A fire in the flash

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 a

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, thi

“He withdrew a small knife from his belt and slit his throat,” Kolis said quietly.

“Gods,” I whispered, rubbing the center of my chest.

“I held you as you died.” Kolis’s voice thickened, filling with the heaviness of anguish carrying the sharp, bitter edge of regret. “And then, days later, I held your brother as he, too, took his last breath.”

I sealed my lips together with a firm press, not wanting to be affected by the emotion in Kolis’s voice—by the tragedy. It was hard not to be, though. Back then, it was quite possible that Kolis wasn’t yet such a monster. He had merely been Death…

Well, Death with obsessive tendencies and poor interpersonal relationship skills. Like really, really poor interpersonal relationship skills.

But he wasn’t what he was now.

“I couldn’t allow him to die, and knowing Eythos would not intervene on my behalf, I did what was forbidden of Death.” A wry, humorless smile appeared on Kolis’s features. “I gave life.”

“You…you Ascended Callum?” When Kolis nodded, I frowned. “But he’s not like the one I saw, the one you called an Ascended. She had pitch-black eyes. And he wasn’t a third son—”

“Because they are not the same,” Kolis answered.

My thoughts raced as I eyed Callum. If he wasn’t… “Revenants are demis then?”

Based on how dramatically Callum rolled his eyes, I was going with no.

“No, my dear, they are not.” Kolis smiled, and my skin felt like it was coated in slime. “We will discuss this more later when we don’t have other pressing needs to take care of.”

Needs.

Everything revolving around Callum fell to the wayside. My body locked up with both dread and anticipation, the latter hoping these needs dealt with Ash, and the former… The bite mark on my throat just above Aios’s necklace burned.

I didn’t want to think about the former.

“Please, go ahead, Callum,” Kolis instructed.

Stomach twisting, I almost did the unthinkable and shouted for Callum to stay as I watched him bow and then stalk from the chamber.

“So’lis?”

Lowering my hands to my sides, I searched for the veil of nothingness. It took too long for me to find it, but I did. When I felt nothing of myself, I shifted my gaze to him.

“I wanted to speak with you about the deal we made.” He was watching me. “He has not been released.”

My stomach hollowed.

“I am not reneging on our deal,” he added quickly. “My nephew was still in stasis. That is currently being resolved.”

This was what Attes had been talking about. “What does that mean?”

“My nephew is young for a Primal, but he is quite powerful.”

Pride surged through me. Damn straight, Ash was powerful.

“He awakened briefly from stasis right before Ione came,” he explained as he turned to the table. Something about that tugged at me. It was the same sensation I’d had when I dreamt Ash returned. “I had to ensure that he behaved himself while I decided what to do with him. That was before we struck our deal.”

The odd feeling vanished as I gripped the tassel on the belt. “How did you ensure that?”

Please don’t let it be what Attes suspected. Please. Please.

He poured himself a drink. “If I tell you, I believe it may upset you.”

“Not telling me will make me…worry more,” I said, choosing my words carefully.

He drank from his glass. By the time he faced me, my anxiety had my nerves strained and stretched taut. “To ensure that he caused few issues, I had him incapacitated. He will need to recover from that.”

I stared past Kolis, my breath snagging. Attes had been right. My hand flattened against my stomach as it twisted. Gods, I felt sick.

“It is not easy.”

My eyes snapped to him.

“Seeing you so affected by another,” he said. “The worry practically seeps from your pores.”

Warning bells rang in the back of my mind. “I told you that I care—”

“I remember. It’s all I think about when I look upon him.” Silver eather tinged in gold pulsed through his rapidly thi

My body went cold. So that was what Kolis had been doing since I’d last seen him? Staring at Ash? Every time I spoke to Kolis, I believed it would be impossible for him to disturb me more, and each time he proved me wrong.