Everything else can wait.
The mood back at the Dagger is somber. Gray meets us in the hangar, informing Adrienne that Kallister is waiting for her in the war room. She gives a resigned nod and heads for the air lock.
Gray’s arms wrap around me in a tight, urgent embrace. Then he releases me to give Karra a quick hug. “You all right, KC?”
“Fine. Thanks.” Without another word, Karra stalks out of the hangar. I think she’s in shock. She’s barely uttered a single word since Henley flew out to the airfield to retrieve us.
“Areyouokay?” Gray says, stroking my hair before tucking it behind my ears.
“I’m as okay as I can be, considering everything.” I touch his cheek and give him a quick kiss on the lips before gesturing to Poppy. “I’m going to sleep in my own quarters tonight. Poppy’s going to stay with me.”
He nods, glancing at the stricken teenager.
“My mother’s dead,” she says flatly.
His gaze softens. “I know. Fiona will be missed.”
When her bottom lip starts to tremble, Gray pulls her into his arms. He strokes his hand down her back, and I see Poppy relax slightly. His short sleeves reveal the silver in his veins, telling me he’s grounding her. I’m keen with it. She needs to feel numb for a while or the pain and grief will consume her.
Gray gives me a grim look. “I’ll probably be in the war room all night dealing with the fallout.”
“Kallister is pissed?”
“Beyond pissed. He’s not going to let Ade go unpunished for this.”
I want to defend Adrienne—she had no idea Evlynne would choose to betray us—but nobody would’ve even gone to Bramble Base tonight if not for Adrienne’s insistence that we open peace talks with the Company.
I take Poppy back to my quarters. We both reek of smoke, but she doesn’t want to take a shower yet. She plants herself on the small sofa that I moved back into the room after Xavier moved out.
“You can ask about it,” she says without looking at me. Her empty gaze is fixed on the wall.
I settle beside her, keeping my voice gentle. “What was that tonight? You weren’t corrupting him. You were…?”
“Inflicting,” she whispers.
I’m no longer surprised by the new abilities that crop up whenever I think I know them all.
“And what is that?”
“Infliction is…” She makes an embittered sound under her breath. “It’s exactly what it sounds like. I inflict pain. And sometimes death.” She laughs, but there’s no humor in it.
“Does anybody else know that you have this ability?” I ask in a careful tone.
“No. Only my mom knew.”
I bristle at that, and hope Poppy doesn’t notice. Fiona knew her daughter possessed this dangerous power and didn’t disclose it to herown council, yet it was perfectly acceptable for her to tell the entire baseIcould incite?
“And before you ask,” Poppy says, interrupting my indignant thoughts, “the bloodmark is inside my cheek.”
Again, I have to acknowledge how fucking lucky that is. Like Valeria, Poppy couldn’t have seen her bloodmark appear in a more fortuitous place.
Something else dawns on me, something about Fiona, and the way she looked at me each time I dared to speak to her daughter.
She wasn’t trying to keep Poppy away from me because I’m an inciter.
She was trying to keepmeaway fromPoppy,because Poppy is an inflicter.
“Is that why your mom always sent you to train in the Temple? She said it was to strengthen your shield, but it was to control the infliction, wasn’t it?”
