Page 11

I looked over at the Atlantian. I’d been right about hearing his voice, but I hadn’t realized he’d followed us. Shit. I needed to get it together. “Thank you.”

Emil’s golden eyes flicked to Delano. “Neither will he.”

I nodded. Poppy looked so damn…lifeless. I briefly closed my eyes, ordering myself to chill the fuck out. She couldn’t be comfortable like this, with weapons strapped to her and her feet filthy with blood and dirt. I glanced over my shoulder at the bathing chamber. “Is Hisa near?” I asked, speaking of the Commander of the Crown Guard.

Kieran nodded. “Want me to see if she can find something for her to wear?”

“Yeah.” Clearing my throat, I ran my hand over the harness at her thigh, undoing the snaps. There was something strangely calming about the task. It made all the roaring thoughts slow enough for me to remember who I was—who we were. “Emil?”

“Yes,” he answered immediately.

“We’re going to be out of commission for a bit, but no one other than our people needs to know why,” I began, slipping the harness and the dagger from her leg. “First thing we need to do is make sure Wayfair is secure.”

“Already on it,” Emil answered. “The wolven were already guarding the premises when you were all below, along with Hisa and the Crown Guard.”

“Perfect.” I watched Kieran take the harness from me, placing it on the nightstand. “We need to find my brother and…and Millicent.”

“Naill went after them,” Emil shared.

“I…” I met Kieran’s stare. “I don’t want either of them near this floor.”

“Understood,” Emil said. There were no jokes or teasing from him. Not now. “And what do you want us to do about the Ascended? We haven’t found any more in the castle, but I have been made aware of several clusters in the manors near the Golden Bridge and within the Garden District.”

Kill them. That was my first response. Make it quick and neat. But as I brushed a smudge of dirt from Poppy’s hand, I knew she wouldn’t want that. Especially since I couldn’t say that any of them were running in our direction. “Keep them in their homes.” The words tasted like ash on my tongue. “Make sure all know the Ascended are not to be harmed until we discuss what to do with them.”

“Will do,” Emil answered. There was a pause. “And what of your father?”

Fuck. I hadn’t even thought about him and the others in Padonia.

“We need to send word to him.” Kieran had knelt at our side. “Let him know the status of everything. We don’t have to tell him about Poppy, though.”

“Agreed.” I exhaled heavily, knowing he would be on his way the moment he received word of our success. I didn’t know if Poppy would be awake by then. I thought about her friend. “Make sure Tawny comes with him.”

“And what of the people of Carsodonia?” Emil asked after a moment. “They are still locked down in their homes, by choice currently, but I don’t think that will last for long.”

No, I didn’t either.

What to do with them was a damn good question. “Many of them have spent their entire lives believing we’re monsters. They’re going to be scared. We will…we will need to address them.”

Kieran nodded his agreement. “I think we’ll have some time before that becomes necessary.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we’re ready to set it on fire,” I said with a dry laugh, dragging the back of my hand across my chin. “It’s important that we locate Malik. He knows a lot of the Descenters here.”

“They could be of help.” Kieran turned to Emil. “Anything else?”

“Nothing I can think of, but I’m sure I will in about five minutes.” Emil stepped back, then stopped. “Actually, it only took a second for me to think of something else.”

A faint smile tugged at my lips.

“Did you find him?” Emil asked. “Her father?”

“Yes.” I smiled then, wider and a little stronger. “Nektas will take him…home.”

“Nektas,” Emil repeated, letting out a low whistle. “He is one big motherfucking draken.”

A rough laugh left me. Yeah, he was.

“And I just thought of something else,” Emil said, and Kieran cracked a grin. “There was some kind of…event that occurred at the city Atheneum, almost like an explosion. It’s being checked out now.”

“It’s fine,” I said, counting Poppy’s breaths. “It’s the goddess Penellaphe.”

“Come again?” Emil’s voice pitched high.

“You heard him right,” Kieran said. “The gods are awakening. She was asleep beneath the Atheneum.” He paused. “There may be more coming awake, here or throughout Solis, if they haven’t already.”

“Oh. Okay. That’s a whole bunch of completely normal and expected things to speak out loud,” Emil replied slowly. “I’ll…I’ll let everyone know. And I’m sure none of them will have a single question or potentially overreact to such news.” He started to leave.