“The same cannot be said for Primals. I cannot fight one. Neither can the gods who serve in Ash’s Court unless they attack Ash.” Nektas paused. “OrhisConsort.”
“Oh.” I glanced out the lone window in the chamber. The gray sky beyond was a muted, lifeless color broken only by the faint twinkle of stars. Too bad the charm couldn’t prevent others from attacking me. “If Nyktos had said that, it would’ve made more sense.”
“He hadn’t?”
I shot him a look. His expression was so bland, the sky hadto be envious. “No.”
He gave me a faint smile as his gaze flicked to the door. “One second.”
I turned to see Rhain through the narrow gap. Nektas joined him in the hall, and I watched them, curious about what they could be discussing.
And I really should’ve been watching the young draken.
Jadis let out a shrill screech, stopping my heart. My head whipped to where…Reaver had apparently flown to the top of an empty cabinet and was perched there, safely out of Jadis’s reach.
Something she wasn’t remotely happy about.
She jumped and flapped her wings, only managing to get a couple of inches into the air for a few seconds. Her cries were pitiful.
“Reaver,” I called, pushing away from the table. “Why don’t you come down?”
He shook his diamond-shaped head. And, honestly, I couldn’t really blame him.
“She just wants to play.”
Reaver shook his head again, and Jadis gave up on flying, opting tocrawlup the cabinet, causing the entire thing to wobble.
“Oh, my gods.” I rushed over, grabbing her as she made it about a foot. “You can’t do that.”
The moment I put her down, she raced right back to the cabinet. We repeated this series of events several more times before a full-blown, baby draken temper tantrum happened.
With wide eyes and mouth hanging open, I watched her throw herself onto her belly, wailing as she pounded her little taloned fists and clawed feet against the floor, scratching the shadowstone. I froze, having no idea how to calm a mortal child, let alone a draken one.
I glanced desperately at the door, seeing that Rhain and Nektas had moved out of view. “Are you kidding me?” I whispered, turning back to Jadis.
She flopped onto her back, going so still that I feared she’d knocked herself out. I started toward her when Reaver made a rough, huffing noise that sounded very much like a laugh.
That didn’t help matters.
The draken was back on her feet in a flash, crimson eyes narrowed as she bleated and yipped at Reaver. He made no moveto come back down, and I had no idea what Nektas was doing in that damn hall. I turned to find out. Just a second—one secondhad passed—and I smelledsmoke.
I whirled, gasping as flames crawled across the leg of one of the chairs Jadis was crouched in front of. “Oh, my gods!”
Jadis jumped excitedly, eyes alit by the flames. I quickly grabbed the pitcher, dousing the fire. Heart pounding, I stepped back—
Nektas walked into the chamber then, coming to an abrupt stop. “I leave the room for two minutes…”
“That wasnottwo minutes,” I panted. “That was two years.”
Jadis tucked her wings back and close to her body then took off, scurrying under a different chair.
Nektas looked up at Reaver, who let out a disgruntled-sounding chirp before gliding down to the floor, where he eyed Jadis. I kind of felt bad for her while her father coaxed her out from under it.
“Someone obviously didn’t spend nap time napping,” Nektas stated. “Time to do just that.”
I trotted after them, feeling as if I’d narrowly survived a war. The embers in my chest suddenly warmed as we neared Nyktos’s offices. My stomach immediately started flipping and flopping around like Jadis had in the middle of her fit as Nektas slowed, stopping in the alcove.
“You need anything?” Nektas called as I hung back. Jadis immediately started to struggle to get down.