Page 40 of A Fire in the Flesh

Callum’s eyes locked with mine, and my stomach pitched. A second passed. Two. Then he moved away from the Chosen, his haunting smile never fading.

Trembling with barely restrained anger and disbelief, I watched him approach the cage. He fished out a key as the Chosen waited behind him.

Did Callum not realize the key he’d used before had gone missing?

The cage opened, and I curled my arms around my chest, stopping myself from rushing the door and launching myself at the fucking Revenant.

My gods. I was going to do terrible, permanent damage to him one of these days.

Just not today.

I focused on the Chosen. None of them had reacted to the murder. Not a shout or a jerk, yet they’d screamed when they saw me. It was likely these were different Chosen, ones too familiar with this kind of violence.

Sickened, I stood by the divan, my stomach twisting and turning as my toes curled into the thick, soft rug. One by one, they entered, disappearing momentarily behind the screen and then returning with their pails in hand. They didn’t look at me. No one spoke. The only sound was the whisper of robes across marble.

By the time the bucket that had hit the floor earlier had been refilled and added to the water in the tub, the embers in my chest had finally calmed. Callum locked the cage door as the last Chosen left the chamber. The approach of heavier footsteps drew my attention.

A dark-haired guard appeared in the hall, crossing the room in his knee-length, white tunic and gold greaves. The bright light of the chandelier reflected off the sigil engraved on the golden armor: a circle with a slash through it. His face was painted the same as Callum’s.

But I recognized him.

It was the guard who’d been with the draken, the one who’d knocked me out.

As he neared the fallen Chosen, his head lifted just a bit. Amber eyes lit by the glow of eather glanced over me as he lifted the body. Then, without saying a word, he left. The guard was a god, yet he’d used none of his godly abilities against me yesterday.

Neither had any other guards, and the draken had only appeared close to attacking me once I hit him with that bolt of eather.

The reason was suddenly clear to me in light of Callum’s actions. It was likely the guards and Kolis’s loyalists had been warned not to harm me. I could exploit that.

To a point.

Because Callum had shown exactly how he would ensure my cooperation.

“Make use of your bath,” Callum said, drawing my attention to him. “If you do not do so, I will bring another Chosen in here, and they will meet the same fate as the other.”

I turned to where he once more stood before the cage. “I’m going to kill you,” I promised.

Callum laughed softly. “I suggest you bathe and change. Kolis will be most displeased if he finds you in this state.”

“Fuck Kolis,” I snarled, once more losing control of my temper.

“He would enjoy that, I’m sure.” Callum winked. “Your bath water is growing cold.”

Whatever caustic response I had died on my tongue as Callum bowed and turned. I stared numbly as he left, the wide, heavy doors swinging shut behind him. The click of several locks followed.

Callum hadn’t touched those doors.

Either that was something the doors did on their own, or Revenants had some of the same abilities as a god.

An unkillable god.

That potentially made the Revenants as dangerous as a Primal, and that was yet another problem.

Worry gnawed at me. Kolis could return at any moment, but I still hesitated at the tub, my hand pressed lightly to the base of my throat. Just the sight of it full of water caused a knot to swell in my chest.

Having been nearly choked to death in a bathtub had kind of tainted what used to be a luxury I enjoyed.

Even to this day, I still felt the sash coming around my throat from behind, cutting off my airway before I even realized I’d taken my last breath. Damn, the memory was even fresher now.

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