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SHAME = sour and itchy/confining

SHOCK = icy, cool, and slippery

SINCERITY = warm and comforting vanilla

SORROW = heavy and bitter

STRESS = like too-thick, heavy cream

SURPRISE = cool

TERROR = feels similar to pain

UNCERTAINTY/UNEASE = tart and lemony but biting at times

WONDER = bubbly and sugary

WORRY = too-thick cream

This extraordinary woman with a weakness for cheese and strawberries started her life as a sheltered and sequestered Maiden. The title meant she was supposedly Chosen by the gods and was thus hidden behind a veil while merely a child, bound to rules that gave her no say in matters of her life. Until she meets Hawke Flynn, a.k.a Prince Casteel “Cas” Hawkethrone Da’Neer.

Once he enters her life, eventually sparking a love she fears will never be reciprocated, she vows never to hide herself again—even when she’s more afraid of herself than anything.

With everything she has ever been taught or believed unraveling as a series of sinister lies, her powers growing, the love between her and Cas getting stronger by the day, and the truths of her heritage coming to light in pieces at every turn, Poppy learns to compartmentalize, process, and accept in record time. But she still struggles with the big truths—that Isbeth, a demis, is her mother, and that she—Poppy—is a god, a Primal born of mortal flesh, the Primal of Blood and Bone, and the true Primal of Life and Death.

Her journey has been harrowing, to say the least, and I’ve recorded as much as I can—both things that have come to pass and those I’ve seen via my gift. The bottom line, however? Her future, only some of which was foretold, is still very much hers to write…

POPPY’S JOURNEY TO DATE:

Born of the demis, Isbeth, and the god, Ires, Penellaphe is raised by Revenant Handmaiden Coralena Balfour and her viktor husband, Leopold.

Cora and Leo attempt to flee with Poppy—only age six at the time—and her brother, Ian—Cora and Leo’s biological son—to remove them from Isbeth’s influence, stopping at an inn in Lockswood for the night. While there, a supposed friend, a wolven by the name of Alastir Davenwell, believing Poppy to be a threat to Atlantia, betrays them, paving the way for Prince Malik Elian Da’Neer to destroy her. The Dark One considers her the harbinger of death and destruction set to lay waste to both kingdoms as the prophecy foretold. But when Malik sees the Consort—Poppy’s ancestor, Seraphena—in her eyes, he hesitates to kill her, already struggling with the idea of taking a child’s life. He eventually returns her to Carsodonia, but before then, given the deaths at the inn, the Craven follow the blood trail and eventually attack, causing even more destruction.

Unlike most who suffer a cursed turning or death after being bitten, Poppy survives the Craven attack at the inn, lending credence to the story she is told about being Chosen by the gods. The truth there is that Atlantians cannot be turned if bitten. And she is so much more than that. She is a god. A Primal. Though that is something she does not discover for a while.

For the majority of her life, Poppy believes the Craven killed her parents in Lockswood that night. Which actually isn’t true. Isbeth killed Cora sometime later by forcing her to drink draken blood, and Leo was likely sent to Mount Lotho to await his viktor rebirth.

However, now orphaned and returned to the capital, the Queen eventually sends Penellaphe to Castle Teerman, where they shroud her under the veil of the Maiden and sequester her, awaiting her nineteenth birthday and the first Ascension since the War of Two Kings—something she is told will heal the Kingdom of Solis. All of that is also a lie. And even more unfortunate, during her time in Masadonia, Poppy is subjected to the tyrannical rule and cruel abuse of Duke Dorian Teerman as his wife, Duchess Jacinda, turns a blind eye.

Afraid of her Ascension and deeply craving freedom and the right to choose, Poppy secretly hopes she’ll be found unworthy by the gods.

With her only outlets being honing her fighting skills and sneaking out to help her trainer and friend, Vikter—also a viktor—assist in the passing of the cursed by using her gifts and thinking happy memories to ease their suffering, she longs for something more.

Not long before her Ascension, Poppy sneaks out to the Red Pearl—a house of ill-repute—to experience life for a few hours. And, with the help of yours truly in the disguise of a working lady at the pub—I never said I didn’t interfere!—finds herself in the rooms of Elemental Atlantian Prince Casteel Hawkethrone Da’Neer, who is posing as “Hawke” at the time. They kiss, and things for the couple are set in motion…both those of the Fates and the plans Prince Casteel has.

Still posing as Hawke, Cas insinuates himself as a guard at the castle and eventually works his way into the inner circle to be one of Poppy’s personal guards.

That was something I found incredibly clever. Though when I foresaw it happening, I still wondered about his motives.

Poppy begins to question the natural order of things as time passes and wonders if she can change them, especially as her gifts continue to grow and evolve. Originally, it was only sensing the pain of others, but that quickly morphed into being able to sense all emotions by tasting their unique signatures on her tongue, and an ability to ease others as she does with the cursed. Given that empathy is one of her greatest traits, she hopes to one day use her gifts to help people.

From the moment she entered my radar, I admired that.

When she leaves Masadonia for Carsodonia, accompanied by Hawke, Kieran—whom she discovers is a wolven—and their other allies, an entire world opens to her. She sees and experiences things she’s never had a chance to before and decides she won’t return to a life with no freedom. She vows not to Ascend, realizing her two choices are to run or to talk to the Queen. But danger surrounds her, and so many things are not as they seem.

She soon learns the true history of Solis and the reality regarding the vampry and the Atlantians, and it shakes her, but she’s made of stronger stuff. Still, those who see her as the enemy do not relent, and she’s eventually wounded to near the point of death. She may have died if not for Hawke’s Atlantian blood and its healing properties. But amidst the excitement of the attack and the subsequent fallout, a big secret is revealed: Hawke is really the Prince of Atlantia, whom she has been brought up to believe is the Dark One.

Cue gasps. I mean, I knew this, but can you imagine what it was like for her to discover that little tidbit?