I almost laughed. Yeah, I’d likely been a terrifying figure, but I knew I wasn’t what truly scared them. “I’m not talking about them. I saw one feeding on another.”
Callum said nothing.
“And she killed him,” I continued. “But he came back. Not like you. He was—” The embers suddenly pulsed in my chest, jerking my attention to the doors.
“You feel him?” Callum asked. “I can see that you do.”
My palms turned clammy as I rose. “Then why do you ask?”
“Because,” he answered, much like a rotten little child.
The doors swung open, and I couldn’t prevent the immediate burst of fear upon seeing Kolis enter the chamber. It invaded all my muscles, causing me to go rigid. Even after I forced myself to relax, it lingered like a dark cloud.
Intrigue flickered across Kolis’s features as he approached the cage. “What are you two discussing?”
I opened my mouth to lie with who knew what, but Callum, the bastard, beat me to it.
“She was asking about the Chosen she killed,” Callum shared, retrieving the key from his pocket. “And then the one who returned. She was sharing her astute observation of how Antonis wasn’t a Revenant.”
Antonis, I repeated to myself. So that was the name of the Chosen who’d come back to life and tried to attack me.
“Of course, not.” Kolis frowned and looked at me as if I were somehow supposed to know what he was. “Some would call him cursed. A once-mortal, now-decaying body plagued with an insatiable hunger. Craven.”
A flurry of nerves churned in my belly as Callum unlocked the cage door. The soft creak of the hinges sent shivers down my spine. I told myself that he must not know about Attes because I doubted we’d be talking about Craven if he did.
“They are nothing more than an unfortunate…side effect.”
“Side effect of what, exactly?” I asked, watching Callum step aside.
“Of creating the Ascended. They are the product of maintaining balance and giving life.” Kolis smiled then, ducking as he entered the cage.
Fear collided with my already-frazzled nerves, unleashing a surging tide of potent emotions I battled to restrain. I gritted my teeth in a desperate attempt to keep them at bay, ignoring the flare of pain it caused. “The Ascended? I don’t think I understand.”
“The woman you spoke of? The one I was told you killed.” The smile faded as the door was closed behind Kolis. “She was an Ascended. My child.”
I drew back in surprise. “You don’t mean that in the literal sense, right?”
“I played a role in the creation of her new life,” he replied. “Does that not make her my child?”
I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t know what he meant by playing a role. “How?”
“By Ascending her, just as my brother did with those before.”
A jolt of incredulity surged through me. Everyone had said that no Chosen had Ascended since Kolis’s reign began.
With keen discernment, Kolis’s observant stare flitted across my face. “That surprises you to hear? Did my nephew not explain how the Chosen are made into gods? It’s through Ascension.”
I tensed at the mention of Ash.
“Whether or not he did, I can see you don’t believe me.” His jaw clenched, and the gold flecks brightened in his eyes. “You think I cannot give life just because I cannot make a god like my brother did?”
Oh, damn. I’d hit a nerve. “I—”
“It does not matter.” His hand cut through the air in a curt wave. “This is not what I came to speak to you about.”
A heavy thud resounded from within my chest. Maybe I had been too quick to think he hadn’t learned about Attes’s visit.
“Leave us,” Kolis bit out.
Outside the cage, Callum said, “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Kolis crossed the cage, going to the table. “You didn’t answer my question.”
I blinked rapidly. He’d spoken?
“I asked if you’ve been resting.” A glimmer of gold swirled beneath the flesh of his cheeks. “Since I last saw you.”
Did he actually think I’d been relaxing? My mouth opened to ask him that, but I stopped myself.
The plan.
I had a plan.
Ash was far more important than the momentary satisfaction of speaking my mind. I took a deep breath and held it, forcing my mind to clear. Years’ worth of training I wanted nothing more than to forget pieced themselves together, reminding me why I needed to be a blank canvas.
It was the only way to adapt to his needs, allowing my personality to become painted with what he wanted and all he approved of. It was a part of the art of seduction the Mistresses of the Jade had taught. Pay attention to what is said and what is not spoken. Movements and actions. Knowledge of a person could always be gained.
And used.
I already knew that Kolis didn’t like cursing. Apparently, he also didn’t enjoy being called out when he was being a creep, which was unfortunately often. What did he like? I already knew from my few interactions with him that he didn’t enjoy others arguing or fighting back. He was nothing like Ash. Kolis wanted meekness. And I would bet that, above all else, he desired submission.
My fingers curled into the skirt of my gown as I cleared my throat. “I have been resting.”
“Good.” He gestured at the table. “Would you like something to drink? It will be disappointing if you decline.”
Irritation buzzed through my veins, and I wasn’t sure if I was more frustrated with his small manipulation or myself. He wanted me to drink, so I drank. He wanted me to stand on my head, I would stand on my fucking head. That was what it would take. I knew that.
“Yes.” The word fell from my lips like dead weight.
Kolis smiled, flashing straight, white teeth and fangs. That smile…it was momentarily startling because it was strange. I still couldn’t put my finger on why, but it was a nice smile. For all the Primal’s horribleness, he was a beautiful being. That couldn’t be denied.
And neither could his crimes against both mortals and gods.
I watched him make his way to the table and lift the stopper on a decanter. He didn’t walk as much as he glided. His bare feet barely skimmed the floor, as if the air itself carried him forward. He was dressed as he had been when I briefly saw him in the Sun Temple the day of the Rite. A fitted white tunic and loose linen pants. Both were speckled with gold. His hair was down, tucked back behind his ears, and from the side, there was no mistaking how nearly identical his features were to the painting of his brother Eythos that hung in the House of Haides’ library. There were slight differences. Kolis’s jaw and chin were broader, and Eythos’s brow was stronger, but they were still twins.
And it was impossible not to see parts of Ash in those features. The angles and planes of Kolis’s face were more refined, less raw and wild than Ash’s, but the similarities were unnerving, nonetheless.
Kolis poured a glass of clear liquid that formed tiny bubbles that raced to the surface of the slender flute. “Callum told me you asked about my nephew.”
Motherfucker.
I was also a motherfucker because I had been desperate enough to ask Callum about Ash.