Page 39 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

“For Poppy to wake up.” My gaze drifted back to the space between the door and the wall. “But I’m sure you already knew that.”

“I did,” he said, which made me wonder why the fuck he’d bothered asking. “He’s just worried about that female draken, Cas.”

“I know.” I glanced at my brother. He was still watching me intently. “Are those two related or something?”

Malik shook his head. “From what I know, Reaver was raised with her, but they aren’t related.”

Huh. Based on what Reaver had said when I had him by the throat, I figured they were either bound by blood or the heart.

“Our father is restless,” Malik started. “And worried because he doesn’t know what’s going on with you or Poppy.”

My father’s concern was understandable, considering I still refused to allow him or any of the generals or guards—outside of Hisa—to step one foot inside Wayfair.

“He’s not going to hurt her,” Malik said.

Sighing, I straightened my arms. This wasn’t the first time we’d had this conversation. “I know, because I won’t allow it.”

Malik was quiet for a moment. “You know, at first, I thought you were just being overprotective.”

In my opinion, there was no such thing as being overprotective when it came to Poppy.

“But I’m not so sure now.”

Eyeing the end of the wide hall, I said nothing to that. I could hear the soft, rhythmic pattern of muffled steps—a wolven prowling the nearby corridors. If I concentrated, I could…

“You really cannot think that he would seek to harm your wife,” my brother said. And there went any hope of concentrating. “Who also happens to be the godsdamn granddaughter of the true Primal of Life and a Primal of Death,” he said. “Our father is many things, but idiotic isn’t one of them.”

“I don’t think he would,” I admitted, exhaling roughly. “I just…” I trailed off and shook my head.

I didn’t want anyone to know that Poppy was in such a vulnerable state. That hadn’t changed. It had been hard enough to allow Tawny to see her in the state she was in.

Not that I’d had much choice.

She had shown up hours after we returned to the chamber, beating on the door with enough force that I’d actually thought she might crack the wood.

But if Poppy didn’t know herself again upon waking? If Kolis had reconnected with her? No one else needed to discover that.

Turning back to him, I faced my brother and really looked at him.

I’d only seen him once since we’d stood outside the cell, and that had only been for long enough to speak about how Kolis could feed from the Ascended.

We hadn’t even talked about Attes. I didn’t know if he’d spoken to our father about our great-what-the-fuck-ever-grandfather.

But he still looked like shit. The shadows under his eyes were deeper, and his loose, golden-brown hair didn’t hide that his face was thinner.

“You can’t keep avoiding him,” Malik said.

I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh. “That’s rich coming from you.”

His features locked down, but I could tell my remark had struck a nerve. Not because I knew him so well—I couldn’t say that about my brother anymore—but because I tasted his emotion, the acidic anger.

“I wasn’t avoiding my family,” Malik stated. “Not in the way you’re insinuating.”

“That’s not what I was saying.”

The burn of his anger turned icy. “Bullshit.”

“It’s not.” Swallowing a curse, I rubbed at my chest. “I was more so thinking about how you would avoid Father when it came time for your royal lessons.”

Malik’s narrowed gaze remained on me for a moment, and then he looked down. His anger had faded, but I could tell he didn’t entirely believe me. I was speaking the truth.

After a moment, he cleared his throat. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want the responsibility.”

“I know.” And I did. “It was just that you were exceptionally skilled at not being where you were supposed to be.”

A slight curl of his lips formed. “Meanwhile, you were always where you were supposed to be and then some.” He brushed a strand of light-brown hair back from his face. “Times sure have changed.”

That they had.

He hadn’t been able to sit still for any real length of time, always surrounded himself with others, and was known for being a notorious prankster.

While being holed up in a room with Father or Alastir drove him mad, Malik had wanted to rule when his time came.

I, on the other hand, had been reserved, rather studious, and often on the receiving end of his pranks.

Ruling had never appealed to me. My interests geared more toward agriculture and architecture.

We were opposites. My brother had been born a leader, and I a warrior.

But we were entirely different people back then. Mostly. That realization didn’t settle like lead in my chest like it used to. My eyes strayed to the bedchamber, and I knew why it no longer affected me so deeply. All the changes I’d gone through had led me to Poppy.

I faced my brother and took a deep breath. “Have you been feeding?”

His brows pulled together. “Yes.”

“You’re lying.”

“Have you been feeding?” he fired back.

“I haven’t needed to,” I replied, crossing my arms as surprise flickered across his face. “But you clearly haven’t.”

A muscle twitched in his temple, and Attes’s image flashed in my mind. “I didn’t come here to talk to you about my feeding habits.”

“Why did you come?”

“Two things,” he answered. “We finally finished searching the Shadow Temple.”

One of the first things I’d ordered was for one of our generals and their guards to watch the Shadow Temple, figuring that was where a Primal of Death would go. So far, there was no sign of him.

Malik reached inside the inner pocket of his tunic and pulled out a slip of folded parchment, offering it to me. “And we received a message from Pensdurth.”

Before I even took the letter, I knew I wouldn’t like what I read. The metallic scent clinging to the fine rag paper made from linen told me as much.

Blood.

Stale, dried blood.