I looked up as the god before Kolis droned on about offerings. My eyes narrowed slightly when I found his gaze on me. His stare held the same qualities as the ones who’d come before him. Want for the sake of wanting, which could also be translated into taking for the sake of it. Sighing, I shifted my focus to the open doors. I could only see Elias’s shoulder and the arm of another guard. What was his name? He had only stepped foot into the chamber a few times, and when he did, he had a certain stillness about him that reminded me of Callum.

I rose, going to the table where I poured myself a drink of the bubbly water. Today, it carried a hint of pineapple.

“Do you find her distracting?” Kolis asked suddenly.

I stopped, pitcher half-lowered, and looked up to see the sandy-haired god jerk his attention back to the Primal.

“You’ve been paying more attention to her than you have to me.” Kolis’s grip on the throne arms loosened. “I don’t believe you’ve taken your eyes off her since the moment she rose.”

“I apologize, Your Majesty,” the god replied, clearing his throat. “I have been distracted.”

“By her?” Kolis prodded.

The god glanced at me again and nodded.

Kolis’s head cocked. “What is it about her that you find so distracting?”

The handle of the pitcher dug into my palm. Could it be that my gown was transparent?

“She is…interesting to look upon,” the god answered.

“Interesting?” Kolis questioned. “Please elaborate, Uros.”

The god’s stare lowered, lingering on my chest. “She is pleasing to the eye.”

“Which parts?”

I flipped my stare to the Primal. Was he seriously asking that?

“Many parts,” Uros answered, looking at Kolis before continuing. “Her shape.”

Do not engage with those who enter the chamber, I reminded myself as I placed the pitcher back on the table before I launched it through the bars—something I didn’t think Kolis would appreciate. Plus, it would be a waste. The water was tasty.

“And?” Kolis smiled at the god, but there was an edge to it. A tension that hardened his jaw.

Uros looked me over as he drew his lower lip between his teeth. “Her hips. They’re full and appear soft. The shadowy area between her thighs.”

My mouth dropped open.

Kolis raised his brows. “What about it?”

“I bet it is equally soft.” Uros’ stare was full of heat, and not in a good way. “And wet.”

“What the fuck?” I spat before I could stop myself.

Uros’ eyes widened. He obviously hadn’t expected me to speak. And I probably shouldn’t have. My question would likely be considered an act of engaging. But come on.

However, Kolis only chuckled. “I believe you may have offended her.”

Uros said nothing to that, not that he needed to. His thoughts were clearly visible to me in the slight curve of his lips. He didn’t care if I was offended and likely didn’t believe I was worthy of worrying about such a thing.

“Are you?” Kolis asked, and it took me a moment to realize that he was speaking to me. “Are you offended?”

Who wouldn’t be? But if I were insulted by this god, then it meant his words or opinions mattered to me.

And they didn’t.

“No.” I took a sip of the water as I met the god’s gaze. “Mostly, just unimpressed.”

Kolis snorted as the god’s cheeks bloomed pink. I turned, heading back to the divan.

“The thing is,” Kolis began, “you have offended me.”

I turned to sit at the wrong time. Or maybe at exactly the right time. Regardless, doing so at that moment gave me a front-row seat to what happened next. Kolis turned his head to Uros and flashed that tight smile again.

He then lifted his right hand and flicked his wrist.

Uros imploded.

It was like he was sucked into himself. His face caved in, the bones there crunching and then collapsing. His chest deflated as if air, blood, and all the necessary things held within the cavity had suddenly been removed. The tunic he wore slipped down the chair as his shoulders and arms disappeared, pulled into the vortex of where his body used to be. The legs went next, and with one last meaty snap, nothing but bloodied linen and a few pieces of runny tissue remained.

It all happened so fast that the embers in me didn’t have much chance to do anything but pulse weakly at the death. My hands didn’t even warm.

Kolis looked over at me. “Do you find him more impressive in this state?”

I plopped down onto the divan, my mouth hanging open.

“I do.” Kolis raised a brow. “Simply because he takes up less space.”

“You…you just turned him into goo,” I said.

“I did,” Kolis responded without hesitation. “Does that bother you?”

I blinked slowly. I’d seen Ash do something similar, but this was different. This was done merely over words spoken, ones Kolis had goaded the god into speaking. “He was only looking at me.”

Kolis went still. “Did you like him looking at you?”

“Not even remotely, but he wasn’t the only one to do so,” I said, trying to wrap my head around what had just happened and that incredibly idiotic question. “Many of the gods gawked at me.”

“But they were wise enough not to make it so obvious.” He tilted his head. “They may look at you, but they shouldn’t speak on it.”

“You made him talk about it.”

“I simply asked him questions,” he reiterated. “He chose to answer.”

That wasn’t exactly what had occurred. Kolis had basically hounded the god into answering. I glanced back at what was left of Uros, my stomach churning as the scent of iron and charged air reached me.

“That is so…gross,” I murmured.

“No hysterics?” Kolis remarked. “Only statements. That’s impressive.”

 I was definitely disturbed by what I’d witnessed, so the lack of screaming and fainting upon seeing someone turned to goo should have probably concerned me.

“Elias?” Kolis called.

The god entered, his steps halting as he got an eyeful of the mess. He recovered quickly, though, faster than I, which could only mean he was accustomed to things such as this.

“Please, let Callum know the Sun Temple in…” Kolis frowned. “Wherever Uros was speaking of, is in need of a replacement.”

Elias nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty. Would you like me to send someone in to remove the mess?”

The mess?

I would call that more than a mess.

“Unnecessary.” Kolis waved his hand, and the chair and goo went the way of Uros, except this time, there was nothing but a faint cloud of dust swirling over the shadowstone tile afterward. “Send the next one in.”

The god who entered kept his eyes trained solely on Kolis. Obviously, after the last one didn’t exit the chamber, this one had put two and two together when he came upon the empty spot. He halted for a moment, his throat bobbing on a swallow. Wordlessly, he sat on the settee.

I perched on the divan, the drink in my hand mostly forgotten as I stared at where the chair had been. Having been raised to commit the most fatal sort of violence, I was used to it. Some part of me wished I weren’t, that something like what’d just happened impacted me more, but I didn’t see it as a weakness. It was a strength, especially now. But the way Kolis had gone about things left me unsettled.

It was all a manipulation.

Kolis had me on display, taunting those to look from the moment they entered the chamber. There was no rhyme or reason behind his opinions on how long was too long for them to do so. Uros was disgusting, and his comments crossed so many lines, but they would not have been made if Kolis hadn’t manipulated him into doing so.

And why had he?

Did he have an issue with the god? Had he done it to prove a point and remind the other gods what he was capable of? To remind me? Or was the reason the same as why Uros and the others found me so pleasing?