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He gloats that nothing will be forbidden or impossible once he Ascends and bites her above the shackle around her neck. She wonders if Ash can sense and feel her pain and realizes he’ll know she’s dead when his imprint vanishes.
Suddenly, she feels the embers flare and hears Sotoria in her head yelling, “No!” She speaks aloud, using Sotoria’s voice and saying, “You’re killing me again, after all these years.” Despite his best efforts, Sera feels no pain anymore, only rage. She laughs and tells Kolis she’s Sotoria and then explains everything Eythos did.
Kolis releases her and hugs her to him. She sees the horror on his face as he realizes who he has to kill—again—in order to get what he wants.
Fading, Sera’s gaze drifts to the open doors where she sees a silver-white wolf crouched by the trees and bathed in moonlight.
She knows it’s Ash.
Sera awakens chained in a cage in a circular chamber. Kolis tightens his hold and asks her if she’s really Sotoria. Crying, Sera wonders if the tears are hers alone. She’s scared—even of just Kolis’s voice.
Attes tells Kolis that Sera isn’t well and urges him to see. Callum takes another tack and tells Kolis to take the embers. Says if she dies, they die right along with her. He tells Kolis he needs to take them and Ascend. Attes chimes back in that if Sera dies, Kolis’s graeca will be lost.
Hearing the word again, Sera thinks it has a third meaning outside of love and life. Obsession. It’s clear that’s the root of what Kolis feels for Sotoria. With that thought, Sera loses consciousness again.
She senses a storm of gathering power, and the wolf comes—mist and shadows everywhere. Sera watches as the throne crumbles and a shockwave tosses Attes aside and lifts Callum, slamming him into the cage’s bars.
Ash shifts into his Primal form and challenges Kolis. Suddenly, Hanan appears, and Sera watches as Ash destroys the Primal’s spear and then kills him. For some reason, she finds his display of power disturbingly hot.
An earthquake shakes the building, and Hanan’s crown disappears. Sera knows everyone, everywhere likely felt it and realizes that Bele probably just rose as the new Primal of the Hunt.
Kolis lowers Sera gently, but before he can let go, Ash tells his uncle to get his hands off his wife. She watches the exchange and realizes that Kolis can’t kill Ash. Balance is required.
Ash gathers Sera into his arms but is ripped away. The two Primals argue about war, treason, custom, and faith. Then, they battle.
As they fight, Attes grabs Sera. She calls him a traitor. Attes says he knows what he’s done, but there’s no time for that. He warns her that Kolis will kill Ash. Begrudgingly, Sera asks Attes to help her stand, then takes one of his shadowstone daggers. When he rages, she uses the little strength she has to tell him to calm down, saying he’s not worth the effort.
She taps into the embers, compels Ash and Kolis to stop fighting, then lifts the dagger to her throat. She threatens to end herself, and they plead for her to stand down.
When Kolis stabs Ash in the chest, Nyktos tells Sera to run. Attes reminds her that Ash is still alive and then yells at Kolis that Sotoria needs his help, hoping to stop the false King from wounding Ash worse. He finally lets up and comes to Sera, lifting her.
Inside Sera, Sotoria whispers that it isn’t fair, speaking of dying again.
Sera comes to in Kolis’s arms, thinking about Ash. The false King tells her that she’ll live as long as she is who she claims to be. He takes her into the water, and Sera sees ceeren swimming all around her.
Kolis calls to Phanos. When the Primal arrives, he says he thought Sera was Nyktos’s Consort. Kolis brushes that off and orders him to help her.
Phanos takes Sera and mentions how Nyktos took Saion and Rhahar from him as he walks. He says that he should be amused by what’s happening, but he finds no joy in it. He tells her they’re in the water off the Triton Isles near the coast of Hygeia, adding that water is the source of all life and healing.
Sera suddenly hears singing. Phanos says that what is about to happen would cure most, but with the embers inside her, that’s impossible for Sera—it’s merely a temporary solution. He mentions a steep price and tells her to remember the gifts she’s about to be given.
He breathes into her mouth and then sends her into the water, where the ceeren do the same, dying as they give their lives for hers.
It’s utterly tragic, and nearly broke my heart when I saw it.
Sera asks Kolis why he did what he did, and he tells her that he won’t allow her to die. Sera tells him she doesn’t want anyone dying for her, and he tells her she has no choice, then taunts her that if she were Sotoria, she’d know that.
He says that if he looks and listens hard enough, he can see Sotoria in her.
She runs for the guards and grabs a sword. Kolis orders her not to be touched and tells the guards to leave, remarking that he expected her to run. He demands she put down the weapon, and she tells him to make her, then stabs him in the chest. He says he’s not amused and tells her how she could have done better.
She starts to run, and he stops her by her hair, saying he’s more accustomed to this—her running. They fight. Kolis hits Sera, then feels bad about it. She mouths off, and Kolis says he never wanted to be a villain, blaming Eythos for that.
Sera asks him if there’s anything he doesn’t blame his brother for. Kolis tells her not to push him and calls her so’lis.
The false King threatens Ash, and Sera threatens him. He grabs her by the throat, and she gasps that he’s killing her again.
When he says they’re going home, she tells him off. That really angers him, and he shifts into his deathly form, scaring her, then compels her.
