Swallowing a shriek at the new voice, I sprang to my feet and spun around.
A fair-haired man stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows, his hands clasped behind his back.
“What the…?” I pressed my hand to my chest, my stomach clenching as I took in his all-white attire.
“You could’ve used the door, Lirian,” Vikter said. “You know, like a normal person?”
“What’s the fun in that?”
“Fun?” My heart felt like it might come out of my chest as I stared at what I instinctually knew was a Fate—an Ancient. And I knew it without sensing him. The fact that I didn’t sense his arrival was more than a little concerning. “I felt Holland when he arrived while we were…beyond the Veil. I didn’t feel you.”
“Your connection to the essence is severed here. Your powers are bound.”
My eyes darted between him and Vikter, then narrowed. “You bound my powers?”
“Not just me,” he stated, looking over his shoulder at me, revealing the deep-russet-colored pattern on his face. His eyes were a multitude of colors like mine, except there were no traces of shadows in his, nor had there been any in Holland’s. “All of us used our will to do so.”
I stiffened. “The…entirety of the Arae are using their will against me? I don’t know if I should be flattered that it took all of you or just angry.”
“It’s only a precaution.” Lirian faced me then. With his unblemished skin and broad cheekbones, the Fate was beautiful, but there was something off about his perfectly symmetrical features. Something missing. “You don’t know what you’re capable of, and you’re also known to have quite the temper.”
“You know what I’mnotcapable of?” I snapped, my anger resurfacing. “Destroying an entire realm. But you know what can?” I stared pointedly at him, wanting him to know I knew exactly what he was. “You.”
Lirian didn’t respond for some moments, the silence stretching my nerves as he held my gaze. “Vikter?”
He sighed and turned to me. “It’s time for me to leave.”
“No,” I said, not ready to say goodbye…and partly because I worried that I might prove his comments about my temper true if I were left alone with Lirian. “You can stay.”
“I can’t,” Vikter said quietly and approached.
“Yes. You can.” I took a step back, not wanting him to get close enough to say goodbye. “I need you here.”
The smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes was genuine but also sad, forcing me to take another step back. “You don’t need me anymore, Poppy.”
What felt like a clawed hand reaching into my chest and shredding my heart stole my breath. The back of my throat burned. “That’s not true.”
He reclaimed the step I took. “I’ve done all I can to prepare you—”
“I’m not talking about that!” My breath snagged again as the burn made it to my eyes.
“I know.” He reached out and cupped my cheek.
A knot fisted in the pit of my stomach as my hands clenched at my sides. In the back of my mind, I recognized the futility of my protests. Anxiety surged, making it feel like my skin was trying to separate itself from my body. I attempted to keep the desperate words to myself but couldn’t. “Please don’t leave me again,” I whispered, not caring that anyone was watching. “Please.”
“Poppy.” Vikter’s voice trembled as he dropped his forehead to mine. “I have never left you. You have to realize that now.”
“It’s not the same.”
“That doesn’t change the facts, though. It does not make the truth a lie.”
Feeling tears welling up, I wanted to throw myself on the floor like a small child and rage. Instead, I closed my eyes and focused on taking a deep breath and letting go for a moment. “Will I see you again?”
“I cannot answer that.”
I knew who could. Pulling back, I started to turn to Lirian, but Vikter stopped me. “He cannot tell you either.”
“He has to know,” I argued.
