The lightning. The temperature. It was Ash.

“Believe it or not, I enjoyed escorting souls through the Pillars. Seeing their lives. Their pain. How they loved. Hated. Their mistakes and successes. I lived vicariously through them for eons,” he said. “But I do not miss being tied to them.”

I shuddered and breathed out. Tiny snowflakes had begun to fall, swirling gently to the ruined floor. Silvery flashes of light began pulsing in the valley below.

“You’re nothing but a fledgling Primal without my nephew by your side,” he continued. “Or a so-called Fate to make sure your mouth doesn’t get you into trouble.”

I lifted my head, meeting his stare as realization sank in. All of this… Kolis had set a trap, and I had rushed right into it.

“Ah, I see you’re finally figuring it out.” He raised his brows, and crimson shadows swirled across his cheeks. “Admittedly, you killing Embris did catch me a little off guard. I didn’t think you’d be able to harness that kind of power yet. That angered me.” Chunks of stone lifted and slid away as he strode toward me. “But having you unleash your rage and take quite a few people’s lives in the process was also surprisingly arousing.”

“Fucking creep,” I rasped.

“What did you say?”

I rose to my feet, holding my breath for five seconds. “I said, you are—”

Kolis shot forward and grabbed my throat. He lifted me, slamming me into the wall. “I’m sorry. What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.”

“Fucking creep!” I screamed.

His eyes flashed pure crimson as he pressed into me. Fucking gods, he hadn’t been lying a few seconds ago. My stomach roiled. “I gave you a chance, Seraphena. All you had to do was give me what I wanted. I would’ve left you and my nephew alone. I wouldn’t have gone after your family. I would’ve had my everything.” His mouth brushed my chin when he spoke, his voice as soft and gentle as the most peaceful death. But his body shook with anger. “I would’ve been happy!” he shouted. “I would’ve been whole for the first time in my fucking life!”

I tried to turn my head away, but he tightened his grip. Over his shoulder, I saw a draken drawing nearer. I didn’t know if it was one of his or one that now belonged to Penellaphe, and I had no idea where Attes was.

“I would have what you and my nephew have.” Kolis inhaled deeply. “But you had to be this way. You had to ruin everything. You had to test me.”

Without even looking, he threw out his left hand. A bolt of crimson-and-black eather streamed out, thick like oil, striking the draken. Its scream stole my breath, its wings crumbling before it fell.

“You just had to make it difficult.” He rested his forehead against mine and sighed. “So, now I’m going to make it difficult.”

I swung my arm, grabbing a fistful of his hair. Strands snapped when I jerked his head back. “Do you ever not blame yourself for anything? Oh, wait. You have. You blame yourself for your brother’s death.”

His lips peeled back in a snarl. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You and I both know that’s bullshit, Kolis,” I hissed. “You loved him. He loved you. And you murdered him.”

“Shut up.”

“By accident,” I spat.

Hollow bone appeared along his jaw. His lips thinned until there was no flesh as he leaned back.

“Tell me, Kolis.” I laughed, spitting blood. “Do you really want to live? Because I know what I saw when I drove the bone through your chest. Relief.”

“Shut the fuck up!”

I swung my knee up. Kolis moved at the last second, and the blow connected with his chest. He grunted and released me. I reached for the bone dagger at my thigh, unsheathing it. I thrust out, aiming for the fucker’s head—

Kolis caught my wrist, looked down at what I held, and tilted his head. “Drop it,” he ordered, his voice guttural.

“Fuck you,” I spat, swinging out with my other arm.

“Maybe later.” He caught my left arm. Flesh returned, and the crimson bone retreated. “I think I’m owed that, aren’t I?”

I struggled to push past his hold. “I thought you were waiting for Sotoria.”

“I was.” He twisted my right wrist, snapping the bone. I couldn’t suppress the scream as my fingers sprang open, and the dagger slipped free. “It’s not like I’d be betraying Sotoria. I don’t desire you or your body. I desire your pain and submission. Your humiliation. And since I know her soul is in The Star, I also know she’s not out there waiting for me.”

“Waiting for you?” I gasped, my arm throbbing. “You mean hiding from you, willing to end her life to escape you?”

Kolis turned sharply, throwing me like a sack of potatoes. I hit the floor, crashing into stone. I groaned when thudding agony rolled through my right arm. I couldn’t move as I felt the essence slipping from my chest and pooling in my stomach.

I really should’ve listened to Holland.

“You and I are really going to need to work on watching that mouth of yours.” Kolis was kneeling over me before I could even move. He grabbed my nape and flipped me onto my back. “Because you and I?” He caught my wrists, grinding the broken bones together as he pinned my arms above my head. He straddled my legs, trapping them. “We’re going to be spending a lot of time together.”

“Get off me, you piece of shit!” I screamed, eather flickering frantically. He switched the hold on my wrists to one hand. “Get off me—”

He slapped his free hand down on my mouth, his fingers more bone than flesh and cutting into my skin. “I have a feeling I’m going to have to cut out your tongue, and that would be a shame. I’m sure once Kyn finishes with his brother, he’ll want a taste of that sharp tongue.” A spasm shuddered through him as he rolled his neck. “I need you to listen to me when I tell you how this will go.”

I glared at him, wishing my stare could burn him alive.

“First and foremost, you will give me The Star,” he said. “But that will no longer satisfy me. You will give me more than that.”

I strained against his hold, rage choking me.

“You will give me retribution,” he whispered, blood dripping from his throat onto my face, even though the wound had healed. “I will keep you alive until Sotoria matures, and then I will drain every drop of blood and essence from you and rise as the Primal of Ash and Blood.” He lowered his head, and my body went rigid. I felt his fangs against my throat. “That will take years, Seraphena. Years. And in those years, you will feel what I have. What it’s like to have the one thing you only ever wanted repeatedly taken from you. Do you know how that feels? You should have gotten a taste of it since I’ve already begun.” He lifted my upper body when I didn’t answer and slammed me back down. My head cracked off the floor. He removed his hand from my mouth. “Do you?”

“Fuck off!” I shouted as panic, icy and slick, coated my skin, and my vision blinked in and out. I couldn’t pass out. I couldn’t.

Kolis gripped my chin. Snow fell in larger flakes, coming down faster. “Every day without her kills a piece of me,” he said, real emotion creeping into his voice, thickening it. “And I want that for you. I want you to drown in it. Choke on it. I want each and every day you live to be coated in sorrow and regret, while knowing you could’ve prevented it by giving her to me.” He slammed my head back once more, and my vision faded again. “I want Nyktos’s death.”

My heart stopped, and my struggles ceased. “No,” I seethed, feeling the essence trying to rise. “I will not allow it.”

“You are no longer in a position to decide what you will allow.” He tipped my head back until my neck protested. “But I don’t want a quick death for him. He will live as long as you so that he, too, can feel that loss every day. So that he can feel everything done to you, just as he feels this right now. And as I said before, Seraphena, I have so much planned for you.”