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I picked up my pace as I twisted Aios’s necklace between my fingers.
I hadn’t seen Kolis since he left that day, and the most fucked-up thing was that it was the same as learning I would likely be unable to kill Kolis. It hadn’t filled me with any relief. I was too worried about Ash to appreciate Kolis’s absence—and, hopefully, his all-consuming humiliation.
What if Kolis had changed his mind? He can’t, I reminded myself. He’d made an oath, and Attes had said that Ash was waking up. Had something else happened? Had Rhain managed to launch some sort of attack, accidentally stalling Ash’s release? I closed the fingers of my right hand, pressing them into the golden swirl on my palm.
“I don’t believe you,” Callum stated.
I shot him an arch look. “About what?”
“As if you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
I had a few guesses. “Pretend I don’t and enlighten me.”
His pale gaze tracked my brisk movements. “I don’t trust that you won’t attempt to escape the first chance you get, nor do I believe that you’re seriously open to loving Kolis.”
Well, he would be right about both things. “Okay.”
He cocked his head.
“What?” I challenged. “Think whatever you want. You’re insignificant to me.”
“You should care,” he replied, and I rolled my eyes. “Kolis will realize that you’re lying.”
I was worried about that, because if that thing happened again, I didn’t think I’d be able to stop myself from reacting.
And that wouldn’t bode well for me.
“And he will realize it,” Callum added. “Because you’re not Sotoria.”
My heart skipped with unease, but I didn’t show it. The veil of nothingness was back in place. Mostly. “And why do you think that? Because I don’t exactly resemble what you recall?”
“That’s part of it.”
Curiosity got the better of me. I stopped in front of him. “If you knew me from before, you have to be old.”
A narrow smile appeared. “I am old.”
“How old?”
“Very old,” he replied. “And I did not know you from before.”
A trickle of unease that didn’t feel entirely mine tiptoed down my spine. “Clearly, Kolis favors you. You’re important to him.”
He raised his chin, and there was no mistaking the air of smugness in his voice when he said, “I am.”
“So, you know what I think?”
“Can’t wait to hear it.”
Coming as close to the bars as I could without touching them, I mirrored his close-lipped smile. “I think you’re worried I will replace you.”
His laugh carried an undertone of uncertainty. “I’m not worried about that.”
Knowing I struck a chord, my smile grew. “Sure, Cal.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t call me that.”
I smirked.
