Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
She tells him he doesn’t have to prove anything, and he insists he must show her what he can do. She tries to talk him out of it, and he simply instructs the Chosen to unveil himself. Kolis asks the Chosen—who she finds out is named Jove—how he is and says he’ll be blessed.
Jove says it’s an honor, and Sera tries again to stop Kolis, knowing it’s anything but. When she moves to stop him, he tells her she’s always had a kind heart, making both her and Sotoria shudder.
He tells her she needs to know why it’s so important and leaves how it’s done up to her—Jove can be remade or used as sustenance. Balance is necessary.
She asks if he can at least make it so it doesn’t hurt. He does, and then Sera realizes she may have turned pain into forced pleasure. She’s not sure which is worse. It makes her sick.
Kolis explains the process of what he’s doing and calls Elias over to give Jove his blood. Sera realizes Kolis can’t use his blood because he’s the true Primal of Death. He tells her that without the embers of life, the Chosen become the Ascended. Then says he’s been working on the drawbacks, like their sun intolerance and bloodlust.
Sera wonders what happens if they can’t control their hunger, and he says they’re put down. He tells her that gluttonous gods were killed under Eythos’s rule, as well, and he was used as the weapon to do it.
Kolis appears to truly believe that he’s creating life and cares about it besides. She asks about the difference between the Ascended and the Craven, and he tells her that the Craven are dead, revealing more about them. Sera thinks about Andreia.
He tells her that newly made Ascended are watched, and the one she encountered would have been too if she hadn’t tried to escape and pulled the guards from their posts.
She asks what happens if an Ascended chooses not to feed, and he tells her they will weaken, and their bodies will eventually give out. She asks why an Ascended would decide that, then guesses it’s maybe so they don’t become an indiscriminate killer. Kolis says that everything created or born has the potential to be a murderer.
Sera gets frustrated when Kolis just isn’t getting her points about choice and consent, and he brings up balance again. He goes on to say that the Primal of Death is supposed to remain distant from anyone they may have to judge—all but the other Primals and the draken. He complains that it isn’t the same for the Primal of Life. He goes on to say that it made sense to the Arae, and all comes back to the balance established when the Ancients created the realms.
Sera chimes in that she thought Eythos created the realms, and Kolis tells her that he created some but not the realms. The Ancients were not the first Primals, nor can any Primal become an Ancient. He tells her there must always be a true Primal of Life and a true Primal of Death.
Sera realizes that means Kolis can never be killed.
She feels disheartened and wonders about Holland, Eythos, and Keella. Why did they do what they did if he can’t be killed?
Later in the cage, she thinks about The Star and wonders if it could hold embers and a soul simultaneously. Callum asks her what she’s doing, and she tells him she’s praying. When the embers respond to a Primal nearing, Callum says it’s strange because Kolis is occupied.
Veses blows in, nailing Callum in the face with the door. He tells her Kolis isn’t around, and she says she’s not there for him. Callum says it’s unwise to go against His Majesty’s edicts, and Veses says she doesn’t intend for him to find out she came.
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.