CHAPTER 17 #2
“The lack of a straight answer tells me otherwise.” Gripping her hips, I started to lift her from my lap.
She grasped my shoulders, refusing to move. “It was an Ancient.”
I halted, waiting for her to elaborate.
“They were what—”
“Aydun told me what they were.”
Her fingers curled into my shirt. “The guy who was just here?”
My grip on her hips loosened as my frustration retreated. “Yes.”
“Did he tell you what he is?”
“He said he was a Fate.” My gaze drifted to the bruises around her throat. “Though I have a feeling I know what the Fates are.”
Her voice dropped. “The Ancients.”
I nodded. I had suspected as much.
Poppy sent me a curious look. “I have a feeling their real identities are not supposed to be known. But I…” She scrunched her nose. “But I think the draken know. Like they can sense it or something. What did he tell you?”
I lifted a hand and brushed some loose strands of hair back from her neck. “He told me about the Ancients and said they had Awakened.”
“The Arae are the ones who helped the Primals defeat the Ancients,” she shared and then explained how they’d split their powers. “So, that means there’s at least four of them.” Her jaw took on a stubborn tilt. “Did he tell you how many there are? How many Arae?”
My head tilted. “No.”
“Damn it.”
“Is that knowledge important?”
“To me, it is.” She slid her thumbs along my collarbones. “But it’s not important right now. Did this Aydun tell you why I had to leave?”
“He did. He said you felt the pain and death of…” My chest tightened. “Too many. And it pulled you to it.”
Her thick lashes swept down. “There’s more to it. But when I crossed the Veil, it was right before the Ancient there woke.” Her sadness coated my throat. “It could sense the essences of life and death in me.”
Knowing I wouldn’t like what she had to say next, I checked my anger. Barely. “The Ancient attacked you?”
“It didn’t respond all that…” Her brows knitted as I picked up on the lingering acidic burn of her anger. “He didn’t respond all that great.”
He? Icy-hot eather throbbed deep in my chest.
“We fought—well, if you can call what we did fighting,” she said with a strained laugh. “The Ancients—the ones in the ground?” Her heart rate spiked, taking mine with it. “They are so powerful, Cas.”
My gaze dropped to the fading red fingerprints on her throat. “Aydun said as much. He also said you weren’t alone. That you were with another like him. Holland?”
“I was, but he got knocked out.”
My nostrils flared. “You were left on your own?”
Pressing her fingers under my chin, she lifted my gaze to hers. “Yes, but I kind of held my own against him. And Holland did get me out of there before…” Her chest rose sharply. “Before the city I was in was completely destroyed.”
“You shouldn’t have had to hold your own. And you shouldn’t have had to feel all that pain and death,” I said. “I would give anything to have taken your place so you didn’t have to feel any of that.”
“I know.” She slid an arm around my neck and lowered her forehead to mine. “But I’m okay. I swear, Cas. I’m fine. You can see that for yourself.”
The breath I let out was ragged. I could see that she was fine. Physically, anyway. The bruises would heal. But I could taste her sorrow and knew that what she’d seen and felt would stay with her.
“I’m okay,” she repeated. “You can see that, right?”
I closed my eyes. “I can.”
“Do you?”
I nodded, even as Aydun’s warning thundered through my head. She’s not indestructible .
Those three words haunted me. And they would continue to do so.
Dread pierced my gut. What if she hadn’t held her own?
The last time I’d held her like this, kissed her like this, it could’ve been the last time in this life for both of us.
The mere thought of that was more painful than taking the bone blade to my chest. More terrifying than all the seconds I’d spent as the Blood Crown’s prisoner.
Poppy stiffened in my arms. “Are you all right?”
“I’m…” Her concern was thick in my throat, and I knew she was picking up the same from me.
There was no point in pretending. “I’ve been so…
” I closed my eyes, struggling to find words that adequately captured how fucking terrified I’d been.
“When you disappeared, I had no idea where you were or what you were facing. I’ve never felt more helpless. ”
She clasped my cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t.” Opening my eyes, I leaned back so we were eye to eye. “Don’t apologize for something you had no control over.” I folded my hands around her wrists. “I understand that you had no choice but to go.”
Poppy spread her fingers, seeming to enjoy the feeling of my stubble.
“And I hate that you had to worry about me when I left. I…” She trailed off, the tang of guilt mixing with the warm vanilla of her empathy.
“I wish you hadn’t gone through any of that.
I wish you didn’t have to worry. That you were…
” Her inhale was sharp as her eyes searched mine.
“I wish you hadn’t spent a second afraid.
I would take that from you if I could. I would do anything—”
I was moving before I knew it, capturing her mouth with mine. Her lips were so godsdamn soft. So perfect as they parted. My fingers curled around her hair as I flicked my tongue over her fang, fully intending to pull back. But her breathy moan evoked the best kind of madness.
Poppy’s fingers sank into my hair as she kissed me with a fervor that branded my soul and sent a bolt of red-hot lust down my spine.
The kiss was supposed to be just that…a kiss I couldn’t help but take before I let Poppy go.
I’d planned to be responsible. Dawn had come and gone while she was away, and there was still so much we needed to discuss.
Everything that had happened with the Ascended.
Pensdurth. The shit Aydun had said. What had happened in the land beyond the Veil and Iliseeum. But who was I kidding?
A kiss with her was never just a kiss.
The moment I tasted her lips, felt her against me, nothing—fucking nothing —else mattered.
Desire thickened my blood as her jasmine scent increased, and the taste of her arousal gathered in my mouth—spicy and smoky with a hint of sweetness.
I needed her.
Needed to feel her and know she was here. That she was safe and well. I just needed her.
Always.
A deep, throaty groan rumbled up from my chest as she rocked against me, clearly swept up in the same madness I was.
I ached for her, and my hips rose on reflex, earning me another soft moan.
Her nails raked my chest, sending shivers down my spine.
Godsdamn, I was so hard for her. So greedy. So addicted.
It never failed to amaze me how easily she could turn me on.
Sometimes, it took only a look. A brief touch.
For fuck’s sake, being in the same chamber as her could do it.
No one, absolutely no one , had ever had that kind of allure—that kind of power over me.
I wouldn’t want anyone else to have that kind of power.
But Poppy?
She was my everything .
And anything could’ve happened to her when she crossed the Veil. Anything could happen to her still. The reminder was cold and cutting.
Eather hummed as I stood with her in my arms. Another shudder rattled me when she wrapped her legs around my hips.
Her warmth seeped into me as I turned and lowered her to the bed. Our lips didn’t part as I rocked against her.
“Cas,” she breathed against my mouth, her fingers tangling in my hair. Her hips followed mine, arching and seeking.
Groaning at the sound of her voice, I deepened the kiss, pouring all the worry, fear, and anger I felt into it.
This felt like madness as she clutched the back of my tunic, her fingers trembling as she tugged it up. Our lips parted as I lifted myself to pull the shirt off. Her breath came in short, quick bursts as I stared down at her. She was far too dressed.
“Do you have strong feelings about this robe?” I asked, drawing my fingers over her shoulder.
Her brows drew together. “No?”
I looked closer at what she wore, remembering that she had left here in just her nightgown. “Where did you get it?”
“Mount Lotho.”
My fingers halted on the elaborate stitching as I lifted my gaze to hers. “You’re going to have to explain that.”
“Later,” she whispered.
“Indeed.”
The fingers that had been tracing the embroidery curled around the halves of the robe.
With one quick jerk, I lifted her upper body.
Buttons snapped and popped free as the sharp, harsh crackle of fabric tearing filled the chamber.
The robe split along the shoulders and down the middle of her back and arms.
Her mouth dropped open. “You could’ve just undone the tie.”
I rocked back. “Too impatient.”
“It probably would’ve taken the same amount of time,” she reasoned. “I think the robe belonged to—”
“Guess what?” I shucked off my breeches faster than I ever had. “I don’t give a fuck, Poppy.”
Her gaze swept down my body, tracing over my chest and stomach, then moving lower as the blue, green, and brown in her eyes started to churn. Her intoxicating scent rose, and I knew she wasn’t worried about the robe any longer.
She drew her lower lip between her teeth, flashing me the tips of her fangs. My cock twitched as I leaned over her.
“You’re beautiful,” she whispered, tracing a finger along my collarbone.
Fuck if I didn’t feel my cheeks warming as I slid my hand up her stomach. I pulled the gown down, baring her breasts, liking the sight of the gown pooled at her hips. She looked thoroughly debauched.
“Not as beautiful as you,” I said, my voice low and rough.