My jaw tightened with irritation, causing pain to flare as I quickly looked past him to where the double doors remained open, revealing the breezeway beyond, flooded with sunlight.
“Either way, I’m going to attempt to complete what I intended when I entered the chamber yesterday,” he continued. “You were in need of a bath then. That is now an understatement.”
He spoke in a tone that matched his smile as he gestured to the privacy screen. Friendly. Conversational. He’d spoken like that when I first arrived in the cage, and it was just as unnerving now as it had been then. But I was more focused on what he’d inadvertently shared.
A day had passed.
And that meant Ash had been imprisoned for at least two days.
“Where is—？” I caught myself as my panic overrode intelligence. I’d almost said, “Ash.” Using that name would seem too intimate. Too affectionate. “Where is Nyktos?” I demanded, knowing better than to ask Kolis. It probably wasn’t much smarter to ask Callum, but I needed to know. “Is he still imprisoned?”
“Once you finish bathing, you will change into clean clothing.” He went on as if I hadn’t spoken. “If you’d like, I can choose something for you to wear.”
Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
Callum’s head tipped to the side. A strand of blond hair that had slipped free of the knot at the nape of his neck fell against the gold paint down his cheek. “Do I need to repeat myself?”
My fingers curled inward, pressing into my palms. “Where is Nyktos?”
A faint smile appeared as if he sensed my rising frustration. “Once you’re clean and dressed, you may eat if you’d like. If you’re not hungry, you can rest. It’s possible there will be time for both before His Majesty returns for you.”
Anger boiled inside me as I clenched my hands tighter. I may eat. I could rest. It reminded me too much of my youth, where every minute and hour of my days was summed up by what I could and could not do.
He quietly moved closer, stopping to stand in front of the cage. “But what you will not do is stand there,” Callum went on in the patient voice of a parent speaking to a young child. “In your filth, soiling your quarters.”
“My quarters?” I let out a sharp, brittle laugh that caused the side of my face to ache. “You’re calling a cage that?”
“I’ve been in your world many times. What you call a cage is better than what most have there.”
Immediately, I thought of the cramped tenements in Croft’s Cross. Unfortunately, he spoke the truth. Somewhat. “Yes, but most have their freedom.”
His smile took on a patronizing edge. “Do they? One would think they were prisoners to their poverty and the rulers who care little for them.” He paused. “Like your mother, my dear friend Calliphe.”
I stiffened at the reminder of his past contact with my mother. After all, Callum had shared with her how a Primal could be killed, which, admittedly, made little sense. Because that kind of knowledge endangered every Primal, including Kolis. Still, neither had known about Sotoria’s soul. They’d never considered me a threat.
“But she no longer rules, does she?” Callum tacked on, his smile growing until a hint of teeth was visible. “Queen Ezmeria, along with her Lady Consort, does.” Speaking of my stepsister, he snapped a finger. “You know what? I haven’t paid her a visit. I should so I can…congratulate her.”
Every part of my being locked up as I stared at the Revenant. There was no love lost between my mother and me, but Ezra was one of the few people who had treated me like a person. I cared about her. Loved her.
“And just so you know,”—Callum leaned forward and lowered his voice—“I’m well aware of the wards Nyktos placed around your mortal family. Nice of him to do so, but rather pointless. I’ve already been invited inside Wayfair. No wards will keep me out.”
It didn’t pass me by that I’d just learned something new about the Revenants, but that didn’t matter at the moment. I stepped forward, feeling the embers in my chest thrumming. “If you go near her, I will—”
“What will you do?” His brows rose, causing the painted wings across his forehead to crease as I slowly approached the bars. “Other than offend my senses with your stench. You smell of the ceeren, and the gods only know what else.”
My chest clenched at the mention of those who’d given their lives in the water. “I will make you wish you stayed dead.”
Callum chuckled lightly. “I’m not sure if you realize this or not, but in your current condition and situation, your words are not nearly as threatening as you may think.”
I matched his smile. “How did it feel when I slammed that glass into your throat?”
“Wonderful,” he replied. “Can’t you tell?”
“I don’t know much about whatever you are, but I have to imagine that coming back to life isn’t exactly pleasant, especially when you have numerous injuries to heal.”
His smile froze.
I was right. My lips curved more. “And I bet reattaching your head is painful, just as repairing your heart.” I lifted my brows. “But your cock? How did that feel?”
“I have a question for you,” he said. “How did it feel going through all that trouble, only to end up exactly where you were?”
My nostrils flared with a burst of anger.
“I bet it feels just as good as it did regrowing a dick,” he said. “And by the way, that was totally unnecessary and brutish.”
I rolled my eyes. “Disagree.”
“And so like something His Majesty would do,” he tacked on. “But you have always been more like him than you’ll ever be willing to admit.”
I stiffened. “If you think that, then you know nothing about me.”
“I’ve watched you for years,” Callum announced. “Kept an eye on you for Kolis.”
My skin prickled with irritation. I was getting really tired of learning that I’d been watched. Ash had done it, too, although his reasons had been less…cringe-worthy. “I’m sure that was a stimulating task.”
“Well, not particularly. But when you decided to start spending your time fucking instead of moping about, it became far more entertaining.”
The heat of my anger simmered just below the surface. “You’re such a fucking creeper.”
“Perhaps. But I know everything about you, Seraphena,” he said, the glow of eather flaring in his eyes, though fainter than a god’s. “Every irrelevant detail of the insignificant, sad life you’ve led. I know enough to realize the only time you ever appeared to actually live was when you were killing.”
He struck a nerve, and I glared at him. What he’d said wasn’t true. I always felt like I was dying.
I’d felt as monstrous as Kolis.
I lifted my chin. “Yet you didn’t know who I really was, did you?”
Callum’s lips flattened.
I smirked. Just like with Kolis earlier, I knew better than to clarify that. “You watched me for years, and you never realized that I was the one thing His Majesty,” I said, mockery dripping from my tone, “valued more than the embers of life. I bet that really pissed him off.” I gave Callum my best sympathetic smile. “And worse yet, it likely made him so disappointed in you.”