“Remember what Seraphena said?”
It took me a moment. “Fuck. I forgot.” I stood. “You asked him?”
“I did.” Poppy’s chin lifted. “It was also…unexpected.”
I didn’t move as she told me how Seraphena had saved my father’s and Jasper’s lives at the Battle of Pompay. But she hadn’t just saved their lives. She had chosen them over her own blood—her son.
Yeah, thatwasunexpected.
I swallowed, my chest knotting. “Did he say if she told him why?”
“I don’t think it had anything to do with me—like she knew your father would eventually be connected to me.” Her nose wrinkled adorably. “Because if it was that, why would she intervene after doing so much to prevent Sotoria from being reborn?”
“You’re right. It wouldn’t make sense.”
“It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“That she did all of that, yet when she intervened for whatever reason she had, she ensured I would become…this.” Poppy’s gaze lowered to the water. “If she hadn’t, Malec would’ve likely been reunited with Isbeth, and she never would’ve gone down the path she did.”
“And you wouldn’t have been born.”
“Neither would you or Kieran,” she said. “Seraphena ended up guaranteeing that I was born, and the Joining could happen.That’swhat’s crazy.”
Fuck.
It was also unnerving. “Sounds like…fate.”
A crease formed between her brows. “It does, but…” she murmured as I pulled my shirt over my head. Her expressionsmoothed out when I dropped the cloth. The tips of her fangs appeared when her gaze drifted over my chest and abdomen.
“You’re distracted.” I undid the flap on my breeches.
Her knee disappeared, but the tip of her rosy breast appeared above the water. It was only for half a second before foam lapped over her skin. Still, lust fisted in my gut.
I’d never been jealous of godsdamn bubbles until then.
“No, I’m not,” she insisted, her stare glued to my hands.
I smirked. “You forgot what you were saying.”
“I did not,” she argued. “Why do—?” She sucked in a sharp breath as I shoved the breeches down.
Raising a brow as I stepped out of them, I looked over at her. She was staring at my cock. “You were saying?”
The tip of her tongue darted out to wet her lower lip. “What?”
Chuckling, I sat on the ledge, swung my legs over the side, and let them drop into the water. “You were saying something before you got distracted by my dick.”
The flush in her skin deepened.
“I love your blushes.”
“Is that why you constantly say stuff to make me blush?”
“Possibly,” I murmured.
She shook her head. “I was about to say I don’t think it was the actual Fates. It seemed like they wanted to prevent my birth.”
