Page 100 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

POPPY

Casteel carefully laid the sheet back down to cover their faces and then rose. His gaze met mine. The aura of eather behind his pupils was a stunning shade of near white. “Is that the vadentia ?”

“I remember. He wanted me to let him in,” I said.

Casteel inhaled sharply, then turned halfway. “Can you all give us a moment?”

Perry nodded and edged around the bodies. “We’ll wait for you outside.”

Delano leaned into me as Malik lingered at the doorway. I reached out through the notam . It’s okay. You don’t need to be in here.

Delano’s blue eyes were full of sorrow as they met mine.

“Please,” I whispered.

He hesitated and then turned, passing Emil where he stood a few feet from Malik. Naill and Perry had already cleared out, but Casteel’s brother waited a moment before turning and disappearing down the hall.

Casteel came forward and clasped my elbow. “Let’s talk somewhere else.”

I didn’t resist as he guided me into the dark hall. Kieran pushed open one of the doors to what appeared to be a bedchamber. The space was dark, but my eyes adjusted quickly enough for me to make out a narrow bed and a dresser.

Casteel’s hand slid up my arm. “What do you remember?”

“It’s something that happened while I was in stasis.” I pushed back a lock of hair. “I was in a cage.”

I felt their anger pierce their shields and was grateful for the darkness of the chamber because I didn’t want to see either of their faces. The air around us charged.

“A cage?” Casteel asked in a too quiet voice.

Kieran edged away from the door and stepped farther into the chamber.

“I don’t know how I got there or why,” I said. “And he wasn’t there at first. There was only mist.” The memory of the ghostly figures dancing in it sent a chill down my spine. “But then he was there, on the other side of the bars, talking to me. Telling me he could take away all the pain.”

Casteel went as still as a statue.

“And I…I didn’t know who I was. Not really.

But I remembered all these random moments.

The night in Lockswood. The Duke and his lessons.

” My stomach churned as I stepped back. Casteel’s arm remained suspended for a moment before lowering.

“The night of the Rite and New Haven—” I cut myself off, but the flare of eather in Casteel’s eyes told me he knew I was talking about when I’d learned who and what he was. “He made me remember all the pain.”

“He has the ability to root out someone’s fears and make them relive moments of pain,” Kieran said, his voice thinner than usual. “Attes told us. He said it was meant to punish those sentenced to the Abyss.”

My lip curled. I wasn’t sure how I felt about something like that being used on those who likely deserved to be sentenced to the hell that was the Abyss.

I ran a hand over my cheek, feeling the uneven skin as I paced the small chamber. “He promised that he could make it all stop. He wanted me to let him in.” I glanced at Casteel. He stood motionless, his eyes tracking my movements. “He said he could give me peace if I did.”

“But you didn’t,” Casteel stated. I stopped to look at him. Surprised he knew that. “You said as much when you were under his influence. That he wanted you to let him in, but you refused.”

“It didn’t matter,” I whispered. “He’d already been…

” I stopped myself again. I didn’t need to finish that sentence.

Because of the blood shared between us, he’d already been inside me.

That still made me want to vomit. I exhaled and started walking again.

“It was almost like a compulsion but stronger, like…a haunting song. I wanted to believe him. I did,” I admitted, tasting the shame in my throat.

“Until I realized what he was. He did that to them.” I turned toward the door. “He got in their heads.”

Kieran looked at Casteel, who just stared at me.

A moment passed, and then Casteel said, “What you’re talking about sounds like a compulsion.

It would’ve been easy for him to seize control of a mortal’s will.

” Thrusting his hand through his hair, he clasped the back of his neck. “Especially a child’s.”

A child.

I took another deep breath that went nowhere. “How many children did you say they found?”

“Fifteen,” Kieran answered.

The knot that formed in my throat burned. “I want to see them. All of them.”

Even though I could tell that neither Casteel nor Kieran wanted me to see the faces of those Kolis had cruelly ended, I needed to.

I had to see it with my own eyes.

Every home I entered was the same, yet not.

Some only had two people in them. Others held four.

A few had upwards of six. They had died in sitting rooms, bedchambers, and foyers.

And each hand, no matter how big or small, clutched the weapon of their demise.

Every victim I looked at—and I made sure to look at each and every face—had the same smile that, at first glance, appeared serene.

But I knew better.

As Kieran replaced the quilt covering a small boy, I lifted my gaze to the wilted plants in the corner of the kitchen. Dead, just as the first family’s had been. No matter what house we entered, everything inside was dead.

Delano’s large head nudged my shoulder, drawing my attention. Running my fingers through his soft fur, I rose slowly. This house—the last—held a family of five. Four adults, two of whom appeared to be the grandparents, and a young boy.

“I just don’t understand.” Emil leaned against the wall. His arms were loosely crossed, but tension vibrated through his lanky frame. “What was the point of this? What did he gain from this senseless loss of life?”

“I think he wanted to make sure we knew he was still around,” Casteel said. “Let us see what he’s capable of.”

My gaze lifted to him. He stared at the bodies. “Really?” I asked.

“It’s what I did.” He lifted his gaze. “In the past and as the Dark One. Small attacks that only served as a reminder that, even though things were quiet, the rebellion wasn’t dead.”

I didn’t say anything to that as I continued to stroke Delano between his ears. Petting him was…well, it comforted us both.

“It’s a fucking nasty way to send a reminder,” Malik said. He stood by the window, his attention fixed on the dark sky. Naill and Perry had gone into a different home several houses back. “What I don’t get is how he managed to do all this without anyone sounding some kind of alert.”

“If he’s still in his wraith form,” Kieran said, “they may not have even seen him until it was too late.”

“Even if he was in his physical form, he can project his will. His vellá ,” Casteel added, and my gaze shot to him. “From what Attes said, the stronger he gets, the less limit there is to how he can wield his will.”

My fingers stilled in Delano’s fur, and my skin chilled. His will… Once again, I thought about what had happened when I fell asleep. The touch against my lips, my…

Casteel twisted toward me. I dipped, nearly burying my face in Delano’s fur. I pressed my lips together. It didn’t mean that any of that had been real. It was a nightmare. I’d been asleep. And why would it have been him? He wanted what was inside of me. The essence of life and death.

But what Casteel had said about sending a message cycled back through my thoughts. When he was the Dark One, those sporadic acts of violence weren’t just reminders. They were also a tactic. A way to unsettle the Ascended.

Delano wiggled closer, and I lifted my head. His eyes met mine, and I smiled—or tried to.

“This compulsion?” Malik said, drawing my gaze to him. He had turned, all color absent from his cheeks. “Does it work on Atlantians? Wolven?”

Everyone looked at me, and I had the urge to look behind me as I straightened and glanced at the patchwork quilt.

“I…I don’t…” A faint tingle stopped me. If he could use it against me, he could—no, that wasn’t right.

I was different than other gods because of that disturbing blood bond.

He couldn’t use it against… “He can’t use it against Atlantians.

They’re descended from gods. But…” I looked down at Delano.

He sat, staring up at me, and my chest squeezed. “He can use it on the wolven.”

Casteel swore. “Why?”

“Because they are of dual life, and he…can use it against wolves. Against animals.”

“What about the Ascended?” Malik asked, his chest rising sharply. “Or the Revenants.”

My eyes met his. “Yes. But I think—no, I know Millicent is different. She’s not fully a Revenant.”

Relief briefly flickered through Malik’s eyes, but then he looked down at Delano. “There has to be a way for us to know when he’s up to something like this so we can prevent it.”

“That would be nice.” Kieran crossed his arms. “But I don’t think we’re going to get that lucky.”

“I doubt we—” I sucked in a shallow breath.

“What?” Casteel stepped toward me.

“Earlier tonight, before you returned, I felt a sudden sense of unease. Not as powerful as it was when the Ancients were Awakening in the Continents.” I swallowed.

“But I think—no, I know— I was feeling this. The wrongness of it. It was brief, and I didn’t understand what I was feeling at the time.

” My gaze remained on the quilt. Who had made it?

The older woman lying next to the boy? The mother on his other side? “Maybe if I had, I could’ve done—”

“No.” Casteel was in front of me in the blink of an eye, his hands on my cheeks. “There was no way for you to know what you were feeling. And even if you did, this still isn’t on you.” He tipped my head back so that my gaze met his. “Please, Poppy, don’t take on guilt that doesn’t belong to you.”

“I’m not. It’s just…” I closed my eyes, concentrating on the feel of Delano’s weight against my legs, and took a deep breath before I reopened them. “We can’t let this happen again.”

Casteel didn’t promise that it wouldn’t. He couldn’t. But he pressed his lips to my forehead. “I think we should return.”