Heart lurching, I spun toward the sound. The high-pitched, agonized shrieks came from Jacinta. Her fingertips were pressed into her painted cheeks, clawing into them.
I stepped toward her, lifting my empty hand to comfort her. “You’re okay.
You’re—”
She darted past me, her gauzy gown fluttering around her legs. Worried that she was in shock, I turned to stop her as she sprang forward toward the god.
“No, no, no,” she cried, stopping me in my tracks as she dropped to her
knees before the chair. She grasped the god’s bloodless cheeks. “Evan, please open your eyes.”
Evan?
“Please!” she begged—screamed—over and over.
A heavy thumping sound whipped my head to the side, and I felt the breath I took lodge in my throat.
Naberius’s tail slid across the tile. Muscles along the draken’s face clenched, then one vibrant red eye with slanted pupils opened. His head lifted as the scaled skin below his nostrils vibrated and pulled back. A row of thick, sharp teeth appeared, and a low snarl hit the air.
A buzzing sound started in my ears as I turned back to Jacinta, the hum increasing with each staggered heartbeat. I took a step back as she pressed her shaking hands to the god’s chest, over the wound. I wanted to tell her that it was too late for that, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I couldn’t
process what I was seeing. He’d been hurting her. Kolis had said…
A wave of chills swept down the back of my head and neck. Shimmering blood dripped from the shadowstone blade I held as I kept backing up, looking around, my gaze now as wild as Jacinta’s had been. I saw Attes first. The scar running from his hairline and across the bridge of his nose and left cheek stood out starkly. His jaw was clenched, eyes sheltered. Keella had her hand pressed over her heart, her normally warm brown skin ashen. Pressure settled on my chest as my gaze skipped over the hard lines of Kyn’s features before moving to the dais.
Kolis smiled, then lifted his chalice. Even from where I stood, I saw that this smile was different. It was like the one he’d worn when he ordered me to kill Thad. It was the same cruel lift of lips.
“Will someone please assist with dear Jacinta before Naberius does it himself?” Kolis instructed, lowering his chalice to the arm of the throne as
my gaze darted to the draken. He’d risen slightly on his forelegs and peered into the alcove. “And remove Evander from our presence.”
Every muscle in my body tensed as I stood there. Guards came forward. Naberius’s head swiveled back around, growling at those who neared him. I closed my eyes, feeling my chest become tighter. Breathe in. Each breath I took felt too short, too shallow. Hold. A loud thump came again, followed by a curse. Breathe out. Jacinta…her cries grew more distant, muffled—
A sudden gust of hot air blew strands of hair back from my face—hot air that smelled like…meat.
My eyes popped open.
Two nostrils I might be able to fit my hand inside were only a few feet from my face.
“Naberius,” Kolis shouted.
Thin lips vibrated, peeling back farther from those wicked teeth as the draken leaned in, close enough that I saw the strands of saliva clinging to his fangs.
Kolis yelled his name again. “Stand down. Now.”
It didn’t look like Naberius was about to do that as his breath ruffled the strands of my hair. A low rumble came from his throat once more.
Naberius looked like he was about to eat me.
I thought I should feel fear. Of all the ways to die, I imagined draken teeth tearing into flesh and crunching bone was likely a painful one. Regardless, I felt nothing but lingering confusion and disbelief. I didn’t even feel the embers.
As Diaval crept into the edges of my vision, Naberius…sniffed me.
The draken huffed out a breath that sent the top of my gown blowing back. Then he retreated, drawing his tail toward him.
“Come on,” Diaval growled in exasperation, jumping out of the way of the draken’s thick tail.
A different guard wasn’t as fast.
Naberius’s tail swept the legs right out from under him, knocking the god onto his back.
I blinked.
“Seraphena.” Attes’s quiet voice intruded, causing me to jerk. He stood close but didn’t touch me as Naberius’s head returned to the floor, and his eyes closed. “You should return to the dais.”
My gaze shifted back to Kolis as he reclined on the throne. “I…I don’t understand.”
“It’s okay,” Attes reassured, but it wasn’t okay. It was nowhere near all right. “You need to return to the dais.”
I didn’t feel myself walking, but I was. Attes stayed close to my side until I reached the platform. He remained there until I climbed the steps.
“Thank you, Attes,” Kolis said, his swirling eyes locked on Naberius.
Attes might have answered, but I wasn’t sure as the conversations picked up behind me, once more becoming a quiet murmur of voices.
“I don’t understand,” I repeated.
“About what? Naberius? He is old. Therefore, grumpy.” “I’m not talking about the draken.”
Kolis’s gaze slid to mine. “Then what are you confused about?”
He couldn’t be serious. “Evander. He was hurting her.” “He was,” Kolis answered.
“Why did she react that way then? She behaved as if—” I wheezed in a pained breath. “She behaved as if she cared for him. But that’s not possible. They weren’t known to each other. She didn’t like what he was doing to her.”
“And how do you know that?” “You told me—”
“I did not tell you that.” Kolis’s head tilted, sending a lock of blond hair
across his face.
“W-what?” I stammered, a wave of disbelief coursing through me. “You asked me what I would do if I knew—”
“I did ask what you would do if you knew someone’s consent was not obtained, but I did not say she was being forced.”
He had. My thoughts raced over our conversation. He’d named them and then said Evander knew how to feed and give pleasure, but he enjoyed pain. Then…then he’d said, “So now you know.”
He hadn’t explicitly said the god was forcing Jacinta.
I shook my head. “I saw her. She was in pain. She was crying.”
“Tears of pain? Or ones of pleasure?” Kolis asked. I opened my mouth. “Did you ask her? I assume not.”
Why would I ask her in front of the one hurting her? That was irrelevant anyway. “Why would I ask when you led me to believe—?”
“I didn’t lead you to believe anything, my dear,” Kolis cut in. “I asked what you would do in such a situation. You answered that you would shove a blade through their heart. I told you what I saw. You didn’t ask if they knew each other. You didn’t ask if she was in distress. You only asked about yourself and how your actions would affect you.”
I flinched.
“You, like my nephew and far too many others, hear what you want to hear. See what you want to see,” Kolis continued. “And then act upon what
fits your narrative.”
“That’s not what happened,” I argued. He’d disregarded the entire context of our conversation leading up to that.
Kolis leaned forward. “That’s exactly what happened, so’lis. You filled in what I did not share. You chose to act upon that information and what you already believed. That was your choice.” His smile returned. “Perhaps you won’t be so trusting of what your eyes and mind tell you next time.”
As I stood there, I remembered the shock on Keella’s face. No. No. I looked around, not seeing her in the crowd. “What…whose Court did
Evander—?” My voice cracked. “Where did he serve?”
Kolis dragged the edges of his fangs over his lower lip, and I knew. I fucking knew then. “He served in the Thyia Plains.”
Evander had been one of Keella’s gods.
My body flashed hot and then cold as the motivation behind what had just gone down became all too clear. It wasn’t about proving some twisted version of reality to me. It was Kolis striking back at Keella, who he likely knew didn’t believe a single thing he’d said about the coronation or my answer.
And he’d proven it through me. Just as he’d done with Kyn.
Callum went to Kolis’s side, bending to speak quietly to the Primal. I… I just stood there.
I couldn’t believe what he’d just said. I knew what I’d heard. What I’d seen. Kolis may not have said that Jacinta was being forced, but he had implied it. He hadn’t insinuated that she was enjoying herself or that she
derived pleasure from receiving pain. He’d told me what he believed I wanted to hear. What I…
What I would have easily assumed and had assumed moments before when I saw Malka and Orval. He’d known what I would do and had goaded me into it.
Into killing a possibly innocent god.
Into punishing Keella for daring to ask about me.
The weight of the dagger I still held felt even heavier then. I looked down. Blood no longer dripped, but it still smeared the midnight-hued blade. My knuckles around the hilt were as white as Jacinta’s had been.
Slowly, I lifted my gaze to Kolis. He still spoke to Callum, one hand relaxed on the arm of the throne that glittered like his crown, the other holding the chalice by his fingertips, letting it dangle. His legs were spread, knees loosely bent. He lifted an arm, brushing some hair back from his face. Warm light glinted off that band around his biceps. The false King was entirely at ease, the smile on his face slippery and smug.
In an instant, my memories took me back to when I’d stood before Thad. When the young draken had asked me to get it over with. I saw in Kolis now what I’d seen then.
What was in that golden essence of his—his power and beauty. A
darkness that had nothing to do with death. It was the same thing I saw in his smile. The kind that was just as real as the lopsided, uncertain ones.
Something tainted. Vile.
Corrupt.
It smudged the aura beneath his flesh and shaded the gold in the lifeless gray of the Rot.
The embers in my chest started thrumming violently. And like before, I was there, but I wasn’t alone.
I felt Sotoria.
I could feel the ancient power of the embers awakening and stretching. I felt the same entity I did before, entrenching itself deep in my bones. And I heard that voice in my thoughts that started as a whisper and became a scream. Mine. His stolen power. It was mine. The crown. Mine. His pain. It would be mine. Vengeance. Retribution. Blood. Mine. All of it would be
mine.
But this time, I knew the entity was what the embers had shaped me into from birth. The voice wasn’t a spirit nor the ghosts of many lives.
It was my voice.
The entity was me. Who I truly was.
And I was full of pure and primal rage. As my lips curved into a smile, I
took a quiet and quick step toward Kolis.
“Your Majesty,” Attes called, his deep voice like a crack of thunder.
Kolis looked up, though not at me. He looked straight to where Attes stood at the foot of the dais. “Yes?”
“Is it time to start?” Attes asked as something white and gold filled my vision.
A chest covered in a white tunic and protected by golden armor—that the shadowstone dagger I held had begun to penetrate.
I looked up, finding Elias standing before me. My entire body jerked.
Wordlessly, he took his dagger from my suddenly limp, cold hand. “Sit,” he said quietly.
Trembling, I turned as if in a daze and sat. I stared forward, not seeing
any of those before me. My gaze fixed on the ivory chair in the alcove. It was empty, with nothing but a stain of bluish-red blood on the back of the seat.
 |
The numbness slowly faded, leaving only simmering anger as I stared at a heavily muscled beast about the size of a horse but shaped like a dog with skin the color of midnight oil.
A dakkai rested beside the steps leading to the dais, chewing on what looked suspiciously like someone’s leg bone. My lip curled. There was still meat on it.
I’d nearly had a heart attack when the thing first arrived and trotted across the dais. Kolis had only laughed, calling to it like one would a favorite hound. He’d even scratched the beast beneath the chin, avoiding the meaty leg bone jutting from either side of its mouth. The dakkai merely sniffed the air around me and then went to where he lay now as Kolis finally held Court.
It wasn’t like the kind Ash held in the Shadowlands or what I’d seen in Lasania. Nor did it consist of gods droning on about what was asked for or left as offerings at one of his Temples.
Yes, gods who called Dalos home came before the false King with requests. Some asked for permission to travel between Courts. Others wanted to enter the mortal realm. Kolis approved what they sought with an indifferent nod, appearing mostly bored with the proceedings.
Blowing out a ragged breath, I scanned the crowd below. I found Attes beyond the crush, his brows lowered and jaw set hard as he leaned against a pillar.
Shame prickled my skin. I didn’t even want to know what he thought about what I’d done. Or if Kyn had shared with him the second deal I’d made with Kolis. But as I stared at him, I thought about our conversation regarding Sotoria’s soul. Had he found something? There had to be. After all, there was The Star—the diamond taken from the Undying Hills the Arae intended to
use in case they ever needed to hold the embers of a Primal if no Primal of Life could Ascend to replace one who’d fallen. Obviously, one of the Fates had foreseen what was to come but hadn’t seen that what they’d created would give Kolis the object he needed to transfer the embers.
Gods, that still ticked me off. But if The Star was powerful enough to hold embers, couldn’t it do the same for a mortal soul?
Kolis had the diamond. Somewhere.
But hadn’t he offered me jewels? More importantly, would he be idiotic enough to give me such a powerful item? Likely not, but it was worth a try.
Kolis’s movements snagged my attention. He sat straighter, his upper body tipped forward as he listened to the two gods who had approached the dais. The dakkai was gone. It must have wandered off at some point. I hadn’t been listening closely enough to pick up the gods’ names. My mind was far too consumed with thoughts of what I’d done. I couldn’t care all that much
about what they had done. All I knew was that the one on the right was angry with the one on the left, over some sort of perceived insult.
“What would you like me to do, Amais?” Kolis asked.
“I want him punished,” the one on the right, who I assumed was Amais, demanded, jeweled rings glittering on his clenched hand. “Seir has insulted my honor.”
The other rolled amber-hued eyes that reminded me of others. “As if there is any honor left to be insulted.”
Despite my internal crisis, my brows lifted.
Amais spun on Seir, eather crackling from his fingertips. “Cease,” Kolis ordered with a wave of his hand.
Nostrils flaring, Amais stepped back and faced the false King. “Your Majesty, something must be done about him.”
“Exactly what was this perceived insult?” Kolis asked, his fingers tapping on the arm of the throne.
One he shouldn’t be sitting on.
“It is most egregious, Your Majesty,” Amais said. “He insinuated that I’m a cheat.”
A dull ache pierced my temples as I glanced between the two gods. Seir wore brown breeches and a simple cream tunic. Meanwhile, Amais reminded me of one of the Lords of the Vodina Isles with his all-white attire and glittering, jeweled fingers.
“A cheat at what?” Kolis pressed.
Amais lifted his chin. “He accused me of cheating at a game of cards.”
“And what do you have to say to this, Seir?”
My lips parted on an inhale. Was this for real? Amais was here because the other had accused him of cheating at a game of cards, and Kolis was actually entertaining it? For gods’ sake, it was all so…mortal. No wonder I was getting a headache.
“He was cheating,” Seir answered with a shrug.
Amais’ hands fisted. “I have been your loyal servant since you Ascended as the Primal of Life.”
I believed he meant since Kolis killed to become the Primal of Life.
“Any insult, no matter how paltry,” Amais continued, “is an insult against you, Your Majesty.”
Well, that was an exaggeration.
“You have been loyal, Amais. Impressively so.” Kolis leaned back, his attention shifting toward the pillars. The unnamed draken I’d seen earlier, and the Revenant I suspected was Dyses, now stood with a veiled Chosen. “I wish I could say the same about you, Seir.”
My attention darted back to the gods before me. Seir had lost his casual stance, and Amais…
That god now smiled broadly enough to show fangs.
“I, too, am a loyal servant.” Seir’s golden skin had lost some of its luster. “And yet you have not given my title the respect it deserves.”
That wasn’t true. Seir had called him Your Majesty and bowed upon approaching the dais. He just didn’t say it every five seconds like Amais did.
“Therefore, you shall become a reminder to all how unwise it is to have your loyalty called into question.” Kolis’s fingers stopped tapping.
And that was it.
Seir’s legs caved, the strong bones cracking like thunder. His neck followed suit, breaking and silencing his screams of pain before they could even pass his lips. The embers in my chest throbbed as the god hit the floor, still alive but wounded.
“Put him on the wall,” Kolis instructed.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Amais bowed. “There is no other like you.” Disbelief flooded me as two guards came forward to collect Seir, and
Amais strode from the Council Hall with a swagger. I didn’t move until then, finally turning to Kolis.
Aware of my stare, he looked down at me. “You appear displeased.”
It took me a moment to find words. “Is that what you wanted to show me?
How you wanted us to spend time together?”
Kolis arched a brow. “You said you’d enjoy some time outside your quarters. I have Court, and as much as I would like to spend my day catering to your wants and needs, I have responsibilities.”
I didn’t know what the most sickening part of that was. The fact that he’d completely missed the point of what I was saying? Or that he sounded as if he’d rather spend the day catering to me.
“When I asked to leave my quarters,” I said, making myself say what I did next, “to spend time with you, I didn’t expect this.”
“And what is this exactly?”
“You showing me that the Primal of Life is capable of nothing but death.”
The perfect lines and angles of his face lost all their summery warmth. “How do you figure that is all I’ve done?”
“What happened with Evander—” “That was your choice.”
That was such bullshit, but if he wanted to play this game…fine. “You allowed me to do it, knowing that he was not causing Jacinta harm. That doesn’t foster endearment or even fondness. All it did was prove a point that could’ve been told to me instead of shown.”
Kolis went completely still.
“Then you broke a god’s legs and neck for simply calling another god a cheat?”
“No, my dear, there was nothing simple about what I did,” he said as if speaking to a naïve child. “I sentenced him to death for disloyalty and
disrespect.”
“Exactly how is calling another god out for cheating a sign of disloyalty and disrespect.”
“It was not that but rather his lack of displayed loyalty and respect before me.” His tone hardened. “This is not a question of a god being loyal to another Primal, therefore loyal to me. It is about maintaining control and
balance both here and in the mortal realm.”
Oh, I saw exactly how this was about maintaining control. “How does any of what has occurred at Court today maintain balance?”
“It shows that every action has a reaction,” he replied.
My gods, I truly believed Tavius could’ve come up with a better response than that.
“Just as the action of questioning my choices, a sign of disloyalty and disrespect would be met with reaction.” His hold on the throne firmed. “One that means immediate death.”
The back of my neck prickled as I told myself to focus on donning my veil of nothingness. To be quiet.
Unsurprisingly, I did not listen.
“Am I to be sentenced to death, then?” I noticed Elias shifting where he stood behind the throne. “I have questioned your choices many times.”
“You have. Perhaps you should cease reminding me of that.” The gold brightened in his eyes. “But you are different. I will not punish you for doing such.”
At that moment, I almost wished he would try. “Stand,” he commanded.
I blinked. “What?”
“Do I need to repeat myself?”
Having no idea what he was about to do, I stood.
Kolis’s lips curved into one of his fake smiles. “Come forward.”
I inched toward him, stopping at the arm of the throne. The chalice he’d held had disappeared somewhere.
“Sit.”
My brows furrowed as I started to turn back to the pillow. “Not there.”
The prickling along my neck picked up as I slowly turned back to him.
“Sit with me,” he stated softly. He did not ask. He ordered.
My heart rate picked up. “I don’t think there is enough room for both of us, Your Majesty.”
The forced smile spread as that gleam entered his eyes. “Silly girl,” he murmured, causing my spine to go rigid. “I am not asking that you sit beside me.”
I knew that. I was just hoping he wasn’t demanding that I sit in his lap while he held Court.
That smile of his began to fade. “So’lis, do you refuse me such a simple request?”
Yes!
I wanted to scream that until my throat bled. There was nothing simple about it. Only disgust. But if I refused him? Especially while his guards and Revenants were so close? While the gods and Primals watched? While Attes watched? Who knew what he would do?
Donning that veil of nothingness and holding it close, I stepped between his legs. My gaze briefly met Elias’s as I turned, sitting so I was perched on Kolis’s knee—
His arm snaked around my waist, hauling me deeper onto his lap.
Stomach churning, I stared ahead, not allowing myself to feel anything.
“As I was saying,” Kolis began, his voice low as he spoke directly into my ear, “you will not be punished for questioning my past decisions. But continuing to do so?”
My hands balled into fists as I held them in my lap.
“That will make me rethink the deals we struck. Both of them.” My breath snagged in my chest.
“I will not break them,” he said, drawing his hand across my waist. “But…”
Kolis let the word hang in the air between us. I knew what came after. He could recapture Rhain—technically, he would’ve still fulfilled his deal. He could also delay releasing Ash. There were so many ways out of his agreement that I hadn’t been wise enough to foresee.
Yet another failure.
Worse yet was the knowledge that him simply mentioning the deals we’d made gave him the upper hand.
And why would he ever want to lose that by fulfilling the one that carried the most weight?
Releasing Ash.
Kolis’s nose brushed the side of my face. “Do you understand, so’lis?” “Yes,” I answered, my nails digging into my palms.
“Good.” Kolis patted my hip. It took everything in me not to give in to the
chill of revulsion. “And I’m capable of more than just death.” Lies.
“I will prove it to you.” He leaned back just enough that I no longer felt his breath on my skin. “You will see.”
I closed my eyes, not giving a damn about him being able to create life when his unspoken threat choked me.
Kolis didn’t need to break his promise. He could simply continue finding reasons not to release Ash. Panic started to unfurl as I opened my eyes and looked at the blurred faces of those who remained in the Hall. Chest
tightening and thrumming, I scanned the crowd, catching sight of the cold, harsh lines of Attes’s features, and his brother…
Kyn was seated in one of the alcoves near the dais, a drink in one hand, and the other under the gown of a woman in his lap. Her head was buried against his throat, and based on the way her arm moved between them, she, too, had at least one hand full.
Kyn wasn’t paying attention to her. He was staring straight at me, a smirk fastened on his lips.
I hated him.
And I fucking hated Kolis.
Chanting that in my head, I pulled my gaze away, skipping over red and gold before landing on Attes. He pushed off the pillar, his jaw tightening.
Wait.
That red…
It was the shade of blood. And that gold?
My head swung back. I searched those on the floor below, looking for that
sheen of polished stone and gold…gold hair. My breath left me as I realized it wasn’t some fancy headpiece I’d seen.
It was a crown.
One shaped like a small jade tree carved from stone the color of blood and streaked with gold.
And it sat upon golden hair that fell in cascading ringlets.
A cluster of gods at the center of the floor parted as the female strode forward—more like glided—toward the dais. She wore a lacy ivory gown that clung to a lithe figure, showcasing an impossibly narrow waist while revealing the large swells of her breasts.
My heart pounded as I lifted my gaze to full lips the color of dewy apricots, and a delicate nose set in a smooth complexion that was only a little paler and less creamy than I remembered. Disbelief thundered through me.
No.
There was no way.
But it was her, walking toward us, her slim hips swaying. The Primal Goddess of Rites and Prosperity.
Veses.
