But a god?
I couldn’t even process the possibility of either of those options, but the hope was now a small flame. “Is that even possible?”
“It’s never happened before,” Nektas said. “When Eythos was the true Primal of Life and Ascended the Chosen, they became the same as godlings because of the eather being stronger in thirdborns. None had ever Ascended into an actual god, not even in the hundreds of years of the Chosen being Ascended. But none had Primal embers in them either. Anything is possible with you.”
That was a scary thought. “You said only Kolis and Eythos knew how it was done.”
“Someone had to tell Kolis,” Nektas pointed out. “He must have learned it from somewhere.”
“Before Penellaphe left, she said something to me that struck me as odd,” Nyktos said, and I remembered seeing them standing together in the throne room, speaking too quietly for me to hear. “And it kept nagging at me. She said that Delfai would welcome your presence.”
“Who or what is a Delfai?” I asked.
A shadow of a smile appeared on Nyktos’s lips. “A very old and powerful God of Divination.”
I frowned. “I don’t remember hearing about a specific God of Divination.”
“He was able to see what was hidden to others—their truths, both past and future,” Nyktos explained, and that sounded like a god I didn’t want to be even remotely close to. “As Penellaphe said, the Gods of Divination called Mount Lotho home and served in Embris’s Court. Most were destroyed when Kolis took my father’s embers. I assumed Delfai had been, too, but I checked the old records. He never entered Arcadia. He’s still alive.”
I leaned forward. “Can we find him? With your special Primal powers?”
Nyktos’s lips twitched. “Exactly what kind of powers do you think I have?”
“Hopefully, the kind that can find missing gods,” I suggested.
“Unfortunately, I do not.” His fingers moved along the edge of his desk, seeming to follow the rhythm of my tappingfoot. “But I do know of something that can.”
“The Pools of Divanash,” Nektas shared, and I blinked. “They are divining pools, once overseen by the Gods of Divination. The pools can show any object or person the seeker searches for. They’ve been relocated to the Vale.”
“Where I cannot go,” Nyktos tacked on. “Also where Kolis can no longer enter.”
And I knew at once why they’d been relocated. If these pools could show someone’s location, they could’ve revealed where Sotoria’s soul was. “Your father moved them there?”
“My father had them guarded, but I moved them as soon as I was powerful enough to do so.”
“Thank you”rose on the breath I took, but it seemed…silly somehow to thank him. Because I wasn’t her. I focused on the draken. “But you can enter the Vale.”
“Yes. However, the pools are…temperamental.” Nektas gave a slight smile. “They will only provide answers after being given what no one else knows, by the one who seeks the answer. There can be no middle person—”
“Then I would have to go.”
Nyktos nodded.
“I can go now.” I started to rise.
“You cannot go now,” Nyktos said. “Not until after the coronation.”
“But—”
“It will not be safe for you to travel anywhere before then,” he cut in.
“Will it be safe for me to do so even after?” I demanded.
His fingers stilled. “What protection it offers is better than none, Sera. Nothing may happen on the road to and from the Vale, but even I have trouble controlling some things in the Shadowlands. Creatures that would happily devour anything that crosses their paths that is not a Primal or claimed by one.”
Figuring he spoke of the Shades, I held his stare as the mere idea that beingclaimedoffered protection blew me away. It also ticked me off. That was some bullshit. “I’m not afraid of what I may come across.”
“Of course, you wouldn’t be. But I will not risk you or Nektas without taking every possible safety measure first. He will protect you, but he cannot do so against a Primal until you aremy Consort. This is not up for argument.”