Somehow, Casteel ended up in front of me. I wasn’t even sure how.

  Tawny came to an abrupt halt. “Not this again,” she muttered. “Are you going to try to throw me out?”

  I started to frown.

  “I’m considering it.” Casteel remained in front of me for a few minutes. “But, no,” he said, stepping aside.

  I took a breath—

  The first thing I saw was a blur of white curls that’d once been honey-brown rushing forward.

  “No need to run,” Casteel muttered.

  “No need to guard Poppy,” she retorted, scanning the chamber.

  Her gaze landed on me then, and she jerked to a halt, going completely still. Only the burnt-gold skirt of her gown swayed as white eyes—everything but the pupils—that were once a warm brown locked with mine.

  Suddenly, I understood why I had been filled with dread when I thought of her. There was no faint tingling along my neck that I had begun to associate with the vadentia, but I still knew why I was so uneasy. It wasn’t anything she had done.

  It was what I had done to her.

  Tawny shrieked, startling me, the sound close to that of a large bird of prey.

  “Gods,” Casteel breathed.

  She sprang forward, arms opening wide. A smile broke out across her pretty face, and my lips started to mirror hers despite what I’d done—

  Casteel’s features sharpened with wariness, his posture stiffening with coiled tension as Tawny lunged.

  She’s okay, I assured him quickly, understanding his reaction—knowing why Kieran and the others had reacted so strangely to Tawny when she first arrived in Oak Ambler.

  Tears clogged my throat as I stared at her. They’d sensed the…wrongness. What went against the fundamental balance of life and death. Without even understanding why.

  “Poppy!” she yelled a second before she all but threw herself at me.

  When she wrapped her arms around me, holding on like a tree bear, I didn’t think about what I was doing or if I should. I simply returned her embrace. And that was all we needed for a few moments. I didn’t even think about what I had done to her anymore.

  “I feel like I keep saying this,” she said, her voice hoarse, “but I’ve missed you.”

  I drew in a stuttered breath and caught the faint scent of…stale lilacs.

  Death.

  A shudder ran through me, and I held on to her tighter. I didn’t even know why I tried—I already knew what I would find—but I opened my senses to see if I could pick up anything from her.

  In the past, her emotions were always right beneath the surface. She had many feelings about lots of things multiple times throughout the day. But that had changed when she was wounded by shadowstone and fell into a deep sleep.

  My senses brushed against a void of nothingness, reminding me of what it was like when I tried to read the Ascended or a Revenant. But she was neither of those things.

  What she had become…

  The memory of me sitting by her side, trying to heal her after she’d been wounded, returned. So much eather had poured from me into her that my palms sometimes felt as if they were on fire. She hadn’t woken until she was being cared for by Wilhelmina—the Miss Willa. She was one of the eldest Atlantians, and I knew if anyone could help Tawny, it was her. But she wasn’t the cause of the changes in my friend.

  I was.

  Even though I hadn’t healed her with my touch.

  “Poppy?” she whispered, making me realize I had gone silent.

  I swallowed against the burn of tears. “I’ve missed you, too.”

  “You better have,” she murmured, her hand fisting my braid. “I would’ve been offended if not.”

  A shaky laugh left me.

  Tawny pulled back just enough to give me a once-over. “How are you feeling? Are you okay? Where did you go?” she asked, one question running into the next. “Will you ever be allowed to be alone with anyone in private again?”

  “I know you—” I blinked, her last question completely caught me off guard. “Why would you ask that?”

  She held my stare as a slight furrow formed between her brows. “You should ask”—she cast a narrowed-eye look that was awfully close to a glare over her shoulder—“Prince Hawkethrone over there.”

  “It’s King”—Casteel shoved the door shut with a finger as he returned her look— “Hawkethrone to you.”

  “Whatever,” she muttered, facing me again.

  My gaze darted between them as my brows inched up my forehead. “Do I even want to know?”

  “I think you already do,” she said, clasping my arms. “Your husband is seriously overprotective.”

  I glanced at Casteel as he lifted his glass with an unapologetic tilt to his lips. “I kind of know that.”

  “Kind of?” Tawny snorted.

  Casteel sent me a wink.

  Tawny huffed as she looked at him. “It’s a good thing you’re nice to look at.”

  Another laugh burst from me as I pulled her back to me. Gods. Only Tawny would say that without a hint of fear or concern. She was still her. That had to count for something. It had to be all that mattered.

  That insidious voice from minutes ago, the one that told me I’d be fooling myself believing in what I knew wasn’t true, returned.

  Sorrow choked me, and I squeezed her despite the chill of her skin bleeding through her gown, not wanting to let her go.

  Tawny’s milky-white eyes widened in alarm. “Poppy?”

  Casteel was at my side in a heartbeat, causing Tawny to give a start. “What’s wrong?” he demanded, the eather pulsing brightly in his eyes.

  “Nothing’s wrong. I swear,” I assured him—both of them—as my heart pounded. Letting go of Tawny, I stepped back. Maybe I was wrong. But I knew I wasn’t. Bile crept up my throat.

  “You’re starting to worry me,” Tawny said quietly, inching closer. She reached out, seemingly unaware of how Casteel tensed beside me, and placed her hand on my arm. “Poppy?”

  I looked down at her hand, her cold skin chilling mine.

  Oh, gods.

  Tawny didn’t deserve this.

  “Hey,” Casteel said quietly, moving his hand to my cheek. He turned my head toward his. Talk to me.

  I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t say anything as I looked at her. Not like this. I couldn’t read her emotions, but I knew she was worried now, just as I knew she had been happy before. Excited. I couldn’t take that from her. Not right now.

  At least that’s what I told myself—and it was partly true. What was also true was that I was a coward.

  But I could live with that for a little while. So could Tawny.

  Casteel swept his thumb over my cheek. “Poppy?”

  Taking a deep breath, I forced a smile and pulled myself together. “I’m fine.”

  The look Casteel gave me said he knew better. And he did. I found his mark through the notam and said, I’ll tell you later.

  “Are you sure?” Tawny asked at the same time Casteel’s voice whispered that very question in my mind.

  “Yes. I think I’m still having weird moments since I woke up,” I lied smoothly. Too smoothly. Having been raised by the Ascended, I’d had plenty of practice doing so.

  Tawny’s gaze intently searched mine. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  “I’m good. I promise.” Taking a deeper breath, I exhaled slowly. “I really can’t believe you’re here.”

  “More like you can’t believe I made it here alive.” She tipped her head to the side, sending a pale curl against her rich-brown cheek as Casteel slipped away. “And I’m shocked, too. I actually camped, Poppy. Camped. In the woods, on the ground, with only the gods know how many bugs and small critters with long, thin tails.”

  The tension in me eased as I laughed. I couldn’t picture Tawny sleeping on the ground. It wasn’t that she had a delicate disposition or disliked the outdoors, but she wasn’t someone who particularly enjoyed it. “Now I really am shocked that you made it here.”

  She grinned. “I did it for you.”

  My stomach twisted as my mind filled with all the horrible things that could’ve happened to her on the road to Carsodonia—the horrible thing that had already happened to her without her knowing. “Not that I’m ungrateful or unhappy to see you here, but why would you do that? The trip had to be dangerous.”

  “The King summoned me.”

  My gaze darted to Casteel as curiosity rose. “He did?” I asked.

  “I hoped her presence would get you to wake or, at the very least, help you retain your memories,” he said, and it made my heart feel all…gooey and warm despite, well…everything.

  “In reality, all my presence did was annoy him,” Tawny quipped.

  “That is true.”

  The gooey warmth vanished, and I narrowed my eyes at him, where he had returned to his position by the wall, watching us.

  Watching Tawny.

  I briefly closed my eyes and found his mark. You don’t have to worry about Tawny when it comes to me.

  He didn’t respond.

  “And yeah, it wasn’t exactly a nice evening stroll in the park,” Tawny said. “More like a mad dash through the Blood Forest being chased by a Craven or five.”

  “And it was just Gianna and a few guards with you?” I asked. When she nodded, I yanked her into my arms again, my stomach dropping. “You could’ve been…”

  “Killed?” she suggested, making my stomach roil. “I wasn’t.”

  “Obviously not.” I cleared my throat. “But traveling with only a wolven and a handful of guards through a war-torn kingdom is bad enough. Through the Blood Forest?” I said. “That was…reckless.”

  Tawny drew her head back, her delicate brow furrowing. “Are you seriously about to lecture me about being reckless?”

  I opened my mouth as Casteel huffed out a laugh. I narrowed my eyes at him again. One side of his lips curled up as he took a drink.

  “Whatever,” I muttered. “It doesn’t mean it wasn’t incredibly dangerous.”

  “Gianna made sure nothing happened to me,” she was quick to say. “I know you don’t like her—”

  “I never said I didn’t like her,” I cut in, frowning.

  Pulling away, Tawny crossed her arms. “Did you or did you not threaten to tear her apart, limb by limb, and feed her—”

  “To a pack of hungry barrats if she had feelings for me,” Casteel finished for her. “The answer would be yes.”

  I pursed my lips.

  I had.

  And she really hadn’t deserved that. It wasn’t her fault that Alastir was her uncle and wanted her to form a union with Casteel. Nor was it her fault that she was beautiful.

  I sighed. “I can admit it wasn’t one of my finer moments.”

  “I think it was,” Casteel remarked, his voice dropping to a purr that caused the muscles low in my stomach to coil.

  “That’s a red flag,” Tawny murmured.

  “I’m a walking red flag,” he replied with a grin that brought out his dimple.

  Tawny looked over at him for a moment and then laughed. “There is something wrong with you.”

  “I have been saying that since I met him,” I said.

  “You love my wrongness,” he retorted.

  I did.

  “Of course, she does,” Tawny replied. “Because, clearly, there’s also something wrong with her.”

  A laugh left me, and with that, I focused on the fact that Tawny was here. It was her.

  She was just…changed.

  I spent the next half an hour or so listening to Tawny tell me about her journey to the capital as we sat on the settee. There was no mistaking the way…life returned to her eyes when she spoke of Gianna. I wanted to ask her about that, but not with Casteel looming like an ever-present guardian.

  “You want to hear something strange?” she asked, glancing down at the chalice of wine Casteel had poured for her. “I felt you when you woke. Both times.”

  My stomach twisted sharply again. “Really?” I kept my voice level, aware that Casteel was listening more intently now. “Do you know how?”

  “I don’t know how to explain it.” She ran her finger down the side of her glass. “I just had this feeling.” She lifted her gaze to mine. “Gianna didn’t feel it the first time, but said she did the second time. She mentioned the notam.”

  I nodded, knowing that wasn’t what she’d felt.

  “That’s how I learned something was…wrong,” she continued, looking over at Casteel. “He wouldn’t let me see you then.”

  A hazy memory of hearing her voice and walls draped with curtains flashed through my mind, disappearing before I could remember much else. “It was for your safety. I wasn’t…myself.”

  “I get it.” Her lips curled into a fleeting grin. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  My lips curved up. “Of course not.” I exhaled. “I was…under Kolis’s influence.”

  Tawny stiffened. “What? How?”

  I told her what I could, avoiding looking at Casteel as his wariness and anger filled the chamber.

  Tawny looked furious enough to do bodily harm. “Why would he do that?”

  “I…don’t know.” The memory of standing by the window and staring at the Cliffs snapped into focus. It was as if I had been looking for or had seen something. I shook my head, not wanting to talk about Kolis when I didn’t have to.

  I remembered one of the questions she’d asked. “You asked where I went. Did you feel me leave?”

  “Yeah. I could feel that you were gone. Not gone, as in gone,” she added. “But, yeah. Though I don’t know how.” Tawny shrugged with a quiet laugh. “Many things happen now that I can’t explain—like how I was able to talk to Vikter.”

  “Vikter!” I shouted, causing Tawny to lean away and Casteel to stiffen. “Oh, my gods. I forgot. I saw Vikter.”

  Tawny’s snowy brows rose. “What?”

  “I saw Vikter at Mount Lotho—in Iliseeum.”

  She blinked slowly. “That little bit of information doesn’t clear up anything for me.”

  I quickly told her about seeing Vikter, skipping over the reason why. There wasn’t enough time for that, and I needed to ask her something. Actually, I needed to ask more than one thing.

  “Before Vikter left, he mentioned Leopold. He said he never saw him,” I told her, remembering how he’d cut himself off as if he were about to say too much. “And that he was wrong about him.”

  Catching sight of Casteel’s frown, I smiled weakly. “I completely forgot about it,” I told him and then refocused on Tawny. “He told me to ask you. Said you would understand.”

  “Ask me?” Snowy curls toppled as she tilted her head to the side and sat back. “Is that all he said?”

  “Pretty much.”

  Tawny frowned. “I don’t know what he meant, but clearly he thinks I do.” She tapped her finger against her lips. “I never even met Leopold. I only knew he was a viktor because—” Her eyes widened. “Could it be that? The whole viktor part? That’s the only thing he really spoke to me about.”

  “If that’s it, then he’s saying he was wrong about Leopold being a viktor.”

  “Which isn’t impossible,” Tawny murmured.

  Setting my chalice down, I glanced at Casteel. “But Malik said he was a viktor.”

  “How did he know that?” Tawny asked.

  “Coralena,” I said, even more confused than when Vikter had brought it up.

  “I don’t know, Poppy. But that’s the only thing I can think of. I don’t know what more I could know.” She stared down at her wine. “Talking to him felt like a dream, and honestly, if Wilhelmina hadn’t mentioned…”

  As Tawny trailed off, I refused to look at Casteel because I already knew he had a big grin on his face like he did whenever Miss Willa was mentioned.

  “So,” Casteel drawled, reluctantly drawing my gaze. I imagined he was about to say something that would either infuriate or embarrass me. “Did Poppy ever tell you about—?”

  “Anyway,” I said loudly. Realizing Tawny was still quiet, I looked at her. Her brows were nearly connected. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. It’s just I have a feeling that Willa said something, but…” She stared harder into the wine as if it held the answers she sought. “I have to think about it.” Lifting her glass, my eyes widened as she downed its contents.

  I picked up the sound of approaching footsteps. “Do you think that will help?” I smiled, jerking my chin at her empty glass.

  “Possibly.” She flashed me a quick grin that faded. “I heard about Stonehill.” Her gaze lowered. “Gianna said it was pretty terrible.”

  “It was. I didn’t know she was there.”

  “She said you didn’t see her. She was canvassing the other streets.” Pausing, she sent me a sidelong glance. “And I think she was avoiding you.”

  Casteel let out a low laugh.

  I ignored that. “Did she see…them?”

  Tawny nodded.

  “Is she okay?”

  “As okay as one can be.” Leaning forward, she placed her glass on the table. “She heard it was the true Primal of Death’s doing. But…why? Why would he do that to mortals—to children?”

  “I wish I knew. Actually, I probably don’t.” I let out a small breath as a knock sounded on the door. “But we think he was sending a message, letting us know he’s around and what he can do.”

  Delano appeared in the doorway a few moments later. “Malik is here.”

  “Let him in,” Casteel said.

  “Malik,” Tawny murmured. “The even less friendly Da’Neer?”

  My eyebrows rose.

  “I heard that,” came Malik’s voice.

  Tawny pressed her lips together and puffed out her cheeks.

  Malik strode into the sitting chamber, a single brow arched as he glanced down at Tawny before his gaze flicked to me and then his brother. He looked a little better than he had last night—the shadows under his eyes weren’t so unforgiving.

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he said.

  “Tawny doesn’t mind,” Casteel remarked.

  She huffed.

  Casteel winked.

  “Once again,” I said, “that is not as charming as you think it is.”