“Why would you do that? Why would he—?” I jerked again, stomach dipping as disbelief rose. “Kolis knows.”
A slow smile tipped up the corner of his mouth. “Of course, he does. He is the King of Gods.” He spoke gently as if conversing with a child. “His Majesty learned of it the night of your birth when your father summoned the Primal of Life to make another deal.”
Every muscle in my body stiffened. “What?”
“What was his name? Ah, yes.Lamont. Poor King Lamont had no idea that Eythos had answered his ancestor, so he spoke openly and freely with His Majesty. Asked for—no,demanded—that another deal be made, one that freed his newly born daughter from any obligations promised during the original deal.”
Reeling, I couldn’t move. I could barely breathe. The news that my father had tried to undo the deal—for me—left me stunned.
“He was quite insistent. Desperate, even. Unfortunately, one cannot simply undo deals made by a Primal.” Callum’s lips pursed. “Either way, the deal was of great interest to His Majesty. After all, he knew that his brother must have done something with the true embers of life since they didn’t pass to His Majesty upon his brother’s death.”
My lips parted. That meant…gods, that meant Kolis had drained his brother of his lifeforce. Hisown brother. Sickened, I gripped the edge of the bed.
“He spent many years searching for wherever hisgraecahad scampered off to.” Callum laughed.“Scampered. I do love that word.”
Graeca.
The word had two meanings. Love. And life. But when Taric had fed from me and said that he wondered what thegraecawould taste like, I’d thought he’d learned about the soul inside me. But he hadn’t. Taric had tasted life.Graecahad always meant life—the embers of life.
“His Majesty knew that Eythos had to have hidden them somewhere.” Callum tilted his head. “Then, enter your father and the discovery of the deal. So, yes, His Majesty has known since your birth what you carry inside you.”
Good gods…
I rose without realizing it, without even understanding why, I only knew that I couldn’t remain seated as shock rolled into confusion and then gave way to anguish.
“No,” I stated, flinching at the sound of the chain rattling against the floor as I stepped forward.
“Yes.”
I didn’t want to believe it. Not because I couldn’t understand how Kolis had known this entire time and proceeded as he had, and not even because Kolis surely knew how to remove the embers from me. But because everything…
EverythingAsh had sacrificed had been fornothing.
Kolis had known about me and the embers. He had always known. And there had been no reason to keep me undiscovered and safe. For others to have given up their lives to do so. There was no reason for Ash to have made that deal with Veses.
Callum eyed me. “You seem upset.”
Upset? I shuddered, seizing the anger instead of the sorrow. One strengthened me. The other would destroy me.
He shrugged once more. “It was quite clever of Eythos, though, wasn’t it? To take the last of those embers and hide them in a simple mortal, where no one would think to look—a mortal he insured would belong to his son. Very clever.”
As Callum spoke, I realized that Callum had not once mentioned Sotoria’s soul. That was something neither KingRoderick—who made the deal—nor my father would’ve known about.
And neither did Kolis.
“If he knew I had Primal embers in me, why wait?” I asked, tucking the piece of knowledge about the soul away. “Why let me be taken into the Shadowlands? Why let it get to—to this point? People died and—” I sucked in a sharp breath. “He could’ve taken me at any time. Why wait?”
“Blood.” Callum inhaled deeply. “Ash.”
Something about the way he said that shook free a memory of the night the draken had freed the entombed gods. Veses’ guard had said something similar after he scented my blood. He’d said—
“Bloodandash.”
I stiffened to the point where the shackle around my neck threatened to cut into my throat. My heart fell and tumbled as I turned to the partition wall. It had opened, letting a bit of the rare hours of night seep into the chamber. I could make out the shadows of tall leafy trees behind…
Kolis.
At that very second, I realized I hadn’t thought of what I’d been groomed to do since birth. What Holland had prepared me for. Not once since waking up.