I bit the inside of my cheek.
“And if I wish to touch her?” Kolis asked, so quietly Ibarely heard him.
Nyktos smiled, and my stomach tumbled at the mockery of such a gesture. “I will do to you what you have done to those who dare to touch those who belong to you.”
My jaw began to ache from how hard I kept my mouth clamped shut. Those who belonged to him. His favorites. The ones Aios had said were caged.
“He’s quite possessive of this one,” Attes added from where he sat, half-reclined, half-sprawled. “Threatened to rip out my eyes at least three times.”
I wasn’t sure that helped.
Nyktos’s smile increased, revealing a hint of his fangs, and I definitely didn’t thinkthathelped. “That threat is more of a promise,” he replied as he still held Kolis’s stare. “She is not to be touched. By anyone but me.”
A long, tense moment passed, then one side of Kolis’s lips tipped up. I felt no relief, only more tension. “Nephew,” Kolis purred, the gold swirling through his irises. “You…please me.”
What?
“But you should release me,” Kolis went on, “before I becomedispleased.”
Nyktos lifted one finger at a time, dropping the false King’s wrist.
The smile on Kolis’s face grew as he eyed his nephew. “This side of you…” His chin lifted as he inhaled deeply. “I always enjoy it when I see it come out.” He flicked a too-lingering gaze toward me. “This should be, at the very least, entertaining.”
I was beginning to think that the wordpleaseddidn’t mean what Kolis thought it did. Or maybe it was I who had it wrong.
Nyktos smirked, though, turning his back on the false King. He took my hand, folding his arm around my waist. His gaze didn’t touch mine as he said, “May we both sit?”
“You may do as you like.”
Nyktos guided me to the settee, returning us to the same position as before with me placed in the vee of his legs. I turned my head, but Kolis watched. Stared. At us. At me. And it was only then that I allowed myself to feel any sort of relief.
I didn’t look like Sotoria. Because Kolis didn’t recognize me.
A faint tremor went through me as Kolis returned to his throne upon the dais, tendrils of golden eather trailing behind him. Nyktos gently squeezed my side as I exhaled heavily, resting a hand on his knee. Nektas had been right. Luck was, for once, on our side. At least, with this. Everything else? I wasn’t so sure.
Kolis was still watching me, staring, his head tilted, yet the crown not slipping an inch as his fingers rapped on the gilded arms of his throne. “My feelings are hurt, Nyktos,” he began. “I would’ve thought you would have sought my approval for such a…joyous event—your union with the fiery Seraphena.”
“I didn’t think you’d have much interest in such an event,” Nyktos replied as he dragged his thumb back and forth on the side of my waist. “I figured you were far too busy for such a request.”
“You figured wrong.” Kolis gave a close-lipped smile. “It is a show of respect that you, of all people, should’ve known was due me.”
“Then I apologize,” Nyktos said.
He didn’t sound even remotely genuine.
Kolis’s tight smile said he sensed the same. “We shall see how sorry you are, I’m sure.”
Ice coated my insides, but there wasn’t even a minor hitch in the slide of Nyktos’s thumb.
“But there is something else we must discuss,” Kolis added.
“If you’re speaking of the vassal I encountered upon my arrival…” Nyktos’s tone was lazy, partly amused, and it reminded me of how he’d spoken when we’d been at my lake. “I didn’t like his tone.”
Kolis snorted. “It is not Dyses I’m speaking of. He’ll be fine.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think he will be,” Nyktos said. “Considering I removed his heart.”
The false King’s smile grew then, flashing teeth, and my unease ramped up. “Yes, well, we will see about that, too.” He leaned back as Nyktos’s fingers halted for a brief moment in their path on my waist. “I’m sure you’re aware of why else I summoned you, Nephew.”