“Something happened to Poppy.” I scrambled to my feet, slightly unsteady.
“What?” Kieran rose quickly.
“I don’t know. But I know it did. I can feel it in my bones.” I took a step back. “It’s something bad enough that it affected me.”
“Casteel.” My father was slower to rise. “We felt the quake. Attes told me we would feel that once Kolis was killed. Which means…” He braced himself. “You may be feeling Poppy in stasis.”
“No,” I interrupted. “This doesn’t feel like that.”
“Cas,” Kieran said, stepping in front of me. “I know what you’re thinking, but Poppy’s fine. Neither you nor I would be here if not.”
“Look,” I snarled, lifting my hand. “Look at the imprint. Does it seem different to you?”
Kieran’s warm fingers encircled my wrist. His brow furrowed as he stared. I tasted his icy shock before it skittered across his features. His eyes snapped to mine.
“Fuck,” he whispered hoarsely.
“What?” Panic crept into the single word Delano spoke.
“I need to go to her.” Tearing my hand free, I summoned the essence and focused on an image of Poppy, waiting until I caught her jasmine scent—sweet, earthy, warm, and all her.
I couldn’t find it.
This wasn’t like when I tried to shadowstep earlier and learned I couldn’t. I could feel her then. I just couldn’t open the realm to Pensdurth.
This was different.
My chest turned cold as I lifted my gaze to Kieran’s. “I can’t find her mark.” My voice sounded strange. Guttural. Thin. “I can’t find her, Kieran. I can’tfeelher.”
Panic flashed across his features. “Does that mean she’s not in this realm?”
“I don’t know.” I thrust my hand through my hair. “Why would she leave?”
“Did you feel her absence the last time she left?” Kieran demanded as Delano took several steps back. “When she went to the Continents?”
“I don’t think so. But the Fate—Aydun—was here. His presence could’ve messed with things.” Turning from him, I closed my eyes again, refocused on Poppy, and found…nothing. “Fuck!”
“Okay. We need to stay calm,” my father started.
“Fuck calm.” I spun on him—on them. “I fucking knew I should’ve gone!” My heart slammed into my ribs. “That this was the wrong decision. That we were stronger together. I fucking knew it!”
“Cas.” Kieran stepped forward.
The ground beneath us started to shake, and plumes of dust fell from above. I fisted my hands. If this was like when Rhahar had died, a god—a Primal god—had fallen. One that ruled over a Court.
Fuck.
I couldn’t think of that right now.
“If something happened to her,” I seethed, “if a single hair on her head was touched, I won’t forgive—”
The presence bore down on me at the exact moment Kieran stiffened. Soul-deep, unending coldness settled on my shoulders, stirring the embers of eather. The presence felt heavy and thick, coarse and wrong against my flesh, like cold fingers trailing down my spine. It left a slick feeling behind.
Delano seemed to notice it next, his body tensing.
A shadow crept over the Great Hall, drawing our stares upward. The clouds thickened and spun, their edges tinted in…crimson.
“Kolis,” I growled.
