“I feel like I need to sit down, except I’m already sitting,” I murmured, and Casteel gently squeezed the back of my neck. So many things that Reaver had and hadn’t said now made sense. “So that’s why her name cannot be spoken? Because she’s the Primal of Life? That’s…bullshit.”
Several pairs of eyes landed on me.
“It is! Everyone is like oh, Nyktos this and Nyktos that, and the whole time, it should have been Seraphena this and Seraphena that. Did Nyktos even make the wolven? Was it even him who met with Elian to calm things after the deities were killed?”
“Nyktos did meet with the Atlantian and the kiyou wolves,” Nektas shared. “But it was the Consort’s essence that gave the wolven life.”
I stared at him for what felt like an eternity. “That’s some sexist, patriarchal bullshit!”
Casteel’s body shook against mine again. “She has a point.”
“She does.” Nektas lifted his chin. “And doesn’t. The Consort is the one who chose it to be this way. For her to remain unknown. Nyktos only honors it because it is as she wishes.”
“But why?” I demanded.
“You know…” Kieran said. “For once, I would also like to know the answer to a question she’s asking.”
I shot him a glare.
“Because of this.” Nektas spread his arms. “Everything Nyktos and the Consort have done. Everything they have sacrificed was to prevent this.”
Alarm bells began ringing inside my head.
Casteel’s amusement quickly faded. “What part of all that just went down is the this you’re referencing?”
The draken zeroed in on Casteel’s tone as his head tilted. “What Kolis did when he stole Eythos’s essence had catastrophic consequences. It prevented any other Primal from being born. The Consort’s Ascension was like a…cosmic restart,” he explained. “But only if a female descendant was born and Ascended would that restart begin anew. And it begins with you and your children if you choose to have them. They will be the first to be born Primal since Nyktos.”
“I…” I started, my head feeling as if it might spin right off my shoulders. “That is a lot.”
“It is.” Casteel’s thumb moved along the curve of my neck. “Why only a female?”
“Because it follows whoever the current Primal of Life is.”
“So if Kolis hadn’t taken Eythos’s essence, and Nyktos had eventually become the Primal of Life as he should have, then Malec and Ires would’ve been Primals?” Casteel reasoned. “But they weren’t because it took a female descendant to be born first?”
Nektas nodded, and I was glad that Casteel understood that because I wasn’t sure I did.
“But what does that have to do with preventing this?” Kieran asked.
Nektas’s gaze shifted to me. “Because what Nyktos and the Consort did to stop Kolis—what balance the Fates demanded—meant there could be no more Primals born. The why behind that, well, there’s not enough time in the realms to go into that,” Nektas said. “But Nyktos was supposed to be the last born Primal, and the Consort would be the last Primal born of mortal flesh. You,” he said quietly, “were never supposed to be.”
“Sorry?” I whispered.
The draken cracked a small grin. It was brief, but I saw it. “The plotting that brought about your creation is not something you should apologize for,” he said, his voice softening. “Malec and Ires were already well on their way to being born by that point. But what was done to stop Kolis meant that Malec and Ires could never risk children. Malec did anyway, but that…that is Malec,” he said with a sigh. “We all got lucky before.”
“Because it meant risking having a daughter.” My skin chilled. “That’s why they stayed in Iliseeum.”
“Until they didn’t.” Nektas’s gaze flicked to the night sky. “They were not forbidden to come here. They were born in this realm. But they were strongly advised against it. The risk was too great. Creating that cosmic restart allowed for what Nyktos and the Consort did to stop Kolis to be undone.”
But we’d stopped it. Malec lived. For now. “Why were they born in the mortal realm?”
“Nyktos and the Consort felt that it was safer that way.”
His answer left me with more questions, but there were far more important ones to ask. “So, I’m what? A loophole?” I said, and Kieran scowled. “One that Isbeth learned about and exploited?” It could’ve been Malec who told her of this or… “Callum. Where is he?”