A Light in the Flame

Nyktos and Sera walk toward the dais where Rhain stands. At the podium, Nyktos bows on one knee before Sera. He asks Sera to bend at the waist so that he can crown her and places a crown of moons, lined with chains of diamonds, on her forehead. He then announces Sera, the Consort of the Shadowlands, the “[o]ne who is born of Blood and Ash, the Light and the Fire, and the Brightest Moon” (510). As the gathering applauds for Nyktos and Sera, a golden mark appears on their hands. Nyktos announces that this is a very rare occurrence, signifying that the Fates have blessed their union.

Nyktos points out the various Primals attending their wedding. Attes is present, as is Kyn, surprisingly. Sera had thought that the god was too furious at her killing of the draken to attend. Keella, the Primal of Rebirth, is also present. Nyktos tells Sera that Keella is one of the few Primals with a clear moral compass. Keella blesses Nyktos and Sera.

Sera and Nyktos return to the palace in the carriage. Nyktos tells Sera that his deepest desire is to hear her call him Ash as they make love. Sera and Nyktos consummate their union in the carriage. In Nyktos’s chambers, they discuss the day’s events. Sera thinks that the ceremony went off without a glitch, which is unexpected. The topic shifts to Sera’s change of heart about Nyktos, and Sera admits that she knows about Veses, though she does not reveal that it was Rhain who told her. In surprise, Nyktos breaks the wine glass that he is holding, injuring his hand.

Later, Sera wakes up to find that Nyktos’s skin is too cold. She realizes that he has lost a lot of blood from the glass cuts. She asks Nyktos to feed from her to replenish himself, and Nyktos reluctantly agrees. The following afternoon, they go to the capital of Irelone to seek Delfai. In Cauldra Manor, the seat of royalty, they find Kayleigh. Kayleigh is happy to see Sera but shrinks from Nyktos. However, Nyktos puts her at ease. Sera enquires about Delfai: Kayleigh does not know him as a god but as a scholar who has been living with her family for the last three years, educating her. She takes Sera and Nyktos to the library, where Delfai greets them, telling them that he has been waiting for this moment for the last three years.

Delfai tells Sera and Nyktos that he was growing impatient as he waited for them. Thankfully, the Balfours—Kayleigh’s family—are lovely people whose family name is destined for greatness. When Nyktos tells Delfai that they have more pressing matters to discuss, Delfai reveals that he knows what the Primal seeks. Kolis stole a diamond called the Star to remove the embers from Ethyos. The diamond, created by the flames of dragons, was drawn by the Arae from the Undying Mountains in the mortal realm to serve as a conduit for the purest eather and the embers of life. The process of transfer is simple: A Primal or an Arae would need to touch the Star to the being from whom the embers are being withdrawn and then to the recipient.

As Nyktos wonders how to get the Star from Kolis, Delfai interrupts that the diamond is not required to transfer the embers from Sera to Nyktos. Since Sera is not a fully ascended Primal, all Nyktos needs to do is feed all the blood from her. As Sera is drained of blood, the embers will automatically pass to Nyktos. The only hitch is that Sera will die in the process. The embers have fused to her being, and their loss is sure to kill her.

Nyktos erupts in anger, demanding Delfai to tell him another way to get the embers. Delfai replies that, sadly, there is no other way. Further, if Nyktos does not kill Sera and take the embers from her, some other Primal surely will, which would be catastrophic. Nyktos lunges furiously at Delfai, nearly throttling him to death, but he releases him after Sera intervenes. As Delfai recovers, he mutters that he had foreseen that Nyktos would kill him, but that did not come to pass. There is still cause for celebration and hope since “a silver beast and a brightest moon. Two. Not one” are still around (557). Sera cannot make sense of Delfai’s words and wonders if Nyktos has damaged his mind.

On the way back to the Shadowlands, Sera tells Nyktos that he must be the one to kill her. If Kolis learns about the embers—as he surely will—he might kill her to become the true Primal of Life. Such unlimited power to the sadistic god would be the end of all the realms. Nyktos refuses to entertain the suggestion, saying that he will find a way. He wishes that he hadn’t gotten his kardia removed. Then, he could have loved Sera and Ascended her without killing her. He wishes that he could love her. As Nyktos hugs her in grief, Sera requests that when the time to kill her arrives, he should take her to her lake. Nyktos makes the promise.

As Nyktos and Sera shadowstep into the Shadowlands in a whirl of mist, they see fires lit all over the landscape. Nyktos screams that the Shadowlands are under attack. They rush toward the Rise and meet Saion on the way. Saion informs them that they were ambushed by Kyn and that his draken and dakkai are destroying the Rise. Saion warns them about what they are about to see in the palace. Sera spots the corpses of guards and gods chained against pikes, their hearts ripped open. Among them are Aios and a decapitated Ector. Nyktos assumes his most gigantic Primal form, rising in the air to fight with Kyn’s draken. Sera asks Saion to bring down Aios from the pike. She brings Aios back to life and sends her inside. Next, she has Ector brought to her. As she is about to revive him, the dakkai rush to Ector and tear him apart.

Sera screams in rage, and Nyktos hovers overhead, attracting the dakkai to him. His voice in Sera’s head asks her to run. Sera scrambles inside and runs into Attes. She initially feels relief, believing that she has found an ally. However, Attes tells her not to be grateful yet. He reveals that he is in collusion with his brother and that all they want is her for her embers. If Sera removes Penellaphe’s protective charm and comes with Attes, he will stop the war immediately, sparing those she loves. Sera agrees, realizing that she never had a choice in the matter.

Sera wakes up from nightmares to find herself shackled by the throat in a cage. Dyses comes forward to see her. He tells her that she was knocked out by Attes and brought to Dalos. Attes kept his promise and ceased the attack on the Rise, and Sera feels thankful. Dyses asks Sera if she recognizes him. Sera realizes that Dyses is Callum, a man in the mortal realm who often spoke to her mother, Queen Calliphe. It was Callum who told Calliphe about how Nyktos could be killed. Callum was planted in Calliphe’s court by Kolis himself, who has always known about Sera. Sera’s father, King Lamont, summoned Kolis on the night of her birth, asking the god to make a new deal with him and free his newborn child from the original pact between his ancestor and Ethyos. Though Kolis couldn’t undo the deal, he could surmise that Ethyos had placed the embers of life in Sera. Sera is sickened at the reveal that Kolis has been playing Nyktos and her like puppets all along.

Sera cannot understand why Kolis did not kill her as a baby and take the embers himself. Kolis enters the cells and tells her that he wanted to make sure that she had the embers at their fullest power before harvesting them. The complete prophecy about her says that she would be the bearer of two crowns and the bringer of life to “mortal, god, and draken” (587). Kolis waited until Sera had Ascended Thad and the draken and been crowned Nyktos’s Consort, thus bearing two crowns as Princess of Lasania and as co-ruler of the Shadowlands. Now that Sera has proven to be the one prophesized, Kolis will kill her and become the Primal of Life and Death. He will have unlimited power. Kolis grabs Sera and sinks his teeth into her throat. He begins to feed from her, intending to drain her of every drop of blood. As Sera thrashes in pain, she wonders if Nyktos can feel her agony. Sera can hear Sotoria’s voice speak through her, telling Kolis that he is killing her again. Kolis recoils. The voice laughs and tells Kolis that it is Sotoria. Attes then enters the cells. He tells Kolis that it is possible that Keella, the Goddess of Rebirth, planted Sotoria’s soul in Sera. Sotoria’s soul has not been known to be reborn in centuries, indicating that Keella kept it. Kolis lets go of Sera, horrified that he might have tried to kill Sotoria. As Sera collapses, she sees trees through the open doors. Under the trees is a silvery-white wolf, which Sera guesses is Nyktos.