They collapsed into ash.
Breathing heavily, I stepped back and dipped, reaching for my sword as the essence settled.
“Poppy!” Naill shouted. “Behind you!”
I whirled, finding the elderlygrul. My gaze rose from the bones that jutted out beneath the hem of her sleeping gown to eyes that locked with mine. There it was again. That quick flicker oflightbehind the pupils of her milky-white eyes. Realization slammed into me. I’d seen that gleam before. In the Duke’s eyes. I’d seen it in other Ascended. I had once believed it was just part of who they were, but I knew better now. I knew that when I saw that glint, I wasn’t looking into the eyes of the Duke, Mazeen, or the Duchess. I wasn’t looking into the mindless eyes of agrulright now. I was staring intohiseyes.
Kolis.
Anger swept through me as something else—something darker and deeper, more bitter and burning—choked me.
Thegrulsmiled, its teeth smeared with blood. I rose slowly, and it mirrored me as I saw Casteel stalking toward us, his sword at his side, dripping blood.
“So’lis.” Thegrul’s laugh was dry and brittle like its bones. “I’ll be seeing you soon.”
CHAPTER 28
CASTEEL
It was late, a few hours from dawn, and I was tired. I should be sleeping. Today would be long, but I was lying in bed, thinking about the name of the kingdom.
Solis.
It wasn’t just some mortal word. It was old Atlantian—the language of the gods. Solis was a play onso’lis, a combination of two words that formed a term of endearment used long before my time.
My soul.
Yet another way the Ascended had bastardized our culture when they named their kingdom.
After all, when Solis was formed, Isbeth had been known as Ileana. Perhaps some of the older Atlantians believed the name was rooted in the relationship between her and Jalara. But from my time in their company, I assumed there had never been any real love between them. And after Ileana’s true identity was revealed, my assumptions were proven correct. I figured Isbeth had named the kingdom in honor of Malec. They were heartmates, after all. Taking two words that meantmy souland combining them sort of made sense.
My gaze shifted from the overhead canopy to the back of Poppy’s head.
But I didn’t think the kingdom had been named after Isbeth’s undying love for Malec any longer.
Because I’d heard what thegrulhad said in the seconds before my sword pierced her skull. She had called Poppyso’lis. My soul. And it hadn’t been thegrulspeaking. It was Kolis.
He’d called Poppy his soul.
What he’d done tonight was more than just sending a message or a reminder of his presence and what he was capable of. It was a ploy to draw Poppy into the open to give her a message.
I’ll be seeing you soon.
A chill spread in my chest, and frost invaded my veins. I was calm as I lay there, but beneath the relaxed muscles and even breaths, rage encased in ice coiled, tight and sharp.
She has always been mine.
The Arae had said that Kolis wanted the essence in Poppy—the embers of life and death. But I thought about Reaver’s caginess when it came to what Kolis really wanted from Poppy. How Attes had said she was different—and thewayhe’d said it.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that Kolis wanted her for more than just the essence coursing through her. That it ran deeper than that. My hand fisted as I tried to stop my mind from going to its next conclusion. It was no use, though. My thoughts were already there. Had Kolis developed some sort of twisted obsession with Poppy as he watched her through the eyes of the Ascended? It was possible. But there was something else I couldn’t shake. That the obsession hadn’t started then. That it was older. The clues were there.
Solis.
The uncertainty of Isbeth’s true plans.
The knowledge that both Reaver and Attes seemed to have but were unwilling to share.
But how? How could a being entombed for a millennium be aware of Poppy? It couldn’t only be the prophecy. There had to be more.
