I stiffened. “It doesn’t sound like you and Rhahar got permission.”
“We didn’t.” The half-grin returned. “Phanos sent others after those who left his Court following the incident with Phythe. Shortly after Eythos was killed, they eventually found us and brought us to the Court of Dalos, where gods are sentenced and punished. As we were being held there, waiting for Phanos’s arrival, Nyktos visited us. Asked why we’d left. We told him the truth, and then he left.”
My brows shot up. “He just left?”
“Yeah. At the time, we thought that was an asshole thing todo.” Saion chuckled. “We didn’t know much about him, only that he was young for a Primal—really young. But he had already become known as one of the last Primals anyone wanted to cross. Anyway…” He continued before I could ask exactly how Nyktos had gained that reputation. “Nyktos came to Court the next day when Phanos arrived, and just before we were sentenced, Nyktos intervened. Said that Phanos didn’t have the right to sentence us as we no longer served him but served the Primal of Death instead. I doubt anyone was more shocked than Rhahar and me at the announcement, but Nyktos, man, he is a tricky son of a bitch when he wants to be. You see, when he visited us the day before, he touched us both when he left. Reached through the bars and patted our shoulders. We didn’t think anything of it. The only thing we both thought afterwards was that the cell was colder—thatwewere colder. That was it. But when he touched us, he took our souls.”
Chapter 17
My mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Yeah.” Saion laughed again. “Fucking chaos erupted. We knew what that meant, especially Kolis. You see, Kolis supposedly pulled that shit all the time back when he was the true Primal of Death. Except he did it when someone pissed him off. But, either way, Nyktos had our souls. None of the other Primals could touch us. We belonged to him.”
Stunned, I rocked back. I knew that Nyktos could do that, summon a soul with a touch, but somehow, I’d forgotten just how deadly and dangerous he could be. “Can Kolis still do that?”
“I don’t believe so. If he could, I imagine he’d be doing it left and right.”
Thank the gods the bastard couldn’t. “What happened after he did that?”
“Well, Phanos was ticked off. Strangely, it amused Kolis. He saw it as Nyktos one-upping Phanos or something,” he said, and I thought about what Nektas had said about how Kolis believed Nyktos was loyal to him. “Either way, there was nothing to be done. Phanos went back to his Court super pissed, and we were taken into the Shadowlands.”
“He gave you back your souls, right?”
“If he did and Phanos ever found out, he could claim us once more.”
That wasn’t a direct answer, but I was willing to bet Nyktos returned them. Those who served the Shadowlands didn’t do so because they had to or because Nyktos had something as valuable as their soul. He would’ve returned it, and Saion and Rhahar were wise enough to keep that to themselves.
“He saved your lives,” I said, glancing up at him.
“We’re not the only lives he’s saved.”
I knew that, but still… Nyktos’s actions were a lot to comprehend. Even thinking what would have happened if I’d successfully killed him made my heart stop and my chest ache. I picked up the glass of juice, finishing it off, but it did nothing to ease the knot in my throat or fortify the sudden weakness around that crack in my chest. “I…I truly believed that my duty to kill Nyktos was the only way to save my kingdom.” I cleared my throat, my voice barely above a whisper. “No one—and I mean,no one—can hate me more for that than I do.”
“You know,” Saion said, “I actually believe that.”
The tips of my ears burning, I rose from my chair, suddenly needing the quiet I had fled not so long ago. “I think I will return to my chambers now.” I glanced at the young draken, who still slept. “Should we wake Reaver?”
“He’ll be fine.”
“You sure?” It felt a little wrong to leave him while he slept.
Saion nodded as he stepped out into the hall, waiting for me. “If you wake him, he’ll likely get a bit…snappy. With his teeth, not his words.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Then I think I’ll leave him be.”
“Wise choice.”
I walked to the back set of stairs similar to those at the end of the wing where Nyktos’s office was located and pushed open the door. The faint sounds of metal clashing with metal echoed in the stairwell. Saion showed no reaction to the sound, but curiosity sank its claws into me. I went to the exterior door.
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere.”
“It definitely looks like you’re going somewhere, and it’s not your bedchamber,” Saion muttered.
I cracked open the heavy door and peered outside. Iimmediately spotted Nyktos in the shadow of the Rise, lifting a broadsword. I told myself it was because he was taller than the dozen or so others with him as he met another’s blow. Or that it was the warming in my chest, the faint humming of the ember that belonged to him. I convinced myself it had nothing to do with the anticipation, theeagernessthat sprang to life upon seeing him.
Saion moved in behind me, looking out over my head at the guards squaring off in pairs. “They’re training.”