“It’s not working,” a voice scratched from the shadows, sounding so very far away. I opened my eyes then, finding Rhain crouched before me. His eyes were wide as he broke off pieces of root. “You’ve got to stop this, Nyktos.” Black dust fell against his cheeks and into his reddish-gold hair. “Before it’s too late.”
Nyktos cursed behind me. The hand at my throat turned my head. Nyktos stared down at me, his skin too pale and too thin, but there were no shadows beneath his flesh. No eather filling his veins. Red marked his throat. Puncture wounds.
I jerked, pulling against his hold.
“Do it.” Rhain tore another root free. “Do it now, or she’s not only going to get herself killed but bring this whole damn palace down on our heads.”
“Fuck,” the Primal snarled, clasping the back of my head. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” His forehead touched mine briefly, and then he pulled back. “Listen to me, Seraphena.” Eather swirled through his eyes, and his voice…it was deeper, slower. “Stop fighting me and listen.”
I stopped struggling.
I listened.
Waited.
Once more an empty vessel.
A blank canvas.
And when Nyktos spoke again, it was just one word, both a whisper and a yell that reached deep inside me, seizing me. Taking control.
Sleep.
Chapter 30
I dreamt of my lake.
I was swimming. That was how I knew I was dreaming. I’d never learned how to swim, but I glided seamlessly through the cool, midnight water. I wasn’t alone. A lone figure sat on the bank, watching.
A white wolf.
The wolf waited in the shadows of the elms, its thick fur a lush silver in the fractured beams of moonlight.
I didn’t know how long I dreamed, but I swam and swam, full ofpeace. Surrounded by it.
The wolf waited.
My arms and legs didn’t grow tired. My skin didn’t wrinkle and prune. Neither hunger nor thirst found me. I swam above the water and then below.
And the beast waited.
“Sera.”
I slowly blinked open eyes that felt as if they’d been stitched closed. It took a moment for my vision to clear and for me to piece together the rounded cheeks and chin, the onyx-hued hair and eyes that tapered at the corners—irises a luminous silver.
“Bele?” I croaked, wincing at the scratchiness of my throat.
“My name is Nell.”
I inhaled sharply, surrounded by the scent of citrus and fresh air. “W-what?”
A quick grin pulled at her full lips. “I’m kidding.” The goddess looked over her shoulder and yelled, “She’s finally awake.”
I winced, my ears strangely sensitive.Finally awake?Bele disappeared from view, and I saw smooth, black walls and a long, deep couch. My head turned, and my heart stopped as my gaze landed on the small wooden box on the nightstand by the bed.
I was in the Primal’s bedchamber.
Memories surged through me—images ofhimandherin his office, the bite marks on his throat, and the crushing agony of my mad flight to the pool beneath the palace. The disappointment. The heartbreak—