Page 219 of A Fire in the Flesh

“I’m not sure how any of that is helping right now,” I said, pressing a hand to Ash’s chest as his lips peeled back, revealing sharp fangs. “At all.”

“What I’m trying to say is that when Seraphena dies, Sotoria will be lost,” Attes stated. “And that means the only chance to truly stop Kolis dies with that soul. If that happens? Nothing will be able to stop him. And you know more than anyone, he doesn’t need to Ascend into the Primal of Life and Death to wreak havoc.”

“You know an awful lot about this soul, given you’re the fucking Primal of War,” Ash spat. “Besides that, Sotoria isn’t really alive, now is she? Her soul is just an invader in Sera’s body, who is alive.”

My brows knitted. I got what Ash was saying, but… “She’s alive,” I whispered. Flat, chrome-hued eyes snapped back to mine. “I mean, maybe conscious is better than saying she’s alive, but she’s aware.”

Ash frowned.

“It’s true.” Attes had moved closer, maybe a few feet from us. “I heard Sotoria—her voice and laugh from Sera—when Kolis first had her. It’s a sound I would recognize anywhere.”

My lips parted in surprise. He was talking about when Kolis had tried to take the embers. Attes hadn’t shared that before.

“How would you know that?” Ash demanded.

“He knew Sotoria,” I answered. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you.”

Attes nodded. “I met her when Kolis first brought her back. In Dalos. I was…in her presence long enough to know her voice and laugh.”

“I have so many questions about that,” I murmured, but something suddenly occurred to me. “Even if I were Sotoria, and what Eythos planned worked, we still can’t kill Kolis, right? He is the only one with true Primal of Death embers.”

“Correct.” Keella drifted closer, a woodsy, earthy scent following her. “If Kolis dies without there being true embers of death in someone else, the release of those embers would devastate the realms and upset the balance.”

My brows lifted. “That brings me back to the point I was making. Kolis cannot be killed.”

“Yet,” Keella said.

“The Star.” Ash eyed the leather satchel Attes carried. “The Star can be used to transfer the embers from Kolis.”

“Of course,” I murmured as I frowned. “But it would be holding Sotoria’s soul.”

“Hopefully, not for long,” Attes said. “Eythos hoped Sotoria could weaken Kolis enough for the embers to be transferred to The Star.”

“But what if I hadn’t found the diamond?” I pointed out. “That was a huge risk to take.”

A wry grin appeared on Attes’s face. “As I said, I didn’t think Eythos’s plan was all that great.”

“Maybe it wasn’t his only plan,” Nektas commented. “Yes, Eythos could be impulsive, but I doubt he didn’t think of all the possible ways things could go wrong. He could’ve had other plans and simply didn’t share them.”

“There’s no way of knowing that,” Attes said. “But what I do know is that once Sotoria is reborn, we will have The Star and can end Kolis.”

Once Sotoria was reborn, she’d likely be raised as I was, steeped in death and groomed for one purpose only: to seduce and kill. Not to be her own person, with a future. My stomach twisted with nausea.

I shook my head. “What about until then?”

“Several things have to happen before then,” Keella said. “Even though Eythos was no longer the Primal of Life when we placed Sotoria’s soul in your bloodline, he still had the true embers of life then. For me to do what we did again, I will need the true Primal of Life’s assistance.”

“So you will need Ash,” I said. The subject of my statement tensed behind me. “Then what?”

Keella’s gaze lifted to Ash and then returned to me, but it was Attes who said, “Then we would have to incapacitate Kolis until Sotoria can be reborn and come of age. He will be weakened by the Ascension of the true of Primal of Life. It will be our one opportunity to strike.”

Ash spoke then. “You speak of entombing him. Putting him in stasis.”

I now knew how that could be done—by using the bones of the Ancients.

“You speak as if this will be easy to do,” Ash said. “Those loyal to him will resist. They will fight for him.”

“There will be war,” I whispered, looking up at Attes. “But that war has been coming.”

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