A Light in the Flame

A Light in the Flame (2022) by Jennifer L. Armentrout is a romantic fantasy novel for adults that continues the intricate tale of Sera and Nyktos, who are destined to be each other’s soulmates. The second installment in the Flesh and Fire tetralogy, the novel follows Sera and Nyktos as they battle powerful enemies, dark secrets, ancient prophecies, and an unsolvable puzzle: The more powerful Sera grows, the closer she is to death. As Sera and Nyktos become Consorts, the greatest question that remains is whether love will be enough to save Sera from death and the kingdom from a sadistic, corrupt tyrant. Combining elements of high fantasy, romance, and paranormal literature, the novel is filled with magic, epic battles, and sensuous scenes. Through Sera and Nyktos’s perilous journeys, the novel explores the themes of Fate Versus Free Will, The Corrupting Influence of Power, and The Quest for Identity and Self-Acceptance.

Armentrout, a New York Times best-selling author, is the creator of the popular and interlinked Flesh and Fire series and Blood and Ash series. She won the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award in Romance for From Blood and Ash. Armentrout writes across genres for both adult and young readers, sometimes under the pen name J. Lyn.

This guide refers to the 2022 Blue Box Press paperback edition.

Content Warning: The novel and this guide contain references to sexual assault, abuse, death by suicide, panic attacks, murder, torture, violence, and dismemberment.

Plot Summary

Princess Seraphena (Sera) Mierel of the mortal kingdom of Lasania has grown up training to become the Consort of Nyktos, Primal God of Death, and then kill him. Doing so will stop the Rot, the disease that is rendering lands barren and causing drought. However, everything that Sera assumed about herself and Nyktos is turned on its head when she learns that she is a holder of the embers of life, a precious divine essence that enables her to heal wounds and resurrect the dead. The powerful embers make her a potential Primal of Life, the highest among all gods, but there is a catch: They are also killing her. Sera can be saved if she is Ascended—turned into a god—but the only way to achieve this relies on the love of Nyktos, and Nyktos has ensured that he is incapable of love. Sera and Nyktos now need to find a way to remove the embers safely from Sera before she Ascends to godhood. Until then, Nyktos wants to keep Sera hidden in his realm, the Shadowlands, so that the other power-hungry gods do not sense the embers in her. Nyktos is particularly wary about his uncle Kolis, the false King of the Gods, who stole the rest of the embers from Nyktos’s father, Ethyos, and appointed himself Primal of Life. There is another secret that Kolis cannot know: The Fates have hidden the soul of Sotoria, a mortal woman whom Kolis has chased through several cycles of life and death, in Sera.

The reveal about the embers shows Sera that the god she needs to destroy is Kolis; only when Kolis is subdued will the Rot stop. When a group of gods attacks Nyktos’s fortress looking for Bele—a goddess whom Sera resurrected in the previous book—Sera decides that her presence is too dangerous for her friends. Sera flees Nyktos’s palace to seek Kolis and kill him, but Nyktos catches up with her and brings her back. Nyktos extracts a promise from Sera not to seek Kolis alone and to wait until she is coronated as his Consort. Days before Sera’s coronation, Kolis sends the Primal Attes to the Shadowlands, forbidding Nyktos and Sera from marrying. Kolis wants to approve of Sera in person before his nephew officially takes her as a Consort. Sera and Nyktos are troubled at the order but know that they must present themselves before Kolis when he summons them since it will be a bad idea to anger the King of the Gods.

In the days while Sera and Nyktos await Kolis’s summons, the understanding between them grows, leading to a newfound honesty. Sera and Nyktos resume the intimacy of the previous book, often making love. Sera tells Nyktos that though she knows he is incapable of love, she wants them to fulfill each other’s desires without guilt or shame. Sera also develops close friendships with Nektas, a draken (dragon-like creatures who can also take mortal form); Nektas’s daughter, Jadis, and her draken friend, Reaver; and the gods Bele, Aios, Saion, Rhain, and Ector. This harmony is disturbed when Sera finds Nyktos in a compromising position with Veses, the Primal Goddess of Rites and Prosperity, with Veses consuming Nyktos’s blood sensuously. Angered at what she sees as a betrayal, Sera tells Nyktos that her trust in him is shattered. Nyktos assures her that his relationship with Veses is not sexual but refuses to explain its nature.

Amid this tension, Kolis finally summons Sera and Nyktos to his court. Nyktos tells Sera that they need to present a united front before the canny, cruel Kolis. Sera is struck by the opulence and corruption in Dalos, Kolis’s city, where Kolis is using his power to create zombie- and vampire-like creatures. Kolis tells Nyktos that he is displeased that his nephew chose a Consort without his permission. Sera must now make amends by proving her worth and slaying a young draken from the court of Attes and his brother Kyn. Thoroughly repulsed by what she must do, Sera kills Thad, the draken who was dragged to Kolis’s court in his human form. Kolis deems Sera worthy, and she and Nyktos leave. Sera asks Nyktos to take her to Vathi, the court of Attes and Kyn. There, she resurrects Thad. Attes recognizes Sera’s power and pledges his allegiance to her. Back at the Shadowlands, Veses enters Sera’s room unannounced and goads her. When Reaver flies to Sera’s defense, Veses nearly kills the little draken. Sera and Veses battle, and Nyktos has the goddess subdued and imprisoned.

Rhain, one of the gods who guards Nyktos, tells Sera that Veses has known the secret about her embers for years. In exchange for keeping the secret, Veses asked Nyktos to feed her his blood whenever she desired (gods and Primals gain life force by partaking in divine blood). The feedings have never been enjoyable for Nyktos. Sera regains her trust in Nyktos and tells him that she genuinely desires to be his Consort. Nyktos crowns Sera as the Consort of the Shadowlands, bestowing the title with two crowns since she is the princess of Lasania and his Consort. Nyktos and Sera reconcile and visit Delfai, an oracle, to find a way to safely remove the embers from Sera before she Ascends to godhood. At first, Delfai tells the couple that there is no safe way to take the embers from Sera and that she is destined to die. However, after he survives a prophesized fatal attack from an angry Nyktos, Delfai states that what he has foreseen may be wrong. Sera and Nyktos cannot understand Delfai’s answer.

When they return to the Shadowlands, they find the kingdom under attack from the forces of Attes and Kyn. Sera feels betrayed by Attes. Her heart sinks when she sees that Aios and Ector have been butchered and tied to pikes driven into the ground. She resurrects Aios, but Ector is torn apart by dakkai—creatures shaped like enormous dogs, having wide mouths and jagged teeth—before she can get to him. As Sera takes a breather from the vicious battle, Attes secretly approaches her and tells her that the war can be stopped if she comes with him willingly. Sacrificing herself for Nyktos and her friends, Sera agrees. Attes brings her to Dalos, the court of Kolis, where Sera learns that Kolis knew about the embers all along. Since it has been prophesized that a mortal Primal power will rise and challenge the order of the gods, Kolis believes that Sera is that power. He was waiting for the conditions of the prophecy to be fulfilled—the Primal power has been described as having two crowns and resurrecting a draken—before killing Sera and taking the embers from her. Kolis tries to throttle Sera, but just then, Sotoria’s voice speaks through Sera, accusing Kolis of killing her again. Kolis lets go of Sera, unsure of what to do next. Meanwhile, Sera glimpses a wolf from the open windows and guesses that this is Nyktos, come to fight for her.