Her fingers curled into my shirt. “The guy who was just here?”
My grip on her hips loosened as my frustration retreated. “Yes.”
“Did he tell you what he is?”
“He said he was a Fate.” My gaze drifted to the bruises around her throat. “Though I have a feeling I know what the Fates are.”
Her voice dropped. “The Ancients.”
I nodded. I had suspected as much.
Poppy sent me a curious look. “I have a feeling their real identities are not supposed to be known. But I…” She scrunched her nose. “But I think the draken know. Like they can sense it or something. What did he tell you?”
I lifted a hand and brushed some loose strands of hair back from her neck. “He told me about the Ancients and said they had Awakened.”
“The Arae are the ones who helped the Primals defeat the Ancients,” she shared and then explained how they’d split their powers. “So, that means there’s at least four of them.” Her jaw took on a stubborn tilt. “Did he tell you how many there are? How many Arae?”
My head tilted. “No.”
“Damn it.”
“Is that knowledge important?”
“To me, it is.” She slid her thumbs along my collarbones. “But it’s not important right now. Did this Aydun tell you why I had to leave?”
“He did. He said you felt the pain and death of…” My chest tightened. “Too many. And it pulled you to it.”
Her thick lashes swept down. “There’s more to it. But when I crossed the Veil, it was right before the Ancient there woke.” Her sadness coated my throat. “It could sense the essences of life and death in me.”
Knowing I wouldn’t like what she had to say next, I checked my anger. Barely. “The Ancient attacked you?”
“It didn’t respond all that…” Her brows knitted as I picked up on the lingering acidic burn of her anger. “He didn’t respond all that great.”
He? Icy-hot eather throbbed deep in my chest.
“We fought—well, if you can call what we did fighting,” she said with a strained laugh. “The Ancients—the ones in theground?” Her heart rate spiked, taking mine with it. “They are so powerful, Cas.”
My gaze dropped to the fading red fingerprints on her throat. “Aydun said as much. He also said you weren’t alone. That you were with another like him. Holland?”
“I was, but he got knocked out.”
My nostrils flared. “You were left on your own?”
Pressing her fingers under my chin, she lifted my gaze to hers. “Yes, but I kind of held my own against him. And Holland did get me out of there before…” Her chest rose sharply. “Before the city I was in was completely destroyed.”
“You shouldn’t havehadto hold your own. And you shouldn’t have had to feel all that pain and death,” I said. “I would give anything to have taken your place so you didn’t have to feel any of that.”
“I know.” She slid an arm around my neck and lowered her forehead to mine. “But I’m okay. I swear, Cas. I’m fine. You can see that for yourself.”
The breath I let out was ragged. Icouldsee that she was fine. Physically, anyway. The bruises would heal. But I could taste her sorrow and knew that what she’d seen and felt would stay with her.
“I’m okay,” she repeated. “Youcansee that, right?”
I closed my eyes. “I can.”
“Do you?”
I nodded, even as Aydun’s warning thundered through my head.She’s not indestructible.
