A Fire in the Flesh

Kolis tells Sera that shadowstone is made of anything or anyone that once burned ancient dragon fire. It has the power to block eather and the earth’s protective instincts toward Primals but can be bested by the bones of the Ancients. He also tells her that he doesn’t believe Nyktos doesn’t care for her. 

Sera scrambles to explain, making a distinction between loving someone and being in love with them to placate him. She attempts to connect with Kolis through their similar feelings of abandonment. She appeals to his desire for her love, suggesting that releasing Nyktos would be proof of his devotion. Kolis says that he will consider freeing Nyktos, but only if Sera is truthful about her connection to Sotoria. If she lies, he vows to punish her and claim her soul as his own for eternity.

Sera sleeps. She wakes up to an extravagant feast but struggles with a lack of appetite. Callum, a Revenant, is still guarding her cage. When she questions him about his origins and the Revenants, he remains cryptic.

The next day, Kolis displays Sera in a transparent gown before the gods who visit his court. When one of the gods, Uros, speaks inappropriately about her, Kolis kills him, leaving Sera shaken but outwardly composed.

During a discussion about tribute from the goddess Dametria, Kolis abruptly leaves the chamber. Sera and Dametria speak, and Sera learns that Dametria’s temple in Terra borders her own homeland of Lasania. Dametria confirms that people from Lasania have been seen in Terra, providing Sera with some hope that her home may still be faring well. One of the guards, Elias, ushers Dametria out, and as she leaves, the goddess whispers that she was at Sera’s crowning.

Kolis returns to court business. Kyn, Attes’s brother, arrives with news of the Shadowlands: Nyktos’s generals refuse to leave their positions on the Bonelands’ coast, and the draken, including Nektas, are with them. Kyn asks Kolis to let him deal with the threat, but Sera points out that this can only start the war that Kolis said he didn’t want. He agrees, much to Kyn’s frustration. Kyn then presents Kolis with a gift: a captive Rhain, one of Nyktos’s allies.

Kolis taunts Rhain, saying that he killed the god’s father for treason. Sera realizes that she can hear Rhain’s thoughts, and he urges her to use her power to destroy the palace. Kolis exposes Rhain’s hidden token, a necklace belonging to Aios, and Sera lies and claims that the necklace is hers. Kolis sentences Rhain to death but stops at the last moment when Sera offers herself in exchange for Rhain’s release. Kolis accepts her offer, agreeing to spare Rhain and return him to the Shadowlands.

Sera endures a sleepless night sharing a bed with Kolis, who does not make any advances toward her but still leaves her feeling unsettled and violated. The next day, Kolis introduces her to a goddess named Ione, who can read thoughts and discern truth from lies. Sera realizes that Kolis intends to use Ione to confirm her identity and uncover her secrets.

Kolis compels Sera to submit to Ione. After the goddess digs into Sera’s thoughts, however, she lies to Kolis. She claims that Sera is Sotoria, saving her life and preserving her ruse.

While Sera feels relief and confusion over Ione’s lies, Kolis is now fully convinced that Sera is his lost graeca. He ignores Callum’s insistence that Ione is lying. Kolis embraces Sera while she fights the urge to recoil. However, when she asks if he will release Nyktos now and uphold his end of the deal, he reacts with fury and bites her neck.

As Kolis pins Sera and feeds on her, she fights the instinct to unleash the embers within her, knowing that any resistance could jeopardize Nyktos’s safety. Sera retreats emotionally to protect herself. Afterward, Kolis acts remorseful, claiming that he lost control, and begs Sera for forgiveness. He promises her that it will not happen again, but his assurances ring hollow.

After he leaves, Sera bathes, trying to cleanse herself of the physical and emotional residue of the encounter. Alone with her thoughts, she wrestles with mixed emotions: disgust, rage, and despair at her powerlessness.

Attes visits Sera in her cage. He angrily asks about the bite marks on her neck, but she insists that she’s fine and asks for news about Nyktos. Attes tells her that Nyktos was incapacitated using a weapon forged from the bones of an Ancient—a tool capable of trapping even a Primal in stasis for extended periods. While Nyktos is being awakened from his stasis, Attes advises caution since Kolis’s behavior has grown increasingly unpredictable. 

After Attes leaves, Callum questions Sera’s loyalty and the truthfulness of her identity as Sotoria. Sera channels her embers, unleashing a storm of power that shocks Callum and silences his smug demeanor. Kolis enters the chamber and remarks on the hostility between them. Sera deflects blame onto Callum, accusing him of doubting her identity. Kolis brushes it off, saying that Callum is just in denial that Sotoria, his sister, has returned.

After the revelation that Callum was Sotoria’s brother, Sera learns that he died by suicide, ending his mortal life, when he was overwhelmed with guilt for not protecting his sister. In an act forbidden even for the Primal of Death, Kolis Ascended Callum, turning him into a Revenant. Though Sera asks more questions, Kolis sends Callum away. 

Kolis then turns his attention to his deal with Sera about reviving Nyktos. He explains that Nyktos’s stasis is prolonged because of Kolis’s use of an Ancient bone weapon. He has spent the last two days watching over Nyktos, torn between jealousy and the need to revive Nyktos to preserve his deal with Sera. He is also frustrated by Sera’s unease after his assault. He fails to grasp the gravity of his actions, dismisses them as a momentary loss of control, and says that his promise not to do it again should be enough. Sera asks him to give her more time, and he reluctantly agrees.

Before he leaves, Kolis says that he knows she activated the embers again during her argument with Callum. He demands that she not use them again and threatens to punish her if she disobeys this order.

Sera paces her cage, consumed with guilt and worry for those she cares about. Her memories of Kolis touching her cause her to vomit. Later, she has another dream about Nyktos at the lake. He asks her what Kolis did to her, but she says that she doesn’t want to talk about it for fear of tainting the dream. She smells stale lilacs, signaling Kolis’s approach, and Nyktos quickly tells her that she needs to tell Kolis that only Nyktos can finish her Ascension. 

The dream ends, and Sera wakes to find Kolis watching her. He asks who she was dreaming about. She lies and insists that she never remembers her dreams. He offers to fulfill her desires, only to dismiss her request for freedom and instead plan a shared outing. Once he leaves, Sera reflects on the strangely real dreams she’s had about Nyktos. She wonders if the dreams stem from them being mates of the heart but dismisses the idea.