Nyktos had gone still behind me, and I hoped I wasn’t projecting and that he wasn’t reading me. I didn’t think he’d appreciate the sorrow I felt for him.
Nyktos finally spoke. “I would lie. I would tell him that I felt it, searched for the source, but haven’t found it.”
“He’d believe that?” I asked, looking back at him.
“I’ve had to convince Kolis of many things,” he told me. “I will convince him of this when he issues his summons—whenever he’s damn good and ready. Which—”
“Presents many issues,” Nektas finished.
That was an understatement.
“Believe it or not, Kolis’s interference isn’t the only issue we’re now facing,” Nyktos said. “Not after Attes met Sera.”
I twisted back to him with a frown. “I doubt Attes thinks I’m anything more than a mouthy pair of breasts.”
Ector snickered.
Nyktos’s eyes flared with eather. “He wasprovokingyou.”
My scowl deepened. “When he called me an accessory?”
“Not then. Later. I could sense him using eather. He was feeding into your emotions, amplifying either calmness or violence.”
There was a reason Primals didn’t often enter the mortal realm. Their presence could change the moods and minds of mortals and impact the environment around them. The Primal Maia could evoke love and fertility. Embris could increase one’s wisdom or guide them into making poor choices. Phanos could stir the oceans into a frenzy. Attes’s brother, Kyn, could engender peace or vengeance.
“You really think he was trying to do that?” I asked, thinking of when the eather in Attes’s eyes had grown brighter. “To me?”
“Without a doubt,” Nyktos confirmed.
“But I didn’t feel calmer or more violent…than normal,” I said, and he huffed out a laugh. “I didn’t feel anything.”
“Exactly,” Nyktos said.
“Oh, shit,” Ector murmured. “Attes would’ve realized that his presence had no impact on you.”
A sharp slice of unease lanced my chest. “But Nyktos told him I was a godling—”
“Neither godlings nor gods are immune to a Primal’s abilities,” Ector said. “We don’t react to their presence as quickly or recklessly as a mortal might, but it would affect us if a Primal wanted it to. That’s why the gods in Kyn’s Court are a bunch of bastards, and the ones in Maia’s are a horny lot.”
My lips pursed.
“Besides the Arae and the draken,” Ector continued, “only one other would be immune.”
Nyktos’s gaze caught mine. “Only a Primal is immune to another Primal’s presence.”
“Good gods, that could mean…” I squeezed my eyes closed. It could mean that Attes might suspect the truth. That it wasmewho carried the embers of life. The Consort-to-be, who was about to be summoned by Kolis. My breath scraped against my throat.
“Give us a minute,” Nyktos said, and when I opened my eyes, both Ector and Nektas were gone, the doors closed oncemore. More than a few seconds passed in silence before Nyktos spoke again. “It’ll be okay.”
A strangled laugh left me. “Attes might now realize it is I who carries the embers of life. And Kolis is going to summon both of us. How in the world is that okay?”
“It could be worse.”
“How?”
“Kolis could’ve outright denied the coronation. Forbidden that I take a Consort.”
“He can do that?”