gets to her and lifts her, telling her to open her eyes and assuring that he’s got her.

She sees flashes outside and tenses, but Ash tells her it’s just Nektas. She can barely talk but manages to ask if she’s dreaming. He tells her it’s real. When she asks if he’s okay, he laughs, given the circumstances. She reminds him that he was imprisoned, but he says she was imprisoned, too, just in a different way.

They discuss Veses a bit and what to do about Kolis. They also talk about what happened, and Sera has to soothe Ash’s anger. She tells him he needs to take her somewhere safe and remove the embers.

Elias comes in, and they discuss where his loyalties lie. Ash keeps from killing him—barely—and Elias swears his fealty to Sera. He says he sent word to Attes and insists he can take Kolis somewhere that will buy them some time.

Attes arrives and urges them to get a move on. When Ash moves to attack him, Attes pleads his case, and Sera tells Ash the other Primal can be trusted. Says he saved her life.

She gets dizzy, and Attes says she was shifting into her Primal self.

When Elias once again says he can get Kolis away, Sera asks if it’s safe for him, and he’s honored she’s worried about him.

Attes conjures Setti, and they get Kolis onto the horse. As they’re about to leave, Sera remembers The Star. She tells them they need to get it and they discuss how. She reveals to Ash that his father’s soul is in the diamond, and he asks if she’s sure. She says she is.

After she summons the diamond, Ash says he can’t feel the soul. Sera wonders how they can put Sotoria’s soul in the stone, and Ash says Keella should know how to get a soul out and in.

Ash shadowsteps them to a beautiful cavern of hot springs in the mortal realm, and she tells him the story of Kolis and Eythos, leaving out the part

about his mother. When he asks to hold The Star, she doesn’t let him, explaining that she doesn’t want him to see what she did.

As they clean up, one thing leads to another, and they have sex. Losing themselves in each other for a bit.

As they spend time together, they talk about everything that’s happened and catch one another up, talking about what things mean and what’s next. They discuss his nota and Primal forms, then Ash leaves to get her some clothes.

When he returns, he tells her that he went to the Bonelands, and Sera asks about Bele and Aios. They talk more about freeing Eythos’s soul, and Sera wonders if Ash will be able to interact with it.

As talk turns to Attes, and Ash makes it clear that he still doesn’t trust him, Sera tries to make him understand why Attes could never be loyal to Kolis. Then, she tells him what Phanos did. When she sees the wheels of his mind turning, she has to stop that train of thought and insist that nobody else will give their life to save hers.

They go to the Bonelands, and Ash tells her how the Ancients became displeased with advancement and were connected to all living things. So, when they realized that mortals and the land could not coexist, they chose to cleanse the land. They then created the Primals, splitting their essence between them and creating a shared balance. The Primals and gods eventually joined the mortals to battle the Ancients.

Ash asks Sera how she’s feeling, and she admits that she’s tired and achy. Bele arrives and hugs Sera, something she’s never done, then thanks her for saving Aios. She asks about Kolis, and Sera tells her she gave him a beat down.

They discuss Bele’s new status and what was done with Elias, and Bele tells Sera that Veses is free. She tells the new Primal that she knows.

Sera sees Elias tied to a pillar and watches as a draken knocks a rock onto him. When Ehthawn moves in for pets, Sera asks about Orphine, finding out that she didn’t make it. Sorrow fills her and she apologizes.

Sera struggles to ascend the steps. Ash finally helps her, and Saion and Rhahar come, both embracing Ash. Then Lailah joins with Rhain. Sera is filled with gratitude that Ash won’t be alone after she’s gone.

She sees Crolee, and Saion and Rhahar greet her. Ash says that Sera saved him, and Rhain says many of them wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for her.

Attes arrives with his draken, and Sera watches the draken interact.

There’s some aggressive flirting going on between Aurelia and Nektas, and Sera remembers Reaver saying he thought Nek was sweet on the female.

When she turns her attention to the Primal, she witnesses some aggressive flirting between him and Lailah, as well, and finds out that Lailah is originally from Attes’s Court.

They discuss The Star, and Keella comes forward, telling them what they need to do. Sera pulls Eythos free and then falls unconscious.

When she wakes, she finds herself in Keella’s Court. She asks about what happened and Ash tells her all is well. She apologizes to him for cutting his time with his father short and he tells her he was ready to go. He tells her what Eythos said to him before leaving.

Sera realizes that Ash gave her blood and chastises him, saying she doesn’t want him weakened. They bicker as usual, and Nektas arrives, laughing that they’re arguing. He tells her that the time gained by Ash giving her his blood is never time wasted. He then goes on to say that he can scent her death, and the two share a sweet moment.

Attes, Ash, and Sera argue about Sotoria’s soul, and Sera makes them understand that the soul is alive. Attes mentions how he met her after Kolis brought her back. Then they all discuss what happens if the embers die with Sera. They talk about The Star being able to hold both the embers and a soul, and what needs to happen in order to end Kolis.

Sera says there will be war, and Ash insists he only cares about her.

Attes says it’s way bigger than that, and Ash says she matters. She finally realizes that it’s time. She tells him she loves him. Attes chimes in and asks if Nyktos’s kardia was removed properly.

Keella explains that a soul cannot be brought back twice. Without the Arae intervening, at least—which never ends the way one intends. She wonders if the Fates are the reason she was born with Sotoria’s soul and not as Sotoria.

Keella asks if Ash has sensed dual souls. He says he only ever feels Sera’s. Keella tells him he needs to anchor himself to his Consort’s soul. She calls forth the soul and Sotoria worries about Sera, making Sera worry. Finally, they get her out and transfer her to the diamond. As she leaves, she tells Sera in her mind that they’ll meet again.

In the Bonelands, Attes promises Sera he will support Ash. Elias wakes up and asks how things went with the diamond. They tell the god it went

well. They talk a little more until Rhain arrives. He says that even when the rest of them didn’t really see her to her core, Ash always did. Ash walks up, and Sera thinks how he’ll make a great father someday. He reads her emotions, and she tells him to stop.

Saion comes then and jokes that they’re fighting again. Rhahar joins, and they settle a bet. Saion said they couldn’t go more than an hour without arguing. She turns to Ash and jokes that they’re his friends. He says they

were. It melts Sera’s heart to hear him acknowledge them as his friends.

Sera looks around and wishes she had more time. She thinks of everyone and looks for each of them. Then, she tells Ash to take her to the lake, reminding him that he promised.

Saion tells her to have safe travels, and Rhain moves forward. He kneels and holds his sword out. The others follow suit. The draken bow their heads. Rhain says the oath, ending with “forevermore,” and they all destroy their swords.

Seems with the right intention, not all eather is blocked by shadowstone, and it can be affected by more than itself.

Sera tells Ash she needs to discuss something important, but he avoids eye contact. He reassures her that even without looking, she is all he sees. She confesses her love for him, insisting it’s not his fault, helping him understand. He lists distractions he’d prefer, some of which are quite enticing, but she stays focused, urging him to live and become King. He argues that it’s her rightful place, but she insists she doesn’t want him to be alone and wants him to love.

Ash becomes angry, but she makes him promise, and he agrees. They share a deeply moving and intimate moment.

He expresses all the things he adores about her, admitting he never wanted anything until her. As thunder rumbles, Ash announces that Kolis has been found. She regrets running out of time but tells him he gave her everything she desired. She professes her love again and says it’s time.

He takes her into the water, feeding as she reminisces, vowing to remember. As she begins to fade, Ash defies the situation, urging her to take his blood, refusing to let her go. He vows to Ascend her.

She asks what she will become, and he admits he doesn’t know. She pleads with him to take the embers, but he insists she must not die, urging her to forsake the greater good. He declares that if he loses her, he will destroy everything.

Finally, she drinks and sees memories of her mother, Holland, Ezra, Jadis, and the gods. Ash pleads for her to stay, confessing his love, even if he shouldn’t. He admits he’s in love with her.

Sera sees Odetta, who tells her to open her eyes. She does, witnessing the creation of everything—the explosion, the Primal of Life, the birth of the draken, and mortals. She understands that the Ancients must never rise, as they are the end that threatens all realms.

Sera realizes she embodies the beginning, middle, and final breath before the end. She is life, the constant companion of death.

Pure power fills her, and she wakes in Ash’s arms. A shockwave bursts free and knocks him back. She becomes the essence.

While in stasis, Sera can hear talking. She hears the stories Ash relays.

Listens to him tell her how unprepared he was for how alive he felt with her. He admits he could still feel after his kardia was removed, but not strongly. Not until her. He says he should have known from their first kiss what they were to each other.

He reminisces about their first few meetings, her bravery in going to Kolis alone, her misplaced loyalties. Ash talks about his father. Sera sees it all and feels Jadis on her feet.

When Ash says he wanted to be strong like Eythos, Nektas says it had nothing to do with strength. He talks about how Eythos was after Mycella’s death, and Ash says he would have destroyed the realms and everything in them if he’d lost Sera.

Nektas reminds Ash that he saved her, and Ash tells Sera he’ll be waiting for her.

Sera finds herself on the bank of her lake, but this time she sees a silvery-white cave cat with two gray younglings. When they lock eyes, she sees herself.

She starts to wake, and Ash tells her not to rush it. She’s hungry and thirsty and restless. Suddenly, she gets all sorts of information downloaded. She becomes power, and Ash 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 says 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 says 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 then says 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 needs to run. She’s confused. He then tells her that he needs her too much and won’t be able to control himself. He’ll shift. She says she trusts him. Tells him she’s his. Tells him to take her. However.

He does, using his shadow tendrils to heighten her pleasure. He tells her that he loves her and says he’s not sure when it started. She shakes and says she thought she’d die without ever knowing what his love felt like. He says he couldn’t and wouldn’t allow that. He tells her he’ll spend eternity making sure she knows how he feels.

Nektas asks if they’re okay, and Ash threatens him. Sera realizes that she somehow Ascended without dying. The embers are her. She’s the Primal of Life. The Queen of the Gods.

She says as much, and Ash says he’s her Consort. She says he’s the King.

The King fucks his Queen. And it was glorious.

She asks if she’ll ever get used to her fangs, and he assures her that she will. She wonders if any Primals Ascended without getting their memories back and he tells her about those who had trouble and mentions that Kyn never did.

As they begin to have sex again, Sera finds herself tensing when he goes to feed. He tells her it’s okay, and says he sensed her unease, even though it’s harder to read her now. Plus, he says they need to behave because they have to talk. She says they should discuss Kolis, and Ash agrees but says not now. He tells her that every Primal felt her Ascension and says 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 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… He chalked it up to imagination until he saw the lake for real. He kept track of her. The vision terrified him so much he had his

kardia removed right before he brought her to the Shadowlands.

He laments what her life was like because of him. Insists he was a coward. She denies it, but he tells her what the vision showed him of after she died. He destroyed everything. It showed 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. Sera remembers Holland telling her that love is more powerful than the Fates. They talk about the Arae toeing the line of what’s allowed and what’s considered interference, and she goes out onto the balcony, seeing life returning to the realm. She stopped the Rot.

As she rests, she sees a box by Ash’s bed and opens it, finding all the hair ties he took from her when he undid her braids. It makes her heart swell.

When Ash returns, they share sweet nothings of love, and he tells her that he wants them to trust each other, telling her 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.

She assumes that Holland knew everything and tells Ash what the Arae really said to her. That love is more powerful than the Fates. They think and talk about how powerful life is, and Sera figures she should be concerned about things and be thinking about the future, but only one thing is on her mind.

She asks Ash to tell her again that he loves her, and he does. Repeatedly.

And then…

They make love.