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“I think he feels you are more than a responsibility,” he quipped with a smile that caused a dimple to wink to life.
The breath I took scorched my lungs. It hurt because I’d spoken the truth. Ash did feel responsible for me. He cared for me. He was fond of me. But he could not feel what Attes was clearly suggesting.
It took a lot for me to breathe past the burn and focus beyond it, but I did. Because I had to. “Then how will this prevent a war?”
“I didn’t say you were preventing a war,” Attes corrected softly. “I said you would be preventing the kind of war Kolis spoke of. There is a difference. While I know Nyktos is capable of many terrifying things if pushed, it pales in comparison to what Kolis will do. With Nyktos free, he’ll be able to protect his people and gather support.”
“Is there support to be gained?”
“There can be.”
My hands fell to the cushion. “That’s not good enough.”
“Look, news of what Kolis has done is spreading. It will make others uncomfortable, even if Kolis thinks it won’t stir up too much unrest,” he said, and I immediately thought about Phanos’s response upon seeing me. “But Kolis likes to forget that Nyktos comes in as a close second in the top three Primals that no one wants to piss off.”
“Let me guess. You’re number three?” I remarked dryly.
“You’re very clever.” That dimple was back.
And I was unimpressed. “Has anyone told you that you’re so very stab-worthy?”
A low chuckle radiated from him. “I’ve been told that a time or a thousand.”
I snorted. “Figured.” Easing my death grip, I stood. “What about you and your support? Will you back—?” I stopped myself, looking at the Primal. I remembered what he’d said. Attes claimed only to be loyal to the true Primal of Life.
And as he’d said, for all intents and purposes, that was me.
I inhaled deeply, or at least thought I did, but the breath filling my lungs felt disappointingly shallow. My chest constricted with anxiety like a fist squeezing my heart with every beat. “You will back Nyktos on whatever he chooses and aid him in gaining allies,” I began, my voice trembling slightly. Making demands such as these wasn’t something I was accustomed to. “He will have your full support and that of your Court.”
Attes’s head tilted. “Is that an order?”
My heart raced. At the end of the day, I was still just a mortal ordering a Primal to do my bidding. But the embers in me hummed intensely. I lifted my chin, swallowing. “It is, even if you find yourself standing opposite your brother.”
Wisps of eather whipped through his eyes and lit up the veins beneath the skin of his cheeks. He angled his body toward me.
“You will swear it,” I added, knowing a Primal could not break a promise once made.
Energy ramped up, charging the air. For a moment, I thought I might’ve overstepped a smidgen.
Or a lot.
Probably a lot.
“Very clever,” Attes murmured, then stepped forward and lowered himself onto one knee. Placing one hand over his heart, he bowed his head. “With my sword and my life.” Eather-laced eyes lifted to mine. “I swear to you, the One who is born of Blood and Ash, the Light and the Fire, and the Brightest Moon, to honor your command.”
My title…the one Ash had bestowed upon me. I inhaled sharply as another charge of energy rippled through the air, skating down my spine. I could feel it. I felt the power in commanding such an oath. It caused the nape of my neck to prickle, and the embers to thrum fiercer. His words carried the strength of an unbreakable oath etched into his bones and mine—into the very soil of the realm itself.
And that sudden power? It was as unnerving as it was emboldening. It was also a little awesome.
Attes waited, and I nodded for him to rise, only because I had no idea what I was supposed to respond with and had seen my mother and King Ernald do something similar.
As Attes rose, I cleared my mind and tried to focus. “What will be done about Sotoria’s soul?”
“I’ve been searching for a way to safeguard it, and I will continue to do so.” There was no trace of humor or charm to be found, and when he spoke again, he did so somberly. “I know what it will take for you to gain Kolis’s trust and garner Nyktos’s freedom. It’s the same thing you’ll have to do to stay alive.”
Growing uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, I shifted from one foot to the other.
“And I…” A muscle ticked in his temple. “I’m sorry.”
