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I plopped down onto the divan, my mouth hanging open.

“I do.” Kolis raised a brow. “Simply because he takes up less space.”

“You…you just turned him into goo,” I said.

“I did,” Kolis responded without hesitation. “Does that bother you?”

I blinked slowly. I’d seen Ash do something similar, but this was different. This was done merely over words spoken, ones Kolis had goaded the god into speaking. “He was only looking at me.”

Kolis went still. “Did you like him looking at you?”

“Not even remotely, but he wasn’t the only one to do so,” I said, trying to wrap my head around what had just happened and that incredibly idiotic question. “Many of the gods gawked at me.”

“But they were wise enough not to make it so obvious.” He tilted his head. “They may look at you, but they shouldn’t speak on it.”

“You made him talk about it.”

“I simply asked him questions,” he reiterated. “He chose to answer.”

That wasn’t exactly what had occurred. Kolis had basically hounded the god into answering. I glanced back at what was left of Uros, my stomach churning as the scent of iron and charged air reached me.

“That is so…gross,” I murmured.

“No hysterics?” Kolis remarked. “Only statements. That’s impressive.”

I was definitely disturbed by what I’d witnessed, so the lack of screaming and fainting upon seeing someone turned to goo should have probably concerned me.

“Elias?” Kolis called.

The god entered, his steps halting as he got an eyeful of the mess. He recovered quickly, though, faster than I, which could only mean he was accustomed to things such as this.

“Please, let Callum know the Sun Temple in…” Kolis frowned. “Wherever Uros was speaking of, is in need of a replacement.”

Elias nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty. Would you like me to send someone in to remove the mess?”

The mess?

I would call that more than a mess.

“Unnecessary.” Kolis waved his hand, and the chair and goo went the way of Uros, except this time, there was nothing but a faint cloud of dust swirling over the shadowstone tile afterward. “Send the next one in.”

The god who entered kept his eyes trained solely on Kolis. Obviously, after the last one didn’t exit the chamber, this one had put two and two together when he came upon the empty spot. He halted for a moment, his throat bobbing on a swallow. Wordlessly, he sat on the settee.

I perched on the divan, the drink in my hand mostly forgotten as I stared at where the chair had been. Having been raised to commit the most fatal sort of violence, I was used to it. Some part of me wished I weren’t, that something like what’d just happened impacted me more, but I didn’t see it as a weakness. It was a strength, especially now. But the way Kolis had gone about things left me unsettled.

It was all a manipulation.

Kolis had me on display, taunting those to look from the moment they entered the chamber. There was no rhyme or reason behind his opinions on how long was too long for them to do so. Uros was disgusting, and his comments crossed so many lines, but they would not have been made if Kolis hadn’t manipulated him into doing so.

And why had he?

Did he have an issue with the god? Had he done it to prove a point and remind the other gods what he was capable of? To remind me? Or was the reason the same as why Uros and the others found me so pleasing?

I wasn’t that extraordinary to look upon, especially in the realm of the gods. Sure, some found my shape attractive and my features fine. Others felt there was too much of me and that my freckles were distracting. Either way, these gods took interest simply because they saw me as Kolis’s newest favorite and knew I was untouchable. They wanted what they could not have. They desired because they could.

And Kolis had killed that god because he could.

Who would tell him he was wrong? After briefly speaking with him about it, I could see there would be no point in doing so. He did what he wanted and thought little of whether it was right or wrong.