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)
“Now I am,” he said, closing his eyes, pressing his cheek to the side of her head, and inhaling deeply. “I’m okay now.”
“You sure?”
A smile—the kind rarely seen on his face—spread across it, large and wide as he opened his eyes. “Positive.”
I looked away, my gaze settling on the shuttered window. Through the blinds, I saw darkness. Night had arrived.
“You’re shaking,” Poppy said, drawing my attention back to her and Kieran.
“I’m cold,” was his lame-ass response.
As if wolven were ever cold.
Poppy’s laugh was soft. “You feel like an inferno. Wait.” Her head lifted as far as Kieran would allow. “You feel really hot.”
“It’s your imagination.”
“No, it’s not,” she argued.
“Is, too.” Kieran turned the two of them slightly, his eyes opening and locking with mine before closing once more—but not quickly enough for me to miss the damp sheen gathering there.
Knowing he was experiencing the same things I had when I realized she was the Poppy we knew, I felt him struggling to rein in his emotions. To return to his calm, even-keeled state. I knew that would be hard for him. Kieran…well, ever since Elashya, he rarely showed this kind of emotion—or even allowed himself to feel it.
But he was feeling a lot now. The vise-like pressure tightened. The rawness radiating off Kieran caused a knot to twist deep in my chest. The feeling was intense but not unexpected. However, it irritated me how it lessened the sharpness of my anger over the promise forged between them, making it feel small and almost irrelevant.
Almost.
Shifting my gaze away from them, I started looking for my boots. I’d give them time—give myself time. I took a deep breath. Eather hummed faintly through my veins as I kept my walls up, making sure there were no cracks so that by the time I faced them again, none of what I felt could slip free.
Because I had no intention of stealing Poppy’s smile.
Or Kieran’s.
POPPY
Surprised by the depths of his feelings, I was a little stunned as I held on to Kieran’s shoulders. He always kept what he was feeling carefully tucked away, to the point where I could count on one hand how many times he’d shown any heightened emotions. But right now, he trembled as he held me against him, making me feel as if the very realm itself was a little off-kilter.
Other than Casteel, the only other person who had ever held me this way, as if they worried that I would slip away from their embrace, was…
Leopold.
The memory of the night in Lockswood flashed through my mind, brief and vivid. He’d held me tightly with arms that trembled like Kieran’s did now, almost as if he knew it would be the last time.
Squeezing my eyes shut as the memory faded, I focused on Kieran again, my arms tightening around his shoulders. My throat thickened with tears as his warmth bled through his dark-gray tunic. I never realized how good Kieran’s hugs felt. Then again, they were rare.
Feeling Casteel walk past us, I opened my eyes. He stood to the side and stared at the floor. His jaw was clenched tight, and he’d balled the hand at his side. He must be picking up on what Kieran was feeling.
Gods. I wished neither of them had had to go through what they did while waiting for me to wake up or while I was under Kolis’s influence.
Kieran lowered me, drawing my attention. Once my feet were on the floor, I gazed up at him. He looked the same, yet he didn’t. His handsome features still carried the hint of wildness all wolven had, but like Casteel, there was a day or so’s worth of growth along his jaw and lower cheeks. There was also a golden undertone beneath the warm, beige-brown of his skin that hadn’t been there before. The glow of eather behind his winter-blue eyes was much brighter, and there was a sheen to them now that I knew had nothing to do with the essence.
Kieran didn’t let go, he just clasped my shoulders as he asked, “How are you feeling? And did you feed? Are you hungry?” Glancing at the table, he frowned. “And why is that draken standing out in the hall?”
A shaky laugh, something between a sob and a chuckle, broke past the lump in my throat. “Which question would you like me to answer first?”
The color in his cheeks deepened. “How you’re feeling.”
“I feel fine. Like myself,” I said. “Casteel told me what happened when I woke earlier.”
Kieran’s chest rose with a deep breath as he sent Casteel a quick look.
“She doesn’t remember,” Casteel answered, not looking at us. He just eyed the floor.
I stiffened. There was something off about his tone. It was clipped and maybe even a little cold. I suddenly realized this was the first time he had spoken since Kieran entered.