Page 38 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

A low rumble radiated from Reaver’s chest. “And here I thought the wolf was the most annoying creature I’ve had to deal with. I was wrong.”

“Thanks for sharing.” I stepped back, gripping the door as the need to return to Poppy’s side rode me hard. “Now, if you’ll excuse me—”

“No. You’re not excused.” Reaver caught the door with his hand, his gaze flicking over my shoulder. “We need her awake.”

A wave of prickly anger swept up my spine. “Why don’t you finish that sentence? You need her awake for your own personal reasons.”

“Correct,” he said without even a hint of remorse.

“And that personal reason has a name. Jadis.” Those slitted pupils thinned.

“I’m not the only one who needs her freed, Casteel.

Or have you forgotten that she has a father, who also happens to be the first draken ever created?

One who gave his blood to help break Kolis’s hold on Poppy.

One who will not hesitate to adjust your attitude. ”

My skin heated as pinpricks of sharp pain erupted across my fingertips. “I haven’t forgotten.”

His upper lip curled as he glared. “Then…what? You just don’t care?”

“I have a feeling you’re not going to like my answer, so I’m going to remain silent on that.”

Wisps of smoke drifted from his flared nostrils. The draken looked like he was about to blow a gasket. Several seconds passed, and my patience waned with each one.

“She has been held in captivity for two centuries,” he said in a low voice. “You, of all people, should know what that means.”

I did.

And I really wasn’t going to take a walk down that memory lane for shits and giggles.

I was already angry enough.

“Only the gods know what has been done to her,” he said, briefly closing his eyes. “But for her to be in the state she is in now, it can’t have been good.”

Knowing the Blood Queen the way I did, he would be one hundred percent right on that assumption. In fact, Reaver likely couldn’t even imagine what had been done to the female draken, and I wasn’t that much of a dick to tell him that. Then again, I probably didn’t need to say anything.

But I wasn’t sure what Reaver expected right now. Because it was two days later, and Poppy was still unconscious.

She hadn’t woken once since we left Attes in the cell, and I carried her back to the chamber we’d been in since the new quarters weren’t ready yet. And, as Attes had warned, she had fallen into an even deeper stasis.

This time was nothing like when she first slept.

“—need Jadis to wake,” Reaver was saying. “I need to know that she is—”

“I really do not give a fuck about what you need at the moment,” I cut him off, my grip on the side of the door tightening. Wood splintered, drawing Reaver’s gaze. “All I care about is Poppy.”

“Yeah. That much is obvious,” the draken sneered. Chips of wood fell to the stone floor as my flesh began doing that humming thing again. “Did you know there were more Ascended found dead this morning? Drained of their blood?”

I knew.

Emil had updated me. Eight more. Kolis had gotten in like he had before, unseen.

“Got nothing to say?” Reaver spat. “This realm is shit out of luck with a King who can’t even bring himself to rule the kingdom he just conquered and instead has the Crown’s Advisor doing so.”

A cold, cutting laugh scraped its way up my throat as more flakes of wood drifted to the floor. “You’re going to think less of me as a King when I say I don’t—”

“Give a fuck? No need to say it. That much is evident.” He glanced at the door again, and his eyes were narrowed when they returned to me. “Don’t even think about shifting on me. Whatever the fuck you are now won’t win that fight.”

I followed his stare, not surprised to see that sharp claws had replaced my fingernails. I slowly returned my gaze to the draken. “Didn’t seem like that when we went at it before, now did it? You want to put it to a test?”

His pupils contracted once more. “What I want is for you to wake your wife up,” he hissed. “I did my part. I got Attes. He did his part. He broke the connection between her and Kolis. Now, it’s your turn.”

“Exactly how do you propose I make that happen?” Shimmery ice crawled up my throat.

“Because I have tried everything, you fuck. I’ve held her.

I’ve talked to her. I’ve begged her. I’ve tried to find her in dreams. I’ve even yelled at her,” I spat, ashamed to even admit that I had yelled at her sleeping form in desperation. “ Nothing has worked.”

“Have you tried not getting yourself nearly killed?”

I went completely still.

Reaver smirked.

I snapped.

There was no other way to describe it. I moved before I realized I was doing it. In one heartbeat, I had Reaver against the wall, my hand around his throat. “What did you say?”

“The truth.”

A growl peeled my lips back as the vibrating in my veins hit my flesh. I lifted him, fangs bared.

Through strands of blond hair, the draken’s eyes narrowed. “Careful with those claws,” he warned softly as the sound of footsteps drew near. “You saw what can happen if you draw a draken’s blood.”

“Nah,” I drawled. “I think I’m going to thoroughly enjoy it.”

“You have no idea how badly I want to see you proved wrong.” Reaver gripped my arm. He tried to move it and failed. “But if you end up with another missing finger,”—he paused—“or a missing hand, meyaah Liessa will be upset.”

“She’ll get over it,” I said, my grip tightening on his throat until I felt his flesh hardening beneath my hand.

“She needs to wake up first,” he retorted.

Muscles tensing, I tasted ash in my throat. There was a good chance I was about to do that unfortunate thing I was trying to prevent.

“Look, I get it. You’re angry. You’re worried Kolis will find a way to get back inside her.

You feel helpless and desperate. You would do anything for Poppy to wake up.

I get it ,” Reaver choked out. “Because I feel the same as you do. I’d do anything for Jadis to wake.

But the difference is, I’ve spent a lot longer with that desperation. ”

My jaw clenched. If that was true, then his repeated visits since he’d found Jadis were born of the same fruitless desperation as my yelling at Poppy was.

“What in the…?” My brother’s voice exploded from the end of the hall.

Reaver lifted his other hand, telling Malik to stay back. “Everything’s fine.”

“No,” I stated. “It is not.”

The draken’s eyes rolled.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but, Cas, you need to put the draken down,” Malik said, his voice low-pitched and steady as if he were speaking to a feral animal about to attack. “And you need to put him down gently .”

“I will if he swears not to come near this chamber again,” I said, not taking my eyes off Reaver.

The draken said nothing.

Malik drew closer. “Do I need to get Kieran?”

“No,” both Reaver and I answered at the same time. But the draken continued. “Someone has to handle the business of running a kingdom.”

I growled, and the sound was distinctively…feline.

“Besides, I was about to leave,” Reaver tacked on.

Bull. Shit.

The draken smirked at me.

My grip tightened until I saw a flicker of pain in his slitted eyes.

“Let him go,” Malik urged. “He can’t leave unless you do, and that’s what you want.”

I didn’t want to let him go. In fact, I wanted to see him bleed.

Malik cursed under his breath. “Cas,” he said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “You should be with Poppy.”

My head snapped in his direction, and whatever my brother saw in my face had him dropping his hand and taking a step back. He got an eyeful of my fangs, too.

Malik’s shoulders tensed. “She needs you.”

The only other person—besides Poppy—in this realm or beyond, who could’ve gotten through to me would’ve been Kieran. At least at one time.

But those three words…

Fuck.

I released Reaver, forcing myself to take several slow, measured steps away. Both sides of his neck were red. “Leave and do not come back.”

The draken looked like he wanted to put me through a wall, but he turned and started walking, then stopped and looked over his shoulder. “The next time you do something like that, I will not hold myself back.”

I lifted a hand and extended my middle finger.

Muttering under his breath, Reaver stalked down the hall, shaking his head.

Blissful silence followed.

“Cas,” Malik started.

Of course, it did not last. I turned back to the chamber, my gaze immediately going to Poppy.

“I’m not sure if you realize this or not,” Malik went on, ignoring me, “but you were just holding a draken in the air with one arm.”

From where I stood, I could see her chest moving steadily. Barely. I left the door ajar and turned to my brother. “I’m aware.”

“No one, not even a god, should be able to do that.” Malik watched me closely. “But things are different now. You’ve changed.” He paused. “So has Kieran.”

Yes, things had changed. Things continued to change when Poppy reentered stasis.

Malik’s features hardened. “You haven’t told me what was really going down with Poppy when you had her in that cell.”

And I didn’t plan to.

All he needed to know was what we’d told all the necessary parties. Kolis was very much active among us, even if he could not be seen, and the Ascended needed to be protected .

“And you’re still not going to tell me anything about what’s going on with you,” he finished.

I sighed. “I’ve told you everything I know. I don’t know what any of these changes mean. And that’s not a lie.”

The look on his face wasn’t what told me he didn’t believe me. It was the bitter taste of his distrust. I wasn’t sure what I could do to change that. And at the moment, I honestly didn’t have any fucks to give concerning it.

Malik’s gaze lowered, and his jaw tightened as he stared at the new scar on my chest. The wound caused by the bone dagger was no longer charred, and it was completely healed, but the mark remained. His jaw flexed. “You could’ve died.”

“I didn’t.”

“Doesn’t change that you could have.” A moment passed. “What did Reaver want, by the way?”