Reaver’s words haunted me as I stood there, my lungs burning. It made sense as I thought about the Rev who’d attacked me. How he’d sung the verse Poppy had heard the night she was attacked in Lockswood and in her dreams.What a pretty poppy.She’d once thought it was the Dark One she’d heard, but later realized it was neither Malik nor me. What if it wasn’t something she’d heard that night as a child?
What if it had been him, already connected to her, whispering while she slept?
And he was finally able to forge a deeper connection.
The breath I’d taken hadn’t gone anywhere because I thought I knew. Understood. This Primal had said it. She would’ve been vulnerable while in stasis, then weakened to save me. It opened her to what had always been there.
I let him in.
Dark, thick, oily anger surged through me, stoking the essence. No sound came from me as fury-fueled eather bled intothe atmosphere, thickening it with palpable tension. The sconces placed every ten feet or so flickered and then went out, plunging the hall into darkness.
“Fuck,” the Primal whispered.
Kieran was beside me in an instant, his hand on my arm. “You need to calm.”
“I’m calm.”
“Bullshit.” Kieran angled his body toward mine. “You’re vibrating with rage. Literally.”
My skin thrummed as if bolts of lightning were dancing across my pores, sending electric shivers through every inch of my body. The sconces on the wall sputtered back to life, their lights flaring wildly.
Attes swore as he stared at me—at the floor. “What in the actual…?”
Faint tendrils of shadow rippled across my feet, slipping around Kieran’s. Shadows streaked with thin strands of crimson.
In the dancing light, Attes slowly lifted his gaze.
Kieran stepped closer to me, bringing his head near mine. “Do you want her to feel this? To wake her, Cas? Because if you keep this up, it will.”
I didn’t want that.
“You need to calm yourself. For her.” Kieran clasped the back of my neck and pressed his forehead to mine. “And you can start by taking a breath. Do it.” His hand squeezed. “Do it for Poppy.”
For Poppy.
I would doanythingfor her.
Twisting my head from side to side, I took a deep breath. The burning in my lungs eased as I pushed the rage down. The light from the sconces steadied, cutting through the shadows sliding along the stone as the energy dissipated from the hall.
“You good?” Kieran asked.
I took another breath. “Good enough.”
Kieran didn’t immediately move. He stayed where he was for a heartbeat or two, then let go and stepped back.
Attes had leaned away slightly, his wide gaze darting between us.
“The Joining,” Kieran sighed, scrubbing his forehead. “It had some unexpected…effects.”
“No shit,” the Primal muttered. “But I’d call that more than aneffect.” Eather crackled through his eyes as his stare bore into me. “That display of essence? It was h—”
“Hers,” I interrupted hoarsely. “It washeressence.”
“It’s his,” he insisted. “But it’s also something…?” He shook his head, shifting his attention to Kieran. “And you?”
“The opposite of his.”
“I…” It looked like a puff of air could’ve knocked Attes over. “I actually don’t even know what to say.”
