It was one of the few areas on the first floor that still had intact glass.

  At first, I had found it odd that this chamber had remained mostly untouched by Cas. Especially considering it was so close to the Great Hall and accessed from two corridors—one of which could be entered from the Hall itself. But I hadn’t known then that Cas—who I’d shared a crib with, grew with, and knew like the back of my own hand—was still in there. Now that I did, I no longer found it weird that he’d left this space untouched. Cas knew that I spent a decent amount of time here.

  My father halted and gave a full-body shake, sending flecks of white flying from his fur.

  It was snowing again.

  In the dead of what was usually the hottest months of summer.

  The snowfall wasn’t heavy, but a few inches covered the ground. A small smile tugged at my lips as I thought about the children I’d spotted from the Rise that morning, laughing as they flung the white stuff at one another. They hadn’t been dressed for such weather, their worn tunics far too thin, but they didn’t seem to mind the cold as they played. It amazed me that they could still feel joy despite the weeks of burning funeral pyres.

  I didn’t remember what had happened after I heard the haunting song. Felt its melancholy in my blood and the promise of peace in my bones. My finger halted along the vein in the desk. I didn’t see what’d happened to Delano. To Valyn. To Hisa. To Lizeth. Part of me was grateful for that. Another part of me hated that Cas had had to see it all alone.

  Thousands had perished in a matter of seconds, and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for which mortals heard the lure of the song and gave in to it. Some households lost one. Others were completely wiped out. And those of dual life…

  We lost many that day—those alone with no one to stop them.

  Sven was searching the tomes, trying to learn if anything could be done to prevent something like that from occurring again. He’d even sent missives home for our own archives to be searched. His son… My chest tightened. Perry wasn’t the help he had been before.

  My father sniffed where the wall enclosing the Queen’s Garden had once stood. I wasn’t sure if it had been Kolis or Cas who’d laid waste to the stone wall, but I made sure the debris had been cleared before Poppy returned.

  Coldness settled in my gut, heavy and leaden. My finger curled along with the rest. Nails dug into my palms as I closed my eyes. Poppy would return.

  She had to.

  I couldn’t let myself think anything else.

  Opening my eyes, I saw that my father had moved on. My gaze remained on the garden. The weather had killed the night-blooming roses, and fuck, I hoped Poppy had no fond memories of them.

  Lifting my hand, I rubbed my sternum, trying like a fool to ease the sudden, deep ache there. It wasn’t as strong as it had been in the Great Hall after Cas passed out. I hadn’t known then that what I had been feeling was Poppy weakening. I’d chalked it up to the inexplicable dread that had seized me, and it being related to what was happening to Cas. I didn’t even realize what it was when he woke, seeming to know in his bones that something had happened to Poppy. It made sense that he’d felt it first. Felt it stronger. They were heartmates, a bond more powerful than anything the Joining could create. I likely would’ve felt it more if there had been time. Or maybe that was why I’d been so susceptible to Kolis’s influence. Why the Deminyen Primal essence hadn’t protected me. I’d been weakened without realizing it. I didn’t know if that made a difference or not.

  The snowy landscape blurred as my mind did what it did whenever I let myself think about Poppy. Worry gnawed at me. Guilt followed.

  Fuck, we’d made a mess of things.

  The three of us.

  I didn’t know if it was something that had slipped Poppy’s mind with everything that had happened after ending the Blood Crown, but I…I’d had time. Fucking tons of it as I sat beside Cas and listened to him talk to Poppy while she was in stasis. I should’ve told Cas about the promise. Could’ve given him a chance to process it. Come to a realization that it wasn’t an oath born of a lack of trust. It would’ve allowed him to understand that it was something done to protect him.

  Then it wouldn’t have come out the way it had. The three of us could’ve talked it out before it exploded in our faces for a second time. Fuck, I should’ve said something to Poppy despite what Cas demanded. And he should’ve said something himself. Should have given her a chance to explain.

  We all had a whole bunch of could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve that didn’t mean shit now.

  Sighing, I dragged my stare from the window. My gaze drifted over the wide sofa that was bound and determined to give me a permanent crick in my neck and landed on the stack of parchment—another thing that left me awed but for different reasons than watching the children play in the snow. There were petitions from Ascended and the people of Solis, legal appeals from merchants seeking the settlement of disputes, tax ledgers, requests for land grants, and so on, and so forth. How the hell Cas kept up with them while Poppy was in stasis was beyond me. As was how the hell anyone could be concerned with who had first rights to trade routes while it fucking snowed in summer, and the true Primal of Death was somewhere out there.

  Then again, that was the beauty of mortality, wasn’t it? The ability to move on when everything seemed immovable.

  A warm throb of eather pulsed in my chest, and my gaze flicked back to the window just as a shadow swept over the garden. My eyes narrowed. A moment later, a heavy thud shook the walls. The stack of parchment toppled, the documents spreading across the desk and sliding to the floor.

  I exhaled heavily.

  The leather chair creaked as I leaned forward. Gathering the letters, I stacked them once more and then rose. I’d just picked up the last of the missives that had fallen when a knock came.

  “Come in,” I answered, straightening.

  The doors swung open. Emil was the first to enter, and I swallowed a curse as his scent reached me. Not because it was mingled with my sister’s—I was willing to overlook that because the auburn-haired Atlantian was solely responsible for Netta still being with us. He’d stopped her from…harming herself when Kolis came. It was the change in his scent—something I had been able to pick up on quicker and easier after the Ascension. It was his sweat. The saltier, sharper scent of unease.

  He wasn’t alone.

  I placed the parchment atop the pile, pressing it flat with my palm as my gaze flicked to the towering male behind him. The sight of Attes—how uncannily familiar his features were to the Da’Neers—always caught me off guard. But seeing him now with a face nearly identical to the man who had been like a second father to me, hit me square in the chest.

  The Primal god was quiet—always quiet—as he stepped aside, hand resting on the hilt of the broadsword strapped to his hip. For some reason, I suspected that Attes hadn’t always been as quiet as a wraith.

  That he had been as loud as Malik had once been. As teasing as Cas…

  As Cas could still be—would be, I told myself.

  The last one to enter was the one who’d caused the neat stack of parchment to scatter.

  Reaver.

  I was only a little surprised that he wore pants—actual breeches. Two days ago, his ass had been on display for all. Yesterday, he’d wrapped some sort of table linen around his hips that barely covered his ass.

  I didn’t say any shit to him like I normally would. The fucker had been grouchier than usual and had nearly bitten Brann’s head off when the wolven got too close to the draken while he stretched himself out in the courtyard as if sunbathing his scaly ass at night.

  “Do I want to know?” I said when no one spoke.

  “Want the interesting news first?” Emil asked, stopping to stand by the oval table large enough to seat all the generals and then some. “Or the slightly concerning news?”

  I gave him a flat stare as I leaned against the edge of the desk.

  “Okay, then.” Emil reached between the parted leather folds of his unbuttoned surcoat, retrieving a folded slip of paper. “This came from Three Rivers this morning, notifying us of Na’Lier’s impending arrival.”

  “Hopefully, the letter explains what has taken him so long to reach Carsodonia,” I stated as Reaver drifted forward, hair damp from the melting snow.

  “It does not.” He dropped the letter onto the table. “And it’s going to take him longer. Apparently, he’s waiting for…” His jaw flexed, and his scent changed, becoming heavy and bitter. Sorrow. He cleared his throat. “He’s waiting for Tylan to join him.”

  The breath I took was sharp. “And why is he coming?”

  Emil looked at me as if I should already know the answer, and I did. His arrival made sense in the worst sort of way.

  “Who is Tylan?” Reaver asked, helping himself to an apple that had been left in the fruit bowl.

  Emil’s gaze lowered. “Delano’s cousin.”

  Ty wasn’t just Delano’s cousin. He was now the last of that bloodline, and he was coming here.

  The draken halted, apple halfway to his mouth. “Damn.”

  Yeah.

  Damn.

  Delano never talked about the family he’d lost in the den. And then when he lost Ronan and Preela… That family had lost enough.

  Reaver returned the apple to the bowl.

  “So, he was notified of his cousin’s death?” Attes questioned from where he stood by the wall. “Does that mean Valyn’s wife was also notified?”

  “Ty would’ve known—he would’ve felt it.” I dragged a hand over my face. “Eloana… she doesn’t know. That kind of news needs to be delivered in person, and…”

  And I didn’t need to say more. For different reasons, neither Cas nor Malik would leave to do it. Or could.

  Attes nodded. “I can do it.”

  A frown pulled at my lips as I crossed my arms. “From what I know, Eloana has no knowledge of Valyn’s true bloodline. So, I don’t think her seeing you and then receiving that kind of news is a good idea.”

  “You have a point.” He hesitated a moment. “But waiting much longer runs the risk of her learning.”

  I knew that. Gods, did I ever know.

  Reaver dropped onto the sofa, and I did something rather miraculous and didn’t tell him to get his ass off what had become my bed. At least there was something between the cushion and said ass.

  “What’s the slightly concerning news?” I followed up, turning my attention back to Emil. “Or was that it?”

  “Yeah, no, that wasn’t it,” he said, then went quiet.

  I waited as he suddenly found the golden embroidery on the front of his surcoat fascinating. “And?”

  “I’ll tell you,” Reaver announced. “It’s your best friend, the Dark Lord.”

  Clearly, someone had been spending time with Millicent.

  Tension crept into my neck. “What about him?”

  Reaver leaned back, kicking his legs onto the upholstered stool. “He’s missing.”

  I blinked once, then twice. “What do you mean he’s missing? I know he hasn’t left Carsodonia. I can feel him.”

  “He’s not missing,” Emil said, casting a narrowed-eye look at the draken. “He’s just not where he’s normally at.”

  As in he wasn’t in the Great Hall. And when he wasn’t there…

  Well, shit either ended up in ruin or in ashes.

  Fuck.

  My stomach knotted. “Please tell me he has not discovered where Callum is.”

  “As far as I know, he hasn’t,” Emil replied. “We know where he is.”

  I frowned. “Then he’s not missing.”

  “Yeah, I never said he was.” Emil jerked his chin at Reaver. “That one did.”

  Reaver lifted a shoulder.

  “So, where is he?” The options were limitless, as was why his presence in any of those locations could be concerning.

  “He’s on the Cliffs of Sorrow.”

  My gaze shot to Attes. “What?”

  “That’s where he is,” the Primal said.

  I stared at him.

  “He’s been going up there a lot,” Attes added, and fuck if that didn’t shock me again. “I considered checking in on him but thought twice about it. He’s going to say something that irritates me, and I didn’t want to end up having to punch my great-grandson.”

  “I don’t see a problem with that,” Reaver commented. “He could benefit from several punches.”

  “Good luck to the fool who carries out that benefit,” Emil murmured. “Don’t think it’ll be the Dark Lord who ends up bruised and bloody.”

  “You all need to stop calling him the Dark Lord,” I bit out, unfolding my arms.

  “Why?” Emil laughed, but it wasn’t his normal deep laugh. I hadn’t heard one of those since shit had gone down. “He’d probably love it.”

  “Which is why he’d benefit from a good punch in the di—”

  “Enough,” I snapped, silencing the draken. “Believe it or not, he wouldn’t be humored by it.” My stare met Emil’s. “As you should know.”

  The Elemental ducked his chin, having the decency to look embarrassed.

  “I’ll go see what he’s up to.” I pushed off the desk.

  “Should we wish you luck?” Reaver asked.

  “Should you go fuck yourself?” I countered.

  The draken snorted.

  Attes’s eyes met mine briefly as I passed him. He didn’t say anything, seeming to be the only one in the room who knew when to keep their mouth shut.

  Entering the narrow hall, I avoided the vines. Wayfair was eerily silent, empty of voices, the flutter of wings, and the croaks of ravens.

  Fucking creepy birds.

  Bypassing the Great Hall, I headed for a door without ornate decor. Pushing it open, I entered one of the many servant halls. The castle was a damn maze of them, but it was the quickest way to get outside.

  Snow was now falling in lazy flakes, but I stayed under the roof of the colonnade. I turned my head to the east, toward the Cliffs. Without the inner wall, they loomed over the elms, their jagged edges dusted with snow.

  What the fuck was he doing up there?

  I eased the tension from my jaw and settled my breathing. Saddling a horse would take too long, and while I loathed the shadowstepping shit, I had to get over it.

  Summoning the essence as I pictured the Cliffs, it responded in a hot rush that melted the snow that had drifted in under the roof and lay along the tiled floor.

  A thin strip of silver eather appeared before me, crackling and hissing as it lengthened and widened. The smell of damp wood and soil mixed with Cas’s and drifted from the tear. And his scent? The crisp pine scent now mingled with something darker than the hint of spice that always clung to Cas. Something that reminded me of fire but wasn’t smoke. I couldn’t place it, but I felt like I’d breathed it in before.

  Hands fisting, I walked through the tear. My entire body did that tingling thing I hated, and then there was that split second where it felt like my fucking body had come apart and pieced itself back together. It sounded insane, but that was how it felt.

  The glow of eather quickly faded, letting my eyes adjust to the gloom of the overcast skies. My gaze flickered over the meadow now blanketed in white. Snow was piled along the sharp, jutting outcroppings of rock on the side of the Elysium Peaks that led toward the highest elevation and weighed down the branches of the nearby elms.

  “Thought you were afraid of shadowstepping?”

  The voice came before I even laid eyes on him, and when I did, my chest clenched.

  Casteel sat at the cliff’s edge, the wind ruffling the inky waves of his hair. Surprise rippled through me. With that hood almost always in place, I hadn’t seen it for any real length of time, so I hadn’t noticed how much it had grown. His hair was as long as it had been when he’d returned from Carsodonia without his brother and Shea.

  I swallowed the sudden thickness in my throat and got my legs moving. “You thinking about jumping?”

  Cas didn’t answer for a long moment. “Why would I do that without an audience?”

  I smirked at the almost expected response as my boots stirred up snow.

  He waited until I was halfway to him before speaking again. “How’d you know I was up here?”

  “What you mean to ask is how I knew you were here when you had the notam closed off to me again.”

  He didn’t respond to that.

  “I’m assuming Reaver saw you.”

  “Fucker,” he muttered.

  The corners of my lips tugged up. Since he didn’t say some insane shit, I kept walking. As I neared the cliff’s edge, the wind turned more biting and came at me harder. It didn’t bother me that much. Not when my body ran even hotter now.

  Reaching him, I lowered myself to sit beside him, letting my legs dangle as the snow rose up from the void below.

  Wait.

  My eyes narrowed. “Is it just me, or is the snow rising?”

  “It’s not just you.”

  Twisting at the waist, I looked behind us. The snow fell like, well, normal—because of gravity.

  “It’s only happening here.”

  “Why…? You know what, I’m not even going to try to figure it out.” I faced forward without looking at him. After he’d returned from Carsodonia, he hadn’t liked eye contact and that kind of shit. Not sure why I figured that was the best way to proceed, but I went with it. “We received news of an unexpected visitor today.”

  There was no reply.

  I looked down at the jagged tips of the frosted rocks, the silent, frozen waterfall, and the distant crowns of the snow-covered elms. As messed up as the history of this place was, it was actually quite beautiful. “Ty is en route.”

  The reaction was minimal, but I felt the sudden shift, the way his muscles tensed. “He shouldn’t be here.”

  “I know.” I sighed.

  The breath he let out was barely audible. “How is Perry?”

  I didn’t let the relief I felt at hearing him question that show. “Sad. Angry.” I had to force an even breath in. “Naill has been hanging close to him.”