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I met his stare as my muscles loosened. “It wasn’t your fault, you know. What happened to Sotoria was Kolis’s fault and his alone. I wish you knew that. You likely would’ve led a normal life and passed on to the Vale. But everything done to her beyond that? You’re just as complicit.” I lowered my voice as he had. “And she feels the same as I do when it comes to you. She feels sorry for you, but she really fucking hates you.”
Callum jerked his head back as if my words were a slap.
“That rule you spoke of,” I said to the Ancient. “Does it apply to everyone?”
Aydun’s lips actually curved up. “No, it does not.”
“Good.” I snapped forward, wrapping my hands around the grip of Callum’s dagger.
His eyes widened as he twisted, grabbing for me, but I was faster than he was even before I Ascended.
And I was way faster now.
I yanked the dagger free and grabbed a fistful of his hair, jerking his head back so I could thrust the shadowstone blade through the underside of his jaw.
Callum was dead before I even tore the blade free.
“Gods,” I said, watching him hit the floor like a sack of potatoes. “That felt good.”
“What a strange thing for the true Primal of Life to say,” Aydun stated dryly, glancing down at the crumpled form. An eyebrow rose. “And do.”
“He had it coming.” Kneeling, I quickly wiped the blade clean on his tunic. “And he’ll come back.”
“Unfortunately.”
I looked at him as I rose. “Do the Ancients not approve of Kolis’s creations?”
Aydun glanced down at the Revenant. “It’s kept the balance.”
I shoved the dagger into the back of my pants in case I needed it. “That’s not an answer.”
His gaze met mine. “What has kept the balance is a mockery of life. Reanimated flesh and bone and little else. This one is something more.”
Yeah, he was.
I glanced through the door, past the shadowy alcoves to the golden curtains at the end of the hall. “What of the Ascended?”
“They are only a slight improvement,” he answered. “They have souls.”
My gaze flew back to his. I wasn’t expecting him to say that.
“But neither were enough to keep the balance once you were born,” he continued. “If you had died during your Ascension, taking the last true embers of life with you, what Nyktos saw in his vision would’ve come to fruition.”
A chill broke out across my skin.
“He would’ve caused the Ancients in all the lands, both here and beyond the Primal Veil, to awaken,” Aydun said. “Between him, his father, and his uncle, Nyktos is the one who came the closest to destroying the realms.”
I stiffened. “But he didn’t.”
“He could have.”
“He did what he did because he loves me,” I insisted, anger rising once more.
“Selfishly,” the Ancient tacked on. “He loves you selfishly, therefore risking the lives of nearly all who walk these realms.” Stars burned in his eyes. “We got to where we are today because of another who loved so selfishly.”
I stepped toward the Ancient without thinking. “Do not ever compare him to Kolis.”
“I am not comparing them,” he replied, utterly unbothered by my fury. “I’m pointing out what that kind of love is capable of.”
“How…how can someone so old be so wrong?” I said, shaking my head. “What you’re trying to compare? What Ash and I feel for one another and what Kolis felt for Sotoria? They are two very different things.”
Aydun frowned, his head cocking. “How so?”
“What Kolis feels for Sotoria is an obsession.”
“And there is a difference?” Curiosity filled his tone.
I stared at him, my mouth slightly agape. “How am I once again explaining what love is to a man who is fucking old enough to know better?”
Aydun looked even more confused.
“My gods,” I muttered, searching for the kind of patience Ash had. “The difference is that I feel the same way for Nyktos as he does for me. Yeah, maybe he’s obsessed with me, but I am also obsessed with him. It’s consensual. Mutual. What that is?” I jabbed a finger in the direction of the golden curtains. “Is one-sided and twisted. Rot not much different than what affected my homeland. It’s ugly. What Kolis feels is selfish, and I know firsthand just how wrong what he feels is.” I stepped back, my throat thickening. “What Nyktos feels for me? It’s beautiful. A miracle. It’s…it’s hope.” I blinked tears from my eyes. “And I’m truly sorry that there are people, be them Ancients, gods, or mortals, who don’t know there is a difference.”
Aydun stared at me as I had done with him seconds ago, looking completely flummoxed.
And I didn’t have the time or the desire to explain further.
Checking my emotions, I turned and entered the hall, glancing at one of the alcoves. No soft moans or deep groans came from them today, but a low hum of conversation drifted out from the chamber ahead, as did the sounds I expected to hear from the alcoves. My jaw clenched as my attention shifted there when the thud of awareness in my chest increased. The shadowstone dagger I’d helped myself to provided more comfort than the Primal essence did. Right or wrong, I was far more used to wielding a blade than eather. Maybe that would change someday, but for now, the feeling of the hilt digging into my back gave me strength as I pushed the curtains aside and stepped inside the wide, circular chamber. I came to a complete stop. It wasn’t the Primal present that halted me, even though I should be focused on him.
It was the source of the raspy moans and groans.
My skin prickled as my gaze swept over the gold-painted ceiling, past the armored guards lining the walls, to the deep couches and settees sitting in front of the curtained windows of the atrium. They were mostly empty, except for a handful near the raised, columned dais framed by two closed archways. There weren’t just gods on those couches with their faces buried in necks or between thighs.
My eyes locked with ones that had been warm brown but were now pitch-black with only a flicker of light deep within them. Gods, I recognized the fine features forever frozen in youth.
It was the Chosen I’d seen Kolis turn. Jove.
Aydun nearly walked into me as he entered the chamber, but I couldn’t pull my eyes from Jove as my heart thumped.
What had Gemma said about the Chosen who disappeared? Some returned as something else—a cold creature never seen in the daylight.
The Ancient had said the Ascended had souls, but the eyes latched onto mine appeared vacant of such.
Jove’s eyes closed as he drank deeply from a god’s throat. The god’s head fell back with a heavy, guttural moan echoed by another—a female goddess half-sprawled on the couch beside them, her golden gown hiked up to her waist. A pale head was nestled between her thighs.
I couldn’t believe Jove was here. Not much time had passed since he’d been turned, and Kolis had made it sound like it could possibly take months for the Ascended to learn how to control their bloodlust and be trusted.
But maybe that wasn’t the same for all of them, especially if they did have souls. That meant some small part of who they were before remained inside them. Perhaps how strong that part was determined how long it took them to control themselves.
“Meyaah por-na,” rumbled a deep voice.
Violent energy pulsed within me as I pulled my gaze from the feeding and found the Primal of Peace and Vengeance. I understood what the bastard had said.
My whore.
Kyn was seated at a settee to the right of the dais and the gaudy, gilt and diamond throne, a woman draped in gold and ivory perched on his lap—one whose hair was a light shade of blond nearly as pale as mine. Static rippled down my arms, causing my fingers to twitch.
Kyn smiled at me, flashing long, sharp fangs. Two dimples appeared on his cheeks. “Show me the respect I’m due,” he said, slipping his hand between the slit in the woman’s gown. “And get on your knees.”
A light, airy chuckle came from one of the other couches. Anger and disgust crashed together as I held Kyn’s stare. I wanted nothing more than to lash out like I had with Callum, throwing the dagger at that smirk on his face.
I looked away from him and glanced at the large, prowling wolf carved into the floor, so similar to the one on the throne room doors in the House of Haides. It was their family crest, created by Eythos and Kolis’s father.
“Did you not hear me, por-na?” Kyn’s palm ran up the inside of the woman’s leg. “On your knees.”
I had no idea how Ash had maintained his composure among such a disgusting asshole like Kyn for years—decades—but he had.
And I would, too.
Sort of.
I smiled at Kyn. “Make me.”
Aydun stiffened.
The hand delving under the skirt froze. Silence came from those on the couches.
Kyn’s laugh was full of malice. “Oh, I plan to.”
The Primal reminded me so much of the Lords of the Vodina Isles, and my smile grew. “I can’t wait to see you try.”
“You think Nyktos will be able to stop me?”
“He won’t need to,” I told him. “Because I will.”
The air shifted, thickening as streaks of eather pierced Kyn’s stare. The woman in his lap paled. She looked like she didn’t dare breathe too deeply.
“Remember the rules.” Aydun spoke up finally. “They do apply to other Primals. There will be no fighting.”
“Lucky for you,” I said to Kyn.
Aydun’s head whipped toward me, a warning look in his glare. I ignored it, raising my brows at the Primal.
A muscle ticked in Kyn’s jaw. Seconds passed with no further comment. Letting out a low laugh, I looked away, giving the guards a scan. Some of them were gods. A few had those pale, lifeless eyes.
Awareness throbbed through my body. A draken was near. More than one.
“Where is Kolis?” Aydun asked.
Kyn lifted a shoulder as his hand moved between the woman’s legs. “He’ll be here.” His gaze shifted to me. “Why don’t you come over and sit on my other leg?”
I wouldn’t even dignify that with a response, but the Ancient examined the Primal with naked distaste.
“You created them,” I muttered under my breath to the Ancient. “Well, you created his parents.”
Aydun sneered. “I am not responsible for the bloodline that created that…creature.”
I glanced back at Kyn. He stuck out his tongue, wiggling it in my direction. “Who did you create?”
“That is none of your business.”
“Okay, then.” I sighed.
“There’s enough room for both of you,” Kyn called out, and the woman giggled nervously. “And I’ve got two hands and a tongue.”
“But no cock? Shocking,” I retorted.
“You’ll need to earn that, por-na.” Kyn nipped at the woman’s throat, and she gave another strained laugh.