Kolis remained standing. Seconds ticked by. I closed my eyes, not wanting to catch any hints of what he was thinking. Time continued to pass. I didn’t hear him move. I only felt the bed dip, and the heat of his presence.

I squeezed my eyes closed until I saw stars bursting behind my lids.

His chest touched my back.

This isn’t me.

His arm went around my waist. A shudder went through him.

I’m not here.

His presence, the stale lilac scent, and the feel of him, tainted my skin and stained my bones.

None of this matters.

I watched Callum from where I sat at my little table. He was stretched out on the couch, his feet resting on an arm as he caught the dagger he repeatedly tossed into the air.

With his eyes closed.

I was reluctantly impressed…and also reminded of Bele doing the same as the seamstress fitted me for my coronation gown. That felt like a lifetime ago. Yawning, I toyed with the edge of a napkin.

“Did you not get much sleep last night?” Callum asked.

“Tons,” I lied.

Kolis and I had shared the bed.

And that was all we’d done.

Well, all I had done. Kolis had slept, and he’d done so peacefully. I, on the other hand, had only slept for about an hour. And only after Kolis left in what I assumed was the morning. I’d pretended to be asleep. Having spent the entire night tense with my eyes wide open, my body caved to exhaustion the moment he left the cage.

It was hours later, and I still couldn’t believe nothing had happened last night. When Kolis made his request, he had meant it in the most literal sense.

Share a bed.

I shook my head slightly. Perhaps he wasn’t attracted to me.

I wished that were the case.

Unfortunately, I knew better. I’d seen how he looked at me the day before.

My focus shifted to the plate of barely touched sliced meats and fruits in front of me. Kolis hadn’t even held me all that tightly throughout the night. Not like Ash. Not even like he had when he hadn’t intended to—

I didn’t want to think about Ash and sharing a bed with Kolis. My palms dampened, and I wiped them on the napkin. I didn’t want those two things to ever occupy my mind simultaneously. Because despite nothing occurring last night, I still felt…gross.

Gods, I didn’t want to think about that either. I focused on Callum. He was still entertaining himself with the dagger. I had more important things to dwell on. Like whether Rhain had been able to communicate anything to Aios.

I reached up, touching the delicate silver chain encircling my neck. When the Chosen woke me as they entered the chamber, I’d discovered that Kolis had left something for me on the pillow his head had rested upon.

Aios’s necklace.

I hoped I had a chance to return it to her.

I would.

I truly didn’t believe Rhain had been attempting to find me. He was loyal and brave enough to risk his life for Ash. Not for me.

“You’re quiet today,” Callum commented.

“I forgot you were even here,” I lied. It was impossible not to know he was there as he snatched the dagger out of the air just before the blade was about to sink into his chest.

“That hurt my feelings.”

“Uh-huh.” I pushed from the chair and rose. “I learned something yesterday.”

He tossed the dagger again. “That you’re capable of whoring yourself out to get your way?”

My eyes narrowed, and I didn’t think about what I was doing. I just did it as a ripple of hot anger swept through me. The embers throbbed as my gaze flipped to the dagger rising into the air. I pictured it speeding downward, faster than gravity would take it, straight for his eye.

And what I saw became my will.

The dagger had just flipped above Callum when a burst of energy left me. The blade jerked a foot to its side and then fell with the speed of an unleashed arrow.

“Fuck,” gasped Callum as he rolled. His knees hit the floor a heartbeat before the dagger slammed into the arm of the couch where his head had been resting.

He whipped toward me.

I smiled sweetly at him. “Careful there, Cal, you might hurt yourself.”

“Don’t call me that.” Glaring, he rose. “What did you realize?”

“I learned that I wasn’t in Cor Palace.”

“It took you that long to realize that?” He yanked the shadowstone dagger free.

“How was I supposed to know I wasn’t there? What I’ve seen of the grounds reminded me of the palace.” I watched him take a swig of his drink. “I know I’m still in Dalos.”

“If you didn’t know that, I would have grave concerns about your intelligence.”

I arched a brow. “Where am I, exactly?”

“You are at the Vita,” he said, sheathing the dagger to his hip. “It is a sanctuary built by His Majesty, replacing the existing Council Hall.”

The Council Hall in the Shadowlands was in Lethe, an amphitheater holding a second set of much larger thrones. If the Council Hall was the same as the one in the Shadowlands, then that meant…

“I’m in the City of the Gods?”

“Maybe I don’t need to worry that much about your intelligence,” he quipped.

My gaze flew to the narrow windows. I’d only seen the sparkling city from a distance.

“You seem troubled by the knowledge.”

Only because I had a feeling it would be harder to escape a whole damn city than one palace. “I didn’t think the city was in use.”

“And exactly why did you think that?” Placing his dagger on the low table, he sauntered to the cage. “Let me guess? Nyktos told you such?”

Actually, he hadn’t. He’d just told me that many had taken to calling it the City of the Dead. I just assumed that meant it was vacant and no longer in use. But before I could respond, the embers suddenly hummed in my chest. My attention shifted to the doors. A Primal was near.

The gown swayed around my feet as I took a step back from the bars. The doors opened no more than a few heartbeats later, proving that I had been right about the feeling.

Kolis entered, his crown in place, and he wasn’t alone.

A woman wearing a green silk gown followed him, her skin a medium shade of brown, her hair dark and chin-length.

“Your Majesty.” Callum bowed as they drew near.

Kolis nodded at the Revenant as the attention of the one who followed him fixed on me. The silvery glow of eather pulsed behind dark eyes. She was a goddess. Her gaze quickly darted away.

A nervous goddess.

Kolis glanced over the table of food. “Did you enjoy your supper?” he asked warmly.

“Yes,” I answered, softening my tone.

Callum’s head snapped in my direction, his eyes narrowing behind his painted mask.

“Good.” Kolis snapped his fingers, and the Chosen entered from the hall.

They approached the cage as Callum came forward to unlock the door. Clasping my hands together, I stepped back several feet, not wanting to incite any of them to hurt one of the Chosen.

“Leave the drinks,” Kolis instructed. “I believe we will be in need of them when we’re done.”

The Chosen neither nodded nor spoke as they carried out his command. Within a minute or two, they had left the chamber, and the doors were once more closed.

But the one to the cage remained open.

That sweet and stale scent increased as Kolis entered, followed by the goddess. “I would like to introduce you to someone. This is Ione. She serves in the Court of the Primal Keella,” he said, a bit of disdain tainting the Primal’s name.

I wasn’t surprised to hear that, as I didn’t expect Kolis to favor the Primal of Rebirth, who’d aided Eythos in hiding Sotoria’s soul. But what was one of her gods doing here?

Ione gave a curt bow as she folded one arm over the black rope at her waist. “Your Highness.”

“Come and sit,” Kolis said to me, gesturing to the divan.