“You…can’t.” Her fingers were leaving indents in her flesh. “He can.”
I stiffened.
“Poppy,” Kieran whispered.
His voice. I’d only heard him sound that thin and broken once before. Right before Elashya took her last breath.
Poppy pitched forward before rocking back. “You…you promised.”
That vise tightened as I tore my gaze from her. My hands clenched at my sides again. “What is she talking about, Kieran?”
His eyes closed, and he shook his head.
“You…promised me,” she rasped.
“Don’t,” he whispered hoarsely, his eyes opening. The glow of eather was bright behind his pupils. “Don’t, Poppy.”
Her head jerked back as she slammed her palms onto the floor. “You promised me, Kieran!”
I couldn’t feel my hands. “What promise did you make to her?”
“There’s something…inme,” she cried, her tone slicing my heart into pieces. “It wants me to hurt him. Hurt all of you. Don’t…don’t let me do that.”
“You won’t.” Kieran stepped forward, the veins under his eyes beginning to fill with eather.
“What in the…?” Reaver’s whisper faded as he stared at Kieran. “Both of you?”
“You won’t,” Kieran repeated, ignoring Reaver. “You can fight this. You’re strong enough. We will figure something out.”
“Listen…to me.” She leaned forward onto one hand, gasping as a wave of silvery-gold and midnight rolled over her upper chest. “I’m sorry. I’msorry, but… You…you know what you have to do.”
Kieran staggered.
Hestaggered.
And that terrified me. Eather swelled within me, charging the air as I shouted, “What did you promise her?”
Kieran’s eyes slammed shut again.
I stepped toward him, feeling the stone tile vibrate beneath my feet. “I swear to the gods, if you don’t answer me…”
“To stop her,” he uttered. “I promised to stop her if she ever lost control.”
My entire realm seemed to grind to a halt as I stared at him. “How?”
Kieran’s eyes opened, and his head turned to mine. Streaks of gold and silver churned in his vivid-blue eyes. “By putting her in the ground.”
“Oh, fuck,” Reaver muttered.
I knew what that meant as I staggered back a step, my knees feeling like they’d buckle under the weight of the betrayal.
He was talking about putting her into a deep stasis. The kind that would require Poppy to be weakened to the point where her mind retreated into itself, and her body gave up. The kind the gods had just woken from. A stasis that didn’t last days or even months.
But years.
Centuries.
Six words.
