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)
His eyes shut.
My fingers curled inward, nails digging into my palms as I felt Kieran drawing near. “I took her soul.”
Casteel twisted his head to the side. “Oh, Poppy,” he whispered.
“And I…I can’t release it.” My voice thinned as an ache settled deep inside me like a weight I couldn’t shake. I forced a slow, even breath. In and then out. “I Ascended with her soul, which shouldn’t have happened,” I told him, even though I didn’t fully understand it. “And her soul?”
Casteel’s eyes opened.
“It’s lost.”
He was before me in a heartbeat, his hands folding over mine. And, gods, this was why I loved him so damn much. We’d been arguing before Tawny showed up. Something was clearly up between us, but when it came down to it—when I needed him? He was here. “It’s not your fault. You were trying to heal her. You had no idea this could happen,” he said.
“I know.” And I did. Truly. But knowing it didn’t make things better. “I have to tell her.”
“You do.” He lifted my hand and pressed a kiss to my marriage imprint. “But before we do that, let’s try to find out if there is something we can do. We can check with Sven. See if he knows of anything. Even Willa. We have time.”
“How much?”
“It all depends on the person and how long they can hold on to who they are.” He smoothed his thumb over the imprint. “And Tawny is strong.”
“She is,” I said, desperately wanting there to be something we could do.
But the vadentia was silent, and I didn’t know enough about the foresight to understand if that meant I simply didn’t know or if the silence was the answer.
That nothing could be done.
CHAPTER 30
CASTEEL
I woke with a start, my eyes snapping open.
Poppy wasn’t beside me.
My gaze immediately lifted to the gap between the curtains, and every muscle in my body locked up. Not again.
Poppy stood at the glass wall.
Sitting up, I tossed off the blanket. “Poppy?”
No response.
My chest clenched as I stepped down from the bed.
Two nights in a row?
I didn’t think this had anything to do with Stonehill.
The stone floor was cold under my feet as I crossed it. I gently touched her arm. “Poppy?”
Still nothing.
She remained silent and stared out the window at the same area she had been looking at last night. The Cliffs.
“My Queen?” Heart thumping, I brushed some long strands of hair back from her face.
She didn’t budge, and I figured I’d probably have to carry her again. Stepping in closer, I dropped my hand to her waist.
She turned suddenly, her lips brushing my chest as she said something I didn’t pick up.
“What?”
Her chin grazed my skin as she tilted her head back. “Take me.”
I blinked. “Come again.”
Poppy repeated what I’d thought she said, sending a bolt of surprise through me.
“I would love to, but…” She wasn’t even awake, and this wasn’t the same as me waking her with my dick. “We need to sl—”
“Take me,” she repeated.
I flattened my hand against Poppy’s back as I peered down at her.
Her stare was still unfocused, her voice distant even as she said, “Make love to me.”
My entire body stiffened, and I forced myself to ignore the part of me that was always on board with what she was asking for. “Poppy, we’re going back to bed—” The warm hand wrapping around my dick shut me up real quick. Fuck. I reached down to grab her, but she slid her hand down, drawing a groan from me. “Poppy.”
Her grip tightened in a way that had me questioning whether she was asleep.
Poppy let go of my aching cock, and I suddenly felt like I was the one sleepwalking because she turned away and pressed her palms flat against the window. Her head turned as my gaze dropped. Her curtain of hair slid across her back, falling to the side as she lifted her ass.
“Fuck me.”
Two words.
And that ass? Offered up to me?
They didn’t just silence all the second guesses. They were like a siren’s song, calling to the part of me that acted on instinct—a primitive, raw instinct that seemed to find its source in the sudden pulse of essence flaring from my chest.
I dragged my gaze back up, my eyes locking with hers. The flecks of color were nearly nonexistent—just a green as pure as dew-kissed grass. The breath I took was full of her heightened scent.
I wasn’t thinking as I stepped forward, and watched the head of my cock brush her ass, leaving a trail of pre-cum. My thoughts filled with shadows as it slid down the center of her ass. I couldn’t even recall my name as I grasped her hips. The only sounds I heard as I lined her up were the squeak of her palms against the glass, and her gasp as I lifted her several inches off the floor.