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)
“Come on, sweetheart.” Curling my other hand around the one she still had raised, I lowered her arm. “Let’s go back to bed.”
Poppy gave no indication that she’d heard me. Concern continued to grow as I realized I would have to carry her. Bending, I slid an arm under her locked knees and another around her waist.
The moment I lifted her into my arms, she blinked rapidly and looked around. She started to pull away. “Cas—?”
“It’s okay.” I held her tighter to my chest as her head swung toward mine. “I’m just taking you back to bed.”
“What?” She clutched my shoulders. “I wasn’t in bed?”
“No.” Dipping my head, I kissed her forehead, her confusion gathering with a tartness in my throat. “I think you were sleepwalking.” I reached the bed, keeping my concerns locked down. “Hold on.”
“Sleepwalking?” Her grip on my shoulders tightened as I stepped onto the platform. “I’ve…”
Poppy didn’t finish as I laid her on the bed. Keeping my eyes on her, I swung my legs over to her other side and reclined beside her.
“You’ve never done that before?” I asked, unsure if that was good or bad. I grabbed the blanket and tugged it up.
“I don’t…think so.”
I worked an arm over her waist and pulled her tightly to my front. “Or you don’t remember?”
“I…I remember falling out of bed when I was young after having a nightmare,” she said with a shiver. “But I don’t think that’s the same.”
I didn’t either. “You saw some really messed-up stuff tonight. That’s probably the cause.”
“Yeah,” she murmured, wiggling around until her face was tucked under my chin. “Probably.”
Smoothing a hand up her back, I brushed my lips across the crown of her head. “Go back to sleep.”
“Kind of hard to do,” she said, her voice muffled, “when I’m wondering if I’ll get up again.”
“You won’t,” I promised. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Poppy fell back to sleep soon afterward. I remained awake, hoping I was right about the cause of the strange behavior and that it wasn’t what I feared.
That it had something to do with Kolis.
POPPY
“It is unlikely that the incident in Stonehill has spread beyond,” Casteel said. “But I want the entire city checked, just to be sure.”
The meeting I’d wanted with the generals was happening now at Wayfair, though I wished it was under different circumstances. I looked around the circular chamber on the first floor of one of the castle’s many towers, not too far from the Great Hall. The room was brightly lit, casting a harsh glow across the bare limestone walls and the faces of those seated or standing near the table.
There had been no overly formal greeting when the generals arrived as there had been outside of Massene, and much to my relief, the generals got down to business the moment they arrived. That’s not to say there wasn’t a lot of staring—at me, Casteel, and Kieran.
Most looks held awe, even a little disbelief. This was the first time they were seeing the three of us together since I’d awakened. But I didn’t think it was just our presence that kept drawing everyone’s eyes. Based on how the Atlantians shifted in their seats or on their feet as if full of restless energy, I suspected it was the impact of the eather coursing through the three of us. Even the mortals seemed to feel it. The only ones in the chamber who didn’t seem impacted were the wolven and the draken.
Speaking of the draken…
My gaze shifted to Reaver. He rested near the entryway in his draken form, which meant he took up nearly half the space. He must have been in his mortal form when he entered, as there was no way he could’ve made it inside without tearing down a wall in the process. I had no idea if he was in his draken form because of what had occurred at Ironspire, or if he just wanted to make the chamber as uncomfortable as possible.
Probably the latter.
Emil and Perry didn’t look all that pleased where they stood against the wall, only about a foot between them and Reaver’s spiked tail.
Right now, he had his vivid-blue stare fixed on a certain fair-haired general I’d once threatened.
My gaze moved to the two mortals. The male stood, and the female was seated. They were siblings. I didn’t know this because they looked similar, because they didn’t. The only trait they shared was their dark hair. I just knew they were brother and sister—which felt as weird as it sounded.
When Casteel stopped them from bowing as we entered, Kieran had explained through the notam that they were the unofficial leaders of the Descenters. They were young, perhaps only in the first years of their third decades of life.
Most involved in the resistance are young, Kieran reminded me when he sensed my surprise.