Page 183 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

POPPY

Kieran’s brows slashed together and then smoothed out. “Nyktos.”

“Nyktos has to know if her soul is still in the Abyss.” I spun toward Attes. “Right?”

HeAttes nodded.

I twisted back. “We can shadowstep there.”

Kieran tensed.

“It’s just stepping through—”

“We are not having this conversation again,” Kieran said.

I sighed and refocused on Casteel. “We don’t have much time and need to discuss this stuff with Kolis. But—”

“You’re right,” Attes interrupted. “We don’t have much time, and I’m not sure what we do have should be spent on this.”

“It’s a good thing no one asked your opinion,” Casteel replied as he smoothed a thumb over my cheek. Lowering his head, he brushed his lips over my forehead. “Let’s do it.”

The line of my mouth relaxed as Attes muttered something behind me. He understood, and the relief was instantaneous. It almost—almost—loosened the knot of dread in my stomach.

“You think you can do it?” Kieran asked. “Shadowstep into Iliseeum?”

I lifted a shoulder. “If I can shadowstep to the Continents, I don’t see why not.”

“The Continents?” Attes asked.

“I’ll have to tell you about that later.”

“I’ll remain here with these two since I assume you’re,” Kieran told Attes, “going with them.”

“Why the fuck not?” Attes sighed.

“I’m sure that’s the only reason,” I said to Kieran.

He tipped his head, his stare turning flat.

Fighting a grin, I stepped back, a little surprised I could still smile. “You ready to do this?”

Cas nodded.

I turned from them, calling upon the essence to open the realms as I held an image of Nyktos in my mind. The air charged with energy as an irregular circle of eather appeared, crackling and spitting as it doubled in size. The silver light pulsed and then contracted.

A frown tugged at my brows. I summoned the essence once more. The same thing happened, this time taking on more of an oval shape, only about a foot wide and narrowed at the top and bottom.

“I don’t think it’s working,” Kieran noted.

“I don’t understand,” I muttered, pushing harder with my will.

The tear lengthened to about my height, and I felt Delano’s wagging tail smack my leg. “Finally—”

I heard a sharp pop, and light burst outward in a shimmery wave of silver eather toward the throne and the Temple doors.

The tear still didn’t open.

“Is it supposed to do this?” Malik asked.

“No.” I placed my hands on my hips. “What the…?”

“Let me try it.” Casteel stepped forward, his chin lowered as Attes crossed his arms.

I felt the essence rise in him and the push of his will. The tear in front of me widened another few inches. If he managed to open it…

Silver light pulsed as the center of the opening flared. The scent of…sandalwood drifted out.

“Are you kidding me?” I muttered, eyes narrowing on his smug smile.

He winked. “Looks like I’m more special—”

“Uh, guys?” Malik said, stepping back as he bent and grabbed a fistful of Delano’s fur. “I don’t think it’s opening.”

The sudden awareness of power—old, unfathomable power—bore down on us, snapping our heads back to the tear.

“I think something is coming through,” Kieran finished, his hand going to where his short sword would’ve usually been strapped to him as Malik continued pulling Delano back.

Casteel threw his arm out in front of me as the opening pulsed and—

Delano yelped as a head popped out.

An actual head with golden-brown hair—and, yes, shoulders—popped out of the tear.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Attes muttered.

The head lifted, and I immediately recognized the high, angular cheekbones, the eyes with the distinctively feline upward tilt at the corners, and the burnt-sienna markings along the sides of his face.

“Thorne?” I gasped.

Eyes that were a kaleidoscope of blue, green, and brown met mine as the silver light of the tear sparked and flickered. “Hello, Penellaphe.”

“Hi.” I drew out the word as tension poured into Casteel. “Uh…” I shook my head, feeling as if I should introduce him for some reason. “This is Casteel. And—”

“And Kieran,” Thorne finished. The lines of Kieran’s features tightened. “The one who has the wolven in a headlock—”

Wait. What? I looked back, and…yep, Malik had a growling Delano in a headlock.

“Is Malik. And the very unfriendly, fluffy ball of fur is Delano,” he continued. My brows shot up. “And you.” He turned narrowed eyes on the Primal. “I’m going to pretend I don’t see your ass here.”

Attes folded his arms. “Fine by me.”

Thorne’s head straightened. “So, I know everyone.”

“Of course, you do.” I swallowed, unsettled by his presence and the fact that he appeared as if he were only a head and shoulders. I quickly glanced at Cas and Kieran. “This is one of the Fates I was telling you about.” I shifted my weight. “What…are you doing, Thorne?”

“I think I should be asking you that.”

“I…was trying to open the realm.”

“I know.” Thorne’s gaze moved over Kieran and then to Casteel.

“Okay?” I said.

“You can’t.”

“Why not?”

Strands of eather whipped through the churning colors in his eyes as his gaze remained locked on Casteel. “Because.”

My patience thinned. “You going to add to that?”

“No.”

I took a deep breath, but it didn’t help. “And why not?”

The corners of Thorne’s lips twitched. “Because.”

“Oh, my gods.” I pressed two fingers to the center of my forehead as Kieran’s narrowed gaze darted between Casteel and Thorne. “We don’t have time for this nonsense. We need to talk to Nyktos.”

“I know.”

I stepped forward. “ And ? Is there a reason you’re preventing it?”

“Yes.”

“For fuck’s sake,” I snapped, and Casteel’s hand caught the back of my tunic, stopping me from moving any closer. “Is there something wrong with you right now?”

Attes huffed out a laugh.

“There is always something wrong with me. I can be…dysfunctional.” The glow of eather danced across his…angular cheeks. “But right now, it’s the fact that two Deminyen Primals are attempting to enter Iliseeum. That can’t happen.”

“Why not?” I demanded. “I was there before.”

“You were brought by a Fate,” he replied, the other side of his lips tipping up. “You were invited.”

“Do I have to be invited?”

“Not really.”

“Oh, my gods!” My hands fisted as Casteel jerked me back farther. “I need—”

“Do you need to be conscious and in one piece?” Thorne questioned.

“What kind of fucking question is that?” Casteel asked, his voice low and dark.

“A valid one.” A slight grin appeared on Thorne’s lips. “Because if I hadn’t stepped in, both of you would’ve been hit with the power of the wards put in place by the Arae. And that would’ve…stung.”

My heart turned over heavily as I cast a wary glance at Kieran. “Why are there…?” What had the thing that could be Isbeth said? That Kolis was busy. “You’re keeping Kolis out.”

“Right now, Iliseeum is a one-way realm. You can leave, but to enter, you must either be the Queen or born in Iliseeum. Which means, only he”—he jerked his chin toward Attes—“who I do not see, can return.”

“Is there a reason?” Kieran asked. “Did Kolis do something else?”

“He’s always doing something.” A moment passed. “He’s trying to…pay a visit that no one wants. If we drop the wards, he’ll get in, and that would be bad.”

“Okay.” I exhaled, my mind racing. “Then can you talk to Nyktos—?”

“No.”

“Why not?” I bit out.

“Because….it would be considered interference.”

My mouth dropped open.

Attes tipped his head back and sighed. “I fucking hate them.”

“How,” I began, “is raising a ward to protect Iliseeum against Kolis not considered interference?”

“That is a good question.” His head tilted slightly, and the mark along his jaw pulsed. “Except the ward wasn’t put up to protect Iliseeum.”

Kieran’s frown deepened. “Then why?”

The realization hit me like a spark against tinder, igniting a fiery rage. “It was raised to protect your asses.”

“Correct.”

“Unbelievable,” I snarled as Casteel jerked me back again. “Actually, it’s completely believable. Was it Lirian’s dumbass idea?”

Thorne chuckled, the sound eerily familiar.

I took that as a yes. “So, I guess that also means you can’t tell me if Isbeth’s soul is in the Abyss?”

“You guess correctly.”

My nostrils flared. “Do you have any idea how utterly, unrepentantly irritating you are?”

“I do.”

“At least you’re self-aware.” I supposed I could add that attribute to cowardly and selfish.

“Mostly,” he replied. “By the way, the wards aren’t just because of how cowardly and selfish we are. The Queen is also in trouble.”

My breath stalled. I wasn’t sure I believed they couldn’t read minds. “What?”

“She did something she was not supposed to do.”

I stared at him for what felt like a small eternity. “And that was…”

“Shh,” he said, and my brows flew up. “Never mind, thought I heard Lirian’s… dumb ass .”

I pushed the eather down “Did you harm her?”

“I did nothing,” he replied. “And, no, she was not harmed. She’s simply in a…time-out.”

“A time-out?” Attes repeated under his breath and then laughed. “Bet that went over well.”

“Oh, definitely didn’t almost have to put Nyktos down.”

I blinked. “What could she possibly have done?” I demanded.

“If you want to know, you’ll have to ask her.”

“How the fuck ”—my scream echoed off the gold walls—“am I supposed to do that when I can’t enter Iliseeum?”

“That is a really good question,” Thorne said.

I inhaled sharply. I had to turn away before I tried to grab Thorne and do something I’d likely regret. This was unbelievable—all of it. No answer to what I needed to know and proof of how cowardly and selfish the Arae were. Not to mention the fact that Seraphena was in trouble for something .

“Don’t be angry with me,” Thorne advised. “I don’t make the rules.”

I threw up my arms. “Actually, you do!”

“Oh, yeah. I do.” A pause. “Kind of.”

No amount of deep breathing could calm me. “Do you have a reason for still being here?”

“And do you like what you see?” Casteel asked.

What the?

I whipped back around, my body tensing as shadows appeared along Casteel’s face, almost in the same pattern and area as the markings on Thorne’s.