Page 197 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

CASTEEL

The next thing I knew, I was flat on my back, staring up at the glass of the domed ceiling.

It didn’t look right.

The clouds. They hadn’t been there before. Dark, heavy clouds stretched across the sky, their fragmented edges tinged in…

“Casteel,” my father’s voice boomed, snapping my gaze from the sky. He loomed over me, concern etched into his features. “There you are.”

I felt his hand on my face then as I squeezed my eyes closed and then reopened them. “What happened?”

Delano’s head appeared behind Father’s. Then Hisa’s. “You passed out,” Delano said, his bright-blue eyes searching mine. “For about ten minutes.”

Ten minutes?

“Something happened while you were out,” my father said, and I realized his face was taut, his features sharp. “There was an earthquake.”

“It was…a large one,” Hisa said. “I don’t know the damage yet. None of us wanted to leave you.”

An earthquake?

I refocused on the dome. There were splinters in the glass. My gaze slid over the walls, and I saw fissures there, as well.

“It felt like when Rhahar died,” Delano said, his voice shaky. “But worse. Longer. I thought the whole castle might come down. There was some damage to the western tower. Nothing serious.”

My father exhaled, and a small smile appeared. “I think Poppy did what was needed.”

What was…?

What the fuck had just happened? Fog clouded my brain as my gaze moved back to my father’s and was slow to scatter. It took me a few moments to remember tackling Kieran. Hitting him…

I’d suddenly gotten dizzy. My chest had felt hollow. There’d been a dull tingling in my palm.

Poppy .

I jackknifed off the floor, nearly knocking heads with my father. My mind screamed that she had to be okay because I was still here, but something…something was wrong. Something had happened. My heart pounded as I flipped my hand.

The golden swirl was still there.

My head jerked back. “Kieran?” I croaked.

“I’m here.”

I moved toward the sound of his voice, grasping the front of his tunic. My gaze swept over him, searching for…something.

“You’re really starting to worry me,” he said.

“How do you feel?” I rasped.

“Other than my aching jaw?” His brows slanted. “Fine.”

“Did you feel dizzy at all?”

“After you punched me hard enough to rattle my brain?” he said. “Yeah.”

I let go of him and looked at my palm again.

“What’s going on, Cas?” Delano was on his knees on the other side of me now.

“I…” It didn’t make sense. The imprint was there. Kieran and I still breathed. And he didn’t seem to feel anything. Poppy had to be okay, but the dizziness, the aching hollowness…

I looked at the marriage imprint swirled across my hand, ending just below my missing finger. It was still there…

But it didn’t shimmer like usual.

It had dulled .