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Sera calls Callum an ever-faithful servant and insinuates that he will tell. Veses tells Sera that she and Callum have something in common: loyalty. Callum warns her, and Veses tells him she isn’t going to hurt Sera and manipulates him by saying she wants to talk to her about what happened in the Hall.
Frustrated, Callum tells her she has ten minutes and leaves. The moment he’s out of the room, Veses reveals her true colors. She tells Sera she enjoyed what Kyn did, going into way too much detail.
Sera tells her that while she may have gotten off, it was still without consent. She asks Veses how she got free of the House of Haides dungeon, and Veses outlines chewing off her arms. She says Hanan’s death woke her from stasis, and she knew that Nyktos had killed him.
She then details all her shocks after and says she was devastated. But she wasn’t all that torn up about Hanan.
Veses tells Sera she’s excited that the Shadowlands are about to invade Dalos and says she knows about the deal Sera made for Nyktos’s freedom. She goes on to reveal there’s doubt about who she claims to be and says the Primals alive when Kolis became the Primal of Life remember what Sotoria looked like.
Sera reiterates what she keeps hearing: wrong hair color, too many freckles, more curves…
She tells Veses she doesn’t get her. She’s beautiful—at least on the outside—and could have anyone. Why would she waste her time pursuing the two most ineligible beings in both realms? She warns Veses she’ll likely tell Kolis about Veses’ visit, and the Primal goddess says she won’t because she knows how he would react, and she’s too good to put Veses in that position.
Sera says she’d rather see her dead than punished, then goes on to tell her she knows about her deal with Nyktos. The Primal tries to goad Sera, but Sera isn’t having it. She tells her she doesn’t get how she could do that to someone, clearly knowing what it’s like to be forced.
Veses insists she’s tried to protect Nyktos, and Sera calls her a mess. Veses reacts by telling Sera she’s a whore. They reveal how much they each know about the other, and Veses says their violent reactions when it comes to those they love are the same.
She goes on that when the truth comes out about Sotoria, Sera will get to see just how sadistic Kyn can be. Sera calls her a sick bitch, but Veses says she’s not. She’s just tired. Then she adds that she won’t lose Kolis to Sotoria again. She’d rather see him dead.
She says she’s worried about Nyktos and suggests that maybe Sera should just sacrifice herself.
Before Veses leaves, Sera apologizes about what happened in the Hall but mentions she still plans to watch the Primal goddess burn.
When Sera emerges later, Kolis is on the bed, waiting for her. She tells him that she’s tired, and he says that’s good. They can sleep together again.
Sera asks about Nyktos, and Kolis says he’s being prepared for release—unless he gives a reason for that not to happen.
She hesitates to go to him and covers by saying she doesn’t know what he expects of her. He points out that he waited for her, while she didn’t wait for him. Her virtue is safe.
Later, Sera’s gums start bleeding, and she realizes that whatever the ceeren did must be wearing off. She’s barreling toward her Ascension.
Kolis suggests a walk, and Sera asks him where Callum is. He tells her that he sent the Revenant away to handle something important. Sera asks about the Revs. She wants to know if they need things like friendship, love, and sex. He says they don’t. They are only driven by their desire to serve their creator.
She says she can’t imagine not wanting anything, and he counters that he thinks it’s probably freeing. She thinks it’s a poor imitation of life.
She goes back to the subject of Callum and says he’s different. Kolis acknowledges and reveals he’s full of wants and needs. He then tells Elias to stay back and moves with Sera to a staircase. He says he was told that motivation plays a role—the magic in creation. Feeling = becoming. He says he’s not so sure because he tried with others, and it never worked. Sera thinks it’s because the feelings were real with Callum. With the others, he was only pretending.
He takes her high to look over the City of the Gods. She sees the glimmering buildings and the Carcers, noticing the shadowstone deposits within. She realizes that’s where Ash is. She asks Kolis about the Fates clearing the city, and he tells her they do whatever they like. Especially when the balance is upset.
He explains that when he became the Primal of Life, he gave the gods in Dalos a choice. They could serve him or die. He killed half. It displeased the Fates, so they wiped out the rest. Kolis admits he could have acted less rashly.
He looks at Sera and says he sometimes sees Sotoria how she was in her, but everything is amplified. He says he wishes she looked how she used to. It offends Sera, and he doesn’t get it. Once again, he asks what she wants or needs in order to forgive him. She immediately thinks of The Star when he says “jewels,” and decides to try.
She makes up a story about her mother and an irregular silver diamond. He offers to get it for her, and she thinks fast and says she doesn’t think Calliphe even has it anymore. He tells her he has one, and she asks to see it. He takes her back to the cage, and it confuses her until he summons down the cluster at the top, and it transforms before her very eyes into a silvery diamond shaped like a star.
He tells her that it’s called The Star and says it was created by dragon fire long before the Primals could shed tears of joy. He adds that he came upon it by chance, which she knows is not true at all.
She asks why he keeps it hidden, and he says he keeps it with what he cherishes the most. The comment makes her sick. She asks to hold the stone. When he lets her, she feels a jolt and sees the streaks of milky white inside the diamond. Images form in her mind, and she sees an Ancient, a dragon, and the destruction of a mountain creating the Star diamond. She watches as it buries itself. Then the visions shift to Eythos and Kolis and the events that played out for Eythos’s last moments.
Sera suddenly blurts, “You cried,” and Kolis freaks out. He asks what she saw and rips the diamond away. He turns Primal, and she becomes nothing but rage. She uses the embers, and he reminds her what he warned, saying what happens next is on her.
He traps her, and she panics, then has a moment of clarity. The bars can be destroyed by her since, for all intents and purposes, she is the Primal of Life. She takes control, letting out the rage and dismantling the cage and chamber. Then she attacks him. He tells her to stop, but she throws the words from her vision back at him.
He realizes she saw Eythos’s last moments, and she stabs him with a bone. After, she gets in close and tells him she wants him to remember that she wants nothing more than to kill him. Then, she stabs him repeatedly, leaving the bone buried somewhere sensitive.
She astral projects and finds Ash, seeing him coming. She watches as he annihilates all in his path while looking for her. She fills with eather but doesn’t feel right, then collapses. He gets to her and lifts her, telling her to open her eyes and assuring that he’s got her.
She sees flashes outside and tenses, but Ash tells her it’s just Nektas. She can barely talk but manages to ask if she’s dreaming. He tells her it’s real. When she asks if he’s okay, he laughs, given the circumstances. She reminds him that he was imprisoned, but he says she was imprisoned, too, just in a different way.
