Total pages in book: 260
Estimated words: 247882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1239(@200wpm)___ 992(@250wpm)___ 826(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 247882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1239(@200wpm)___ 992(@250wpm)___ 826(@300wpm)
“Yeah?” she murmured, her cheek plastered to my chest.
“I haven’t been on that herb,” I told her, a real fucked-up mess of conflicting emotions firing off. “The one that prevents pregnancy.”
“I figured,” she said, yawning. “I started taking precautions.”
My brows flew up. “Was that in the diary, too?”
Poppy laughed. “No. I asked Vonetta,” she said, lifting her head. I decided I really needed to thank Netta. “She told me what to take since a baby Casteel would be the last thing we need—at least, at the moment.”
Confusing-as-fuck emotions slammed into me, a mix of cold, hard terror and sweet anticipation. “What about a baby Poppy?” I brushed her hair back. “With deep red hair, freckles, and green-and-silver eyes?”
“My eyes are still like that?”
“Yep.”
She sighed. “I don’t know why they’re like that, but your question? Are you being serious?”
“Always.”
“You are not always serious.”
“I am now.”
“I don’t know. I mean…yes?” Her nose scrunched. “One day, far, far, far, far from now. Yes.”
“When we’re not in the middle of a war, for example?” I smiled up at her. “And I’m ready to not be the center of your attention?”
“More like when I’m confident that I won’t accidentally leave the child somewhere I shouldn’t.”
I chuckled, lifting my head and kissing her. “Later.”
“Later,” she agreed.
Lowering my head, I tucked her hair back. “I want you to feed.”
“You probably need to feed again.”
“Probably, but that’s not why I want you to feed. I don’t want you to grow weak,” I told her. “Not ever, but especially not when we’re in the middle of Carsodonia.”
She nodded after a moment. “I’ll see if Kieran is willing—”
“He’ll be willing.”
Poppy frowned. “You sound a little confident for it not being your blood.”
“He’ll be willing,” I repeated, thinking she really had no idea when it came to Kieran and what he would or wouldn’t willingly do for her.
“Whatever,” she muttered, dropping her chin to my chest. “We should get up. We need to come up with a plan. Deal with Malik. Figure out how to get out of here. Hopefully, find out something about Tawny’s current condition. Come back. Kill that bitch,” she said, and my brows rose. “And then I need to free my father. I sort of promised Nektas I’d do that. You met him briefly in his draken form,” she continued with another yawn, and my brows rose even higher. “My father’s got to be in Carsodonia—”
“He’s at Wayfair.” The shadows surrounding one of the dark voids in my mind shattered. “Isbeth said he was.”
Her eyes widened. “How did you…?”
“After you told me he was the cave cat, I goaded her into talking about him. Stabbed her in the chest, too.” I grinned as I remembered. “Didn’t kill her, but I bet it hurt.”
Poppy blinked. “You stabbed her?”
“Yeah, with a Craven bone.”
“I wish I’d seen that.” Her eyes were wide once more. “I love you so very much.”
I laughed at the utter wrongness of that. “Back to your father? She said the cave cat was where he was always kept.”
“Where he was always kept,” she murmured as I smoothed my thumb along her jaw. “The chambers under Wayfair, down the main hall.” She dipped her head suddenly, kissing me. “She said he wasn’t in Wayfair.”
“She lied.”
Poppy shivered. “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me.” I kissed her. “You think you can find him again?”
Lifting her head, she nodded. “I think so, but getting into Wayfair again…”
“We’ll figure it out,” I assured her. “And we will tackle that daunting list of things you spoke of. Together. Except for killing Isbeth. You want that? It’s all yours,” I said, and she smiled in a way that should’ve concerned me but only made me harden.
“By the way, my list wasn’t even over,” she told me. “There’s more stuff. The Ascended. The people. The kingdoms. Your parents.”
Anger sparked. She’d told me what my mother and father had said about everything. “I really don’t want to think about them at the moment.”
Her gaze lifted to mine. “I am still thoroughly angry with them, but they…they love you. They love both of you. And I think it was that love that became one of the reasons they never spoke the truth.”
“They fucked up.”
“Yeah, they did.”
“Big time.”
“I know, but there’s nothing we can do about that.”
“Don’t be logical,” I told her.
“Someone has to be.”
Reaching down, I squeezed her plump ass and was immediately fascinated by how the silver wisps in her eyes brightened in response. “That was slightly rude.”
“You’ll get over it.”
“Possibly,” I said, loving the small smile that appeared as we teased one another—the normalcy of it. Gods, I would never take it for granted. I hated to ruin it. But I had to. “I need to tell you something.”
“If it’s about your cock being a changeling, I know,” she said dryly. “I can feel it.”