“I don’t know,” I lied smoothly. “You’d have to ask him.”

“Well, that might be a problem.”

I flashed cold, then turned hot. “Why…why is that?”

“Because my nephew is currently unavailable for anything beyond taking up space,” Kolis said as a low-level buzz filled my ears. “He’s in stasis.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Denial crashed into concern as my worst fear was confirmed. Ash had been that weakened by battle. I needed to get to him. He was completely vulnerable.

My chest began to tighten. Mostly, I reminded myself. He was protected. I clung to that and asked, “So, he’s…been taken to ground?”

“He has.”

Aware of his keen stare fixed on me, I didn’t allow myself to show even the minuscule amount of relief I felt. The ground would protect and heal him. I swallowed, looking over at Kolis as a thought occurred to me.

“Why didn’t the earth attempt to protect him in the other chamber?” I asked. “I was under the impression that it happens pretty fast if a Primal is weakened.”

“It normally does. That is if the Primal isn’t killed outright.” He jerked his chin at the floor. “You see these tiles? They’re made of shadowstone. Do you know how shadowstone was created?”

I shook my head.

“Dragon fire. Not the draken, but their ancestors. Shadowstone is what became of any life form burned by dragon fire—from trees to mortals, even the Ancients. Perhaps even a few Arae.” He laughed, clearly amused by that idea.

Meanwhile, my stomach churned as I thought about all the shadowstone in just this one chamber, let alone throughout Iliseeum and the deposits in the mortal realm—like my lake and the Shadow Temples.

Wait.

The floor of my lake was originally trees or people?

More importantly, the entire exterior of the House of Haides had been constructed from it, as was the grand staircase in the foyer, the walls of many of the chambers, and even some of the floor.

Well, that was something I could’ve gone my entire life not knowing.

“That’s…a lot of melted-down people,” I murmured, my lip curling.

His laugh was lighter. Friendly, even. “It actually doesn’t take that much to have a rather large deposit of shadowstone. Once the living creature is, as you put it, melted, they in essence become slag, soaking into the soil and sometimes spreading into rivers and streams. Once that cools, everything the slag touches becomes shadowstone.”

“Oh,” I whispered, thinking that explanation didn’t make the fact that my feet were resting upon the slag of people easier to swallow.

“There are only a few things in either realm that can penetrate shadowstone,” he said. “And the earth is not one of them. There only needs to be a few slivers in a floor or area, and the roots will not be able to break through.”

I frowned, only knowing of one thing shadowstone was vulnerable to, and that was shadowstone itself.

I bet the bones of the Ancients were the second thing.

“I may have gone a bit overboard in here.” Kolis gave the outer room a scan, then shrugged. “The walls and ceiling of the chamber and your quarters are constructed of pure shadowstone, but it was my brother who built the House of Haides, what good that did him.” His silver-and-gold gaze returned to me as he slowly unhooked one leg. “Shadowstone also weakens eather—the Primal essence—although it does not block it completely.” Really? Surprise flickered through me. If that were the case, I hadn’t expected the embers in me, a mortal, to be strong enough to get past the shadowstone. I glanced at the faint cracks I’d created in the tile and walls. Did he notice them? And if so, assume they were due to him and Ash battling? Ash had said the hit of eather he’d taken from me was strong.

“How does that work?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. “How does the shadowstone weaken eather?”

“It absorbs the energy, just as it does light, and doesn’t allow us to pull as much of the essence from the environment,” he stated as if that explained everything. “I believe you, by the way.”

I stopped thinking about shadowstone immediately. He did? Holy damn, I was so surprised, a breeze could’ve toppled me. “Good,” I said. “Because I’m telling the truth.”

“About Nyktos?” His chin dipped as his smile became tight.

“Yes.”

My relief vanished in an instant, almost like it never was. The unease doubled, and it suddenly struck me that it wasn’t just my response to Kolis. It was also Sotoria’s. The feeling was stronger now than it had been when Attes was here. She was more than aware. Maybe actively listening in. I…I instinctually knew I was right, and I also knew she was wary. Very much so. A great sense of foreboding slithered up my spine like a slow-creeping vine.

“I doubt you’d have known that removing the kardia can be done.” Kolis stood. “And it sounds like something Nyktos would do.”

“It does?”

He nodded. “You see, I know my nephew better than he knows himself.”

I doubted that, but I wisely kept my opinion to myself.

“He’s likely convinced himself that removing his kardia prevents me from hurting him by striking at someone he loves.” The kind of smile I was familiar with returned, and, gods, there was something off about it. Like it was an expression he’d learned but didn’t quite understand. “What do you think?”

I pressed my fingers into my knees. “I think…I think what happened to his parents would’ve drawn him toward such a conclusion.”

Kolis’s laugh was short and flat. “Possibly, but it’s not the real reason, my dear.” He knelt. “It’s because he fears turning into me.”

The breath I drew in got stuck. Nektas had said something similar.

Kolis’s gaze tracked over the tangled length of my hair. “And he fears that because he knows he would do the same as I did if the one he loved were taken from him.” He lowered his voice. “He knows he would be capable of worse.”

Maybe Kolis was right. If Ash still had his kardia, perhaps he would be capable of worse. But he was also wrong in a big way.

Sotoria had never been his to lose.

That was the godsdamn crux of the whole issue.

“Do you know how I know he fears becoming me?” His tone turned sly as if he were sharing a secret. “I made sure of it.”

Fury surged through my veins and poured into my chest, stoking the Primal essence. It hit me so hard and fast there was no tamping it down. My skin tingled, seething—

“So, yes, I believe what you said about Nyktos.” That hollow smile remained. “Calm yourself.”

I jolted, only then realizing I had stood.

“Pull it back in.” He spoke softly as a fine sprinkle of dust and plaster floated from the ceiling. “Now.”

Looking down, I saw the glow of silver filling the veins of my hands. My heart stuttered with trepidation as my gaze flew to Kolis.

“Sit,” he ordered.

I sat, my heart pounding as I struggled to rein the power back in.

“The eather is a part of you.” His voice had thinned, the smile fading. “Show some restraint and will it back in.”

Show some restraint? He had no idea the level of restraint I was already displaying. My chest rose with a deeper breath, and I told myself to, well, to knock it off. The essence was a part of me. I could control it.

After a moment, the glow faded from my skin.

“Good girl.”

My narrow-eyed gaze shot to his before I could stop myself.

Kolis chuckled. “As I was saying,” he said with a smirk, “I believe what you said about Nyktos, but what I don’t believe is what you’ve claimed about how you feel. I know for a fact you’re lying, and it’s not only your behavior just now that confirmed it.”

“I—”

Kolis was suddenly in front of me, causing me to gasp and jerk back. I didn’t make it very far. He grabbed my wrist, lifting my hand so he held it between our faces—my right hand.