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“This is a really old drawing,” Casteel said as he idly ran his hand up and down my back. “Supposedly drawn by one of the deities.”

It took me a moment to realize what those sketched cats reminded me of. “Are they cave cats?”

“I don’t think so,” Kieran answered as he stared up at the drawing.

“They look like them,” I said. “I saw one of them once…” I frowned as the dream I’d had while in the crypts resurfaced. “Or maybe more than once.”

Casteel glanced down at me. “Where did you see one? In a painting or drawing like this?”

“No.” I shook my head. “There was one caged in the castle at Carsodonia.”

Kieran’s brows lifted. “I don’t think that’s what you saw.”

“I saw a cat as large as you are in your wolven form,” I told him. “Ian saw it, too.”

He shook his head. “That’s impossible, Poppy. Cave cats have been extinct for at least a couple of hundred years.”

“What? No.” I looked between them. Casteel nodded. “They roam the Wastelands.”

“Who told you that?” Casteel asked.

“No one told me that. It’s just…” I trailed off, my gaze returning to the drawing. It was something that was just known. But in reality, it was the Ascended who had said as much. The Queen had told me that when I asked about the creature I’d seen in the castle. “Why would they lie about something like that?”

Kieran snorted. “Who knows? Why have they erased entire gods and created ones that don’t exist like Perus? I think they just like to make things up,” he countered—and he had a good point.

I stared at the two cats. “Then what was in that cage?”

“Possibly another large wild cat,” Casteel answered with a shrug. “But I think these two felines are supposed to symbolize the children of Nyktos and his Consort.”

“When you say children, are you talking about Theon or all the gods?” I asked.

“His actual children,” Casteel confirmed. “And Theon was never his actual son. That’s another thing the Ascended either lied about or they simply misunderstood due to his many titles.”

It was very possible it was a mistranslation. I stared at them, thinking how one of them was responsible for Malec. “Could they shift into cats?”

“Not sure,” Kieran said. “Nothing that I remember reading ever said as much, and I don’t believe Nyktos’s ability to shift was something passed on to his children.”

Of course, not. “What are their names?”

“Like with his Consort,” Casteel said, “they are not known. Not even their genders.”

I raised a brow. “Let me guess, Nyktos was just super-protective of their identities?”

Casteel smirked. “That’s what they say.”

“Sounds like he was super controlling,” I muttered.

“Or maybe just really private,” Kieran suggested as he reached over and tugged gently on the strand of hair Casteel had tucked back earlier. “Being the King of Gods, I’m sure he sought privacy wherever he could.”

Maybe.

As we continued on through the museum, it was hard not to think back on that painting or the creature I’d seen in that cage when I was a child. I remembered the way the animal had prowled in its confines, desperate, and with a keen intelligence in its eyes.

Chapter 24

We ended up sharing a dinner of freshly grilled fish and roasted vegetables in one of the cafés closest to the water, joined by Delano, who had shifted into his mortal form at some point. I had asked if the other wolven wished to join us, but they had chosen to remain in their wolven forms, watching over any and all that ventured near us, including the Crown Guard.

It wasn’t until after the sun had begun its steady descent into the horizon that we made it to the beaches. The first thing I did was unstrap my sandals. The very moment my feet sank into the gritty sand, a smile tugged at my lips as a barrage of memories rose within me—memories of my parents and Ian, walking along another beach. As my sandals dangled from my fingers, and Casteel wrapped his hand firmly around mine, I looked out at the sea, watching the clear waters turn a shade of silver as the moon rose. Those afternoons on the beaches of the Stroud Sea felt like a different lifetime, eons ago, and that saddened me. How long before they became memories that felt as if they belonged to someone else?

Delano, who walked ahead, turned to face us. “If you’re not tired, there’s something ahead you might enjoy, Penellaphe.”

“I’m not tired.” I looked up at Casteel. “Are you?”

A faint smile appeared as he shook his head.

Delano’s gaze flicked from Casteel to Kieran before returning to me as he walked backwards. “There is a celebration of a wedding,” he explained. “Just around the bend.”

“Are we able to join? I mean, they don’t know me—”

“They will welcome you,” Delano cut in. “Both of you.”