That had to be the most accurate observation I’d ever heard.
As Callum turned to him and opened his mouth, I beat him to it this time. “He still doesn’t believe I’m Sotoria.”
Callum’s jaw tightened, and he took a step back as Kolis strode forward. Making sure I felt nothing, I looked at the Primal and then focused on the important things. I searched for any sign that he’d been around Ash. There was none. He looked just as he had when he’d been here before. Then again, what kind of sign would there be? Still, a tempest of disappointment brewed within me, much like the storm clouds I’d summoned moments earlier.
“He’s just in denial,” Kolis answered, approaching the cage. I sipped the water.
Watching Kolis unlock the door with a wave of his hand, I could almost feel the oppressive weight of his arms around me. My hand trembled slightly as I lifted my glass, and my back stiffened.
Kolis stopped at the cage door. “It’s not every day that one learns their sister has truly returned to them.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Sister?
Choking on the water, I spit some out as I coughed, staring wide-eyed at the false King.
Kolis’s mouth spread into an untried, lopsided smile. “Are you all right?”
“No,” I wheezed, flapping my hand in front of my wide, stinging eyes. There was no way I’d heard him correctly. No way. “What did you just say?”
Kolis’s forehead creased and then smoothed out. “Ah, you don’t remember. He is your brother, your younger brother.”
My stare remained fixed on the false King, so paralyzed by the shock of his revelation that I wasn’t even thinking of that thing he’d done to me. “You can’t be serious. He’s not…” I couldn’t even bring myself to say it. The fact that Callum was Sotoria’s brother and not mine didn’t matter.
“I’m not what?” Callum demanded.
“Sane?” I snapped. “Likable? Reasonable? Not vomit-inducing or the opposite of a murderer?”
“Charming yet again,” Callum retorted. “She’s Sotoria but doesn’t know I’m her brother?” His lips pursed. “She recognized me the last time we met.”
“She does not remember those lives,” Kolis told him as he entered the cage, his eyes…gods, his eyes fucking twinkled. “Souls reborn don’t have memories.”
“She did last time,” Callum countered.
“That was different, and you know it,” Kolis said. “Her life was restored. She was not reborn.”
“Whatever,” Callum muttered, glaring at the opposite wall. And, man, if looks could kill, that wall would be, well…it’d still be a wall, but the Revenant looked…
He looked as disturbed as I felt.
Dear gods, could this really be Sotoria’s brother?
That palpable unease in the center of my chest near the embers that wasn’t entirely mine told me he was.
“Holy shit,” I whispered, taking a step back. I placed the glass on the table before I dropped it. “You really are…” I still couldn’t say it. “Good gods, what is up with there being such an abundance of terrible brothers?”
“What is that supposed to mean?” The golden strands of Callum’s hair whipped out as his head cut toward me. A faint twitch in his nostrils hinted at his rising annoyance. “Wait. Do you think to compare me to the mortal trash known as Tavius?”
“I can’t argue with that descriptor,” I said. “But if the shoe fits, lace that bitch up and wear it.”
Callum’s mouth dropped open, and he looked positively aghast.
“You’re siblings,” Kolis remarked dryly. “You two argue just like Eythos and I once did.”
We both fell silent as we turned to him.
Kolis smiled broadly.
“And look how that turned out,” I murmured under my breath, needing liquor. Hard, mind-numbing, and memory-destroying alcohol. But something occurred to me then. I turned back to where Callum stood. “I asked if you were Chosen. You lied.”
His chin went up a notch. “I didn’t lie.”
“Bullshit.” I stepped forward. “How else—？”
“He was not lying,” Kolis interrupted, drawing my gaze to him. He was less than a foot from me.
I couldn’t stop myself from taking half a step back from him. I hated the reaction. I hated how my heart started pounding, and I especially hated how he frowned. It was as if he had no idea why I’d do such a thing.
As if he’d forgotten how he’d shamed himself.
“You had two siblings. An older sister named Anthea, and a brother.” He nodded in Callum’s direction. “When you left me, I visited your family.”
Pushing the incident as far as I could to the back of my mind, I refocused. I assumed he meant when Sotoria died the first time after being frightened by him. But she hadn’t left him. She’d run from him.
“I wanted to apologize,” Kolis shared, a distant look creeping into his features. “And to explain to them that I petitioned my brother to return their daughter to the realm of the living.” His jaw flexed. “But that was as fruitful as speaking with Eythos. Your parents…” He sighed, his eyes narrowing on the bars. “They were frightened of me, too. It didn’t matter how many times I said I wasn’t there to cause harm, they cowered in the corner of their small home, shrieking and wailing in their mourning clothes.” A muscle throbbed in his temple. “Only your brother wasn’t afraid.”
I glanced at Callum. He’d now turned his death glare on the shadowstone tile.
“He spoke to me. Answered my questions about you,” he continued, the skin between his brows creasing. “He admired you greatly.”
“Really?” I drawled.
“Yes.” Callum’s head shot up, his pale eyes burning. “Sotoria was kind and fierce. She always looked out for me, taking on my chores if I overslept or wasn’t feeling well. She never grew annoyed with me. I loved—” His breath hitched. “Yes, I admired her.”
I didn’t know what to say to that as I closed my fingers around one of the silky tassels on the gown’s belt.
“He grieved your death deeply,” Kolis said. “Felt responsible.”
I looked between them. “Why would you feel responsible?”
Callum didn’t answer.
Kolis did. “He was supposed to be with you when you were picking flowers for Anthea’s wedding. Instead, I believe he was fucking the baker’s daughter.”
Callum turned his head, and my brows inched up my forehead.
“He believed he could’ve prevented the tragedy if he had been there,” Kolis said. “Could have calmed his sister.”
Could he have? Possibly. “But how did he become a…Revenant?”
“Before I took my leave, he asked me to take him to Sotoria to apologize. I explained that was not possible. Mortals who have not passed judgment are not allowed in the Vale. He became distraught.”
Weight constricted my chest, thinning the breath I drew in, and I knew that what I felt was Sotoria’s sorrow—and maybe even a little of mine—because I…I thought I knew where this was heading.