Page 175 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

CASTEEL

“We will be holding the public address tomorrow—or in a few hours, actually,” Kieran was saying.

He had shown up seconds after I arrived, having sensed Attes’s presence.

Neither the Primal nor I had lingered long after Poppy left.

“We felt it was important to assure the people we were doing everything we could to keep them safe.”

“And then?” Attes demanded, his silver gaze darting to the Solar’s archway.

My eyes narrowed on him. “Then we proceed with our plans.”

Attes leaned back in his chair. “Exactly what are those plans?”

“We go to Pensdurth,” I said, figuring there was no point in bringing up what Poppy and I had discussed earlier since, with Attes’s arrival, it was now moot.

“I figured as much,” Attes replied, his attention shifting again to the doorway. My fingers started tapping the arm of the chair. “But I was hoping for more detail.”

“We will lay siege to the city,” I stated.

Attes’s gaze returned to mine, and his brows rose.

I smiled tightly at him.

He’s here to help . Kieran’s voice reached me through the link.

My grip on the glass tumbler tightened. I know .

Then maybe stop staring at him like you want to murder him.

I don’t want to murder him . Lifting my glass, I drank some whiskey. Yet .

And that yet depended on one factor.

Poppy.

My mother and father had taught Malik and me to respect our elders, but I was having a tough time honoring that as I sat across from Attes.

Kieran sent me a look of warning as the Primal god said, “I assume laying siege involves some level of detailed planning.” His gaze flicked to mine just as I felt a draken nearing. “Or at least I would hope so. You are of my blood, after all. Strategy should be an innate skill set.”

“The planning is as detailed as it can be,” Kieran interjected.

His posture was much more relaxed than mine.

Then again, it could be because it was the middle of the night, and he looked exhausted.

“We were able to gain little information about what exists beyond Pensdurth’s walls, but we know they have spears large and powerful enough to wound a draken. ”

Attes’s head turned to Kieran. “Was one wounded?”

“Thad,” I answered.

His nostrils flared. “How badly?”

“He was hit in the shoulder. He’ll heal.”

A muscle ticked in his temple. “Thad is one of mine—or he was.”

Surprise flickered across Kieran’s face as a heavy thud came from above, and the entire wing of Wayfair shuddered. The sound of talons scraping stone followed as the chandelier swayed.

I lowered my gaze. “What do you mean yours—or was once yours? I was under the impression they served Seraphena and Poppy.”

“It’s a bit convoluted.” He idly scratched his jaw. “The draken serve as protectors of each Court and can choose to bond themselves to the Primal of that Court.”

“Like the wolven and Elementals?” Kieran murmured.

“I guess so,” Attes said as the balcony doors swung open, and Reaver strolled in. Beside me, Kieran groaned under his breath. “However, the true Primal of Life can supersede any bond a draken may have with another Primal god. I’m guessing it’s the same for,”—his gaze shot to the doorway—“her.”

My jaw clenched.

“It is.” Reaver crossed the chamber, his dick swinging. “Unless Sera asserts her authority.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Attes remarked as Reaver stepped onto the dais.

“Where’s Poppy?” the draken asked.

Likely convincing herself she didn’t want to throttle us. When I returned to the Solar and immediately checked on her, she still wanted to. The look she had given me before slamming the bathing chamber door in my face almost had me cupping my private parts.

“In the other room,” Kieran said. “Why are you here?”

Attes arched a brow, his gaze sliding to the draken.

Reaver shrugged. “To make sure everyone gets along.”

Kieran snorted. “You’re here to keep the peace, Reaver-butt?”

“Speaking of asses.” Recalling the shawl left in the sitting chamber, I lifted a hand. A heartbeat later, it hit my palm. “I don’t want your bare ass on my chair.”

Attes’s lips twitched as Reaver sighed and snatched the shawl from my hand. He shook it out, eyed it with a frown, and then tied it around his hips. The shawl was nothing more than layers of lace and didn’t hide much, but it was better than nothing.

Reaver looked up through a sheet of blond hair. “Happy?”

“Not really.”

The fucking draken still sat.

“Do I want to know why a shawl just flew through the air?” Poppy’s voice floated out from the other room.

Normally, my gaze would’ve been glued to the entryway. Seeing her after only a short time apart was like seeing her for the first time. It never failed to physically affect me, and I might be a little addicted to that gut-punch feeling. But this time, my gaze stayed trained on Attes.

Because his was glued on the archway.

“Reaver needed something between the chair and his bare ass,” Kieran announced.

I knew the moment she entered because Attes’s jaw tightened, and he looked away fast, seeming to find the grain in the table fascinating.

“You do realize that’s Tawny’s shawl?” Poppy said. When I looked at her, she had stopped inside the Solar, her brows knitted. She wore a plain dressing gown the color of the elms that complemented the fiery waves now cascading freely down her back.

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” Reaver said, reaching for the bowl of fruit I hadn’t brought back to the bedchamber earlier.

Poppy opened and then closed her mouth as she stepped onto the dais. The emerald flecks in her eyes churned slowly as she looked at Kieran. “Are they still arguing?”

My lips flattened.

“Not exactly,” Kieran drawled, watching Reaver with a frown as the draken pulled an apple from the bowl.

“Good.” Poppy started to walk past me, clearly heading for the seat on Kieran’s other side.

I wasn’t having that.

Snaking out an arm, I snagged her around the waist. She grunted softly as I pulled her down onto my lap.

The center of her cheeks flushed as she managed to sit as far from me as possible, perched like a little statue on my knees. “You do realize there are many chairs?”

“I do.” I smiled at her. “But I’m your favorite chair.”

The crease between her brows deepened.

“I’m guessing you two are still fighting.” Reaver bit into the apple with a crunch.

“We’re not,” Poppy insisted.

Kieran sent both of us a curious look. “What are you two fighting about?”

“Nothing,” she answered.

“She saw someone on the Cliffs and decided to pay them a visit,” I said at the same time as she did. “Without waking me.”

“And that someone turned out to be a Revenant,” Attes chimed in as he leaned back once more, crossing his arms. “Possessed by Kolis.”

Kieran tipped forward, his gaze narrowing on her. “What the fuck, Poppy?”

“What?” she shot back as I sipped my whiskey. “I didn’t realize I needed permission.”

“No one said you did.” As I lowered the glass, I kept it out of her reach. I had a feeling she was about to get animated. “But I am confident you promised you wouldn’t run off alone.”

“I do not recall ever making that promise.”

Poppy ignored the look I sent her and picked up the dressing gown’s sash.

“I assume you suspected it was a Revenant,” Kieran surmised. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone out.”

“I did.” Poppy glanced toward the Primal and then me. “I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.”

Had she had a nightmare? Or just woken up naturally? And had she knowingly gone to the glass wall? I didn’t know. But the fact that her movements hadn’t woken me warned me that I needed to feed again, sooner rather than later.

“That’s when I saw someone out there,” she continued. “And I think—no, I know—Kolis has been keeping an eye on…us, using the Revenants.”

Attes’s head tilted. “You haven’t cleared the city of them?”

“We believed we had.” My arm tightened around Poppy as she moved to stand. Her disgruntled, barely audible growl tugged at my lips. “But in case you haven’t noticed, the city is enormous, with countless places to hide.”

“You should find those places fast,” he advised, his attention returning to Poppy. He blinked several times. “They are weaknesses.”

I swallowed the no shit , and felt I deserved a pat on the back for doing so.

“We know,” Kieran said, his stare drilling into Poppy’s profile.

Poppy exhaled loudly. “I didn’t want to wake you,” she said, peeking at me. “I didn’t see any reason to when I knew I could handle a Revenant—”

“But that wasn’t just a Revenant. So—” Attes inhaled sharply as I cut my stare to him. So did Poppy. The ticking in his temple increased. “It was Kolis using a Revenant, Penellaphe.”

She stared back at him. “I know. I wanted to warn him to stop watching.” Her back relaxed a little. “And you can call me Poppy.”

Fuck if I agreed with that.

Especially when the fucker smiled at her.

“You talked to him, then?” Kieran sat back, his hand balling into a fist on the table. “Did he say anything?”

“Nothing of value.” She tilted her head, sending waves of deep-red hair falling forward while I concentrated on not losing my shit. “To be honest, he sounded…unhinged.” Her fingers began twisting the sash, and then she lifted her chin. “You knew him, right?”

Attes’s stare slid past her as Reaver finished the apple and picked up another. “Unfortunately.”

“Is he…unstable?”

The Primal’s laugh was dry. “Yes. No? It all depends on what he’s dealing with.”

“For example?” I asked, thinking I already knew the answer as Kieran glanced at me.

“Certain things make him, as you would say, unhinged,” Attes said after a moment.

“Like…me?”

Attes’s gaze shifted back to her, eather swirling in his eyes. He said nothing.

“Seraphena told me about Sotoria and the Star diamond,” she said. “And about Kolis’s obsession.”

Attes shifted his jaw from side to side. “Yes, you would be one of those things.”

Beneath my fingers, I felt thin fissures forming in the glass.

So, he clearly knows about her past . Kieran’s voice reached me.