Poppy’s head snapped toward me.
Attes dragged his stare from her and lifted his brows. “Yes?”
“Why do you keep staring at my wife?”
Reaver’s head snapped up, the essence pulsing behind his slanted pupils.
“It’s okay.” Poppy touched my arm. “I saw him before.”
“You did?” Kieran asked. “When you were under Kolis’s influence?”
“No. When I was asleep.”
I slowly turned my neck to her as Kieran’s brows rose.
“Not like that,” she quickly added. “When I was in stasis.”
Attes’s eyes widened.
“Only briefly, though,” she added.
I figured it had to do with her past—perhaps some buried part of her that remembered her time as Sotoria. “That didn’t answer my question.”
“I will never hurt her,” Attes said. “If that is what you think.”
That wasnotwhat I was thinking.
The Primal’s stare returned to her. “I’m sorry, it’s just that she…”
“Looks like Sotoria?” Poppy finished for him. He nodded. “And you knew me?” she added.
The muscle in Attes’s temple was back to ticking. “Yeah, I did.”
I focused on the feel of Poppy’s hand on the center of my chest, right next to the ring. “And what type of relationship did you have with her?”
“Casteel,” Poppy hissed, her cheeks flaming.
“No, he has every right to ask that question.” Attes dragged a hand over his face, then dropped it. His eyes met mine. “We were friends. That was all we ever were.”
Just friends.
I didn’t believe that for a second.
