Into killing a possibly innocent god.

Into punishing Keella for daring to ask about me.

The weight of the dagger I still held felt even heavier then. I looked down. Blood no longer dripped, but it still smeared the midnight-hued blade. My knuckles around the hilt were as white as Jacinta’s had been.

Slowly, I lifted my gaze to Kolis. He still spoke to Callum, one hand relaxed on the arm of the throne that glittered like his crown, the other holding the chalice by his fingertips, letting it dangle. His legs were spread, knees loosely bent. He lifted an arm, brushing some hair back from his face. Warm light glinted off that band around his biceps. The false King was entirely at ease, the smile on his face slippery and smug.

In an instant, my memories took me back to when I’d stood before Thad. When the young draken had asked me to get it over with. I saw in Kolis now what I’d seen then.

What was in that golden essence of his—his power and beauty. A darkness that had nothing to do with death. It was the same thing I saw in his smile. The kind that was just as real as the lopsided, uncertain ones.

Something tainted.

Vile.

Corrupt.

It smudged the aura beneath his flesh and shaded the gold in the lifeless gray of the Rot.

The embers in my chest started thrumming violently. And like before, I was there, but I wasn’t alone.

I felt Sotoria.

I could feel the ancient power of the embers awakening and stretching. I felt the same entity I did before, entrenching itself deep in my bones. And I heard that voice in my thoughts that started as a whisper and became a scream. Mine. His stolen power. It was mine. The crown. Mine. His pain. It would be mine. Vengeance. Retribution. Blood. Mine. All of it would be mine.

But this time, I knew the entity was what the embers had shaped me into from birth. The voice wasn’t a spirit nor the ghosts of many lives.

It was my voice.

The entity was me.

Who I truly was.

And I was full of pure and primal rage. As my lips curved into a smile, I took a quiet and quick step toward Kolis.

“Your Majesty,” Attes called, his deep voice like a crack of thunder.

Kolis looked up, though not at me. He looked straight to where Attes stood at the foot of the dais. “Yes?”

“Is it time to start?” Attes asked as something white and gold filled my vision.

A chest covered in a white tunic and protected by golden armor—that the shadowstone dagger I held had begun to penetrate.

I looked up, finding Elias standing before me. My entire body jerked. Wordlessly, he took his dagger from my suddenly limp, cold hand.

“Sit,” he said quietly.

Trembling, I turned as if in a daze and sat. I stared forward, not seeing any of those before me. My gaze fixed on the ivory chair in the alcove. It was empty, with nothing but a stain of bluish-red blood on the back of the seat.

The numbness slowly faded, leaving only simmering anger as I stared at a heavily muscled beast about the size of a horse but shaped like a dog with skin the color of midnight oil.

A dakkai rested beside the steps leading to the dais, chewing on what looked suspiciously like someone’s leg bone. My lip curled. There was still meat on it.

I’d nearly had a heart attack when the thing first arrived and trotted across the dais. Kolis had only laughed, calling to it like one would a favorite hound. He’d even scratched the beast beneath the chin, avoiding the meaty leg bone jutting from either side of its mouth. The dakkai merely sniffed the air around me and then went to where he lay now as Kolis finally held Court.

It wasn’t like the kind Ash held in the Shadowlands or what I’d seen in Lasania. Nor did it consist of gods droning on about what was asked for or left as offerings at one of his Temples.

Yes, gods who called Dalos home came before the false King with requests. Some asked for permission to travel between Courts. Others wanted to enter the mortal realm. Kolis approved what they sought with an indifferent nod, appearing mostly bored with the proceedings.

Blowing out a ragged breath, I scanned the crowd below. I found Attes beyond the crush, his brows lowered and jaw set hard as he leaned against a pillar.

Shame prickled my skin. I didn’t even want to know what he thought about what I’d done. Or if Kyn had shared with him the second deal I’d made with Kolis. But as I stared at him, I thought about our conversation regarding Sotoria’s soul. Had he found something? There had to be. After all, there was The Star—the diamond taken from the Undying Hills the Arae intended to use in case they ever needed to hold the embers of a Primal if no Primal of Life could Ascend to replace one who’d fallen. Obviously, one of the Fates had foreseen what was to come but hadn’t seen that what they’d created would give Kolis the object he needed to transfer the embers.

Gods, that still ticked me off. But if The Star was powerful enough to hold embers, couldn’t it do the same for a mortal soul?

Kolis had the diamond. Somewhere.

But hadn’t he offered me jewels? More importantly, would he be idiotic enough to give me such a powerful item? Likely not, but it was worth a try.

Kolis’s movements snagged my attention. He sat straighter, his upper body tipped forward as he listened to the two gods who had approached the dais. The dakkai was gone. It must have wandered off at some point. I hadn’t been listening closely enough to pick up the gods’ names. My mind was far too consumed with thoughts of what I’d done. I couldn’t care all that much about what they had done. All I knew was that the one on the right was angry with the one on the left, over some sort of perceived insult.

“What would you like me to do, Amais?” Kolis asked.

“I want him punished,” the one on the right, who I assumed was Amais, demanded, jeweled rings glittering on his clenched hand. “Seir has insulted my honor.”

The other rolled amber-hued eyes that reminded me of others. “As if there is any honor left to be insulted.”

Despite my internal crisis, my brows lifted.

Amais spun on Seir, eather crackling from his fingertips.

“Cease,” Kolis ordered with a wave of his hand.

Nostrils flaring, Amais stepped back and faced the false King. “Your Majesty, something must be done about him.”

“Exactly what was this perceived insult?” Kolis asked, his fingers tapping on the arm of the throne.

One he shouldn’t be sitting on.

“It is most egregious, Your Majesty,” Amais said. “He insinuated that I’m a cheat.”

A dull ache pierced my temples as I glanced between the two gods. Seir wore brown breeches and a simple cream tunic. Meanwhile, Amais reminded me of one of the Lords of the Vodina Isles with his all-white attire and glittering, jeweled fingers.

“A cheat at what?” Kolis pressed.

Amais lifted his chin. “He accused me of cheating at a game of cards.”

“And what do you have to say to this, Seir?”

My lips parted on an inhale. Was this for real? Amais was here because the other had accused him of cheating at a game of cards, and Kolis was actually entertaining it? For gods’ sake, it was all so…mortal. No wonder I was getting a headache.

“He was cheating,” Seir answered with a shrug.

Amais’ hands fisted. “I have been your loyal servant since you Ascended as the Primal of Life.”

I believed he meant since Kolis killed to become the Primal of Life.

“Any insult, no matter how paltry,” Amais continued, “is an insult against you, Your Majesty.”

Well, that was an exaggeration.

“You have been loyal, Amais. Impressively so.” Kolis leaned back, his attention shifting toward the pillars. The unnamed draken I’d seen earlier, and the Revenant I suspected was Dyses, now stood with a veiled Chosen. “I wish I could say the same about you, Seir.”