A wry grin tugged at my lips as I slowed Setti.

  Poppy looked over her shoulder. “Do I even want to know what you’re thinking?”

  “Probably not.”

  Bringing Setti to a stop, I swung off his back and then turned, settling my hands on her hips. She didn’t need my help, but her hands went to my shoulders nonetheless. I lifted her from Setti’s back and settled her on her feet.

  Delano brushed against my legs as he came to her other side. Her hand went down to stroke the fur between his ears.

  Malik’s mouth opened, but then he snapped it shut. I eyed him, quickly seeing that his face was more gaunt than the last time I’d seen him.

  The fucker hadn’t fed.

  Malik’s chin lowered. “My Queen.”

  Poppy’s head tilted. “No—”

  Behind Malik, the guards moved as if coming out of a trance. Hands swung to chests as they began to kneel.

  “Oh, gods, please don’t,” Poppy said quickly. “No one has to…” She trailed off as about half a dozen dropped to one knee, their heads bowed as they echoed Malik’s greeting. “Do that,” she finished.

  “They didn’t do that when they last saw me,” I drawled. Unable to be upset by the show of respect. I bent down to whisper, “Don’t forget to tell them they can rise.”

  A soft sigh escaped her. “You may rise.” She waited as they stood. “And you do not need to do that again.”

  “Disagree,” I murmured.

  Her head snapped in my direction, her glare burning straight through the shadows of her cloak. Slowly, she turned her head back to those before her. “I…I command that you do not bow to either me or Casteel.”

  My brows flew up as my surprise was echoed in those before us. The steadiness in her tone…

  Fuck.

  I was getting hard.

  Behind me, Kieran chuckled. “Someone is catching on.” He paused. “Finally.”

  Malik stared at her and then rose, snapping out of his stupor. “You’re…”

  Or perhaps he had not snapped out of it.

  Poppy stepped forward, Delano right with her. “Awake? Yes.”

  My brother started to move but clearly thought better of it as his wide, amber eyes shifted to me and then darted back to her. “It’s good to see you, Penellaphe.”

  “It’s good to be awake,” she replied.

  Malik gave her a faint smile that was more brittle grimace than anything. “Though, I wish you were not here.” His gaze met mine. “She doesn’t need to see this.”

  “She does,” Poppy said. Her voice remained soft, but there was no mistaking the thread of steely resolve beneath it. “We were told you were the one who notified Naill.”

  Malik let out a short breath and nodded. “Yeah, I was in the area and—”

  “Why?” I asked.

  His shoulders tensed. “No reason other than I like—liked the area. I don’t think I will after tonight.” He dragged a hand through his hair and pulled it back from his face. “Reminds me of home.”

  My eyes narrowed on him. Nothing about Stonehill, besides maybe the scent of salt in the air, could even remotely remind him of our homeland.

  He lowered his hand. “I saw that Viktoria’s house was dark.”

  “Viktoria?” Kieran asked.

  “She works at one of the taverns in Lowertown,” he explained. “She and her husband Jathen both do. They would’ve been home by now and still up. At first, I didn’t think too much about it, but then I saw this.” He jerked his chin toward the houses. “The whole street was dark, and it…it didn’t feel right. So, I went and knocked on their door. When nobody answered, I tried the knob and found it unlocked.” A muscle ticked in his temple. “That’s when I found them and got Naill.”

  “I’m sorry,” Poppy said and then proved once more how much better she was than me when she reached out and placed a hand on his arm, comforting the man who had once planned to end her life.

  Malik looked down at her hand for several moments, likely reminded of the same thing. That she was better than him, too.

  “Thank you,” he rasped, stepping back. He swallowed. “I didn’t know about the others at that point.”

  “Can you show us?” Kieran asked.

  “Perry is in one of the houses,” Malik replied, turning with a frown. “But you can enter any of them and find the same.”

  Poppy stopped, her hand lifting to press against her upper stomach. “The whole block?”

  “And the next one over,” Malik confirmed.

  Fucking gods.

  I placed my hand on Poppy’s lower back. “Where is Perry?”

  “Three houses down,” he said, leading us the short distance.

  There was little open space around the homes in Stonehill, with no front courtyards, only those in the back. The main door of the squat, stucco home sat right off the sidewalk. My gaze moved over the door, seeing that the sconce’s glass globe was blown, as was the one above the latticed windows.

  The door opened before Malik could do it, and Naill walked out.

  He pulled a Malik and stumbled to a halt. This time, Poppy stopped him before he could bow.

  Naill clasped her hand without hesitation, and the only thing that stopped me from caving into the primitive urge to wrench her away was the knowledge that touch was important to her.

  “I can’t even tell you how glad I am to see you,” Naill said, the deep-brown hue of his skin carrying an ashen undertone. “But I wish you were not here.” His gaze lifted to mine. “What’s inside is…”

  “I need to see it,” Poppy said.

  Exhaling softly, Naill nodded. “You should…” His chest rose sharply. “I would say prepare yourself, but I don’t believe that is possible.”

  My jaw hardened as I nodded. He opened the door to a small foyer, and a scent slammed into us all at once. Lilacs—stale lilacs.

  Delano’s hackles rose as he froze beside Poppy, his ears pinned back.

  Yeah, that was a fucked-up sign if there ever was one.

  “You don’t have to come in,” Poppy said to him, and then I felt faint stirrings of eather as their communication moved to something just between them. She finally sighed and moved forward with Delano at her side. Emil and Malik followed us as I lowered my hood, surveying the house’s dark interior.

  Shoes had been placed by the door—boots dusty with dirt and a smaller pair of leather flats that were far less dirty.

  Poppy tugged her hood down, eyeing the other sets. Two pairs of much, much smaller boots caked in mud.

  “Most of the homes here are set up the same,” Malik explained as Naill led us into a tight, dark corridor. “The rooms are one after another. A sitting room—it’s empty. Then the bedchambers. They’re also empty.”

  “Kitchen is in the back,” Naill said, pausing. “That’s where they are.”

  Candlelight flickered at the end of the hall as we passed another blown sconce. “Are all the homes like this?” Kieran gestured to the shattered glass on the tile.

  “From what I’ve seen? Yes,” Naill answered.

  I filed that away as Perry stepped into our line of sight, holding what appeared to be a pale-yellow blanket. The expression etched into the brown skin of his face matched the others. It wasn’t often so many Elementals were so shaken.

  “Cas.” Perry’s gaze jumped from me to the others, then behind me. He inhaled sharply. “M-my Queen—”

  “Please, don’t,” she said, stopping him as I stepped around Naill. Several thick candles were lit on the kitchen counter.

  And three bodies were laid out, the sheets covering them stained with blood. Two of them shared one covering. The sight of the smaller bodies would stop anyone in their tracks, but I knew the expression on the male’s face had robbed Poppy of her words.

  Because it had stolen them from me, too.

  Behind me, Emil cursed.

  “I found another sheet,” Perry said, his voice low as we crowded into the small kitchen. “I just…I couldn’t look at their faces any longer.”

  I couldn’t blame him for that.

  Meanwhile, I couldn’t look away from the bloodless curve of the man’s lips.

  The dead man, who had to be in his third or fourth decade of life, was smiling.

  “I don’t think any family would want to see them like this,” Perry added after a beat. “If they have family.”

  “If not, we’ll prepare them for burial rites,” I heard Poppy say, her voice thin but steady.

  The man’s smile was almost peaceful.

  Actually, it was peaceful.

  I dragged my gaze from his face. A pool of blood had started to congeal beneath his head. The fatal wound was easy to locate. You couldn’t miss it. There was a ragged, red slash across his throat, evidence that whatever had been used was dull.

  Who the fuck smiled like that when their death was so violent?

  Kieran knelt as I swept my gaze over the mortal’s body, quickly discovering the weapon. In his pale, ghastly white hand, he clutched what appeared to be a meat knife. Blood had dried on the blade, turning a rusty brown.

  My spine straightened. “He did this to himself?”

  “They all appear to have done it to themselves,” Malik answered.

  My head whipped to him. “What?”

  My brother nodded. “Once we realized this affected more than one family, we thought it was one of the Revenants still out there—or a group of them. But as you can see, their wounds are self-inflicted.”

  “Even the—” Naill cleared his throat. “Even the children, Cas.”

  I didn’t believe it.

  I couldn’t.

  Stepping over the man’s prone legs, I gripped the sheet draped over the two smaller bodies and yanked it back.

  Little girls.

  Kieran stood in a rush as Delano whimpered, pressing into Poppy’s side. Taking a step back, Kieran crossed his arms.

  Two little, blond-haired girls, nowhere even near the age to have such thoughts in their heads, had faces forever frozen in smiles and bloodied glass clutched in their tiny hands.

  “Gods,” I choked out. “That isn’t right.”

  “Tell me about it,” muttered Perry. “But there’s no bruising to indicate they were forced. And nothing in the house shows any signs of a struggle.”

  “It looks like they came into the kitchen of their own accord, lay down side by side, and…” Malik inhaled deeply. “And no one on the nearby streets has reported hearing any yelling or screams.”

  “There’s no way a child of that age would be capable of doing something like that.” I gestured at their bodies. “Not on their own.”

  The men were quiet, and then Naill spoke, “They’re not the only ones, Cas. Out of the fifty or so we’ve found, fifteen appear to be children under the age of ten.”

  Fucking gods.

  My eyes slammed shut as I tried to make sense of the tragedy. “Could they be Blood Crown supporters?”

  “Possibly,” Naill said. “They were taught for generations that the gods favored the Ascended, and that Atlantians were responsible for all the evil and pain in the realm.”

  “Perhaps they couldn’t deal with the truth,” Perry said.

  “I don’t know.” Malik exhaled heavily. “When it comes to the children, they would’ve had to be coaxed into it by their parents or caregivers. And what kind of fucking monster would do that?”

  “Someone whose faith in the lies fed to them by the Ascended is greater than the bonds of their own blood.” Frustration and simmering anger hardened my tone as I opened my eyes. My gaze settled on the wide windowsill. Several potted plants sat there. I had no idea what kind they were. Maybe ferns? But they were nothing more than wilted, brittle stems and leaves curled against the sides of their vivid ceramic pots now. I looked back down at the bodies. “A fucking dinner knife.”

  “Yeah.” Naill drew out the word. “It appears all of them either used dinner knives or makeshift blades like glass or sharpened stone.”

  That made gruesome sense since no mortal in the capital was allowed weapons. Didn’t mean that many hadn’t snuck in a dagger or sword here and there.

  “The amount of effort it would have taken to finish the job…” Perry trailed off, dragging a hand over his face.

  Anger churned at the thought. “Are we sure we found them all?”

  “Guards have been going from block to block, checking the homes,” Naill advised, his fingers opening and closing on the hilt of his sword. “So far, it appears it is only this block, but we should know for sure soon.”

  Eather stirring drew Kieran’s and my gaze to Poppy.

  She stood near the girls’ feet. Color had drained from her complexion, leaving her nearly as pale as she was in stasis. She was as still as those on the floor before her, and I picked up absolutely nothing from her as she moved her gaze from the dead plants on the windowsill to the bodies.

  Perry’s gaze darted to mine, but I held up a hand, figuring the vadentia was telling her something.

  Poppy’s gaze lifted. The blue, green, and brown flecks in her eyes had spread to swirl around the bursts of silver. Perry and Naill stood directly across from us, and they didn’t seem to notice the change in her until the veins beneath her eyes lit up with silver light.

  “It may have been their hands,” she said, an undeniable icy heat lacing her words. “But it was not their will. This…is his will. Death’s. Kolis’s.”

  CHAPTER 26

  POPPY

  Casteel carefully laid the sheet back down to cover their faces and then rose. His gaze met mine. The aura of eather behind his pupils was a stunning shade of near white. “Is that the vadentia?”

  “I remember. He wanted me to let him in,” I said.

  Casteel inhaled sharply, then turned halfway. “Can you all give us a moment?”

  Perry nodded and edged around the bodies. “We’ll wait for you outside.”

  Delano leaned into me as Malik lingered at the doorway. I reached out through the notam. It’s okay. You don’t need to be in here.

  Delano’s blue eyes were full of sorrow as they met mine.

  “Please,” I whispered.

  He hesitated and then turned, passing Emil where he stood a few feet from Malik. Naill and Perry had already cleared out, but Casteel’s brother waited a moment before turning and disappearing down the hall.

  Casteel came forward and clasped my elbow. “Let’s talk somewhere else.”

  I didn’t resist as he guided me into the dark hall. Kieran pushed open one of the doors to what appeared to be a bedchamber. The space was dark, but my eyes adjusted quickly enough for me to make out a narrow bed and a dresser.

  Casteel’s hand slid up my arm. “What do you remember?”

  “It’s something that happened while I was in stasis.” I pushed back a lock of hair. “I was in a cage.”

  I felt their anger pierce their shields and was grateful for the darkness of the chamber because I didn’t want to see either of their faces. The air around us charged.

  “A cage?” Casteel asked in a too quiet voice.

  Kieran edged away from the door and stepped farther into the chamber.

  “I don’t know how I got there or why,” I said. “And he wasn’t there at first. There was only mist.” The memory of the ghostly figures dancing in it sent a chill down my spine. “But then he was there, on the other side of the bars, talking to me. Telling me he could take away all the pain.”

  Casteel went as still as a statue.

  “And I…I didn’t know who I was. Not really. But I remembered all these random moments. The night in Lockswood. The Duke and his lessons.” My stomach churned as I stepped back. Casteel’s arm remained suspended for a moment before lowering. “The night of the Rite and New Haven—” I cut myself off, but the flare of eather in Casteel’s eyes told me he knew I was talking about when I’d learned who and what he was. “He made me remember all the pain.”

  “He has the ability to root out someone’s fears and make them relive moments of pain,” Kieran said, his voice thinner than usual. “Attes told us. He said it was meant to punish those sentenced to the Abyss.”

  My lip curled. I wasn’t sure how I felt about something like that being used on those who likely deserved to be sentenced to the hell that was the Abyss.

  I ran a hand over my cheek, feeling the uneven skin as I paced the small chamber. “He promised that he could make it all stop. He wanted me to let him in.” I glanced at Casteel. He stood motionless, his eyes tracking my movements. “He said he could give me peace if I did.”

  “But you didn’t,” Casteel stated. I stopped to look at him. Surprised he knew that. “You said as much when you were under his influence. That he wanted you to let him in, but you refused.”

  “It didn’t matter,” I whispered. “He’d already been…” I stopped myself again. I didn’t need to finish that sentence. Because of the blood shared between us, he’d already been inside me. That still made me want to vomit. I exhaled and started walking again. “It was almost like a compulsion but stronger, like…a haunting song. I wanted to believe him. I did,” I admitted, tasting the shame in my throat. “Until I realized what he was. He did that to them.” I turned toward the door. “He got in their heads.”

  Kieran looked at Casteel, who just stared at me. A moment passed, and then Casteel said, “What you’re talking about sounds like a compulsion. It would’ve been easy for him to seize control of a mortal’s will.” Thrusting his hand through his hair, he clasped the back of his neck. “Especially a child’s.”

  A child.

  I took another deep breath that went nowhere. “How many children did you say they found?”

  “Fifteen,” Kieran answered.

  The knot that formed in my throat burned. “I want to see them. All of them.”

  Even though I could tell that neither Casteel nor Kieran wanted me to see the faces of those Kolis had cruelly ended, I needed to.