But I refused to cower before him. She refused to do it, no matter the cost. No matter how foolish it was. I was not weak, and I’d been wrong when I first heard the legend of Sotoria. She was not weak either.

“That sounds like something to be proud of,” I spat, bringing my knee up fast and hard.

I’d missed his heart before, but I did not miss now.

My knee slammed into his groin. A roar of pain erupted from Kolis, and his arm cut through the air—

Agony exploded in my jaw and cheek. A metallic taste immediately filled my mouth. I went down, catching myself a second before I face-planted in the sand. I didn’t even know what part of him had hit me. His arm? A fist? Whatever it was had my ears ringing. For a moment, the pain stunned me enough that I feared it was something Ash could feel if he was conscious.

Rocking back onto my knees, I breathed through the pain until the initial brutal shock of it lessened. I spat a mouthful of blood onto the sand, shocked that a tooth hadn’t come flying out with it.

 “Godsdamn it,” Kolis snarled. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.” The white linen of his pants edged into my vision. “Are you all right?”

A spasm ran through me. He sounded…gods, he sounded genuinely concerned, and that sent a chill down my spine. “What do you think?”

“I told you not to push me,” he reasoned, the sound of his breaths sharp and short. “But you’re determined to make me into the villain.”

“Make you a villain?” A wet laugh left me as I pushed to my feet. I lifted my throbbing head. “You’re already that.”

“I never…” Kolis’s eyes tracked the blood running down my chin, and he flinched. The fucker actually flinched at the sight of the blood he’d drawn. “I never wanted to be that.”

“My gods,” I whispered. “You’re unhinged.”

In the moonlight, his cheeks deepened in color. “If so, then I am only what my brother made me,” he snarled.

“Is there anything you don’t blame your brother for?” I snapped.

Kolis shot forward so fast I sucked in a stuttered breath and jerked back a step. And I hated that I’d retreated, that I’d given him even an inch.

He halted, his chest rising and falling rapidly. A moment passed, then another. It was clear to me that he was keeping himself in check. Barely. “This is not what I want—us fighting.”

“I don’t care what you want!” I shot back, my stomach twisting. I wasn’t exactly sure that had only been me who’d yelled the words.

His hands fisted at his sides. “Do not push me, so’lis.”

So’lis? I had no idea what that meant, but I thought Sotoria might because her rage was palpable, and it was most definitely her that screamed what came out of my mouth next. “Fuck you!”

 I didn’t see him move before I felt his grip at my throat. My hands flew to his. I pried at his fingers, but it was no use. His fingertips pressed in, making it difficult to breathe.

“I warned you not to push me,” Kolis accused, his nostrils flaring. “Yet you do exactly that and more.”

Ignoring the fluttering panic in my chest, I met and held his stare.

“I think you’ve spent too much time with my nephew.” Kolis smirked. “And I saw him give me that very same look tonight. I’m sure I will see it again soon enough.”

“You touch him, and I—” I forced out the words amid gasps for air.

“You will do what?” Kolis cut in, faint wisps of eather beginning to stir in his eyes as his grip got even tighter. “What will you do for him? Because I saw what he’d do for you. He’d kill his brethren. Attack me. Start a war.”

Some level of common sense returned, warning me that I needed to be smart when it came to Ash. It took no leap of logic to know that if Kolis suspected I was in love with his nephew, he would approach it as Sotoria being in love with him, and that wouldn’t end well.

The image of the dagger rising and plunging flashed before me. I could still hear the wet, fleshy sounds.

My heart raced with fear—potent, numbing terror. Ash wasn’t safe right now. He’d been weakened, and because of me, gravely injured.

“What?” Kolis demanded, his fingers digging into the bite he’d left behind as he lifted me onto my tiptoes. “What will you do for him that you will not do for me?”

“Just about anything you can think of, but that has nothing to do with him. At the end of the day, I couldn’t care less about him.” I forced out words that couldn’t be more untrue. My chest felt as if it were shrinking with each passing second. Kolis’s grip tightened, likely bruising, and I choked. “I would do anything for literally anyone else—a random guard, another Primal, a corpse, a piece of grass…” I wheezed.

“I think I get the picture.” His lip curled. One fang appeared. “And I also think you’re lying.”

Alarm quickened my pulse. I realized I needed to distract him from thoughts of Ash, and the only way I knew how to do that was to direct his attention to me completely. “And I think you…I think you hit like a wanna-be Primal of Life.”

Kolis’s laughter filled the air like a hiss as he hauled me against his chest. The contact of his flesh against the too-thin gown sent a shudder of revulsion through me. “You are so incredibly foolish and reckless. Too bold and entirely too mouthy.”

“You…”—I struggled for breath—“forgot one…thing.”

“And what is that?” he asked. “Disrespectful?”

“Sure, but…I’m also soon…to be dead,” I wheezed.

He raised a golden brow. “Is that so?”

“Yes,” I croaked. “Since you’re killing me…again.”

For a moment, Kolis didn’t move. He’d gone completely still. Then his gaze dropped to where he had me by the throat. His eyes widened in surprise. It was almost as if he’d had no idea he was choking me. He shoved me away from him.

Stumbling back, I barely managed to keep my balance. I bent at the waist, hands on my knees while I dragged in deep mouthfuls of salty air. A tremor coursed through me, and I swallowed, wincing at the soreness in my throat.

I could practically feel the bruises forming on the skin of my neck, but I learned something then. I laughed, the sound like nails against stone. It hurt, but as sick and twisted as it was, his love of Sotoria was a weakness in more ways than one.

“This conversation is over,” Kolis said. Another laugh almost snuck free. He thought this was a conversation? “We are going home, and once you’ve calmed down, we will talk then.”

“Home?” Slowly, I straightened, my disbelief, anger, and maybe a little of Sotoria’s, getting the better of me. “Go fuck yourself, you nightmarish piece of—” I tensed, seeing his hand move this time, knowing it would hurt.

The blow never landed.

Kolis gripped my chin, and my heart stuttered. It wasn’t his hold. The press of his fingers was firm but nowhere near as bruising as it had been on my throat. Still, what I saw caused my heart to continue skipping beats.

Primal essence sparked and ignited, spilling into the air around him. A bright, golden glow rose, arcing from his back like wings. The swirls of eather spread so rapidly over his flesh that, for a moment, he became as he had been when battling Ash: blinding, golden light and spitting eather that stung my skin.

But the light faded quickly, showing that his skin had thinned to the point where the bones of his arm were visible. A knot of dread twisted in my stomach as I lifted my gaze. I didn’t want to see, but I couldn’t stop from looking.

I saw the dull sheen of his cheekbones. His jawbone. The bones of his arm. And his eyes… They were just sockets filled with pools of black, swirling nothingness.

Kolis hadn’t looked like this when he battled Ash, but I knew instantly that this was what the true Primal embers of death looked like.

And it was terrifying.

The wings of eather lifted and stretched behind him, then disappeared into golden smoke. The aura in his veins faded as his skin thickened, hiding what he truly looked like. “I do hope you are far more aware and grateful of the grace I’ve shown you than Nyktos was.”