Laces of golden eather swirled faster across his chest. “You’re right.” His chin lifted. A heartbeat passed. “Put the sword down.”
That would not happen. “Make me.”
“Come now,” he said with a low chuckle, his wide mouth curling into a mockery of a smile that bordered on patronizing. He started toward me, the wind off the sea tugging at his linen pants. “What do you think you’re going to do with that?”
Waiting until he was within reach of the blade, I showed him exactly what I could do. I thrust out with the shadowstone sword, aiming straight for the bastard’s heart.
Kolis’s eyes widened, and his brows lifted, creasing the skin of his forehead. The stunned look on his face was comical. It was as if he couldn’t believe that I dared to do such a thing. I would’ve laughed, but he was a Primal.
And he was fast, his reflexes as insane as Ash’s. But like with the guard, I had the element of surprise. Kolis didn’t really believe I would attack, which cost him a fraction of a second.
The shadowstone blade pierced his skin, and my lips split in a savage grin.
The second the sword sank into his chest, he knocked the hilt from my grasp with such jarring force that I lost my balance in the unforgiving sand and fell to one knee.
The sword vibrated where it was partially lodged in his chest, a half an inch—if that—to the right of his heart.
Son of a bitch.
Shimmery blood trickled down Kolis’s chest as he gripped the sword’s hilt, tearing it free. The very moment the blade was out of his body, the damn wound immediately stopped bleeding.
Thick, dark clouds raced over the once-calm sky, blotting out the stars and moon. A stuttered heartbeat passed.
Lightning suddenly streaked above and energy swamped the air, slithering over my skin and causing the embers in my chest to flare. The weight of the soaking power was oppressive, threatening to push me into the ground.
Heart thundering, my head jerked up. Fury was etched into every line of Kolis’s face and set the hard jut of his jaw. The veins in his cheeks lit up with golden-tinged eather. The embers in my chest responded, beginning to thrum wildly as the Primal essence turned his eyes into silver pools with flecks of gold.
“That is the second time tonight I’ve had a sword pierce my flesh.” Light pulsed from his hand, and the shadowstone sword he held evaporated into nothing, not even dust. “I did not appreciate it before, and that has not changed.”
My stomach hollowed as I shot to my feet. I’d stabbed Ash more than once and threatened to do so again too many times to count, but I’d never been afraid of him. Not even when he went full Primal on me in the Dying Woods after I accidentally hit him with a bolt of eather.
But I was afraid of Kolis.
I tried to swallow, but my throat seized. I took a step back.
Kolis swiped a hand over his chest and looked down at his blood-smeared palm. He tilted his head and lowered his hand. “That was very unwise.”
“It was,” I rasped. “I probably should’ve aimed for the head.”
His gold-flecked silver eyes went flat. Absolutely dead.
I did the only sensible thing. Pivoting, I ran. This time, no guards stood in the shadows of the sweeping palms. My arms and legs pumped— Kolis caught my hair in a fist, jerking my entire body back. Fiery pain erupted in my scalp as my feet slipped. I landed on my knees again. Knowing this put me at a dangerous disadvantage, I attempted to regain my footing while he dragged me through the sand.
Kolis hauled me up and whipped me around. “Now that, I am more accustomed to.” He yanked my head back.
I gasped as pain traveled from my scalp down my spine. Grabbing hold of his arm, I tried to loosen the tension.
“The running-away part, in case you’re wondering what I meant.”
A tiny part buried deep inside me knew this was one of the moments I needed to keep my mouth shut and think before I did anything. Not only for my life but also the entirety of the mortal realm.
But I refused to cower before him. She refused to do it, no matter the cost. No matter how foolish it was. I was not weak, and I’d been wrong when I first heard the legend of Sotoria. She was not weak either.
“That sounds like something to be proud of,” I spat, bringing my knee up fast and hard.
I’d missed his heart before, but I did not miss now.
My knee slammed into his groin. A roar of pain erupted from Kolis, and his arm cut through the air—
Agony exploded in my jaw and cheek. A metallic taste immediately filled my mouth. I went down, catching myself a second before I face-planted in the sand. I didn’t even know what part of him had hit me. His arm? A fist? Whatever it was had my ears ringing. For a moment, the pain stunned me enough that I feared it was something Ash could feel if he was conscious.
Rocking back onto my knees, I breathed through the pain until the initial brutal shock of it lessened. I spat a mouthful of blood onto the sand, shocked that a tooth hadn’t come flying out with it.
“Godsdamn it,” Kolis snarled. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.” The white linen of his pants edged into my vision. “Are you all right?”
A spasm ran through me. He sounded…gods, he sounded genuinely concerned, and that sent a chill down my spine. “What do you think?”
“I told you not to push me,” he reasoned, the sound of his breaths sharp and short. “But you’re determined to make me into the villain.”
“Make you a villain?” A wet laugh left me as I pushed to my feet. I lifted my throbbing head. “You’re already that.”
“I never…” Kolis’s eyes tracked the blood running down my chin, and he flinched. The fucker actually flinched at the sight of the blood he’d drawn. “I never wanted to be that.”
“My gods,” I whispered. “You’re unhinged.”
In the moonlight, his cheeks deepened in color. “If so, then I am only what my brother made me,” he snarled.
“Is there anything you don’t blame your brother for?” I snapped.
Kolis shot forward so fast I sucked in a stuttered breath and jerked back a step. And I hated that I’d retreated, that I’d given him even an inch.
He halted, his chest rising and falling rapidly. A moment passed, then another. It was clear to me that he was keeping himself in check. Barely. “This is not what I want—us fighting.”
“I don’t care what you want!” I shot back, my stomach twisting. I wasn’t exactly sure that had only been me who’d yelled the words.
His hands fisted at his sides. “Do not push me, so’lis.”
So’lis? I had no idea what that meant, but I thought Sotoria might because her rage was palpable, and it was most definitely her that screamed what came out of my mouth next. “Fuck you!”
I didn’t see him move before I felt his grip at my throat. My hands flew to his. I pried at his fingers, but it was no use. His fingertips pressed in, making it difficult to breathe.
“I warned you not to push me,” Kolis accused, his nostrils flaring. “Yet you do exactly that and more.”
Ignoring the fluttering panic in my chest, I met and held his stare.
“I think you’ve spent too much time with my nephew.” Kolis smirked. “And I saw him give me that very same look tonight. I’m sure I will see it again soon enough.”