Breathing through the burning pain of the bite, I stiffened as a low snarl rumbled through the courtyard, whipping the smoke into a frenzy. What in the world? Goose bumps spread across my flesh, and several of the entombed gods turned to the Rise, their heads cocking—
I turned at the sound of pounding footsteps, gasping as a fallen god rushed me. I planted my hand against its chest, thrusting the dagger through its temple. A dizzying rush of pain left me nauseous, leaving me slow to pull the blade free. And it cost me. Another fallen slammed into me. I hit the ground, throwing up my arm and blocking the fallen as it came down on me. Wrong move. I knew that. I’d screwed up. Never get laid out on your back. I knew that.
The fallen’s fangs sank into my forearm.
I screamed as I brought up my leg, wedging my knee against the god’s sunken stomach. I felt each swallow the bastard took. Felt the moan rumbling through its body. I pushed with all my strength, getting nowhere. The sound of pounding boots, shouts, and screams echoed as the ground shook beneath me. A bit of panic seeped in because this…this might be it. This might be how I died. I would be torn apart by fallen gods, just as Nyktos had warned I would be the first time I’d come across them.
No.
I would not die like this.
Kicking my head back, I shouted as I thrust the dagger into the side of the fallen’s head. It toppled, my heart stuttering at the raw agony—
The realm turned black.
Silent.
Still.
I thought I might’ve passed out for a heartbeat, but my shoulder and arm still throbbed, and I felt the sudden thrumming of the embers.
Strikes of eather suddenly pierced the churning darkness above me. They came from every direction, spreading out across the courtyard and slamming into the fallen gods, cutting off shrieks mid-scream as the essence poured over their bodies. They shattered, one after another, after another…
Then, through the mass of thick, throbbing shadows, I saw him.
Nyktos, in his Primal form.
He hovered in the air, his wings a mass of pulsating eather and shadows spread wide, his skin shiny and hard, a stunning, whirling kaleidoscope of shadowstone and moonlight. Silvery essence crackled from his all-white eyes and palms. The shirt he wore hung from his shoulders in tatters, rippling around his form.
Gods, he was…terrifying in this form. Beautiful. Primal.
Orphine’s rough-scaled muzzle nudged my arm. “Hi,” I croaked.
She crouched over me, aiming at an entombed god that remained standing as Nyktos lowered to the ground.
Fine shivers broke out all over me. I could feel his stare on me as he stalked forward, catching the god before the draken could.
Nyktos gripped the fallen by the head and ripped him in two. Straight down the middle. With his bare hands.
Good gods…
Dropping the still-twitching limbs and limp pieces on either side of him, his wings snapped back, shattering into faint shadows as he stalked forward. The eather-pierced darkness faded from his flesh, but the shadows were still gathered beneath, swirling violently.
I thought that maybe I should sit up or do something, especially as Orphine backed off, bowing her diamond-shaped head. Nyktos was so going to be angry with me, and I’d just seen him rip a god in two with his bare hands. But all I managed to do was rise onto one elbow and…that hurt, sending a bolt of pain through my shoulder and arm.
Nyktos crossed the remaining distance between us too fast for me to track. Shadowy wisps bled into the air around him as he knelt. Only a hint of his eyes was visible in the pools of silvery essence.
I drew in a shallow breath, but it did nothing to ease the faint trembling invading all my limbs. “I think…there’s something wrong with me.”
The shadows stilled under his flesh, deepening as the eather pulsed through his eyes, momentarily erasing his irises once more. His arm lifted.
My breath caught as his warm fingers touched my cheek, sending a faint energy shock through me. “Because you just tore apart a god with your hands, and I found that…kind of hot.”
A ragged laugh came from someone, and I heard Ector mutter, “For fuck’s sake…”
Some of the hardness went out of Nyktos’s jaw. “You’re hurt.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Liar.” His fingers slipped from my cheek. He peeled the bloodied collar of the robe aside and cursed. The shadows went wild beneath his flesh, and I saw the faint outline of wings beginning to form behind him for a moment. But when he turned his head to the bloody boots nearing us and said, “Bury our dead and burn the rest,” there was nothing there.