I stiffened. “I wouldn’t be asking you if I didn’t. You can believe that or not. I know I won’t be able to change your mind. And, to be honest, at this moment, I don’t really care if you do. Just answer my question.Please.”
Rhain held my stare, but then his gaze cut away. He cursed. “I shouldn’t have said a damn thing. He just might kill me if he finds out I did.”
I doubted that Nyktos would kill Rhain. “I won’t repeat what you tell me.”
His eyes shot back to mine, the glow behind his pupils brighter. “And I’m supposed to trust that?”
“Contrary to what you may believe about me, and despite your dislike of me, I don’t want to see you or anyone else here murdered,” I replied dryly. “Especially by Nyktos.”
“Yeah, well, I sure as fuck hope that’s true.” Rhain shifted from one foot to the other, cursing again as he lifted his gaze to the chandelier. “Eythos kept that damn deal he made with your ancestor quiet for a long time.”
Surprise flickered through me. I hadn’t expectedthisto come up.
“So did Nyktos. None of us even knew about it until…until another discovered it a few years back. How? The fuck if I know. The deals are only known to those who forged the deal and the Arae because those nosy bastards have to know just about everything,” he said, his lips pursing. “She only learned of the deal—not everything Eythos did on the side. But learning about you was all she needed.”
A chill of knowing swept up the back of my neck. “She?”
“Veses.” He laughed, but it was dry and rough. “Yeah, she found out a couple of years back. Threatened to tell Kolis that Nyktos had a Consort in the mortal realm—something she knew Kolis would be very intrigued by. And by intrigued, I mean Kolis would’ve taken you from the mortal realm and used you to get to Nyktos.”
Suddenly, I saw Veses in my mind, standing with Nyktos outside his office, touching him.I heard that you have taken a Consort.I’d assumed that question meant she hadn’t known. Butthere had been a strange tone to her voice—one not of surprise but of…annoyance.
And it would make sense that Nyktos had told her that I was a Consort in title only because she knew about the deal—knew better. Still didn’t sting any less, but it made sense.
“And, lucky for you, I guess, Veses’ obsession with Nyktos is greater than her loyalty to Kolis,” Rhain said, and unease exploded in my gut. “Nyktos was able to bargain with her. Got her to stay quiet.” He stared at the floor, his lips twisting into a sneer. “For a price.”
I went cold. Suddenly, I didn’t want to know. Felt maybethiswas best left unknown. But what Veses had said about Nyktos lying to her clicked into place. Rhain had confirmed what I already knew—she didn’t know about the embers, but she suspected there was more. Something that he was hiding, even though he hadn’t known about the embersyearsago. Something that he would be…
He’d be willing to do anything for you…
I needed to know exactly what that was.
“What was the price?” I asked hoarsely.
“He agreed to…service her needs with his blood. To feed her whenever she desired.”
My lips parted, and for a moment, I felt absolutely nothing.
“You would think that wouldn’t be often. Primals don’t need to feed that much unless they’ve been weakened, but Veses doesn’t go long without paying avisit. And what could he do? He couldn’t refuse her.” His gaze lifted to mine. “Not when your ass was on the line.”
Then I felteverything.
I jerked back a step, my entire body recoiling from what Rhain had said. I hadn’t understood why Nyktos would allow her to touch him or feed from him. Until now. But I did understand why he wouldn’t tell me. That he serviced Veses to keep the knowledge of the deal, ofme, a secret.
Oh, gods. I thought I might be sick. “Why would he do that?”
Rhain stared at me. “You know why.”
I slammed my eyes shut. He was right. I did know. The same reason he hadn’t taken me as his Consort three years ago. To protect me from Kolis. “Dear gods, I…”
The box I’d closed all those emotions away in shattered, and I couldn’t speak around the storm of them exploding through me. Disbelief and horror seized me, much like they had when Kolis had demanded his price, but this wasuglyin an entirely different way. I took another step back as if I could distance myself, but I couldn’t. There was no distancing to be done.
How could he agree to something like that to protect me, even before he really knew me? Why would he subject himself tothat—her demand of a thing that wouldn’t have been offered to her under any other circumstances?
He’d sacrificed the right to deny someone.
I suddenly thought about how shocked they had all been after learning that Nyktos didn’t react when I touched him. How they’d said he didn’t like to be touched—
And when he’d said he wanted no one but me.Wanted.