“Great. You’re following me,” I muttered.
“You’re very astute,meyaah Liessa.”
I sighed.
“You don’t like being referred to as a Queen, do you?”
“You’re very astute,meyaahdraken.”
Nektas’s laugh was short and rough as I opened the door to the stairwell. “I didn’t know I was your draken.”
I started climbing the narrow steps far less grand than the main staircase. “Yeah, well, you’re my draken as much as I’m your Queen.”
“You are our Queen with or without a coronation.”
“That makes little sense, but whatever,” I muttered, reaching for the door on the fourth floor.
Nektas stretched his arm over my head, pulling it open before I could. “You carry the only true embers of life in you, Sera. You’retheQueen.”
I looked over my shoulder at him with a frown.
He eased past me, quiet as he led the way to my bedchamber. I watched as he entered the room and proceeded to go straight to the bathing chamber. He pushed open that door and inspected the space before going to the balcony doors while I stopped by the settee. There, he shoved the drapes aside and looked out.
“Do you want to check under the bed, too?” I suggested.
He turned, arching a dark brow. “Was Ash wrong? In doubting your motivations?”
“Gods,” I snarled. “Is eavesdropping a talent draken areparticularly skilled at, or is it just somethingyou’rereally good at?”
Nektas stared blandly at me.
I held his gaze.
“You want to know what I think?”
“No,” I said.
“I’m going to tell you anyway.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“I was attempting to be polite,” he replied, and I snorted. “He was wrong.”
I said nothing.
“But he was also right.”
“Well, your commentary was helpful, as always,” I said, shaking my head in frustration. “You know, the thing is, I don’t blame Nyktos for questioning that. Not really. But, honest to gods, seizing this as an opportunity to get to Kolis didn’t even cross my mind.”
“Then who are you more angry with? Ash or yourself?”
“Both?”
He smiled faintly. “You can’t be angry at both.”
I looked away. “Yeah, but being angry doesn’t matter. What Nyktos believes doesn’t matter. What I want doesn’t matter. What does is the fact that Kolis one-upped us—probably without even realizing he did. Now, we will both be summoned, and how can Nyktos convince Kolis that he has no idea how a god Ascended or that he doesn’t know it was Bele?”
“As Ash said, he’s had to convince Kolis of many falsehoods in the past.”