“I’m guessing you two are still fighting.” Reaver bit into the apple with a crunch.
“We’re not,” Poppy insisted.
Kieran sent both of us a curious look. “What are you two fighting about?”
“Nothing,” she answered.
“She saw someone on the Cliffs and decided to pay them a visit,” I said at the same time as she did. “Without waking me.”
“And that someone turned out to be a Revenant,” Attes chimed in as he leaned back once more, crossing his arms. “Possessed by Kolis.”
Kieran tipped forward, his gaze narrowing on her. “What the fuck, Poppy?”
“What?” she shot back as I sipped my whiskey. “I didn’t realize I needed permission.”
“No one said you did.” As I lowered the glass, I kept it out of her reach. I had a feeling she was about to get animated. “But I am confident you promised you wouldn’t run off alone.”
“I do not recall ever making that promise.”
Poppy ignored the look I sent her and picked up the dressing gown’s sash.
“I assume you suspected it was a Revenant,” Kieran surmised. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone out.”
“I did.” Poppy glanced toward the Primal and then me. “I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.”
Had she had a nightmare? Or just woken up naturally? And had she knowingly gone to the glass wall? I didn’t know. But the fact that her movements hadn’t woken me warned me that I needed to feed again, sooner rather than later.
“That’s when I saw someone out there,” she continued. “And I think—no, I know—Kolis has been keeping an eye on…us, using the Revenants.”
Attes’s head tilted. “You haven’t cleared the city of them?”
“We believed we had.” My arm tightened around Poppy as she moved to stand. Her disgruntled, barely audible growl tugged at my lips. “But in case you haven’t noticed, the city is enormous, with countless places to hide.”
“You should find those places fast,” he advised, his attention returning to Poppy. He blinked several times. “They are weaknesses.”
I swallowed theno shit, and felt I deserved a pat on the back for doing so.
“We know,” Kieran said, his stare drilling into Poppy’s profile.
Poppy exhaled loudly. “I didn’t want to wake you,” she said, peeking at me. “I didn’t see any reason to when I knew I could handle a Revenant—”
“But that wasn’t just a Revenant. So—” Attes inhaled sharply as I cut my stare to him. So did Poppy. The ticking in his temple increased. “It was Kolis using a Revenant, Penellaphe.”
She stared back at him. “I know. I wanted to warn him to stop watching.” Her back relaxed a little. “And you can call me Poppy.”
Fuck if I agreed with that.
Especially when the fucker smiled at her.
“You talked to him, then?” Kieran sat back, his hand balling into a fist on the table. “Did he say anything?”
“Nothing of value.” She tilted her head, sending waves of deep-red hair falling forward while I concentrated on not losing my shit. “To be honest, he sounded…unhinged.” Her fingers began twisting the sash, and then she lifted her chin. “You knew him, right?”
Attes’s stare slid past her as Reaver finished the apple and picked up another. “Unfortunately.”
“Is he…unstable?”
The Primal’s laugh was dry. “Yes. No? It all depends on what he’s dealing with.”
