Following the reveal of Seraphena (Sera) Mierel’s true identity as the Primal of Life in A Shadow in the Ember, Nyktos bows on one knee before her. Sera recoils, but Sir Braylon Holland, her mentor and an Arae or Fate, tells her that the gesture is apt since, as a holder of the embers of life, all other gods owe Sera respect. The goddess Penellaphe recounts the prophetic vision that her mother received from the Ancient Primals, in which a queen of flesh and fire (mortal and divine at the same time) ruled the realms along with the god born from blood and ash. Penellaphe thinks that Sera may be the prophesized queen, a belief that Nyktos seconds. For all these reasons, as well as to safeguard the embers of life, Sera must be protected from the power-hungry gods. To offer her added protection, Nyktos wants Sera to be crowned as his Consort.

The Primals—the highest of the many layers of gods—have sensed that someone in the Shadowlands (the realm of Nyktos) has the exceedingly rare power to give life. In the previous book, Sera used the embers to Ascend the dying Goddess

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