A Fire in the Flesh (Flesh and Fire, #3)

Ash couldn’t be more rigid if he tried. “I’m okay,” I said.

His smile was more of a grimace. “Why do I have a feeling you say that when it’s not true?”

“Because she does.” Ash’s palm flattened against my hip. “But knowing that won’t stop you.”

“Unfortunately, no,” Attes admitted quietly. “We need to take care of Sotoria’s soul.”

“I don’t give a fuck about that soul,” Ash snarled, shadows pressing against the flesh of the arm he had around my waist.

“But you need to care,” Attes began.

Ash’s head whipped toward the other Primal. “Was I not clear?” His voice vibrated with rage—his entire body did. But he held me so carefully, as if I were made of nothing more than fragile, spun glass.

“Ash,” I said, twisting toward him.

“I know she’s important.” Attes inched closer, speaking before I could continue. “I know she’s very important to you.”

The churning wisps of eather stilled in Ash’s eyes. He lifted his gaze from mine and slowly turned his head to the Primal. The look he gave the Primal of War and Accord could freeze a soul.

Attes was undaunted. “And I remember what that’s like. It fucking haunts me,” he said. I thought of the children he’d lost. “I’ve been told you had your kardia removed. In all honesty, I find that hard to believe, all things considered.” He shot a pointed look at Ash. “However, if that’s true, you know what will happen.”

A low rumble of warning started in Ash’s chest.

“And I’m sorry. I really am,” Attes was quick to add. “I like Seraphena. She…” He glanced at me, his sad smile not quite reaching his eyes. “She amuses me.”

The growl coming from Ash deepened.

Attes’s attention shifted back to Ash. “But the soul in her is far more important.”

“I’m not sure how any of that is helping right now,” I said, pressing a hand to Ash’s chest as his lips peeled back, revealing sharp fangs. “At all.”

“What I’m trying to say is that when Seraphena dies, Sotoria will be lost,” Attes stated. “And that means the only chance to truly stop Kolis dies with that soul. If that happens? Nothing will be able to stop him. And you know more than anyone, he doesn’t need to Ascend into the Primal of Life and Death to wreak havoc.”

“You know an awful lot about this soul, given you’re the fucking Primal of War,” Ash spat. “Besides that, Sotoria isn’t really alive, now is she? Her soul is just an invader in Sera’s body, who is alive.”

My brows knitted. I got what Ash was saying, but… “She’s alive,” I whispered. Flat, chrome-hued eyes snapped back to mine. “I mean, maybe conscious is better than saying she’s alive, but she’s aware.”

Ash frowned.

“It’s true.” Attes had moved closer, maybe a few feet from us. “I heard Sotoria—her voice and laugh from Sera—when Kolis first had her. It’s a sound I would recognize anywhere.”

My lips parted in surprise. He was talking about when Kolis had tried to take the embers. Attes hadn’t shared that before.

“How would you know that?” Ash demanded.

“He knew Sotoria,” I answered. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you.”

Attes nodded. “I met her when Kolis first brought her back. In Dalos. I was…in her presence long enough to know her voice and laugh.”

“I have so many questions about that,” I murmured, but something suddenly occurred to me. “Even if I were Sotoria, and what Eythos planned worked, we still can’t kill Kolis, right? He is the only one with true Primal of Death embers.”

“Correct.” Keella drifted closer, a woodsy, earthy scent following her. “If Kolis dies without there being true embers of death in someone else, the release of those embers would devastate the realms and upset the balance.”

My brows lifted. “That brings me back to the point I was making. Kolis cannot be killed.”

“Yet,” Keella said.

“The Star.” Ash eyed the leather satchel Attes carried. “The Star can be used to transfer the embers from Kolis.”

“Of course,” I murmured as I frowned. “But it would be holding Sotoria’s soul.”

“Hopefully, not for long,” Attes said. “Eythos hoped Sotoria could weaken Kolis enough for the embers to be transferred to The Star.”

“But what if I hadn’t found the diamond?” I pointed out. “That was a huge risk to take.”

A wry grin appeared on Attes’s face. “As I said, I didn’t think Eythos’s plan was all that great.”

“Maybe it wasn’t his only plan,” Nektas commented. “Yes, Eythos could be impulsive, but I doubt he didn’t think of all the possible ways things could go wrong. He could’ve had other plans and simply didn’t share them.”

“There’s no way of knowing that,” Attes said. “But what I do know is that once Sotoria is reborn, we will have The Star and can end Kolis.”

Once Sotoria was reborn, she’d likely be raised as I was, steeped in death and groomed for one purpose only: to seduce and kill. Not to be her own person, with a future. My stomach twisted with nausea.

I shook my head. “What about until then?”

“Several things have to happen before then,” Keella said. “Even though Eythos was no longer the Primal of Life when we placed Sotoria’s soul in your bloodline, he still had the true embers of life then. For me to do what we did again, I will need the true Primal of Life’s assistance.”

“So you will need Ash,” I said. The subject of my statement tensed behind me. “Then what?”

Keella’s gaze lifted to Ash and then returned to me, but it was Attes who said, “Then we would have to incapacitate Kolis until Sotoria can be reborn and come of age. He will be weakened by the Ascension of the true of Primal of Life. It will be our one opportunity to strike.”

Ash spoke then. “You speak of entombing him. Putting him in stasis.”

I now knew how that could be done—by using the bones of the Ancients.

“You speak as if this will be easy to do,” Ash said. “Those loyal to him will resist. They will fight for him.”

“There will be war,” I whispered, looking up at Attes. “But that war has been coming.”

Attes nodded. “But it won’t be the kind of war Kolis would wage.”

“Kolis claims he doesn’t want war,” I shared. “I know that’s hard to believe, and only part of me thinks he spoke the truth. But that was before…well, before now. When he wakes and realizes I’m not really Sotoria, it’ll be bad.”

“And we will be prepared.” Attes’s stare moved to Ash. “We can’t let the only hope we have of stopping Kolis die.”

“The only person I care about not dying is Sera,” Ash swore.

My heart, well, it was doing flips now. Weak ones.

“And I understand that.” Attes lowered his voice. “But this is bigger than you—than Seraphena. Than all of us. You know that. Deep down, you do.”

My gaze crawled back to Ash. “He’s right,” I said quietly. “And you know it. You might not think so now, but later? When…when all of this was for nothing?”

“There won’t be a later when this was for nothing,” he countered.