That didn’t make sense, but the large drakenwaseyeing the Primal. Not me. “I-I hurtyou.”
“He’s worried…that I will…retaliate out of reflex.” Nyktos twisted his head side to side. “That I…will do more than…just hurt you.”
“You wouldn’t.” I twisted toward Nektas. “He wouldn’t hurt me.”
“I almost did.”
Not a single part of me believed that. Maybe that made me a fool, but if he’d wanted to harm me, he could’ve done so a thousand times over by now.
Nektas didn’t budge, though. He had his attention fixed on the Primal, his rumble of warning lower.
Nyktos suddenly lowered, going down on one knee. The shadows around him receded as he pitched forward, planting ahand on the ground. He bowed his head, his broad shoulders shuddering as the waves of eather eased and faded. His wings turned to smoke and scattered. The midnight-stone skin receded. Strands of hair fell against his golden-bronze jaw. He didn’t speak. Minutes ticked by, and only his shoulders moved, up and down with his short, rapid breaths.
Maybe he wasn’t really okay. Concern ate away at the relief. Still on my knees, I started to inch forward. “Nyktos?”
Silence.
Nektas had finally stopped growling. He stretched forward, gently nudging Nyktos’s shoulder.
“I’m fine,” Nyktos said hoarsely, reaching up and flattening a hand against the side of Nektas’s broad jaw. “I just need a minute.”
Nektas withdrew but didn’t take his eyes off him, and that minute felt like an hour.
Slowly, Nyktos lifted his head. Essence-filled eyes met mine. “That was…” He cleared his throat, and when he spoke again, his voice was steadier, stronger. “That was unexpected.”
“I…” Tears pricked my eyes as I shook my head and looked down at my hands. “I didn’t mean to do that. I swear. I don’t even know how I did that.”
“It has to be the Culling. I didn’t think it would happen—figured it would be more like a godling with you. But those embers in you—they’re strong. They’re makingyoustronger…” He trailed off, that damn awe in his voice returning and lingering in the silence. “When a god enters the Culling, their essence increases and grows stronger. And as they get closer to completing the Culling, they can have…outbursts. It’s usually tied to heightened emotion, but that doesn’t happen with a godling. Not when they go through the Culling. Many of them can’t even harness the essence like that, even if they Ascend. They simply don’t have enough eather in them for that.”
Curling my hands against my chest, I looked up at him.
Nyktos had gotten closer. I hadn’t heard him move. He was still on his knees. Nektas hadn’t made a sound, but Nyktos was now under the shelter of Nektas’s wing, too. “You were definitely feeling heightened emotions when it happened.”
A shaky, weak laugh rattled out of me as the backs of my eyes burned. I quickly looked away, closing my eyes. “I’m sorry. Ididn’t mean to do it. I really didn’t.”
“I know,” he whispered, and I jerked at the touch of his fingers against my cheek. His fingers—
“Your skin is cold again.”
“It’s okay.”
“How is this okay?” I tried to lean back, but his hand followed, curving around my cheek. His skin was cool like it had been before. “I did that without even meaning to. I hurt you.”
“You didn’t.”
“I think I did.” I reached up, touching the hand on my cheek. Had the eather somehow undone what my blood had done for him? I dropped my hand. “Do you need to feed—?”
“That’s not something you need to worry about.”
I didn’t understand how he could even suggest that. Or why he wasn’t more disturbed by what I’d done. “What if I do that again? And I hurt someone else who’s not okay afterward?”
His eyes closed briefly, his features softening. “We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen, Sera.”
That sounded easier said than done. “How—?” I jerked back, this time falling on my ass as I remembered what I’d done before Nyktos had found me. “I touched a Shade.”
“You shouldn’t have been anywhere near them.”
“That’s not the point.”