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His nostrils flared. “I’ll make sure he’s aware of that, too.”

My head jerked up, sending a frenzy of pain across my shoulders and down my spine. “And I’ll make sure he knows that his precious first creation is the idiot who told my mother how a Primal could be killed. I bet he’ll be real…disappointed to learn that.”

Callum’s mouth snapped shut.

“Yeah.” I smiled through the pain, baring my teeth. “I haven’t forgotten that. Though I wish you would explain why you would do something so…reckless.”

“I wasn’t being reckless, you insignificant gnat.” He snapped forward, clutching the bars. They didn’t seem to affect him. “I was—” He sucked in a deep breath, then peeled his hands away, one finger at a time. “Do you want to know why you are being punished? Because, deep down, Kolis knows you’re not Sotoria.”

A kernel of unease unfurled. “Do you know how repetitive you are? It’s exhausting.”

His smile returned. “He would never treat Sotoria this way.”

Another dry, aching laugh left me.

“I’m not sure what I said that would cause you to find humor.”

“I’m not laughing at what you said,” I told him. “I’m laughing at you.”

Callum’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re an idiot if you think that. He killed her—”

“Her?” The painted wings lifted along his forehead.

Shit. I’d slipped up there. “Yes, her. I don’t remember any of that,” I said, recovering as best I could. “And that’s not the point.”

“But that is the point.” His smile returned. “If you were her, you would know.”

“Can you—?”

“You would know that he never killed Sotoria.”

Now it was I who shut their mouth as her presence stirred restlessly in my chest.

“Yes, he scared her the first time, but that was an accident. He didn’t know how easily Sotoria could be startled,” he said, the skin beneath the painted wings softening in a way I hadn’t seen it do before. “And he didn’t kill her the second time either.” His lower lip quivered. “Eythos did, and that was the second and last time I failed her.”

Callum had finally quieted, having decided to sit morosely on the sofa. What he’d shared lingered in my mind.

It was always suspected that either Sotoria died by starving herself or Kolis lost his temper and ended her life. But Eythos? I couldn’t believe it, even though Callum had very little to gain by lying about it.

Then again, what did Eythos have to gain by killing Sotoria? Well, other than revenge. Though, given what I knew of Eythos, he didn’t strike me as the type to seek revenge by harming an innocent.

My thoughts eventually turned to worries as time ticked by. How had Veses escaped? Was anyone harmed? Would Kolis seek to punish me further by refusing to release Ash or turn his attention to Rhain? More concerns preyed upon my mind while I could do nothing but hang in pain.

How much time did I have left? Could I get to Ash? Would I somehow find The Star, and would it even work when it came to Sotoria’s soul?

How could I continue to tolerate Kolis’s presence?

And would Kolis come to realize that Callum was right? That I really wasn’t Sotoria? My thoughts flashed to Veses and the Council Hall. If so, I wouldn’t live long enough for him to make good on his offer to Kyn. He’d take the embers, killing me and effectively dooming Sotoria.

More time passed.

When Kolis finally returned, smelling of some sort of sweet smoke and staleness, my shoulders had gone numb. He said nothing as he took me by the waist and released the shackles.

I couldn’t keep quiet when he freed my arms. I cried out, my sore muscles screaming.

“I’m sorry, so’lis.” Kolis gathered me in his arms. A fiery, pins-and-needles sensation erupted, leaving me panting with discomfort and pain, unable to protest his embrace. “I’m so sorry.”