Page 130 of Born of Blood and Ash

I glanced at Callum. He showed no reaction to that as I’dexpected. He had been all about Kolis taking the embers from me. Had he beentelling the truth when he said his concern was for the balance?

“The realms will continue on as they have, except it will beunder the rule of the Primal of Death as the King,” Kolis said.

My mouth dropped open. “The Primal of Death has neverruled.”

“Nor has a Queen,” he replied.

Well, fuck me, he had me there.

His smile then was a little more real. “All you have to dois give me what I want.”

Ice sloshed in my blood. He could not be serious, but hewas. “Sotoria’s soul?”

Kolis nodded. “Bring me The Star.” He leaned forward. “Thatis all you have to do to prevent a war.”

For a moment, all I could do was stand there while Aydunfaced me as if imploring me to remember what he’d said under the trees. Ihadn’t forgotten. He’d told me that a war wouldn’t be won until there was bloodand bone. And while that made next to no sense to me, he had said that I neededto trust my instincts. He could’ve been talking about how far I believed Koliswould go. Or maybe he meant how I felt regarding using Sotoria’ssoul. How uncomfortable I was with the idea.

But what the Ancient had said or even how I felt about usingher soul didn’t matter. Giving Sotoria over to Kolissickened me. He would have her reborn and would watch her grow—

Gods, I couldn’t even finish that line of thought.

But was one soul—one life—worth hundreds? Thousands? Myheart pounded erratically as I stood there.

My mouth dried. “And why should I believe you won’t go backon this deal the moment you have what you want?”

“A deal is an oath. One that cannot be broken,” Aydunadvised me. “Doing so would force the realm to rectify.”

That wasn’t much of a reassurance considering Kolis hadrepeatedly done things that had to be rectified.

But I…gods, I could not do that to Sotoria.I couldn’t do that to anyone.

“What is your offer?” Aydun prodded.

“What?” I breathed.

“He has offered a deal,” the Ancient said. “You now mustoffer him one.”

I inhaled sharply as I glanced between him and Kolis. Panicbegan to seed itself. Ash and I hadn’t discussed this. We hadn’t evenconsidered it. Why hadn’t Aydun mentioned this? Given me some time to come upwith something. He had to have known this was possible.

It didn’t matter. I had told Ash that I didn’t want to makedecisions without him. We were a team. I lifted my chin. “I need to discussthis with my King first.”

“Your King?” Kolis laughed. “You are speaking to your Kingnow.”

My lip curled. “No, my King is Nyktos.”

Kolis arched a brow. “I recognize no such thing. If you wantto counter with a deal, you will do that now.”

“Such deals are only made between the true Primal of Lifeand the true Primal of Death,” Aydun stated. “You must offer one now.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“I’m waiting,” Kolis announced.

Aydun sent a look toward the Primal of Death that I couldbarely decipher, but Kolis shut up. “Take your time.”

It didn’t matter how much time I had. I couldn’t just comeup with a deal of such magnitude on the spot. Gods, this was why I nevershould’ve been in this position. I wasn’t good at negotiations and politics. Iwasn’t fit for this—

Stop.

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