The power flowing through me felt unending and inescapable. Old. Inevitable. And I could sense it changing every part of my being. That was the source of the white-hot pain: the essence shattering bones in one breath before rebuilding and fortifying them in the next. I clenched my jaw as every vein in my godsdamn body collapsed and then expanded, strengthening as the essence wrapped itself around each organ. I bore the agony of my flesh catching on fire and then hardening, starting at my feet and traveling all the way up. As it reached the base of my skull, pain exploded in my head, shorting out every sense. My hearing. Sense of smell. Sensation was the next to go—thank the fucking gods. Right before it took my vision, I saw Primal mist seeping from Kieran’s outstretched arms, swirling gold and silver.

  And then I saw the mist churning around my arms in a dizzying rush of shadows and crimson.

  CHAPTER 1

  CASTEEL

  I stood in the bathing chamber, my eyes closed and hands splayed across the vanity’s cold marble top.

  I had no idea how long I’d been standing there, but water no longer dripped from my hair.

  The last thing I remembered before waking two days ago to find myself and Kieran lying in bed beside Poppy was seeing the Primal essence swirling around us.

  Mouth dry, I’d turned my head to find fucking Emil Da’Lahr sitting in the armchair beside the bed, his head in his hands. When he realized I was awake, I half-expected him to start crying. I didn’t think I’d ever seen a man more relieved.

  Kieran woke moments later, just as confused as I’d been. That’s when Emil keyed us in on how we’d ended up in the bed. Apparently, he’d found us out cold, slumped against opposite walls with pieces of the Revenant still scattered across the floor. But only after he’d seen me in the form of what resembled a gold-spotted black cave cat.

  Fuck.

  Emil probably thought he was hallucinating. Like he’d done when we consumed those wild mushrooms we found in the woodlands of Aegea when we were younger.

  But, gods. He handled it, despite having no idea what was going on. Even though I knew that seeing his Queen in stasis and then finding his King and the Advisor to the Crown out of commission must have messed with him. He’d gotten Delano and Malik—of all people—to help get Kieran and me into bed with Poppy and then cleaned up the mess I’d made with the Revenant and made sure no one else knew anything was off. They’d covered for us the entire damn day we remained unconscious.

  I owed Emil. I owed all three of them.

  Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly, listening for any sounds coming from the chamber. Kieran had left a bit ago to check on things. And Poppy…

  She still slept.

  A surge of energy fueled by desperation and anger flooded my veins and hit the air around me, cooling the bathing chamber. I knew what the power was.

  Primal essence.

  I’d always felt it on some level. All Atlantians—especially Elemental Atlantians and wolven—did. But never like this.

  I could feel where the eather was entrenched deep in my bones and fused with my muscles. I could feel it coursing through my veins, creating a steady hum in my blood. Opening my eyes, I lifted my head.

  I saw it in my reflection.

  Where the aura behind my pupils had always been a faint silver, it was now a bright glow. If I looked closely enough, I could see fine threads radiating out from the orbs of eather, piercing the golden hue of my eyes. I’d seen the same in Kieran’s, though with his already vivid, cerulean gaze, it wasn’t as noticeable. Still, what I was staring at right now, and what I’d seen when I looked at Kieran, was impossible.

  At least it should have been.

  Kieran and I had a pretty good idea what had made this possible. The thing that’d allowed me to not only heal from being stabbed in the heart with a blade that probably should’ve killed me but also shift into a cave cat. The same reason I knew exactly how worried Emil was when I woke, tasting the emotion in the back of my throat—thick like heavy cream.

  The Joining.

  It was the only explanation we could come up with. It made sense, but neither of us expected the Joining to do more than ensure our lives were tied to Poppy’s.

  I knew in my bones that I wasn’t only an Elemental Atlantian anymore. And Kieran wasn’t just a wolven. We had become…something else.

  What had that Rev called me? A false Primal? The bigger, badder version of a demis? I’d never heard of such a thing. Then again, apparently, there was a lot of shit I hadn’t heard of.

  But I didn’t think that was what we were. I couldn’t say exactly why I felt that way, but it probably had something to do with the essence I could feel moving around in me. It was too powerful to be a false god’s or even a false Primal’s. It was cold and infinite.

  Ancient.

  Just like the Primal mist—the essence taking form—I’d seen churning around Kieran and me before we decided to take our power naps.

  Concentrating on the hum of eather, I willed it forward. It pulsed behind my pupils and expanded until the strands churned through my irises, no longer just silver. My skin cooled and hardened, then thinned until I saw the essence gliding beneath it. My fingers slid against the counter as I tracked the swirls of eather. It wasn’t like the Primal mist I’d seen surrounding Kieran. His had been gold and silver. Mine was silver and crimson.

  I watched crimson-streaked shadows flow over my bare shoulders and willed the eather to settle. It responded at once. My skin warmed as the shadows slowed and then disappeared. The chill left the air, and the glow of the eather in my eyes dimmed. There was no denying what I saw and felt.

  The essence that had transferred from Poppy to us wasn’t the same. Somehow, the two she had within her had split between us.

  Life.

  Death.

  And I had no idea what that made us. Or what it meant for the future.

  I’d just finished bathing and changing Poppy when I became aware of Kieran drawing close. My fingers halted around the delicate clasp of the necklace that held my ring.

  Because of our bond as an Elemental Atlantian and a wolven, we’d always been able to sense each other’s proximity. When Poppy began her Ascension, and the Primal notam kicked in, that had stopped.

  But it had changed yet again.

  Sensing where Kieran was didn’t happen immediately after we woke up. I couldn’t say exactly when I’d started to pick up on his whereabouts again over the last two days, but I had. And it wasn’t the only thing that was new.

  Hearing the sound of a second set of footsteps and claws rapping off the stone floor, I leaned over and placed the necklace on the bedside table. Kieran wasn’t alone, which explained the quiet knock.

  “Come in,” I called, running my thumb over Poppy’s cool knuckles.

  The door opened, and Kieran entered, his gaze immediately going to the bed. He knew there was no change, but it was hard to shake the desperate hope.

  My gaze shifted to the others. The dark-haired Elemental Crown Guard commander remained at the door—something I’d tried to get her to stop—as a snow-white wolven padded in behind her.

  Delano jumped onto the bed, brushing his head against my shoulder before lying down and wiggling to get as close as he could to Poppy.

  My gaze lingered on the commander. Hisa Fa’Mar wasn’t someone who made needless small talk—she was often direct and focused. But there was too much rigidity in how she stood cloaked in the white mantle of the Crown’s Guard. I looked at her closer, opening my senses. The usual golden undertones of her light-brown skin were absent, and her knuckles had bleached white from how tightly she gripped the hilt of the sword at her waist. A sharp, acidic citrus taste gathered in the back of my mouth. Unease.

  Something was up.

  She kept her gaze trained away from Poppy, but my wife’s current state wasn’t the source of Hisa’s unease. Respect for Poppy’s privacy was why she didn’t stare.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “We’re not entirely sure at this point,” Kieran said, staring down at Poppy as he walked closer. “But it’s not good.”

  I inhaled through my nose, then exhaled slowly. “Details.”

  “It appears there was an…incident in the area of the Luxe,” Hisa answered, speaking of the neighborhood in the Garden District occupied by the wealthiest mortals and the Ascended who, for whatever reason, hadn’t earned residency in one of the sprawling manors just beyond Wayfair’s inner Rise. “Multiple deaths.”

  I frowned and looked at Kieran as my finger stilled on Poppy’s hand. “Mortals?” I asked, but that didn’t make sense. The Ascended were under guard. No mortals were allowed near them.

  “No.” Kieran brushed the backs of his knuckles across Poppy’s cheek. “The Ascended.”

  My brows lifted. “How?”

  Kieran straightened with a sigh and glanced at the small dining table someone had brought in at some point. The plates of food remained largely untouched. His jaw tightened as he returned his gaze to mine.

  Foreseeing a massive, annoying-as-fuck lecture coming my way in the too-near future, I sent him a look of warning.

  The glow of eather behind his pupils pulsed, and then he looked away. “You need to see what happened for yourself.”

  Tension invaded my muscles. “Or you could just tell me.”

  “That won’t be enough.” Kieran made his way to a chest near the bathing chamber doors. “This isn’t a case of Descenters demanding to burn the Ascended in their homes,” Kieran continued.

  Damn. That had escalated from them wanting to drag the Ascended into the daylight. Or would that be considered a de-escalation? I guessed it depended on the person.

  “It sounds like they moved on from demanding and actually did it.” Which meant the guards disobeyed my orders and allowed mortals in. I tried to drudge up anger but couldn’t really be mad. It’d be hard to find an Atlantian who hadn’t lost someone close to them in the War of Two Kings—or after.

  “Mortals didn’t do this.” He reached down and unhooked his broadsword. “Like I said, you need to see it.”

  Irritation simmered like a dying fire waiting for a spark to reignite the inferno, causing the essence in the center of my chest to hum.

  “He speaks the truth.” Hisa cleared her throat. “You won’t believe us otherwise.”

  “I’m sure you could convince me,” I said, my hand fisting the blanket. “If you try.”

  Given how tightly I clenched my jaw, I worried my teeth might crack. Kieran’s mark brushed against my mind like an earthy, woodsy breeze.

  Poppy was right.

  Kieran did feel like a tree.

  Cas.

  That was another side effect of the Joining—one that caught us both off guard when it first happened. We figured it was due to us sharing Poppy’s ability to communicate through the notam. But where she’d said it took a few moments to find each wolven’s unique imprint, it wasn’t like that for us. Unfortunately, it took no effort at times.

  You need to see this.

  Right now, the new ability was highly annoying.

  Kieran laid his sword on the chest, placing it beside mine. “Can you all give us a moment?”

  Hisa didn’t hesitate. With a nod, the commander stepped out. Delano, however, remained where he was. Kieran unsheathed the short swords strapped to his back and sent the wolven a pointed look.

  He grumbled before rising and hopping down from the bed. As he prowled across the chamber, he bared his canines at Kieran and let out a low growl.

  “I don’t think Delano is happy about us asking him to leave,” I remarked.

  Placing the final sword on the chest, Kieran closed the door. “Well, you’re not going to be happy with what I have to say.”

  “Then don’t say it.”

  Kieran faced me. “If I don’t, it would not only make me a terrible Advisor to the Crown, it would make me a shitty friend.”

  I held his stare. “Why do I have a feeling I’m going to disagree with what you just said?”

  “Because you’re a stubborn jackass when you want to be?”

  I smirked.

  He glanced back at the table. “By the way, the mortal soldiers sworn to the Blood Crown have been questioned.”

  I raised my brows at the change in subject. “And?”

  “About fifteen thousand in custody disavowed the Blood Crown,” he said. “Double that refused. And about seven thousand or so…aggressively refused to swear allegiance to Atlantia.”

  My jaw tightened. “After being given the choices we discussed?”

  “Yep.”

  “Set up the transfer for the seven thousand. Hopefully, they will change their minds. Those who didn’t violently refuse should be given another chance to choose, with the understanding that we will make it for them if they don’t.” I closed my eyes briefly and then let out a slow breath. Neither of those things made what needed to be said any easier. “Begin the executions for any remaining.”

  My orders settled in the chamber with a weight I never wanted.

  Kieran nodded after a few seconds. “Have you slept at all today?”

  “For a bit,” I said. And that was the truth. I’d made myself sleep to see if I could reach Poppy in her dreams. I hadn’t.

  “Cas.” He sighed. “You haven’t been sleeping more than a couple of hours. You haven’t been eating much—”

  “This is what you wanted to talk to me about in private?” I cut in. “If so, can we skip it? I don’t need a second mother.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t want to be standing here lecturing you about the basic needs of self-preservation. But here I am,” he retorted. “And why am I here having to say this shit? Because you’re a fucking mess, Cas.”

  My hand tightened around Poppy’s cold one as I fought the rise of anger. “You’ve seen me when I’m a mess. You should know that I’m nowhere near that state.”

  “You’re a different kind of mess,” he argued. “Instead of feeling guilt for your brother—”

  “Kieran,” I warned.

  He ignored me. “You’re feeling guilt over Poppy.”

  “No shit,” I spat.

  His jaw flexed. “Her condition is not your fault.”

  “We’ll have to disagree on that.”

  “We can, but that doesn’t mean what you’re thinking is correct,” he shot back. “How were you—how were any of us—to know that a Revenant would climb its happy ass up a fucking castle wall and try to take Poppy out?”

  I wasn’t sure if the Rev planned on taking Poppy out or just putting her in stasis. If it were the latter, it had succeeded and then some. “I should’ve been better prepared for something like that happening.”

  “How? By not sleeping?” He raised his brows. “Based on your way of thinking, am I to blame for not being here?”

  “I had you out there handling things. So, no.”

  He shook his head. “If the shoe was on the other foot, and this happened while you were unconscious and Poppy was sleeping, would you think it was her fault?”

  I scoffed. “No.”

  He gave me a hard, deliberate stare.

  “What the fuck ever,” I muttered. “I cannot believe you’re asking me to leave her side for some dead Ascended.”

  Kieran’s shoulders rose with a deep breath as he leaned against the door. A moment passed. “Do you think I want to leave her side? Or that I want to leave yours?”

  I didn’t answer because I knew he wanted to be right where I was.

  “The only reason I’m able to is because I know you’d be going out of your mind if not beside her,” he said when I stayed silent. “Terrified that something might happen to her or she’d wake up when you’re not here.”

  That was true.

  “That’s why I’ve stepped up. For the most part, it hasn’t impacted the running of Carsodonia or the kingdom. But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been problems or concerns. The people are worried and confused by everything that’s happened. Learning the truth of who and what the Ascended really are and the fact that we remain at war with those who still support the Blood Crown. Then there are the wolven patrolling the streets,” he went on as I started to frown. “We also had a godsdamn god waking from under the city Atheneum. Then there’s the people’s general distrust of Atlantians. And don’t get me started on the vamprys’ entitled fucking demands.”

  “You forgot the draken flying over the city every hour,” I tacked on.

  “Yes, there is that,” he said with a dry laugh.

  “Why are the wolven patrolling the streets in that form?” I asked.

  Kieran arched a brow. “Are we required to hide our nature?”

  I shot him a flat, unblinking look. “No.”

  “But?”

  “But the vast majority of the mortals here believed the wolven were extinct,” I reasoned—pretty fucking logically, if I did say so myself. “Seeing a wolf the size of a pony would be understandably frightening.”

  He smirked. “They’ll get used to it.”

  I shook my head at him.

  “There’s also the fact that news has spread of what their new Queen actually is,” he continued. “You have no idea how many people have come to pay homage to Poppy. Naill and Perry keep running them off.”

  Gods. Hearing that would make Poppy so uncomfortable. But damn straight, they should be paying homage to her.

  “Then there are the others.” Kieran loosely folded his arms. “The ones who still support the Blood Crown—the wealthy land and business owners. While we set a curfew for their safety, at least until we can be sure all Ascended are accounted for, we haven’t been able to keep people in their homes.”

  “I know.” My gaze shifted back to Poppy. “People have to work. They need to bring food home. They have families to care for.”

  “And while they’re doing that, people are talking. Asking why neither the King nor the Queen has made any public appearances since we overthrew the Blood Crown,” he went on. “They fear they are being misled once again. And those who remain loyal to the Blood Crown are sowing that fear.”