Page 154 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

“Prince Malik.” Lady Hawley’s black gaze gleamed with hunger as she swept his body with a long glance.

Stopping in front of him, the bodice of her gown hanging loosely from her shoulders and barely covering the swells of her breasts, she toyed with one of the buttons she had forgotten to clasp.

“You may be a traitorous bastard, but you do look quite…tasty.”

“Fuck off,” my brother replied.

Her laugh grated like nails against glass. “How brave you are when you think you no longer have a collar around your throat.”

“How dead you will be when I snap your neck,” Poppy answered, stepping in front of Malik.

Lady Hawley huffed, her lip curling. “Oh, your kind is so deliciously arrogant.”

“Deliciously?” Lord Hawley laughed as he went to the table and picked up a chalice, his gaze skipping over Delano. “More like pathetic.”

“Is that so?” I asked.

The female hummed as she also turned to Delano. Drawing her lower lip between her teeth, she eyed him. “Another wolven. I wonder if you will answer what the other would not.”

Delano said nothing.

“Do you prefer to fuck in this form?” she asked with a high-pitched giggle. “Or in that of a wolf?”

“That is enough,” Poppy said.

“And who are you to decide when anything is enough?” Lord Hawley faced Poppy. “Let me tell you. You may think you have authority over us, but you’re no one.”

“No one?” Poppy’s cloaked head tilted toward Malik. “You failed to mention what idiots they were.”

“I did,” he replied.

“Idiots?” The lady spun on her.

“Yes. Do I need to explain what that is to you?” Poppy offered as I saw the vampry’s muscles tensing. “Foolish. Unwise. Of low—”

Lady Hawley sprang toward Poppy. Delano and Malik both moved to intervene. I stood back, my lips curling upward.

Poppy caught Lady Hawley’s arm. With a flick of her wrist, the bone cracked. The vampry’s howls of pain weren’t much different than those of pleasure as she dropped to her knees.

“How dare you?” Lord Hawley gasped. “Who do you think you are?”

“Penellaphe Da’Neer. The Queen. And the Primal of Life and Death.” Poppy lowered her hood, the air charging with the kind of eather even these fools could feel. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

I was instantaneously hard.

Lord Hawley’s already pale skin turned translucent while his wife shrank back. “You…you’re…” His head swung in my direction. “You’re…”

I lowered my hood.

Lord Hawley stepped back.

“You’ve requested an audience with us several times,” I said, my lips curving up. “Yet you don’t seem all that grateful that you have one now.”

Cradling her broken arm, Lady Hawley started to stand.

“Did I say you could rise?” Poppy stopped her.

The vampry jerked to a halt, her sharp features turning even starker.

Inching closer to his wife, Lord Hawley cleared his throat. “We apologize.” A practiced smile spread across his too-pink lips. These fuckers were well-fed. “We weren’t aware you would finally be answering our summons.”

I watched his chin lift. It was quite amusing to see the vampry attempt to regain control of the situation, treating his arrogance like a shield or sword.

He stopped behind his wife. “I wanted to discuss—”

“I don’t give a fuck what you wished to discuss,” I interrupted, already done with this.

Lord Hawley’s shoulders drew back, and his mouth opened.

“And you will not speak unless it’s to answer our questions,” I continued. “Do you understand? That is a question. Nod if you understand.”

His nostrils flared, and he nodded.

I looked at Poppy as I linked with her. Do you have any questions for them?

Her response was immediate. No.

You sure? Even after what we’ve learned.

What did Mira say? That they ordered the tithes to be filled with crimson?

One side of my lips curled up as I eyed the vamprys. They did.

I am beyond positive.

Poppy stepped forward.

“Do you think you’ve won?” the female asked.

“Shut up, Laural,” the male gritted out.

“Why should I?” she countered. “I know how this ends.”

“Do you?” Poppy questioned.

The female nodded. “You didn’t answer my question. Do you think you’ve won? Now that you’ve taken the city?”

“I haven’t answered because it’s a silly question,” Poppy replied. “Asked by an even sillier…creature.”

“You haven’t answered because you know you haven’t won.” Through the strands of her hair, I saw her lips twist into a sneer. “Long live the Queen.”

Essence flared in Poppy’s eyes as she glared down at the vampry. “My mother is dead.”

Lady Hawley laughed. “No one truly dies now.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I demanded.

She winced as she leaned back, jostling her arm. “It means exactly what I said.”

“ Laural ,” Lord Hawley snapped. “You need to stay silent.”

“No.” Poppy’s smile was as sharp as the dagger strapped to her thigh. “Let her speak.”

Lord Hawley’s jaw tensed, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

“The true King has risen,” Lady Hawley said. “And he will take back everything that is his.”

“And what do you think belongs to him?” Poppy asked.

“Everything,” she whispered.

Poppy’s laugh rang out, and the air crackled with the heat of the sun. “Nothing here or in Iliseeum is owed to him.”

“Is that what you think?”

“That is what I know.” Poppy took a step toward the Ascended. “His days of ruling have long since passed.”

“He’s only just begun. And you—none of you—will be able to stop him.” Hair fell back from Lady Hawley’s face as she tilted her head. “You look like your mother. Well, except for the scars.”

I snapped forward, stopping only when Poppy held up her hand. I forced myself back and reached out to her. One more word…

I let the warning linger. If she mentioned Poppy’s scars—the beautiful proof of how strong my girl was—even once, she would no longer have a tongue to speak with.

“She had such high hopes for you,” she continued. Eather throbbed in my chest.

Poppy knelt before the vampry, causing Delano to reach for his sword out of reflex. “You know so much, don’t you?”

The Lady laughed.

“So, tell me, why would my mother want Kolis to return?” Poppy asked. My brows drew together. “Was it simply to see Atlantia burn? Was she truly that predictable?”

“She was.” Lady Hawley lifted a shoulder. “But she wanted more. They planned for you to sit by his side.”

My hands fisted, but I checked myself.

“Now, you will lay at his feet,” the vampry’s voice lowered. “Where you’ve always belonged.”

I saw red, but Poppy was so damn fast when she wanted to be. Her hand was around Lady Hawley’s throat before I even took a step, eather pulsing through her and lighting up her veins.

“I have never belonged there,” Poppy said as the vampry’s body jerked and then stiffened. And I…

I froze.

Poppy’s fingers pressed into Lady Hawley’s throat. Eather sparked from her fingertips and seeped into the vampry’s flesh. A wave of essence rolled through the Ascended, lighting up the network of veins first in her legs and then in her torso and arms.

“And I never will again,” Poppy whispered.

My heart pounded as Lady Hawley threw her head back. Eather spilled into her eyes, burning them from the inside and pouring out of her mouth. The Ascended shuddered, fissures racing across her flesh. Her skin cracked and flaked off, the bits drifting up before fading.

Within seconds, Lady Laural Hawley was gone, except for a pile of clothing. The Lord tried to run but didn’t make it far with Delano and Malik there. They drove him to the cold marble floor while I stared at Poppy as she rose, the green in her eyes vivid.

It was Poppy. Her eyes. The rage that swirled through her. But that voice? When she said she’d never belonged there—would never be there again .

It hadn’t sounded like her voice.