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Kolis’s chin lifted. “Well, we will see if that is true, won’t we?”
My heart lurched, and I swung my head toward Ione.
“It does not need to be painful,” she said, looking up. “Though it is not entirely comfortable. You will be tired afterward and perhaps have a headache, but it should not feel like any unimaginable pain.”
Yeah, well, the problem wasn’t the pain. I could deal with that. Still, I latched on to the excuse. “I can’t go through that again. It was horrible.” A tremor coursed down my spine, and it was more genuine than forced. “I won’t—”
“Seraphena.”
I locked up at Kolis’s whisper. Or had he yelled? I couldn’t be sure. Whatever it was, his voice felt like it was everywhere.
Oh, gods.
A compulsion. He was using compulsion again.
“Look at me,” he coaxed, his tone soft and lilting yet heavy and laden with power.
His voice washed over me like a rising tide, seeping through my skin—
No.
My fingers twitched.
No. No.
The muscles in my neck spasmed as I fought, and the embers hummed wildly in my chest. If he gained control, there’d be nothing I could do. Nothing. No. No—
“Seraphena.” Kolis was suddenly in front of me, his fingers on my chin.
I jerked back, starting to close my eyes. I could fight this, couldn’t I? I had Primal embers in me. I could fight this with…with—
“Look at me,” Kolis demanded, and a wave of power hit me hard. “Now.”
I tried…gods, I tried to resist. My muscles spasmed painfully. Air punched out of my lungs, and my eyes lifted past his mouth. His nostrils were flared with irritation. My gaze locked on his, and I felt it then, the compulsion seeping into my muscles, relaxing them. His power wrapped around my mind. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t.
I could do nothing but obey.
Golden flecks whirled in his eyes, slipping under and over the wisps of silvery eather. “You will sit, and you will not attempt to fight Ione. Do you understand?”
My lips moved, forming one word. “Yes.”
“That’s a good girl,” he murmured, running his thumb beneath my bottom lip, avoiding the healing skin there as I…
I stood still, unable to even shudder.
“Sit,” he repeated.
Like a puppet, I sat.
Kolis turned to the goddess. “Do what needs to be done.” He was silent as Ione moved closer. “And do it as quickly as possible.” He glanced at me and then away. “I do not want her to feel any unnecessary pain.”
He said as much now, but that would soon change.
“Of course, Your Majesty.” Ione knelt before me. Dark eyes lit with eather met mine. “You seem to be aware of this, but to be clear, I will need to take your blood.”
I did know that. I fucking remembered that part clearly.
Ione blinked, seeming to remember only then that I could not respond. She picked up my right hand, her touch cool. She halted, her brows lifting as her gaze flew to mine.
