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Conflicted and torn between her feelings of betrayal and what she feels for Hawke, whom she now knows is a Prince, Poppy decides to make a run for it. However, she doesn’t get far, and her lust ultimately wins out in the end—I mean, doesn’t it usually? But even with that and realizing she loves him, she knows she cannot trust him—or at least she shouldn’t. And his dark side, while exciting and something that calls to her need for vengeance and meshes with her propensity to kill without hesitation at times, is a bit disturbing.
As I’ve said before, someone’s shadow self is not the be-all, end-all of whether a person is good or not. It’s who they are in their hearts and souls that determines whether they can be trusted.
When it’s revealed that she’s not entirely mortal and Casteel tells her that they are headed to Atlantia to be married, she refuses. She firmly believes that she’s not safe with him and his people and has no doubt she’ll eventually be ransomed. So, she makes a plan to escape and find her brother. If what she’s been told about the Ascended is true, then Ian may be a monster, which means she’ll have to kill him. But she won’t know until she finds him.
Once again, she doesn’t get far. Casteel and Kieran stop her, and Cas gives her an ultimatum: Fight me and win, and I’ll set you free. Unfortunately, before she can do more than make Casteel bleed, the Craven attack.
With the dastardly creatures taken care of, they settle in for the night, and Casteel reveals more information. The Ascended had no intention of following through with Poppy’s Ascension. It would taint her coveted blood, which they need for their nefarious plans. And Ian most likely is not her biological brother. He also tells her what the Ascended did to him, a story that horrifies her, and explains his motivations for wanting to marry her: to prevent war, save his brother, Malik, and solve scarcity issues regarding food and land for his people, while allowing her to be free. Win-win. She realizes that his plan has merit and is likely the safest course of action. Plus, there’s that little matter of her attraction to him. We must not forget that.
When Alastir—whom she only knows as a trusted wolven ally—shares information about his daughter and assures her he’ll help in whatever way he can if she feels she’s being forced, her comfort level rises. But when she learns that Casteel is to become King, she wonders if she’s really important to him despite everything that’s happened or if she’s just another pawn in the long game.
Doubts swirling, her gifts and senses continue to grow and heighten. She begins feeling shocks when she touches both Kieran and Casteel. In discussing the different Atlantian bloodlines, Cas reveals that he believes Poppy is descended from the Empath warrior line, and Alastir imparts later that they were sometimes called Soul Eaters.
When the Ascended finally track her down and attack, taking a child hostage, she surrenders herself to save the innocents and asks to be taken to her Queen. Lord Chaney has other plans, however. He confirms that she has Atlantian blood and attacks, full of bloodlust. Luckily, Casteel comes to the rescue and gives her his blood again to help her heal. The closeness and his essence in her help their relationship grow, and Cas finally asks her to pretend. I’m Hawke, and you’re Poppy. No past, no future.
She does, giving herself to him and reveling in it.
As their journey to Casteel’s home continues, despite the danger and hardships, Poppy soaks in all she can about Atlantian culture and the pasts of those she’s coming to care about. She learns about Kieran’s bond with Casteel and that he once loved and lost, as well as about Casteel’s brother Malik, and Shea. And then she finds out about the Joining from Alastir.
When they reach Spessa’s End, Poppy meets even more of those close to Casteel and Kieran and displays her burgeoning powers by healing Beckett—a young wolven—after an accident.
While she still wonders if Cas will cast her aside once he’s accomplished what he wants, she realizes she’s done denying herself and gives herself to Casteel once more without reservation. He’s the first thing she has chosen for herself, and she’s unwilling to let that go. However, while she loves him, that doesn’t mean he loves her.
They go through with the wedding and seemingly receive Nyktos’s blessing on the union, but Poppy wonders if it’s more of an omen.
It’s revealed that Poppy is related to the Queen, and that Ileana isn’t actually Ascended—something that explains some things Poppy always wondered about. And during another fight, Poppy’s gifts morph further, allowing her to project overwhelming fear to assist in victory, somehow also calling to the wolven without meaning to while in distress.
I wouldn’t mind a wolven coming to me. But I guarantee there would be no distress involved.
As they deal with continued threats, more signs of the gods’ acceptance appear—Nyktos’s blessing at the wedding, Aios saving Poppy from walking off a cliff, the voices in her dreams with advice and warnings—Casteel tells her that he thinks they like her. But that doesn’t mean everyone does. A bunch of the citizens of Atlantia attack, attempting to stone her, insisting that she’s a Soul Eater and has tainted both the Prince and the kingdom. Poppy’s gifts flare to life once more in defense, reflecting their hatred back on them threefold, killing them all in the process. And where her blood falls…blood trees appear, a sign of her connection to the gods.
As if there was any doubt.
The attack also strengthens her tether to the wolven, summoning them en masse once more and urging them to protect her. When the Queen and King arrive, Queen Eloana reveals that Poppy is the last descendant of the most ancient ones and carries the blood of Nyktos within her. She then relinquishes her crown and declares that Poppy is Atlantia’s new Queen.
With the wolven continuing to act out of character, Poppy is told that she severed their bonds to their Atlantians without meaning to and that they feel her Primal notam. She remembers Kieran telling her about the kiyou wolves and how deity blood would usurp any claim to the throne an Atlantian may have. Is she a deity?
The hum in her blood from her magic ramps up, and Cas reveals that she has started to glow when she uses her power. Not a lot, but like spun silver. She then learns about the eather—the Primal essence of the gods.
Additional threats surface, and the Unseen attack, taking her prisoner. During the battle, she hears the voice of who she believes is the silver-haired goddess from her dreams and sees skeletal hands emerging from the earth.
While in the dungeon, she’s reunited with an old acquaintance—Commander Jansen—learns about shadowshade and the bones of the Ancients, and sees a rare changeling who can take the form of another person. She also learns that Alastir betrayed her, and that Beckett, the wolven she healed, is dead. It makes her sad. In addition, she’s made aware of the gods and deities, the Shadowlands, and Iliseeum as a whole. She also learns that all entombed where she’s being kept were deities that became monsters because the Elemental Atlantians rose against them. Those holding her insist that she’s dangerous and must be stopped because she has entered her Culling and will start showing the same chaotic tendencies as those before her.
And then she finds out about Malec, and Alastir tells her that O’Meer is her father. She also hears the prophecy for the first time, is told that she is the one her namesake warned about, and realizes that Alastir was behind the attack at Lockswood when she was a child.
So much to take in, in such a short time.
When Alastir tells her that he’d rather go to war than have her unleashed on his people and spirits her away to Irelone to be given to the Ascended, she worries it’s the end. But Valyn, Casteel, Kieran, Jasper, Delano, Emil, and Naill come to save her.
During the battle following her rescue, she opens her senses and unleashes her power, prepared to end everyone, but stops herself at the last minute, insisting she’s not a monster. But she does stop Casteel from delivering the killing blow to Jansen, following through with her promise to kill him.
Honestly, I would have done the same.
In the melee, she’s shot with a crossbow bolt, and as she lay wounded and bleeding out, a storm rages, deforming the trees around her. Blood trees sprout, starting with gold buds that unfurl to reveal blood-red leaves, and the roots gather around her like a shield. When Kieran rips the bolt free, she realizes she’s dying and that Cas plans to Ascend her.
Luckily, Casteel brings her back. During her Ascension, she has another vision of a woman with pale, moonlight-colored hair who looks like her. The female cries a blood-red tear and speaks to Poppy before disappearing.
When Poppy wakes, she’s starving and pounces on Kieran but is quickly redirected to Casteel. Her need for blood quickly turns sexual, and things get hot and heavy—yes, I saw this in my visions. No, I don’t feel guilty for being a voyeur. It was a pivotal moment. Because, afterward, Cas tells her that he loves her, and she says it to him, as well—for the first time.
