A Shadow in the Ember (Flesh and Fire 1)

I exhaled. “Danger has come to the Shadowlands because of what I did. I will not stand back and do nothing when I can fight.” I lifted my chin, meeting Nyktos’ chilly stare. “I am no threat to any of your people.”

His head tilted. “You are no threat to me.”

I stiffened, but that was all. “I can help, but you do whatever you want. Lock me away or take me with you. Either way, you’re wasting time.”

Nyktos’ chin dipped as he stared me down. “While the idea of locking you away holds much appeal at the moment, there is no time to ensure that you’d be secure and wouldn’t escape. So, you’re coming with me.” In the span of a heartbeat, he was within a foot of me. I tensed, managing to hold my ground. “But if you do anything that jeopardizes any of my people, being locked away will be the least of the things you’ll face.”

I didn’t miss the looks of disbelief that Rhain and Ector exchanged, nor did I doubt Nyktos for one second. “I don’t want to harm any of them.”

“No.” His smile was a tight mockery. “Just me.”

The veil slipped. “I didn’t want to harm you either.”

“Save it,” he snapped, grabbing my hand. The jolt of energy was a warm buzz. His grip was firm but not painful as he led me from the room.

Nyktos tugged me past the thrones and off the dais. Ector and Rhain were right behind us. The darkened room was eerily quiet except for the clap of our boots. It was a struggle to keep up with his long-legged pace. All I focused on was keeping my mind from going back to the chamber and why he was now Nyktos to me. I couldn’t think about it as we neared the foyer. Nyktos walked so fast, I missed the slight rise in the floor, the barely-there step between the open chamber and the foyer. I tripped—

Nyktos’ hand tightened on mine, catching me and keeping me from tumbling face-first into the hard shadowstone.

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

“Don’t,” he bit out.

I pressed my lips together as the veil slipped even more. His anger was no surprise. I couldn’t and wouldn’t blame him. It was my inability to remain in that nothingness that caused my chest to twist.

Saion stormed through the open doors, drawing to a halt as he spotted us. “Something’s happening at the wall, along the bay.” His gaze flicked to our joined hands, but he showed no reaction. “I’m not sure what yet. Rhahar is readying Odin. Bele has gone ahead.”

“Do you know if there have been any injuries yet?” Nyktos asked, striding forward.

“One of the smaller ships capsized,” Saion advised, a step behind us. Ahead, Rhahar led the massive, midnight steed toward where several horses already waited. “Rescue efforts were halted when one of those ships turned over.”

“What in the world is in that bay that could capsize ships?” I asked.

“There shouldn’t be anything,” Nyktos shared, surprising me since I half expected no answer.

“The waters have been dead for years. Not many things can survive in them for long,” Rhain added. “Not only that, the waters are pitch-black—”

“Which makes rescues even more difficult,” Saion said. “If not impossible. Anyone, god or mortal, goes into those waters, they’re not likely to come back out.”

A chill swept over me as Nyktos took the reins from Rhahar. He turned to Ector. “I need you to grab me a hooded cloak and meet me at the gates to the bay.”

Ector sent a glance in my direction, brows pinched. He looked as if he wanted to say something but reconsidered. “Of course.” He turned, racing off toward one of the many side entrances hidden under the staircases.

“Have the other gates to the city been sealed?” Nyktos asked.

“In the process, from what one of the guards shared,” Saion confirmed. “And they’ve started evacuating those along the bay, moving them inland.”

I turned to Odin, unsure exactly how I was supposed to mount a horse of his size. I’d have to figure it out because I wasn’t foolish enough to ask for my own mount. I reached for the strap on the saddle as Nyktos gripped my hips, lifting me with shocking ease.

I started to thank him but kept my mouth shut as I slid a leg over the saddle, seating myself.

“Is she really coming with us?” Rhain asked, hoisting himself onto the back of his horse.

“You want to stay back and make sure she remains wherever we put her?” Nyktos swung himself up behind me, and I clamped my jaw shut.

“No,” Rhain answered.

“Then she comes with us.” Nyktos reached around, tightening his hold on Odin’s reins. “Hold on.”

I firmed my grip on the pommel a second before Odin launched into a gallop that quickly picked up speed, kicking up dirt and stirring dust. Out of instinct, I tipped forward as Nyktos guided Odin around the side of Haides and along the Rise. Saion and Rhain fell in line beside us. We raced through a narrower gate, across hard-packed dirt that glittered with specks of embedded shadowstone. Bare-limbed, bent trees that reminded me of the dead ones I’d first seen upon entering the Shadowlands surrounded the road. Mist gathered and seeped around the gray trunks. Through the gnarled, heavy branches full of blood-tinted leaves, I caught glimpses of the Rise, where it began to climb so high, I couldn’t see the tops of the ramparts. Sweeping towers appeared through the trees, spaced hundreds of feet apart before the Rise appeared to flow outward, farther away from the road until I could no longer see it.