Page 32 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

He slid his hand down the strap to the flap of his satchel. Opening it, he withdrew a dark-gray vial. “This.”

“What is it?” Kieran eyed the bottle. “Is that some type of shadowstone?”

“No. The vial is made of basalt. The slag…the slaggiest of slag,” he said with a faint and quick grin. “It’s created where the highest intensity of dragon fire strikes a surface.”

“Dragon?” Kieran repeated.

“Yes. Dragon. As in the ancestors of the draken,” he said. I was sure Kieran realized that. “It’s the only thing that will hold their blood.”

I crossed my arms. “Please tell me you’re not using draken blood on Poppy.”

“I warned you it would hurt.”

“Well, now I know why the mortal died,” Kieran muttered. “How is that supposed to help her?”

“Normally, it would burn right through flesh and bone. Even a Primal’s,” Attes said, and my head tipped toward him. “Especially his blood.”

“Nektas’s,” I guessed.

Attes nodded, and my stomach twisted sharply. “But I know how to prevent that.”

“How?” I demanded.

“It’s not important,” he countered.

I was this close to choking the fucker out. “Then what is?”

“For Kolis to have forged a connection with her,” he said, his words slow and deliberate, as if he chose each one carefully, “she would bear his mark.”

“Mark?” Kieran frowned. “What kind of mark?”

“His.”

The word echoed in my head like a thunderclap. His . I breathed in, but the air tasted like ash.

“The symbol of death?” Kieran’s head cut to me. “Did you see anything?”

I swallowed hard, my throat dry. “I saw no mark,” I told him.

“There has to be one,” the Primal said.

My mind raced, replaying every moment that’d passed since Poppy woke. Had I missed something?

“I don’t understand,” Kieran spoke low and quick. “How would she end up with his mark? You didn’t sound all that confident that it was because of the Revenant.”

“He touched her arm, and I’ve seen her arms,” I said. “There’s no mark there.”

“With her,” Attes said quietly, his gaze on the door, “he wouldn’t need to physically touch her.”

I stiffened as I hissed, “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“That doesn’t matter either.”

My nostrils flared. “I beg to fucking differ.”

“It doesn’t,” he snapped.

“Bullshit,” Kieran snarled. “We need to know why he wouldn’t need to physically touch her.”

Something occurred to me then. “Teerman.”

Kieran’s eyes narrowed on me. “Why are you thinking about that dead fuck?”

“When I took him out, I thought I saw something in his eyes. A flicker.” I dragged my hand through my hair. “He also said that she had always been his.”

Attes stiffened.

“ What ?” Kieran growled, his eyes flashing a vivid cobalt-blue.

“And when Kolis got through earlier, he said the same damn thing.” I dropped my hand. “He was in the Duke. Said he was whenever he wanted to be.”

“I have no idea who you two speak of,” Attes said as Kieran took a step back.

“He was an Ascended. A vampry,” I said.

“I know what they are. Kolis created the first Ascended,” Attes said, a crease forming between his brows as he shocked both of us into silence. “Like the Revenants, their very existence is thanks to him. Therefore, they are irrevocably tied to him.”

I would have to table the what-the-fuckery in that piece of information. “Are you telling me he could’ve been jumping from Ascended to Revenant? That he still could?”

“He is linked to all his creations if he chooses to be.” Attes looked at Kieran. “Just as the Queen can do with the wolven if she so decides.”

Fucking gods.

“But Poppy is neither a Revenant nor an Ascended,” Kieran pointed out.

But her sister was.

Well, sort of. Who the fuck knew what Millicent actually was?

Attes drew in a deep breath. Once more, I had a feeling he was about to say some shit I would not be happy about. “Her blood,” he stated. “He’s a Primal god. If he’s had her blood, even a drop…” His stare cut away from me. “And if she’s had his, there’d be a link between them.”

“Even if the Duke was the one who took her blood?” Kieran asked, his skin losing some of its color.

Blood thumped in my head as I stared at the Primal.

Attes met my stare and nodded.

A deep, menacing growl emanated from Kieran, reverberating through the corridor. He spun on his heel and walked several feet down the hall, where he stopped, his hands on his waist. And I…

I didn’t move.

Part of my consciousness was still working through and absorbing what Attes had said, even as the rest of me wanted to dive right into denial.

That part recognized that the chances of Poppy not even remembering something like that happening were good.

I’d learned that she wasn’t always conscious after her lessons in his office.

She may not even know. Not only was the Ascended skilled at taking what was not his while the innocent slept, but he also had unlimited access to her.

He knew all the forgotten stairwells and hidden halls of the castle.

Though it didn’t even have to be Teerman who forged the sickening connection.

Poppy had been surrounded by the Ascended and Revenants for most of her life.

And her mother? Isbeth? She’d wanted to bring Kolis back.

Did she have access to his blood? My mind flashed to the golden Rev, Callum. It could’ve been anyone.

Maybe he’s always been in her or connected to her.

Reaver’s words haunted me as I stood there, my lungs burning.

It made sense as I thought about the Rev who’d attacked me.

How he’d sung the verse Poppy had heard the night she was attacked in Lockswood and in her dreams. What a pretty poppy.

She’d once thought it was the Dark One she’d heard, but later realized it was neither Malik nor me.

What if it wasn’t something she’d heard that night as a child?

What if it had been him, already connected to her, whispering while she slept?

And he was finally able to forge a deeper connection.

The breath I’d taken hadn’t gone anywhere because I thought I knew. Understood. This Primal had said it. She would’ve been vulnerable while in stasis, then weakened to save me. It opened her to what had always been there.

I let him in.

Dark, thick, oily anger surged through me, stoking the essence. No sound came from me as fury-fueled eather bled into the atmosphere, thickening it with palpable tension. The sconces placed every ten feet or so flickered and then went out, plunging the hall into darkness.

“Fuck,” the Primal whispered.

Kieran was beside me in an instant, his hand on my arm. “You need to calm.”

“I’m calm.”

“Bullshit.” Kieran angled his body toward mine. “You’re vibrating with rage. Literally.”

My skin thrummed as if bolts of lightning were dancing across my pores, sending electric shivers through every inch of my body. The sconces on the wall sputtered back to life, their lights flaring wildly.

Attes swore as he stared at me—at the floor. “What in the actual…?”

Faint tendrils of shadow rippled across my feet, slipping around Kieran’s. Shadows streaked with thin strands of crimson.

In the dancing light, Attes slowly lifted his gaze.

Kieran stepped closer to me, bringing his head near mine. “Do you want her to feel this? To wake her, Cas? Because if you keep this up, it will.”

I didn’t want that.

“You need to calm yourself. For her.” Kieran clasped the back of my neck and pressed his forehead to mine. “And you can start by taking a breath. Do it.” His hand squeezed. “Do it for Poppy.”

For Poppy.

I would do anything for her.

Twisting my head from side to side, I took a deep breath. The burning in my lungs eased as I pushed the rage down. The light from the sconces steadied, cutting through the shadows sliding along the stone as the energy dissipated from the hall.

“You good?” Kieran asked.

I took another breath. “Good enough.”

Kieran didn’t immediately move. He stayed where he was for a heartbeat or two, then let go and stepped back.

Attes had leaned away slightly, his wide gaze darting between us.

“The Joining,” Kieran sighed, scrubbing his forehead. “It had some unexpected…effects.”

“No shit,” the Primal muttered. “But I’d call that more than an effect .” Eather crackled through his eyes as his stare bore into me. “That display of essence? It was h—”

“Hers,” I interrupted hoarsely. “It was her essence.”

“It’s his,” he insisted. “But it’s also something…?” He shook his head, shifting his attention to Kieran. “And you?”

“The opposite of his.”

“I…” It looked like a puff of air could’ve knocked Attes over. “I actually don’t even know what to say.”

I did. “We don’t have time for this.”

“You’re right. What in the fuck were we even talking—?” The Primal’s shoulders squared. “I remember.” He exhaled heavily. “Are you certain there are no marks? Did you look everywhere?”

The implication in his words made my skin crawl. Sucking in a sharp breath, I drew back as Kieran turned to me.

“Casteel.” Attes’s tone had softened, becoming placating as he held up his hands. “I can see that this is difficult for you, but we need to find his mark.”

I backed up, my fists clenching. I’d seen a lot of Poppy since she’d awakened. All of her except for what the sleeping gown obscured. The idea of his mark being there…

“Breathe,” Kieran murmured.

My too-tight chest rose as I breathed through the icy heat of eather throbbing in every cell of my being. “I will have to check her.”

Attes nodded. “If she’s still asleep…”

“She could wake when the door opens. She did last time,” I said. “If I go in alone, we’ll have to open the door again. And if she—or he —sees you?”

“We’ll go in with you,” Attes replied. “Give you space while you check her over.”

I rubbed at my chest. “Then let’s do this.”

Attes eyed me for a few more seconds. “There’s just one more thing.”

“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered. “What?”

Attes stared at me, a slight frown pulling at his brow. He looked like he was figuring something out. I could be wrong, though. Honestly, I didn’t really give a fuck as I stalked past him, resisting the urge to bump his shoulder with mine.

“Before we go in,” Attes said, and I stopped in front of the door, closing my eyes. “If Kolis gets control, he will recognize me. And he will know why I’m here. You two need to be prepared for him to fight.”

In other words, be ready for Poppy to fight.

I nodded curtly. “Understood, but… She’s weakened. So is Kolis.”

“That’s good,” Attes said, even though his tone suggested otherwise. “We should get this over with as quickly as possible.”

I took a deep breath to prepare myself and quell the storm brewing inside me. It was futile. A lifetime couldn’t have prepared me to knowingly hurt her. So, I did what I had to do when I bound her wrists. I shut myself down as I unlocked the door and slipped into the role of who I used to be.

The rumored Dark One, the merciless Atlantian capable of doing anything to get what I wanted. Whether that was playing a potential suitor to the Duchess of Goldcrest Manor to earn her trust or cutting down any—guilty or otherwise—who stood between my goal and me.

“Casteel,” Kieran whispered softly, his concern thick in my throat. “I’m going in with you.”

It was a statement.

And a warning.

“Fine.” I cleared my throat as I stared straight ahead. The shit that had gone down between us had no place beyond this door. “I’m going to need your help in there.”

“You have it,” he said, his voice low. “Always.”