“Maybe he was.” Delano angled his body toward me. “Leopold and Coralena were his parents, right?”

  “Yes, but…” But what? I frowned. It felt like I was forgetting something, but nothing came to me. “That’s what I’ve been told. But I honestly don’t know for sure.”

  “I wonder if Millicent knows.”

  I pressed my lips together. She might. I could ask her. That was if I ever saw her again. Something quite…horrifying popped into my head then.

  Eythos was my great-grandfather, which meant Kolis was my great-granduncle. And while I’d already known that, it was before I learned about the whole Sotoria thing.

  My upper lip curled in disgust. Did Kolis realize that? Would it matter?

  Probably not.

  Ew.

  Shaking those thoughts from my head, I glanced at Delano. He practically vibrated with curiosity.

  “Did you happen to notice that it was snowing this morning?” he asked.

  I blinked. “What? It was snowing?”

  “Well, flurrying,” he replied. “But yeah.”

  “It has never snowed here,” I murmured, frowning. “Was it even cold enough for it to snow?”

  “I don’t think so,” Delano said. “But then again, it takes a lot for me to feel the cold.” He crossed his arms. “I guess it’s more of the whole destabilization thing.”

  I sent him a curious look.

  “Kieran filled us in.”

  “Oh,” I murmured, wondering when that had happened. Had it been before Stonehill or more recently? It felt like there was so much I hadn’t been present for. “I guess it’s good that only the weather…” My lips pursed. “And the path of the sun has been affected.”

  “Yes,” Delano said. “Only the path of the sun.”

  The way he’d said that made me laugh. “I suppose I shouldn’t phrase it that way.”

  His gaze slid to mine. “You know I’m dying to ask about her,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

  “Seraphena?”

  His eyes glimmered with interest. “Yes.”

  “Go ahead and ask,” I said, welcoming the diversion.

  “How was she?”

  “She was…” I paused, struggling for an appropriate adjective. “Casteel would probably say temperamental. I would say blunt. And…” I trailed off again with a frown. “Okay. Maybe a little temperamental.”

  Delano’s eyes widened.

  “Toward Casteel,” I quickly added. “They had moments of…misunderstanding. But she was actually nice and not what I expected.”

  “What did you expect?”

  “An…ethereal being in a flowing gown,” I answered after a moment. “But she was dressed like I am and had a mouth to rival a dockworker.”

  Delano grinned at that. “She sounds…normal.”

  “Surprisingly so,” I said. “She mentioned that she couldn’t linger in this realm for long without causing the notam to revert back to her.”

  “I’m not surprised to hear that. I could feel it here,” he said, unfolding his arms and touching his chest. “Right next to yours.”

  Curiosity rose. “Does it feel different? My notam and hers?”

  His brow furrowed under the edges of his hair. “Hers was…warm and fresh.”

  “Fresh?” I stared at him. “Am I not fresh?”

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, his lips twitching. “I meant…the notam feels fresh. Like the first winds of spring. Cut grass and lilacs. Light. Yours is more earthy and hot. Heavier.” His head cocked as my frown increased. “Unless you’re mad—like killing mad. Then, it’s…yeah, it’s something else.”

  Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.

  “It feels icy-hot then.”

  “Well.” I took that in. “At least it doesn’t make you think of rot and decay.”

  Delano laughed.

  My lips tipped up at the sound, and I found myself taking in his profile. He was once more staring at the Dark Elms. My thoughts found their way to his sister. He never spoke of her. I didn’t even know if he had any other siblings. “Do you have a brother?” I asked.

  “A younger brother. Ronan,” he answered, his faint smile fading. “And a sister.”

  “Preela?” I whispered.

  His eyes flew to mine, and then he let out a short laugh. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you know that. Did Cas tell you?”

  I shook my head. “I knew she was Malik’s bonded wolven, but I didn’t realize she was your sister until I saw Malik with you in Padonia and spoke to him later.” I clasped my hands together, my throat dry. I hoped Delano didn’t know how she died and what had been done to her before Jalara took her life. Glancing back at the low table where the dagger remained wrapped, I took a deep breath. “Malik did tell me something else.”

  “The gods only know what that could be,” he joked, but his eyes narrowed slightly as I tried to smile. His shoulders squared. “What did he tell you?”

  I opened my mouth, closed it, then took a deep breath and walked over to the dagger. “I don’t know how to say this without just saying it.”

  “I’m starting to get worried.” He followed me.

  I cursed myself for making this worse as I picked up the wrapped dagger. “The bloodstone dagger that Vikter gifted me… I know Coralena gave it to Leopold, but not how Vikter ended up with it.” I should’ve asked him when he said he’d never seen Leopold. “I can only imagine the Fates had a hand in all of it.”

  Taking a deep breath, I turned to Delano. “The bone used to craft the handle?” I met his stare and saw a realization begin to dawn. “It belonged to Preela.”

  Delano’s lips parted, but no words came out.

  “I didn’t know until Malik told me.” I glanced down at the wrapped dagger. “To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about how it’d come to be, which was…well, shitty of me. But once I learned…”

  “I…” Delano cleared his throat. When he spoke next, his voice was thick. “That’s why you’ve been using a shadowstone dagger.”

  I nodded and lifted my gaze to his. His eyes were glassy. Gods, if he started crying, I would collapse into a messy pile of tears. “I wanted to know what you’d like me to do with it.”

  Delano blinked several times, his gaze lowering to what I held. “Poppy…”

  “I’m okay with whatever you want to do,” I continued in a rush as I offered him the bundled dagger. “If you want to keep it or burn it…whatever.”

  His chest rose sharply. “It belongs to you.”

  I shook my head. “No, it doesn’t.”

  “Vikter gave it to you, and I know how much he meant to you.” He raised his head. “I couldn’t possibly take the only physical reminder you have of him.” He smiled. “Losing that would make you sad, and I cannot have that.”

  Tears clogged my throat because…gods, how could he be worried about how I felt in this moment? Delano…he was too pure.

  “I have my memories of Vikter, and they are so much more important than this,” I told him, meaning it.

  “And I have my memories of my sister,” he said quietly, stepping closer.

  “I know. But this? It doesn’t belong to me, Delano. If you don’t want it, I understand. But I won’t use it again.” I drew in a ragged breath as an image of him flashed in my mind, his snow-white fur stained with blood. “To be honest, even if it had nothing to do with your sister, I don’t think I would ever be able to use it again after it—” My voice cracked, and I had to take another breath. “After it was used to hurt you. So, whether you take it or not, it won’t be used by me or anyone else ever again.”

  “Poppy.” He repeated my name, this time roughly.

  Neither of us spoke for several moments, and then he placed his hand over mine. A fine shudder went through him as he closed his eyes.

  “I’ll take it,” he whispered.

  Unfurling my fingers, I felt a throb of awareness signaling that Casteel was near. I pressed my lips together as Delano lifted the dagger from my hands.

  “Thank you.”

  “You don’t need to thank me,” I said.

  “I know.” Holding the bundle to his chest, he looped his arm around my shoulders and tugged me to him. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with it,” he said, his breath stirring the top of my head, “but I’m so damn grateful I have a choice.”

  I blinked damp lashes as Delano leaned in to press a kiss to my forehead.

  When he stepped back, a lopsided, sweet and boyish smile tugged at his lips. He didn’t say anything as he left—I imagined to be alone. I needed that, too.

  I inhaled deeply, grateful I had a few moments to myself. I took several deep breaths, hoping to ease the stinging in my throat as I wiped under my eyes. Lowering my arms, I shook out my hands, my gaze creeping over the chamber before settling on the glass wall and the gray Cliffs beyond.

  Where I had died.

  That felt so…wrong yet right to think. I took a small step toward the glass—

  Awareness skittered through me, drawing my attention from the Cliffs. I felt both Casteel and Kieran, but only the latter appeared in the doorway. My eyes locked with winter-blue ones.

  Kieran stepped into the chamber and then stopped. His chest rose with a deep breath. “Cas told me.”

  I smiled. Or at least I thought I did. “Bet you weren’t expecting that.”

  “Were you?”

  What he asked was such a simple question, but the answer halted in my throat. Swallowing, I turned back to the window and the Cliffs. Had I been expecting to learn that I’d been reborn more times than one could count? No. But had I suspected something from the moment I woke—maybe even before then? Yes.

  “I don’t know,” I said finally. “It doesn’t matter, though.”

  “You’re right.”

  His response drew my gaze back to him.

  Kieran crossed the space between us and grasped my upper arms. He didn’t look away as he lowered his chin. “Poppy,” he said, his normally flat tone rough and low. “That’s who you are. That’s who you will always be. And that is all that matters.”

  The tension in my chest loosened—not by a lot, but a little. And at that moment, it was enough. “Thank you,” I said, my voice shaky.

  Kieran didn’t respond. It was almost as if he sensed there was nothing more to say. The breath I let out was stilted as a mixture of…wariness and bone-deep sorrow pressed on me. No, not just sorrow. I felt anguish. The bitterly cold kind that pelted my skin. It was quick and vanished as fast as it arrived. Lifting my head, I met Kieran’s gaze. He gave me a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes as I opened my senses. Kieran’s shields were up, but I picked up faint traces of sadness and threads of almost bitter wariness. But what I’d felt was stronger. More intense. Familiar. What I’d felt wasn’t from Kieran. I stepped back and looked toward the doorway.

  Casteel stood there, his features smooth except for the tension bracketing his mouth.

  That anguish was coming from him. And the reason it felt familiar was because I’d felt it before when we first met in Masadonia. It was that same anguish that had always been there under the surface of every teasing word and smile. It was the near-constant anguish for his brother.

  But Malik wasn’t the source of what I’d briefly picked up from Casteel a bit ago. It couldn’t be.

  I stepped toward him.

  The tension left his mouth. Before I could speak, he did. “Malik is waiting for us.”

  The air was cool despite the time of year in Carsodonia as we traveled along a wide street deep within the Luxe.

  I’d asked Casteel if he was okay before we reached the stables. He assured me he was. When it was clear I didn’t believe him, I got a smile without a dimple and a soft, sweet kiss.

  He had done what I did when asked that question. He’d told a white lie. Considering how often I’d done it, I couldn’t hold it against him, but the reason behind his anguish haunted my thoughts.

  I feared I knew what it had to do with. Or whom.

  Kieran.

  It was telling that he hadn’t traveled with us and instead opted to stay back and discuss setting up a public address with the generals. Off the top of my head, I couldn’t think of a time that had happened before I awakened.

  Whatever was going on between them—between the three of us—had briefly fallen to the wayside with Seraphena’s arrival. But Casteel had agreed to talk. And that would happen as soon as we were done with whatever this was. As we crested the circular driveway of a stately home at the end of a quiet street, I told myself I wouldn’t allow myself or him to distract me.

  Because I needed to know what had happened between him and Kieran that could have caused such pain—the deep kind of heartache.

  Setti slowed, causing me to focus on my surroundings. Several horses were already tethered to a hitching post beneath the shelter of a carriage house—one bearing the gold-and-white saddle of either a general or a commander.

  “Nice house.” Delano, who’d joined us, eyed the home’s ivory stone façade and ornate pillars framing wide steps leading up to a veranda. Other than a slight redness to his eyes when we joined him outside the stables and the lingering hum of sadness, he seemed okay.

  “All the homes here are nice,” Casteel replied, drawing Setti to a halt. “Unlike Croft’s Cross.”

  “Only the wealthiest mortals live in this section of the Garden District. Most of the homes are occupied by the Ascended. No Ascended live in the other districts,” I said. “At least from what I can remember.”

  “That hasn’t changed.” Malik dismounted.

  “Yet,” I murmured, my gaze flickering over the homes across the street as Casteel swung off Setti.

  Many houses would soon be empty, which would go a long way toward alleviating the cramped confines of Croft’s Cross. That thought made me feel a little better—a tiny bit.

  Making sure the hood of my cloak remained in place, I jumped off Setti’s back, landing on my feet as Casteel turned to assist.

  “I could’ve helped you.”

  “I know.” Stretching up, I kissed his cheek. Or tried. I ended up kissing his hood.

  I stepped back and made my way toward the stairs. Malik was already at the door. As I passed two large urns on either side of the steps, my gaze flicked to the wilted flowers within and then lifted to the baskets hanging from the veranda ceiling. The stems draped limply over the sides, and the plants were clearly starved of water.

  “So, what are you showing us?” Casteel asked his brother.

  Malik opened the doors. “Follow me.”

  Delano and Casteel exchanged a look as we walked inside. A pleasant scent reached me.

  “That smell.” Delano sniffed as he closed the door behind us. “Apples and cinnamon?”

  “That’s surprisingly…homey for a house occupied by the Ascended,” I remarked.

  Malik crossed beneath a chandelier, heading for a door tucked into a shadowy corner of the stairwell. He opened it, and I tensed, knowing why we were headed downstairs. He hadn’t wanted to show us something but rather someone.

  My hand reflexively went to my thigh and the shadowstone dagger I’d grabbed and hidden there before leaving the Solar. Not that I really needed it if push came to shove. I could level this house if I had to.

  “The Ascended Kolis drained,” I said, entering the lamplit stairway behind Casteel and trying to shake the unease I felt at entering the home of an Ascended. “Were those homes near here?”

  “Several avenues back,” Casteel answered.

  The stairs emptied into a foyer of sorts, and I saw hats hung next to closed, colorful parasols and delicate, drawstring reticules. The sight of something so…normal was unsettling.

  Malik opened the doors ahead, revealing a wide hall with golden vines molded into the walls and ceiling. The female Descenter from earlier waited at the end before an open archway. Seeing her surprised me.

  I glanced at Casteel. He frowned and remained silent, though I knew he was thinking the same as I was.

  This was the very last place I’d expected to find a Descenter.

  Taking a deep breath, I cleared my thoughts and walked ahead. I needed to focus on whatever this was about.

  Helenea bowed her head as Casteel and I neared, her nervous gaze bouncing to Malik and then behind us as if she were looking for someone.

  “I was told you met Helenea earlier,” Malik said.

  “Yes.” Casteel drawled the single word with a raised brow.

  Before I could chime in, I was immediately distracted—and confused—by what I saw within the large chamber. And I wasn’t the only one as Helenea quietly closed the door behind us.

  The space appeared as if it was bathed in sunlight, an illusion created by the windows painted along the walls and the soft blue skies and heavy-limbed oaks rendered inside the painted frames. The bright, overhead lights made it feel like we weren’t underground, but in a chamber above.

  Both Casteel and Delano came to a halt as I scanned the chamber. I saw Emil standing by a lit fireplace, speaking to a male—an Ascended dressed in dark trousers and a loose shirt. They looked to be having a rather important conversation and seemed unaware of our arrival. A handful of other Ascended sat around a table, playing some sort of card game. Another female with glossy, dark curls and cool-brown skin was curled into the corner of a settee, her attention fixed on the book in her lap. None of them were dressed in fine silk or draped in elaborate jewels.

  These Ascended were already nothing like the ones I’d seen at Wayfair or Castle Redrock in Oak Ambler. Or even in Masadonia. They looked…ordinary.

  Malik cleared his throat.

  Across from us, Emil’s head jerked up as the male Ascended turned and stopped moving. The card game halted. The book in the woman’s lap was forgotten. They all stared with dark eyes, and even though I couldn’t feel anything from them, it was clear they were either nervous or afraid.

  I quickly glanced at Casteel and found him looking around the chamber. Stepping forward, I reached up to lower my hood. “Hello,” I said, because I honestly had no idea what else to say.