My chest hummed feebly as I concentrated on my arms and legs, but all I managed to do was curl my toes against something soft. Maybe I was lying on a bed. But whose? I wasn’t sure that mattered.
Gathering what strength I had, I managed to part my lips. A shallow breath lifted my chest as I breathed in. Pine…I smelled pine, lush spice, and something else. The scent was amazing.
I…lovedthat smell.
It comforted me and made my skin feel too tight at the same time, my body aching with a need as all-consuming as the razor-sharp hunger. My chest felt like it rumbled as the inside of my mouth tingled. I wanted to be surrounded by that scent. To drown in it. My fangs throbbed, and I…
I needed to feed.
That was the source of the hunger and the bone-deep, cold ache in my chest. Desperation bubbled up, stroking the strands of eather coiled in my chest. The essence flared weakly as sound slowly returned. The distant call of birds. The soft whirl of a gentle breeze. The low hum of conversation. Two males spoke in hushed voices. I zeroed in on one. At first, I couldn’t make out what was being said, but…hisvoice was deep and melodic. Eyes like heated honey and hard, sandy-hued flesh flashed in my mind. That ache pulsed hotly, more intense now.
What they were saying became clearer. “How many?”hedemanded, his voice thin with barely leashed displeasure.
“Right now? Looks to be about the same as before. Eight more,” the other answered. His voice also sounded familiar to me. “The Ascended were all in one manor in the Luxe this time. Situation identical to the incidents from earlier.”
A feeling…of bitterness and disgust churned through me, but I couldn’t pinpoint why. My stomach cramped.
“Is Kieran there?”heasked.
Kieran.
That name felt familiar. Important. I tried to grab on to why, but a fog still cloaked my thoughts.
“No. He’s actually passed out in the Council chambers,” the other said. “I can go and—”
“Don’t wake him,”heinterrupted. “Let him sleep.”
I couldn’t recall exactly what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was hungry. Starving. But some feeling in the back of my mind told me that whatever I’d overheard should have concerned me. That itwould.
But I was so hungry.
I heard the soft click of a door closing, and that scent increased as footsteps neared me.
The whispers of warning picked up as a strange taste gathered in the back of my throat. Thick, like heavy cream, and tangy, with a trace of hot acid—lingering anger. I dragged in another breath, this one deeper.
The footsteps halted.
“Are you…?” He went silent, having only spoken those two words, but I knew it was him. The one whose voice strangely captivated me. “Have you returned to me?”
CASTEEL
Hope.
Hope was such a fucked-up, powerful emotion. It had the power to make the most cynical among us believe in miracles. But it also had the power to unravel the realm.
And that was where I stood, teetering on the cusp of believing in miracles and the brink of unraveling the realm as seconds turned into minutes. I didn’t move as I watched Poppy’s chest rise and fall in the shallow pattern I’d begun to love andloathe. I couldn’t. I didn’t blink. Icouldn’t. It didn’t feel like I was breathing, but my heart pounded.
Poppy’s chest rose as she took a deeper breath.
My legs felt like the tendons had turned to jelly, the bones replaced with liquid. I felt fucking weak in the knees as the shadows beneath her eyes slowly receded, no longer leaving the delicate skin there looking bruised.
I staggered toward the bed on those weak knees. My mouth opened, but my tongue and vocal cords were utterly useless. I seemed to have lost the ability to speak. Or think coherently because, at the moment, I didn’t know if I could trust that I had felt the Queen of the Gods’ presence. I didn’t know if I was seeing what I thought I was.
Had her hand moved?
Where they rested, folded against her stomach, I think her fingers twitched.
My heart slammed against my ribs as my gaze swept the length of her. Beneath the thin blanket, her foot moved, the toes curling.
