Page 188

“They don’t murder innocents, and they don’t turn people into monsters—”

“No,” I stopped her. “They just force young women who make them feel inferior to bare their skin to a cane and do the gods only know what else to them,” I reminded her. “Yes, Princess, they are truly upstanding examples of everything that is good and right in this world.”

Her chest rose sharply as her lips parted.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out what the Duke’s lessons were?” I asked of her. “I told you I would.”

She staggered back, the skin of her throat and cheeks flushing.

“He used a cane cut from a tree in the Blood Forest and he made you partially undress.” I reached up, grasping the bars as fury resurfaced. “And he told you that you deserved it. That it was for your own good. But, in reality, all it did was fulfill his sick need to inflict pain.”

“How?” she whispered.

“I can be very compelling.”

Poppy turned her cheek, squeezing her eyes shut. A tremor ran through her, then her gaze snapped back to mine. “You killed him.”

Recalling the way the Duke had died, I smiled. “I did, and I’ve never enjoyed watching the life seep out of someone’s eyes more than I did while watching the Duke die. He had it coming.” I held her stare. “And trust me when I say his very slow and very painful death had nothing to do with him being an Ascended. I would’ve gotten to the Lord eventually, but you took care of that sick bastard yourself.”

Poppy stared at me for several moments, then shook her head, sending that piece of hair across her face. “Just because the Duke and the Lord were horrible and evil, that doesn’t make you any better. That doesn’t make all Ascended guilty.”

“You know absolutely nothing, Poppy.” Moving to the side, I unlocked the cell door. I wasn’t going to talk to her through bars.

Keeping my eyes on her, I entered, but did so cautiously. Knowing her, she’d use those chains to choke my ass. I closed the cell door behind me. “You and I need to talk.”

Her chin lifted. “No, we don’t.”

“Well, you really don’t have a choice, do you?” I glanced at the cuffs on her wrists as I took a step forward. I stopped, inhaling deeply. Her scent reached me, but so did the smell of blood. Her blood. And I knew it was hers and not anyone’s who’d died in the stables. It was too sweet, too fresh. Concern took root. “You’re injured.”

Poppy stepped back. “I’m fine.”

“No, you aren’t.” I scanned her, my stare stopping on the damp spot on her shirt. “You’re bleeding.”

“Barely.”

No longer giving a shit about her strangling me with the chains, I crossed the distance between us. It startled her. She gasped, stumbling back into the wall. I took advantage of that, reaching for the hem of the coarse linen shirt.

“Don’t touch me!” She jerked to the side, wincing.

Everything in me stilled as I looked down at her. The panic I heard in her voice. The pain.

“Don’t,” she repeated.

Putting everything behind that wall inside me was harder than ever. “You had no problem with me touching you last night.”

Her lips pulled back in a snarl. “That was a mistake.”

“Was it?”

“Yes,” she hissed. “I wish it never happened.”

No doubt that was the truth. A bitter one I already knew. Still, it fucking hit deep to hear her say it. Those walls weren’t as fortified as I thought.

“Be that as it may,” I said, “you are still wounded, Princess, and you will allow me to look at it.”

That chin of hers went right back up. “And if I don’t?”

I laughed, genuinely amused with her resistance—impressed by it. But I would not fight her again. “As if you could stop me. You can either allow me to help you or…”

“Or you will force me?”

I didn’t want to, but I would. She was hurt. Fucking gods, I almost prayed that she submitted.

Poppy stared at me for so long I started telling myself that compulsion may be necessary. I didn’t know how badly she was injured, but even small wounds could turn bad for a mortal.

She looked away. “Why do you even care if I bleed to death?”

“Why do you think I would want you dead?” I countered. “If I did, why wouldn’t I have agreed to what was demanded outside? You are no good to me dead.”

“So, I’m your hostage until the Dark One gets here? You all plan to use me against the King and Queen.”

“Clever girl,” I murmured, relieved that she still hadn’t acknowledged the truth. “You are the Queen’s favorite Maiden.” I tried again. “Will you let me check you now?”

Poppy said nothing, which I knew meant she was relenting. I reached for the shirt, this time slower. She tensed but didn’t pull away. I lifted the hem as I looked down. The smell of her blood increased, even before I reached the seeping wound just below her breast. The gash was thin. I clenched my teeth together, my mind flicking through those who had been close enough to cause such a wound—a cut that could’ve taken her life if it had been an inch deeper. She would’ve bled out on that fucking stable floor.