He turned instantly, hands on her cheeks, eyes burning.
“You fainted in the leyline chamber. You trembled. Your qi recoiled! I am not fine, and you are not fine. Nothing about any of this is remotely fine—”
“Mingxi.”
His breath stilled.
She touched his jaw. “I’m alive.” Her thumb stroked the corner of his lip. “You didn’t let anything touch me.”
His forehead dropped to hers. “I won’t,” he vowed. “Ever.”
“Then rest beside me,” she whispered.
His entire body sagged with reluctant surrender.
“Okay.”
Chapter 99
They had barely settled before footsteps thundered down the hall.
Caelan burst through the warded door, face pale beneath his freckles, travel-dust on his coat. He saw Poppy and then turned to see Mingxi wrapped around her like a living barrier.
“Oh, gods,” he muttered. “You already know.”
“Know what?” Mingxi snarled.
Caelan held up a scroll stamped with the Western Council’s sun-and-sea sigil. “They’ve confirmed something.” His voice shook. “The Devouring One never died. It splintered. And one of its higher fragments—the conscious kind—is unaccounted for.”
Poppy’s breath faltered.
Mingxi’s tails flared in visceral fury. “Where is it?” he demanded.
“Unknown.” Caelan swallowed. “But the Council agrees with your elders—something is stirring in the East.”
Poppy pressed a hand to her chest.
She could still feel the faint tremor beneath her ribs.
Caelan hesitated. “There’s one more thing.” He extended another sealed letter. “The Western Council had a dream-seer confirm a prophecy. They said, ‘The moonwell’s chosen will cry out when the shard awakens.’”
Poppy stiffened.
Mingxi’s eyes widened. “Cry out?” he echoed.
Caelan nodded. “They mean the moonwell. Not the fragment.”
By the time the sanctuary quieted, the elders withdrew, and Caelan went to deliver news to Mingzhao, Poppy could barely keep her eyes open. Mingxi tucked her against his chest, tails cocooned around them.
“Sleep,” he whispered.
“I’ll try.”
“I’ll keep watch.”
She didn’t argue.
Her eyelids grew heavy, and silver light swirled at the edge of her vision.
