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“This really isn’t necessary.” I tried again, hands spasming at my sides as I held myself back. The clap of Iason’s and Dyses’ boots against the stone, and the silent steps of the Chosen, were now like thunder. Dyses looked somewhat bored, but the draken…
Iason stared straight ahead, almost as if he saw no one. Once more I thought of how many draken in Dalos had been forced into bonding with Kolis. Was Iason one of those who, unlike Nektas’s cousin, would’ve chosen not to serve Kolis if given a choice?
“But it is.” Kolis turned to the Chosen. “Come,” he coaxed, beckoning warmly.
Breathe in. My body went rigid. The Chosen crossed the remaining distance, gloved hands clasped before their waist. Hold.
“Unveil yourself,” Kolis instructed.
Breathe out.
The Chosen lifted the veil, gradually revealing the fine features of a young man who couldn’t be much older than me. Hold.
“Jove,” Kolis spoke. A cowardly part of me didn’t want to learn his name. “How are you?”
“I am fine, Your Majesty.” Jove smiled, and gods, it reminded me of my smiles whenever my mother sent me to deliver her messages: practiced but empty. Just as I had been.
Breathe in.
“Today, you will be blessed,” Kolis said, cupping the man’s cheek. “Given new life.”
Jove bowed his head. “It is an honor.”
No. No it wasn’t. Because I heard his voice tremble. I saw the increasing thinness of his smile and the wideness of his deep brown eyes.
He was afraid.
I stopped with the breathing exercises and stepped forward. “Kolis.”
The false King’s head cut in my direction. “Yes?”
“You don’t have to do this,” I repeated as the embers thrummed in my chest. “I…I thought when you said you wanted to walk, it was to spend time with me. Alone.”
“We will.” Kolis stared at me for so long, I thought maybe he’d changed his mind. “But there are things I must see to. This is one of them.”
Jove stood completely still, his hands clenched tightly as dread flooded my heart.
“This is an honor,” Kolis said, and I didn’t know if he was talking to me or the Chosen. “Life can still be created, even if imperfect. And it must be. For without it, the very fabric of the realms would rip apart.”
I blinked. “W-what?”
“Close your eyes, my son.” Kolis fully shifted his attention to Jove.
The Chosen obeyed without hesitation. Kolis tilted the man’s head back, exposing the length of his neck.
He was going to bite him.
My hand went to my throat as the memory of the pain burned through me. I couldn’t stand here and allow this.
Instinct took over, and I was suddenly moving toward Kolis and the Chosen before I was even fully conscious of what I was doing. Crossing the space, the essence built inside me as I reached out—
I gasped as Kolis’s other hand snaked out, capturing my wrist. “I understand,” he said softly, his flat, cold stare locking with mine. “You’ve always had a kind heart, so’lis.”
I shuddered.
And then she shuddered.
“Even now, under this sharp, rough, and often abrasive exterior, your heart is soft,” he continued, my skin crawling from his touch. “You are a good person. I admire that. I always have.”
