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)
“I figured you should be completely clothed when she arrives.” She tossed a shirt toward me. “And that you would prefer one that doesn’t look like you’ve spent the last year sleeping in it.”
“I would.” Kieran smiled at her. “Thank—” His head jerked back, hand snapping up to catch the shirt Poppy launched right at his face. “Was that necessary?”
“Yes.” She crossed her arms as Kieran tugged his tunic off. “You could’ve told me about his little cave-cat thing.”
“Little?” I huffed.
Kieran smirked.
Fucker.
“What were you doing in that closet, by the way?” Pulling the shirt on over my head, I stepped down and shoved the ends of it into the waistband of my breeches. “It sounded like you were having a fight with the hangers.”
“And losing,” Kieran added.
“I couldn’t decide what to wear,” she said as she drifted from the chamber.
I caught up with Poppy in the sitting chamber. “So, how jealous are you that I shifted before you?”
Poppy spun on me, sending me a look I imagined she had just directed at Kieran right before she threw the shirt at his face. “You know, you shouldn’t even be able to shift this soon.”
“Seriously?” Kieran said, walking in behind me.
“I guess I’m just special,” I said, grinning when she rolled her eyes.
“Is it because of the Joining that he can?” Kieran asked.
“I don’t think so,” she replied, carefully pulling her hair from where it had gotten snagged under the collar of her shirt. “Because I know I can’t yet."
“Let me guess.” A faint smile played across Kieran’s lips. “Your vadentia isn’t telling you why.”
“Unfortunately, you are right.” She sighed. “But I keep thinking I know why. Like it’s—”
The air suddenly charged and crackled as a presence surrounded us.
Her presence.
It was like a warm summer breeze that carried the fresh scent of…lilacs. I knew in my bones and blood that the Queen of the Gods, the true Primal of Life, had arrived.
POPPY
A sudden awareness pressed down on me, warm as a golden sunset. I’d felt that when I stood at the Chambers of Nyktos, but that wasn’t the image that came to mind now. Instead, I saw a meadow full of…orange-red poppies. I’d felt her then, in a dream right before I woke.
Essence flared and throbbed, and a slight tremor shook the walls, scattering the image in my mind. Tiny goose bumps erupted on my skin as the realm opened with a soft crackling sound. A sparking orb of eather pulsed and lengthened a few feet behind Casteel.
Uncertainty tightened my chest, causing my breath to hitch in my throat as Kieran moved to stand in front of me. Gold-tinged silver light poured out of the tear, intense and blinding as it filled the chamber.
Kieran threw up his hand to shield his eyes. “Good gods.”
I repeated Casteel’s reassurances, trying to ignore the rapidly building uncertainty surrounding how she would respond to me. She and I were bonded by blood but in a tainted, wrong way. How could that not skew the way she saw me? And how would she handle what Casteel and Kieran had become? And everything with her sons?
My knees felt like they were made of jelly. And, gods, that made me feel like the girl from before. The one who, despite her suspicions, hadn’t asked questions or peered beneath the thin veneer the Ascended wore like a mask. The girl who took her lessons without any real fight, whether they came in the form of Priestess Analia’s sharp slaps or Duke Teerman’s favored cane. The girl who hadn’t even realized she’d been kept in a cage. The daughter of a traitorous false god who had allowed her heartache and tragedy to spoil any good in her. The product of rape—and that is what Isbeth had done. There was no prettying it up, and it would be wrong to do so. How could she not wonder if I would somehow turn out like Isbeth? That I, too, would become spoiled?
A presence, cool and crisp like snow falling among the pines, brushed my mind. Your heart is beating too fast, sweetheart.
A jolt ran through me as Casteel moved to stand beside Kieran. Without taking his eyes off the pulsing tear, he reached around until his hand found mine. Energy danced between us as he threaded his fingers with mine and squeezed.
I let out a ragged exhale.
That simple gesture was its own kind of magic, stronger than the eather coursing through the three of us.
My knees strengthened. My heart slowed. My mind quieted enough for me to remember that I wasn’t the girl who’d been forced to wear the veil of the Chosen. I hadn’t been her in a long time.
I was Penellaphe Da’Neer. I wasn’t timid, and I didn’t need to be protected or set free. I was vicious and even a little murderous when needed. I was Poppy—wife, Queen, and Primal. I had faced down Craven, Ascended, and everything in between and had the scars to prove it. I’d ended the Blood Crown.