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Kolis turns to Kyn and asks the Primal if he brought what he was ordered to and then instructs Sera to kill a young draken. Nyktos speaks, and Kolis tells him to be silent and that it won’t be him who suffers if he disobeys.
Sera inquires about what will happen if she refuses, and Kolis chuckles when Thad tells her it won’t matter. Kolis then tells her to pay the price, or he will by killing Thad, her, and a draken from the Shadowlands.
Sera asks Kolis what he’ll gain by making her do what he asks, and he tells her that it will tell him everything he needs to know.
Sadly, we know that’s true.
Nyktos tries to intervene, and Kolis warns him again, telling him that he’ll rip out Sera’s heart if he does it once more. He then turns back to Sera and tells her that the draken is young enough that hitting the head or heart will do, then adds that if anyone but Sera pays the price, he’ll demand she pay it with her blood.
Sera kills the draken, and Kolis laughs. Then, smugly, he gives the couple permission for their union and the coronation and dismisses them.
After Attes kidnaps Sera, Kolis enters through a partitioned wall and remarks that he’s happy to see she’s awake. He calls her brave again and tells her she betrayed him the moment she left by using what wasn’t hers to snatch away the life she owed him—by going to Kyn’s Court and bringing Thad back to life.
Sera asks him what Blood and Ash means. He tells her about the prophecy and has Callum recite most of it, only finishing the end. He asserts that he knows Sera’s heard it. When she remarks that he is the great conspirator, he laughs.
They try to dissect the prophecy, and he states that he believes Mycella was the first daughter, and Sera is the second. He also thinks the middle section of the prophecy is something that will happen at some point in the future. He thinks the end of the prophecy is all about her.
He tells her she is the bearer of two crowns and he needed her to restore a draken’s life to know that the embers had reached the point of power where they would ensure the rest of the prophecy came to be. He calls her clever and tells her she’s just a vessel to give him what he wants.
He remarks that the Ancients didn’t imagine he’d do anything to change what they foreshadowed, and it seems it was foretold that Eythos would set it all into motion. However, they underestimated him by thinking he’d just stand by and let it happen.
He says there’s no need for any other Primals if there’s one of Life and Death, then reveals that if he does nothing, he’ll die.
When Sera asks why he needs more power, he answers, “Power isn’t limitless or infinite. Another can always rise. Power can always be taken.” He then grabs her by the throat and tells her that Nyktos would have taken the embers from her the moment he felt he was ready to and insinuates that he could raise Eythos if he took them.
He goes on about why Eythos hated him and confesses that if his brother had brought Sotoria back, it wouldn’t have changed anything; though it would have saved all the lives Nyktos had to take in place of him. He tells Sera he’s going to drain her, take the embers, and rise, completing his final Ascension. He then taunts her that she knows what will happen to his nephew when he does.
He boasts that absolutely nothing will be forbidden or impossible, not even what has been hidden from him, and then strikes, biting Sera just above the shackle on her neck. She tries to save herself by telling him she’s Sotoria reborn, and he calls her a liar. Attes interrupts their exchange and reminds him that Keella helped to find her, even though he’s hunted down every mortal who bears an aura. He then suggests that Kolis couldn’t find her over the past few centuries because she had been reborn and reminds him that Eythos was clever and would do this just to fuck with him.
Shaking, he lets Sera go but catches her, then falls to his knees and hugs her to him with horror etched on his face as he realizes who he has to kill again—Sotoria.
Kolis tightens his hold and asks if it’s really Sotoria. Callum urges him to take the embers from Seraphena and Ascend, while Attes tells him if he doesn’t save Sera, his graeca will be lost.
A storm of gathering power builds, and Kolis sees Nyktos in his nota form changing into his Primal form. His nephew calls him out. Still holding his love, he watches as his nephew kills the Primal God of the Hunt and Divine Justice.
He gently lowers his graeca to the floor and turns to his nephew when Nyktos orders him to take his hands off his wife. He tells Nyktos he can see how powerful he’s become and chastises him for hiding it. He gives him a chance to walk away, but only because they’re family.
He tells Nyktos to go to his Court and tell Bele to appear before him and swear fealty immediately. Instead, Nyktos moves to pick up Sera, and Kolis knocks him back, telling him he’s started a war. His nephew says the moment he strayed from tradition and faith he started it.
Kolis taunts him, saying he killed Eythos and Nyktos swore fealty. Nyktos attacks, and Kolis accuses him of treason.
When Nyktos says that Sera was never Kolis’s, the false king argues that if she is who she claims to be, she was never Nyktos’s to crown. They fight, and Kolis incapacitates Nyktos.
Attes calls to him, telling him that Sotoria needs his help. He goes to her and lifts her, then tells his guards to put Nyktos in the cells.
Sera wakes while in his arms and he tells her that she’ll live as long as she is who she claims to be. He gets into the water and summons Phanos. The Primal arrives, and they talk about Sera being Nyktos’s Consort. Kolis tells him it’s irrelevant. As Phanos asks more, Kolis gripes that he asks too many questions and says he needs Phanos to make sure Sera doesn’t die.
Phanos asks Kolis why he can’t just make her a Revenant, and he tells the Primal that they’re just death reborn. The Primal of the Skies and Seas asks if she’s Kolis’s graeca, and Kolis tells him he believes she is. He tells Phanos he’s been holding her soul in her body, but he can’t much longer.
Phanos wonders if Kolis knows what he’s asking, and Kolis says he’s not asking.
Phanos finally takes Sera, and Kolis watches as he takes her deeper and then one ceeren after another floats to the surface, dead.
When Sera comes back out, she asks him why, and he tells her that he won’t allow her to die. She says she doesn’t want anyone dying for her, and he lets her know she has no choice, then taunts that if she were Sotoria, she would know that.
Sera runs from him and grabs a sword. Kolis tells the guard to leave and remarks that he expected her to run.
He urges her to put down the sword and she tells him to make her. Before he can react, she stabs him in the chest.
