Total pages in book: 401
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Vikter caught me with a deep chuckle, staggering back a step as I face-planted his chest. Clutching the sides of his tunic, I breathed him in as I felt his chest rise sharply against my forehead. I could feel him. He was warm. Breathing. Alive.
“Poppy.” Vikter’s voice was lower, rougher. “You’re shaking.” His arms tightened around me as I felt his chin graze the top of my head. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt you shake like this.”
I was quaking like a newborn colt standing for the first time but couldn’t quell the tremors. “Is this a dream?” I asked, half-afraid of the answer. “Like what Tawny had?”
“No.”
My breath snagged. “Was that a dream?”
He pressed his chin against the crown of my head. “It was a dream of a different sort.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
His raspy chuckle caused my heart to swell. “You will,” he said. “One day, when you least expect it, you’ll understand.”
A shudder swept through me, leaving my knees weak. That answer sounded so much like Vikter that it was ridiculous. “I’ve missed you.” Tears dampened my cheeks and likely his shirt. I wanted to stop them, to be strong like he’d taught me to be. Like he’d raised me. And I knew he was never that great with showing emotion, let alone dealing with rivers of tears, but I couldn’t help it. The tears kept coming. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I know.” A strong hand folded around the back of my head. “I’ve missed you, and I wish I hadn’t left you like I did. I failed you—”
I jerked back, lifting my head as his final words to me echoed like a painful reminder. “You didn’t fail me.” His face was a bit blurry through the tears as I gripped the front of his now very damp tunic. “Do you hear me? You didn’t.”
A small smile appeared as he cupped my cheek with a palm still calloused from handling a sword. “My sole duty was to keep you safe.” His throat worked on a swallow. “I made a promise, Poppy. One I was unable to keep. And—”
I blinked back more tears, fighting to pull myself together. “I don’t care about whatever promise you made.”
“You don’t understand,” he said gently.
“I do. Tawny told me that you’re a viktor, just like Leopold,” I told him, and his jaw tightened as something crossed his features, but I couldn’t be sure what. It could’ve been the tears crowding my vision. “You did your duty. You trained me, prepared me. Without you, I know I wouldn’t be here today. You’re like a—” My voice cracked. “You’re like a father to me.”
“Poppy.” He pulled me back against his chest, holding me tightly as he once again dropped his chin to my head. “You have no idea what it does for my heart to hear that,” he murmured, his voice gruff. “You were the daughter I didn’t get to see grow. I couldn’t be prouder of who you’ve become and the choices you’ve made.” He cleared his throat. “Including saying yes to that smart-mouthed, arrogant husband of yours.”
I was crying again but also laughing. “He’s not…”
“You’re not really going to claim that boy isn’t smart-mouthed or arrogant, are you?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it.
“Didn’t think so,” he said, amusement clear in his tone. “Wouldn’t have been my first choice for you, considering we only ever saw eye to eye on one thing—keeping you safe. I don’t think he’s good enough for you.”
My lips curled into a shaky smile.
“Then again, I don’t think anyone would be good enough. But the boy loves you,” he continued while I tried to imagine Casteel’s reaction to being called boy. “You’re the most cherished part of his life, and that promise he made to you?” His fingers curled into the hair above my braid. “When he said he’d give up the throne if that’s what you wanted? He spoke the truth. So, I can’t really hate that choice for you.”
A laugh bubbled up but realization quickly snatched it away. “How did you know I got married? Or that he said that to me?”
“I kept an eye on you when I could. Don’t ask how—I know you’re about to,” he said, and he’d been right. “There are things I can’t say without the Arae being all up in arms.”
He was talking about the Fates. In the past, I hadn’t believed there were beings who could see the lives of every single living creature. It had sounded completely unbelievable to me, but that was before I came to accept that there had to be…higher beings involved. And before Tawny confirmed they were, indeed, very real.
“So, I need to be careful with what I say,” he told me.
“But I have so many questions,” I muttered.
His laugh was lighter this time, and I was betting the skin crinkled at the corners of his eyes. “I’m sure you do.”