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

“She draws the eye, doesn’t she?” Kolis drawled.

Oh, gods, not this again.

Kyn gave a noncommittal grunt behind the rim of his glass. I doubted whatever the Primal said would end the way it had for Uros, but one could hope.

Kolis eyed the other Primal for several seconds.

“My dear?” he called, causing the muscles of my back to bunch. “Why don’t you come closer?”

I hesitated, and that odd smile of his faltered. Knowing I’d pushed my luck by engaging not once but twice with those who’d entered the chamber, I reminded myself of who was at stake. I took a breath, clearing my mind so I could become nothing again.

Empty.

Unaffected.

Then, I rose.

Too aware of their stares, where they lingered, and knowing I’d been able to see through Dametria’s gown in the light, I slowly walked toward the bars. I knew why Kolis had summoned me closer.

He wanted Kyn to look.

Just as he’d wanted Uros to do.

My heart started pounding. I couldn’t remember in the moment if this was something he’d done with his favorites—showing them off. Enjoying the knowledge that others wanted what he’d claimed as his. It had to be, considering he’d been well aware of how many of the gods had looked upon me. And he hadn’t said a word to them.

Well, except the one he’d killed.

But Kolis looked more pleased than murderous as Kyn lowered his glass and his gaze.

“What do you think now?” Kolis asked politely as if speaking about a painting.

Kyn’s jaw tightened as his perusal swept over me.

Holding myself still, I wanted to feel absolutely nothing, but that wasn’t the case. There was still too much of me present, which meant I hadn’t become a blank canvas. In truth, Kyn was ogling my chest to the point where I wouldn’t be all that dismayed if my breasts withered and fell off.

“She does draw the eye,” Kyn muttered.

“I know,” Kolis said. “You don’t want to think that, but you do.”

My gaze darted back to the false King. A glow of eather pulsed around him, and as it had with Uros, his attention was fixed on the other Primal.

But he seemed different this time. The tension was gone. He appeared relaxed.

“What would happen if she wasn’t in that cage?” Kolis let that question linger in the silence between them. “If she weren’t mine?”

The Primal’s chest rose with a deep breath, and his lips parted. Clearly, he could imagine it.

And I was imagining slitting his throat to the bone.

Kolis watched the other Primal, a sort of feverish look settling into the flesh of his cheeks and the gleam of his eyes. “You’d be between those lovely thighs or in that equally lovely ass of hers.”

Kyn smirked as I inhaled sharply. Like hell, he would. If I weren’t in this cage, I would have both their cocks lying bloody on the floor.

Holding that image in mind, I returned Kyn’s smirk.

The Primal’s eyes went bright as he stiffened. “If she’s not who you believe her to be? Your graeca?”

My nostrils flared. So, Kyn was aware of who Kolis believed me to be. Exactly how many knew about Kolis’s obsession? Everyone?

“If she’s not?” Kolis’s fingers tap, tap, tapped… “You can have her when I’m done with her.”

A wave of prickly heat swept over me as I stared at the Primal of Peace and Vengeance. The nothingness in me swelled. It wasn’t embarrassment over them discussing me as if I were nothing more than cattle, nor was it fear.

It was rage.

“Yeah.” Kyn’s smile widened, showing his fangs as the embers thrummed. “Yeah, I’ll take her.”

He wanted to.

There was no mistaking the lust in his gaze and the few words spoken since Kolis had begun this game once more, but there was also a lot of loathing, and I knew in an instant what would happen if Kolis discovered the truth about Sotoria’s soul and I survived all he’d do.

I wouldn’t survive what Kyn would do.

I wouldn’t want to.

And Kolis knew that.

“Good.” Kolis’s gold-flecked gaze swept back to me. “It’s a deal.”

“Honored,” Kyn murmured. “Your potential…gift moves me, Your Majesty.”

I hoped Nektas burned Kyn to a painful crisp.

Turning to Kolis, the Primal of Peace and Vengeance smiled. “I’m glad I came with one to give you.”

Kolis’s brow rose. “You did?”

“One moment.” The Primal twisted in his chair. “Diaval,” he called, setting his glass on a small table. “I hope you don’t mind that I had your draken assist me.”

“Not when it involves a gift,” Kolis replied.

My brows knitted as my gaze shot to the door. A heartbeat passed. Then another.

A tall draken with long, wavy blond hair entered. A jolt of recognition went through me. It was the one I’d tossed across a hall, the one who’d knocked me out. But at the moment, I couldn’t care less. Every part of me focused on his gift.

Diaval’s hand clasped the bound arm of someone whose head was covered in a burlap hood. The man’s black leathers and tunic were torn in several places, revealing slivers of bloodied flesh.

My heart thundered as they drew closer.

“Here you go.” Diaval shoved the captive forward.

The man stumbled. I held my breath. He went down, his knees cracking off the shadowstone tile. He made no sound as he swayed forward, his chest rising and falling in quick, shallow breaths.

“My gift…” Kolis cocked his head. “Is quite battered and bloodied.”

Kyn rose. “It required some convincing.”

The false Primal smirked. “I can see that.”

I knew—gods, I knew as Kyn rose and walked behind the kneeling man that this was no gift.

It would be a nightmare.

Kyn gripped the back of the burlap sack and ripped it off, revealing a shock of reddish-gold hair matted with dried blood.

My heart stopped.

It was Rhain.





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN





The rising dread constricted my chest, stifling the breath I took as I stared at the god.

I barely recognized Rhain’s boyish features beneath the blood caking his face, but it was him. His nose was crooked, clearly broken. His lips were split and ragged. Only one dark brown eye was open. Barely. The other was swollen shut. And his neck…

Rhain had been bitten, but it looked like an animal had done it. If he weren’t a god, there was no way he’d still be breathing.

“He attempted to follow me when I left the Bonelands,” Kyn explained, smirking as he looked down at the beaten god. “When I caught him, he demanded to be taken to Nyktos.” Kyn laughed, and my chest squeezed. “I’m not sure what the idiot thought would happen.”

Gods, Rhain was an idiot—a brave, loyal idiot.

“I know this one,” Kolis commented, sliding his hands along the arms of the throne. “It’s Rhain, correct?”

Blood dripped from his chin as Rhain lifted his head, angling it toward the cage. I froze as the one eather-lit eye focused on me.