Page 180 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

POPPY

A low hum filled my ears, rising like a swarm of angry bees as I stared down at her .

The Blood Queen.

My mother.

“Isbeth,” someone whispered, either Valyn or Malik. Murmurs from those inside the Sun Temple and below joined the buzzing.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

It couldn’t be real.

I had to be hallucinating—we all were. My gaze shifted to the mortals—to those who had halted.

They stared at the figure draped in crimson in open wonderment while others farther back pressed closer to see what had gained such rapt attention.

They saw her . The sound of bloodstone scraping against sheaths momentarily pierced the buzzing as the soldiers below drew their swords.

She didn’t react to them—not a quick glance or even a flinch. Her dark gaze remained fixed on us—on me. My heart pounded so fast that my chest actually hurt.

She was truly standing there.

Isbeth.

It couldn’t be.

I stepped back as a tremor started in my fingers. “Impossible.” The corners of my eyes filled with gold-and-silver light.

Someone said my name—perhaps Kieran or Delano.

I could feel them closing in on me, but I wasn’t sure from where because the buzz was now a roar in my veins.

It wasn’t just loud; it was scorching hot.

“I killed her.” Heat flowed into my voice.

“As in, there was nothing left of her but a stain on the Temple floor.”

“I know.”

I knew that voice. Would always recognize it, no matter what. Casteel.

“Then tell me how ,” I said, heat flowing into my voice. The air charged. Stinging, icy-hot energy throbbed, and the air seemed to contract toward me, clinging to my skin. “How is she standing before us?”

“Poppy?” another voice said softly. I also recognized it. Kieran.

My skin tingled and hummed. “ How ?”

If he answered, I didn’t hear it. My mind was racing forward.

This had to be some sort of trick. It had to be Kolis’s doing.

She couldn’t be real. But some part of my mind slowed until only cold logic existed.

Just enough. Before the pure rage and sweltering power drowned out everything. I knew Valyn had been correct.

In those last seconds, I had the sense to warn both Casteel and Kieran not to expose what they were.

Then, the rage and power poured into every part of my being, stripping away every other sense and leaving nothing behind.

Whoever I was now or in the past vanished in an instant.

Instinct seized control, tearing through the tethers keeping the Primal essence in check.

Whatever emerged shredded the shock holding me immobile.

For the briefest second in my mind, I saw the Ancient clawing its way out of the soil as it freed itself.

I snapped forward and gripped the railing. I didn’t shadowstep. I was beyond that as eather tensed the muscles of my arms. I launched myself over the balcony.

The weight of the realm seemed to fall away as searing, crackling air reached up and seized me. The wind caught shouts of surprise and screams. I smelled burnt ozone as the air sparked and then ignited. Flames erupted and then were extinguished in the rush of air.

I landed, my knees bending, lowering me into a crouch to absorb the impossible impact.

My fingertips grazed the ground, setting the grass on fire.

Smoke wafted from the blades as they collapsed into ash.

Darkness crept into the corners of my vision—a mass of shadows streaked with faint traces of crimson—as my head kicked back and my gaze locked with dark eyes shaped like mine. I rose slowly.

The smile on her face grew as a shadow fell over both of us. Shouts turned to screams as massive wings extended above us, slowing a draken’s descent.

Reaver landed amid the fleeing soldiers and mortals, coming down hard on his hind legs, then the front. The impact sent several people toppling to the ground, but not her.

She remained standing with that fucking smile on her face and those fucking eyes trained on me as Reaver’s neck snapped forward, his mouth stretching wide to release a roar that even I felt inside me.

She didn’t even twitch.

But she would .

My lips curved into the same smile as hers . Tendrils of churning mist spilled from me, silver spinning around gold banded by shadowy crimson. I saw nothing but her as I stalked forward.

The realm didn’t quake; it caught fire with each step, then so did the air as I rose. Wisps of mist churned, lashing out as flames seared the breaths of those foolish enough to remain close.

In the distance, I heard shouts—voices panicked but not afraid. Voices that threw out demands. Orders. Pleas.

“You,” I whispered, drawing the mist back. It spun and thickened, coiling tightly like a pit viper as I stared at her.

She tilted her head back, and the fiery eather throbbed. “Daughter.”

That voice.

Her voice.

Soft and smooth. Sultry. Wretched. Ruinous.

An icy heat ramped up inside me as the mist spun and coiled tighter, the shadows deepening and the crimson brightening as the fury built.

I saw Jadis, her bones jutting in her bare skin, her eyes hollow.

I heard her begging to die. I saw the spilled blood of innocents in the cavern in Oak Ambler.

I heard the cries and pleas of countless families that had gone unanswered.

I saw the state she had pushed Casteel to, his eyes burning like a blood-starved Ascended’s.

I saw the life go out of Ian’s eyes and Duke Teerman leaning over me, his pale face flushed, and lips smeared with crimson.

Her smile continued to widen until I saw a flash of white teeth—slightly sharpened canines. “Do it,” she whispered, but it was a shrill scream in my head.

Fear drenched the air, and I took it inside me as I drew in a breath. I welcomed it. Fed on it. Used it.

Death woke inside me, cooling the fire in my veins. Ice drenched my skin as the golden power of life flickered and went out, swallowed by the achingly cold and dark essence of death. The air contracted and expanded. Flashes of lightning erupted overhead, streaking from one cloud to the next.

“Strike me down, Daughter,” she urged. “I’m sure that will help with…” She glanced around with an idle flick of a slender wrist. “Whatever you planned with this.”

Eather gathered in my chest as the coldness streaming from me snuffed out the flames spreading across the courtyard. I didn’t know what this thing was, but I refused to think of her as Isbeth. It didn’t matter. It would turn to ash.

The shouting was closer, clearer. It was a name, and I felt the presence of a Primal. Attes.

“Do it.” She drifted closer, her hips swaying. “Show them what you can do. Show them what they were not allowed to see at the Bone Temple.” Her voice carried. “Show them what the Queen of Flesh and Fire is capable of.”

My chin lowered as essence sparked from my fingertips. Mist spun, rising behind me as the shadow of twin arcs fell over her. The spinning ball of eather in my chest started to unravel—

“Penellaphe!”

Her laugh was like broken wind chimes as she lowered herself onto her knees. As she dared to bow before me. “Show them who they should fear.”

“ Stop .”

The voice sent a jolt through me. I cranked my head to the left as…Valyn dipped under Reaver’s head.

“You need to calm,” he ordered, his voice low and strained. He straightened as Attes stopped on Reaver’s other side.

Calm?

Essence erupted, spilling down my arms. Lightning struck the ground an inch from Valyn. Wind roared through the avenues and whipped around the houses, catching curtains and sending them flapping through open windows.

“Maybe not tell her to calm,” Attes spoke. “In my experience, that never ends well.”

Valyn’s jaw tightened. “Penellaphe,” he tried again. “Look around you. Look.” He tentatively stepped closer, the strands of hair blowing back from his face. “Please.”

My gaze flicked away. I saw the faces of those who lingered. Pale faces.

“This is what she, or whatever the fuck this is, wants,” Valyn said.

“Excuse me?” she huffed. “As usual, my dear Valyn, you have no idea what I want.”

A sound came from my throat. A hiss. My head snapped back toward her.

“Look at them,” Valyn demanded. “See them.”

My attention shifted back to the remaining crowd. I saw faces gray with shock and fear. I felt terror, cold and stinging.

“I wouldn’t—” Attes fell silent as Valyn reached up and grabbed my foot.

My head cut down as the essence spiraled around my palms.

“Listen to me, Penellaphe,” he demanded, his gold eyes flashing. “They aren’t afraid of her right now.”

They’re not…

My gaze swung back to the people, and I tasted the bitterness of their terror as those nameless eyes were latched onto me. Young. Old. Some frozen. Others crying.

Me .

Not her .

This wasn’t what today had been about. I should be assuring them of our protection, assuaging any concerns. Not frightening them.

My gaze swept back to her, to the smirk prettied up in red. Valyn was right. She wanted this—if this was her. This is what she had always wanted.

It was all she knew.

But I knew better.

Sucking in a sharp breath, I calmed the storm of essence and rage. It wasn’t easy. All I managed to do was shove it down and bury it deep.

But I did it.

Because I wasn’t her.

I lowered myself in front of her.

Her pale neck straightened. “Daughter—”

“Don’t,” I warned, knowing that nobody out here needed to hear whatever came out of her mouth next. I took one step forward.

Clasping her hands, she tilted her head to the side in acknowledgment. “I’ve only come to speak with you. Not to make war, my Queen.”

I choked on a laugh, and my chest felt like it burned. “Don’t say another word.”

Her head lowered demurely. Something the woman I knew could not even begin to possess.

“And get the fuck up,” I spat.

Casteel’s presence brushed against my thoughts as she made something as simple as standing an art form. You need to get her out of the public eye. I’ve cleared the Temple.