“It means everything,” I said. “Your failure to accept that, just like your failure to realize that Kolis is a piece of shit who, just like Nyktos, doesn’t want you, doesn’t change the reality.”

Her pretty face twisted into a sneer. “Then why don’t you kill me, Seraphena?”

“I’m trying to be a better person.” My hands curled into fists.

“Better than who?” Her finely arched brows rose. “Nyktos? I saw what he did to Kyn.”

“How—? You know, I don’t even care.”

“He needed blood,” she answered anyway. “After what was done to him.”

“You fed him after what he did to you?”

She shot forward as quick as a pit viper. “I told you before, I like—” Her hair blew away from her face as she skidded back several feet. “Bitch.”

“I remember what you said. You liked it.” I lowered my hand and stared at her. I would never understand her. Ever. “And to answer your question? No, I’m not better than Nyktos. He held back.”

Her hair fell back over her shoulders in perfect ringlets. Another reason to hate her. “You think you’re better than me,” she spat.

“I don’t have to try to be better than you.”

“Cute.” Her nostrils flared. “Especially when you have no idea.”

“About what? You? I know everything I need to know.”

“You don’t know shit, Consort.”

Rhain shot forward. “She is no Consort.” His voice vibrated with anger. “She is the Queen.”

Veses laughed, the sound like wind chimes. “I recognize no such title or crown.”

Rhain stiffened. “That would be considered—”

“It’s okay.” Lifting a hand, I stopped Rhain. “At the end of the day, her acknowledgment means nothing to me.” I lowered my arm, refocusing on Veses.

“Is that so?” Her head moved in a serpentine manner. “When you call yourself Queen and refuse to acknowledge the King?”

My eyes narrowed. Clearly, someone had been talking to Kolis or Callum. “Because I am Queen, and Kolis is no King.” Violent energy ramped up. Clouds gathered above us, thickening and dimming the sunlight. “Are you here on his behalf, acting as his little lapdog? Eager to please him despite his abuse?”

Her cheeks flushed pink as the sound of footsteps closed in behind me. “No, I’m not here on his behalf. But speaking of the King,” she said, “I’m sure he would reward me greatly if I brought you back to him as a gift.”

The air charged around me. “I would love to see you try.”

Her gaze flicked behind me, and then her voice lowered. I could feel her…essence and the anger feeding it. “After Kolis is done with you,” she said, “Kyn has big plans for you.”

In an instant, all I could see was silver-laced gold.

“Fucking Fates,” Bele hissed from behind me. “Do you want to die?”

“I’m not talking to you,” Veses snapped.

“Exactly,” replied Bele.

Veses rolled her eyes before refocusing on me. “I was right, you know. About you. I knew you weren’t her.” Her lips spread into a cruel smile. “Let’s not forget what Kolis promised if you turned out not to be Sotoria.”

My fingers straightened as Ehthawn growled.

“By the way, does Nyktos know how that one was freed?” she asked, nodding at where Rhain had come to stand a few feet behind me. “Have you told him how far you were willing to go to convince Kolis that you were Sotoria?”

My heart stopped, barely aware of the curse echoing from Rhain.

“I heard all about that.” She tsked under her breath as she stepped forward. “So don’t pretend you’re better than me. You’re nothing more than a caged whore.”

A storm built inside me as the wind picked up around us, playing with her ringlets. It wasn’t even the whore part that caused my skin to feel as if it were suddenly too tight. It was the caged part. Because, in my mind, I saw bars made of the gilded bones of the Ancients, and my heart lurched, then sped up. My fingers curled, pressing into my palms. Eather hummed in my ears, and my throat shrank—

The clean whisper of shadowstone swords being drawn pulled me from my thoughts. Time slowed. Or maybe my thoughts raced too fast as the scene taking place around me became clear. Swords were being drawn in the courtyard below and before the Rise. Bowstrings were pulled taut, and the crushing feeling of suffocation shifted deep inside me, coming from the same area in my chest that had cracked open the night I’d attempted to flee the Shadowlands. What seeped out was hot, endless fury.

I caught the slight twitch of the muscle above her right eye as dark, ominous clouds gathered overhead. I saw the unconscious flinch as the air around me charged, filling with the luminous, silver-tinged gold light. And I…

Gods, I wanted to lash out. To make her eat her words. To level her.

“Now,” she continued smugly, her chin rising once more, “I’ve come to speak to Nyktos and hopefully talk some sense into him. Because despite your failure to realize how this will end for you, it doesn’t change reality.”

Eather throbbed beneath my skin as Ehthawn’s spiked tail thumped off the road.

“And in case you don’t know how this will end, let me break it down for you,” she said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “It ends with you on your knees and every hole being used to serve every god, draken, and dakkai.” Veses winked, and I heard a swift inhale behind me. “Maybe you’ll like it.”

I laughed, and the sound reminded me of a summer storm. “You silly bitch.”

Her brows shot up. “Excuse me?”

I shot forward. Veses threw out her hand as silvery streaks of eather poured into her veins, but I was the true Primal of Life, and I knew how to fight dirty.

Catching her arm, I grabbed a fistful of those blond ringlets and yanked her head down as I raised my leg. My knee connected with her face, and the sound of bone crunching sent a surge of satisfaction through me. She yelped, the shock of pain causing her to lose her hold on the essence.

I jerked her head back. Shimmery bluish-red blood gushed from her now-crooked nose. “I think you forgot something.” I jerked her head back until we were at eye level. “I’m no longer caged.”

Her eyes flashed pure silver a heartbeat before I twisted, lifting her by the hair. I spun and threw her. She screamed, hitting the stone of the road and rolling in a tangle of red and long limbs.

Blond strands dangled from my fingers, burning away as eather crackled over my hand.

“Ouch.” Bele laughed.

I stalked toward Veses as she rose onto her hands and knees, tendrils of eather dripping from my fingertips. I drove my booted foot into her side, knocking her down. I grabbed her hair again, flipping her onto her back as I moved to stand over her. She grunted as I knelt, digging my knee into her chest.

“I could forgive you for your poor choices in men, your pathetic insults, and even for loving someone as hideous as Kolis.” Currents of raw, powerful energy built inside me, fueled by rage. It was the kind of power designed to create life, but that was not what I intended to use it for. I inhaled her rose scent as I lowered my head to her blood-streaked face. “But I can never forgive you for how you hurt Reaver, and I will never forgive you for what you did to Nyktos.”

Her all-silver eyes widened as I felt her essence. This time, it wasn’t anger that threaded through the eather in her. It was fear.

“Tell me.” My voice was a scorching whisper. “Tell me what you see in my eyes, Veses. It’s not life, is it? It’s death.” The essence swelled inside me as I swung my right hand down—

“Sera.” Rhain caught my arm, and my head jerked toward him. The glow of gold-and-silver eather danced over his angular cheeks. “Don’t kill her.”

Veses swung her arm, eather spitting from her fingertips. The heat of the energy stung my cheek as I caught her wrist an inch from my face. I twisted until I heard bone break.