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I opened my mouth to lie with who knew what, but Callum, the bastard, beat me to it.

“She was asking about the Chosen she killed,” Callum shared, retrieving the key from his pocket. “And then the one who returned. She was sharing her astute observation of how Antonis wasn’t a Revenant.”

Antonis, I repeated to myself. So that was the name of the Chosen who’d come back to life and tried to attack me.

“Of course, not.” Kolis frowned and looked at me as if I were somehow supposed to know what he was. “Some would call him cursed. A once-mortal, now-decaying body plagued with an insatiable hunger. Craven.”

A flurry of nerves churned in my belly as Callum unlocked the cage door. The soft creak of the hinges sent shivers down my spine. I told myself that he must not know about Attes because I doubted we’d be talking about Craven if he did.

“They are nothing more than an unfortunate…side effect.”

“Side effect of what, exactly?” I asked, watching Callum step aside.

“Of creating the Ascended. They are the product of maintaining balance and giving life.” Kolis smiled then, ducking as he entered the cage.

Fear collided with my already-frazzled nerves, unleashing a surging tide of potent emotions I battled to restrain. I gritted my teeth in a desperate attempt to keep them at bay, ignoring the flare of pain it caused. “The Ascended? I don’t think I understand.”

“The woman you spoke of? The one I was told you killed.” The smile faded as the door was closed behind Kolis. “She was an Ascended. My child.”

I drew back in surprise. “You don’t mean that in the literal sense, right?”

“I played a role in the creation of her new life,” he replied. “Does that not make her my child?”

I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t know what he meant by playing a role. “How?”

“By Ascending her, just as my brother did with those before.”

A jolt of incredulity surged through me. Everyone had said that no Chosen had Ascended since Kolis’s reign began.

With keen discernment, Kolis’s observant stare flitted across my face. “That surprises you to hear? Did my nephew not explain how the Chosen are made into gods? It’s through Ascension.”

I tensed at the mention of Ash.

“Whether or not he did, I can see you don’t believe me.” His jaw clenched, and the gold flecks brightened in his eyes. “You think I cannot give life just because I cannot make a god like my brother did?”

Oh, damn. I’d hit a nerve. “I—”

“It does not matter.” His hand cut through the air in a curt wave. “This is not what I came to speak to you about.”

A heavy thud resounded from within my chest. Maybe I had been too quick to think he hadn’t learned about Attes’s visit.

“Leave us,” Kolis bit out.

Outside the cage, Callum said, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Kolis crossed the cage, going to the table. “You didn’t answer my question.”

I blinked rapidly. He’d spoken?

“I asked if you’ve been resting.” A glimmer of gold swirled beneath the flesh of his cheeks. “Since I last saw you.”

Did he actually think I’d been relaxing? My mouth opened to ask him that, but I stopped myself.

The plan.

I had a plan.

Ash was far more important than the momentary satisfaction of speaking my mind. I took a deep breath and held it, forcing my mind to clear. Years’ worth of training I wanted nothing more than to forget pieced themselves together, reminding me why I needed to be a blank canvas.