Page 74 of The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash #6)

Poppy rolled onto her side to face me. Her shaky breath teased the skin of my chest. “Yeah. They seem to be used to one another. He was the very first viktor . Like all the others were modeled after him.”

I frowned. “How old is he?”

She laughed. “He has to be old .” She paused and idly traced her fingertips across my biceps. “He knew we got married.”

“I’m sure he had great things to say about that.”

Her lips curled into a smile against my skin. “He said he knew you loved me.”

“He always was observant,” I remarked, remembering my interactions with the grouchy bastard. The only thing we even remotely saw eye to eye on was Poppy’s safety. And even then, we weren’t always on the same page. “I’m glad you got to see him.”

“Me, too. It’s not so hard now to picture him instead of seeing him… Instead of only being able to see him as he was the last time I saw him.” She shifted, brushing against my semi-aroused erection. “He apologized.”

I willed my dick to behave itself. “For what?”

“For not intervening when it came to the Duke.”

The mention of that fucker was the quickest way to get my dick under control. “Good.”

She pulled back and lifted her head. “Cas—”

“The Duke’s time ran out the moment I discovered what he was doing to you.” I could hear the coldness in my tone as I looked down at her. “Vikter did nothing to stop him.”

“He couldn’t,” Poppy argued. “Even if he wasn’t a viktor ,” she continued, “he wouldn’t have been able to do much. He would’ve ended up reassigned or worse if he said anything.”

The muscle along my jaw flexed as I ordered myself to keep my fucking mouth shut. This was something we fundamentally disagreed on, and neither of us would be able to change the other’s mind.

“I know it’s hard to understand, but I don’t blame him. I never did,” she told me. “If I hadn’t had him, I wouldn’t be here.”

“You would’ve made it.” My gaze returned to hers. “With or without training, you would’ve survived.”

“I wasn’t talking about that.” She swallowed. “After Ian left, all I had was Tawny, Vikter, and then Rylan.”

My gaze moved away from her. It wasn’t from remorse—I’d have that guard slaughtered all over again to clear my path to her—but it was guilt because his death had hurt her.

Poppy stretched her body up to press a kiss to my cheek. “Without them, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

I turned my head and brushed my lips over her forehead. “I do. You’re stronger than you realize. You always have been.”

She smiled as my breath stirred the hair on the crown of her head. “I told Vikter you took care of the Duke. He already knew.” She paused. “He made it sound like you did more than what I saw, though.”

I smirked at the memory. “I broke every bone in that fucker’s body. Slowly.”

“I wish I could’ve seen that.”

A grin tugged at my lips. “My Queen is quite bloodthirsty,” I murmured, running my hand up her back.

She then told me about the Ancients she’d met—the so-called Fates.

“They were mostly unhelpful. And to be honest, I’m not even sure why they wanted to speak with me.

It’s not like I didn’t already know that Kolis must be stopped,” she muttered.

“But I don’t think they expected what happened with you and Kieran. ”

“Agreed.” I drew idle circles on her back with my fingers. “Aydun seemed surprised.”

“I was…” She exhaled slowly. “The Ancients dreamed about me. I’m what they prophesied.”

It took a lot for me not to scream bullshit, but yeah, none of us could afford to lie to ourselves.

“It’s strange, you know? What the Ancients dreamed and what they didn’t. Like they didn’t see the Joining and what would come of that.” A slight crease formed between her brows. “Or maybe they did and didn’t understand what it meant or know how to communicate it properly.”

“Was anything about that prophecy communicated properly?” I asked dryly.

She laughed softly. “No, but… I started to remember things I saw while in stasis.”

“Like what?” I asked, my chest turning cold.

I worried it had something to do with Kolis, but what she told me wasn’t anything I expected. She saw the beginning of everything while in stasis. I had no idea what to say to that, but I relaxed. Right or wrong, no part of me wanted her to remember her time when Kolis was connected to her.

“And I have this feeling that I know something about the prophecy—that I’m wrong about something.” Her nose was doing that scrunching thing again, and then she face-planted my chest. “Anytime I think about the prophecy, it makes me want to scream.”

“I second that.” I worked my leg between hers. “What was it like? The other realm?”

“It’s called the Continents, and it was…strange,” she said after a moment. “There were so many people, and none sounded or dressed like us. I saw women in pants barely reaching their knees and tops showing their stomachs.”

“Sounds like a magical place.”

She smacked my arm lightly, and my lips curved upward. “The buildings were as tall as mountains, made of steel and glass. And there were so many of them.”

I tried to envision it and came up with nothing. “What else?”

Poppy then told me about the metal carriages and boats that transported them and people, the steel contraptions that flew in the air, and a statue that had stood proudly on a small island.

Had being the keyword.

None of it sounded believable, but I knew she spoke the truth.

“I think when I felt the…unease, it was the first Ancient stirring. And then when I felt the pain, it was him waking up in another part of the Continents.” Her fingers stilled on my arm.

“Thorne—one of the Ancients—said the Continents are several times larger than our realm. Or were.” She paused, clearing her throat as her tangy sorrow reached me.

“Anyway, when I first arrived, I could hear voices coming from these small things people carried in their hands. I have no idea what they were, but I don’t believe it was magic.

I don’t think there was much of that there,” she added.

“But the voices spoke of a catastrophic eruption. I think that’s what I felt at first. And it matches what I saw while in stasis.

I actually saw it when it happened. I think that’s how great the death and destruction were. Actually, I know it is.”

She leaned back a bit, putting a little distance between us—enough that if I looked down, I would see her lovely breasts. That would do nothing to aid me in concentrating on what she was saying. And she needed my attention right now. Not my cock.

“It was…there was so much death. And they—” Poppy moved suddenly, and I reluctantly let go. My arm fell to the bed as she sat up and tugged her sleeping gown up—much to my disappointment.

Drawing her knees to her chest, she wrapped her arms around her legs. “Holland wouldn’t let me do anything to stop it, and they refused to aid the Continents.”

“Did they have a reason?”

“A good one? No.” She tipped her head to the side, sending the section of her still-braided hair across her back.

“They said it was because everyone in the city would die no matter what, and…” A heavy breath shuddered through her.

“I know that’s true. It was like the ground itself had cracked open to its core.

Very little—if anything—could survive that. ”

I placed my hand on her lower back, repeating what I said before. “I hate that you had to see that, Poppy.”

She gave me a brief, hollow smile. “But people did survive. Not there, but in other places. Thorne made it sound like death might be a better outcome. Like the Awakened Ancients would not treat them fairly. And they won’t. Not when they Awakened as…”

“Unia eta eram,” I said.

Poppy looked over at me. “Ruin and wrath.”

“Aydun told me.” I sat beside her, my thoughts going back to what he’d said. “He claimed they likely wouldn’t cross the Veil now, but others are asleep in our realm.”

“Yeah.” Poppy dropped her chin to her knees. “They told me they weren’t a concern right now, though.”

My gaze drifted over her profile. “Aydun said something similar.”

She tilted her head toward me. “Similar?”

Drawing my lower lip between my teeth, I debated what to tell her.

It wasn’t like I wanted to keep this shit from her; more that I wasn’t entirely sure I trusted everything Aydun had said.

A whole lot about him made me wary. “He mentioned the prophecy. Said Kolis was the Great Conspirator and that you were the Harbinger, the Bringer of Death and Destruction.”

Poppy went completely still beside me, causing my heart to lodge in my throat. “Death and Destruction,” she whispered. “Bone and Ash.”