My gaze returned to Poppy’s profile, and my chest tightened again. The thin, jagged scar on her cheek and the one cutting across her forehead and eyebrow stood out more starkly than they ever had. She was pale—paler than she’d been when she came to at the Temple. And shouldn’t it be the opposite? Shouldn’t her skin have become flushed? Other than the passing blush earlier, it hadn’t, and that worried me most of all.
Poppy turned her head in my direction. Our gazes met. Her irises were the color of dewy spring grass laced with vibrant streaks of silver—eather. Was it just me, or had those luminous lines gotten brighter in the time it took us to arrive at Wayfair? Her full lips curved up in a reassuring smile, and I knew immediately that she’d picked up on my concern, either because I was projecting it, or she was simply reading me—reading all of us around her.
I reached out and took her hand. More pressure clamped down on my chest. Her hand, so much smaller than mine, was cold. Not icy, but also not warm.
“Are you feeling all right?” I asked, my voice low yet echoing through the cavernous hall.
Poppy nodded. “Yes.” Her brows knitted as her eyes searched mine. “Are you?”
“Always,” I murmured, glancing at Kieran.
There was more concern than awe in his stare. Without me having to say anything, he inched closer to Poppy.
Something wasn’t right.
Starting with Nektas, who now walked silently on Kieran’s other side. Poppy had asked earlier if what she had become, a Primal that had never existed before, was a good thing or bad. I already knew the answer to that. But Nektas’s response?
That is yet to be known.
Yeah, I didn’t like that at all.
I also didn’t like his expression when he looked at Poppy. It reminded me of how we all looked at Malik—like we weren’t sure we could trust him. No one wanted a draken looking at them like that.
Poppy suddenly stopped at the entrance to a long, shadowy hall. There was a musty scent to this area, one that threatened to send my mind back to darker, colder places. I stopped that before it could happen. Now wasn’t the time for that shit.
Slipping her hand from mine, Poppy faced us. “Okay. Why does everyone keep looking at me?” she demanded, propping her hands on her hips as she lifted her chin. “Has something changed about me that I’m unaware of?”
“Other than your adorable fangs?” I offered.
Her eyes narrowed on me, but I grinned as I saw the skin around her mouth move as she ran her tongue over her top teeth. Then she winced, likely nicking her tongue yet again. “Other than that.”
Kieran said nothing as Delano plopped his ass down, thumping his tail on the stone floor. I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to translate to.
“I imagine they are looking at you with concern,” Nektas answered in that gravelly voice of his.
“Why?” Poppy glanced between Kieran and me. “Aren’t I the last thing any of you should be worried about?”
“Well…” Nektas drew out the word.
Kieran’s head cut sharply in the draken’s direction, his nostrils flaring, and it reminded me of what else Nektas had told us at the Temple. The heavy meaning to his words as he said we’d better make sure that what Poppy had become was something good.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say you’re the last thing anyone should be worried about,” Nektas continued. “You’re likely the…second thing they should be worried about.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Kieran demanded.
Nektas gave the wolven a passing glance. “Kolis is our primary concern.” He tilted his head. Long, silver-streaked strands slid over a bare shoulder, revealing the faint ridges of scales. “And she should be your second.”
Poppy frowned. “I disagree. I think my father and your daughter are tied for first place, then Kolis. I shouldn’t even be on the list of things to worry about.”
Nektas opened his mouth.
“I’d be careful how you answer that,” I warned.
Slowly, the ancient draken turned his head to me. Our stares locked. His vertical pupils constricted until they were thin strips of black against vibrant blue. “Interesting.”
I arched a brow. “What is?”
“You,” he answered. Delano’s ears flattened in the tense silence that followed the word. “You stepped in front of her as if you believe she needs your protection.”
I was completely unaware that I had. So had Kieran and Delano. “And?”
Poppy sighed from behind us.
“That is wise of you. Even the most powerful of beings need protection at times,” Nektas advised. “But this is not one of them.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” My hand rested on the hilt of the dagger at my hip. It wouldn’t do shit to a draken, but I would make it hurt.
“This is all really unnecessary,” Poppy began.
“I’m not so sure of that, either.” Sensing that she was edging to my right, I sidestepped her and held Nektas’s stare. “I don’t give two shits who you are. You don’t need to be worried about her at all.”
One side of the draken’s mouth curled up, and another too-long moment of silence passed. “You are far too much like him.”
“Like who?” Poppy asked.
His pupils dilated. “The one his bloodline is descended from.”
“What the fuck?” Kieran muttered under his breath and then said louder, “Who was that?”
A shadow of a smile appeared on the draken’s face. “You mean to ask who is that.”
My brows shot together. “I’m going to need—”
A low rumble cut me off. Delano stood, looking around as the sound increased, becoming deeper. My gaze flew to Kieran. He turned as the very floor beneath us began to tremble. I spun toward Poppy.
Her green and silver eyes were wide. “What?”
Clouds of dust drifted like snow from the high ceiling, coating our shoulders and the floor. The rumble grew as the entire castle shook.
“It’s not me,” Poppy shouted over the noise, throwing up her hands. “I swear.”
My gaze flew to the ceiling, where thin fractures suddenly erupted in the stone. “Shit.”
I launched forward. Delano followed as I grabbed hold of Poppy, cracks forming in the pillars and quickly racing down their lengths. Afraid the entire damn castle was about to come down on our heads, my first thought was of her. I shoved Poppy between Kieran and me as Delano pressed against her legs. She squeaked as we caged her in, using our bodies to protect hers in case the ceiling ended up on top of us.
Delano whimpered as something heavy toppled somewhere in the underground lair, crashing down. More dust fell in thick clouds. The rumbling grew louder until nothing else could be heard, and the very realm itself shuddered—
Then it stopped. All of it.
The rumbling. The cracking of stone and plaster. The crashing of what were probably very important things like support beams. It all just ceased as quickly as it had started.
“Um,” came Poppy’s muffled voice. “I can barely breathe.”
I could only see the top of her head beneath Kieran’s and my arms. I wasn’t quite ready to lower them.