Poppy stretched her body up to press a kiss to my cheek. “Without them, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
I turned my head and brushed my lips over her forehead. “I do. You’re stronger than you realize. You always have been.”
She smiled as my breath stirred the hair on the crown of her head. “I told Vikter you took care of the Duke. He already knew.”She paused. “He made it sound like you did more than what I saw, though.”
I smirked at the memory. “I broke every bone in that fucker’s body. Slowly.”
“I wish I could’ve seen that.”
A grin tugged at my lips. “My Queen is quite bloodthirsty,” I murmured, running my hand up her back.
She then told me about the Ancients she’d met—the so-called Fates. “They were mostly unhelpful. And to be honest, I’m not even sure why they wanted to speak with me. It’s not like I didn’t already know that Kolis must be stopped,” she muttered. “But I don’t think they expected what happened with you and Kieran.”
“Agreed.” I drew idle circles on her back with my fingers. “Aydun seemed surprised.”
“I was…” She exhaled slowly. “The Ancients dreamed about me. I’m what they prophesied.”
It took a lot for me not to scream bullshit, but yeah, none of us could afford to lie to ourselves.
“It’s strange, you know? What the Ancients dreamed and what they didn’t. Like they didn’t see the Joining and what would come of that.” A slight crease formed between her brows. “Or maybe they did and didn’t understand what it meant or know how to communicate it properly.”
“Was anything about that prophecy communicated properly?” I asked dryly.
She laughed softly. “No, but… I started to remember things I saw while in stasis.”
“Like what?” I asked, my chest turning cold.
I worried it had something to do with Kolis, but what she told me wasn’t anything I expected. She saw the beginning ofeverythingwhile in stasis. I had no idea what to say to that, but I relaxed. Right or wrong, no part of me wanted her to remember her time when Kolis was connected to her.
“And I have this feeling that I know something about the prophecy—that I’m wrong about something.” Her nose was doing that scrunching thing again, and then she face-planted my chest. “Anytime I think about the prophecy, it makes me want to scream.”
“I second that.” I worked my leg between hers. “What was it like? The other realm?”
“It’s called the Continents, and it was…strange,” she said after a moment. “There were so many people, and none sounded or dressed like us. I saw women in pants barely reaching their knees and tops showing their stomachs.”
“Sounds like a magical place.”
She smacked my arm lightly, and my lips curved upward. “The buildings were as tall as mountains, made of steel and glass. And there were so many of them.”
I tried to envision it and came up with nothing. “What else?”
Poppy then told me about the metal carriages and boats that transported them and people, the steel contraptions that flew in the air, and a statue that had stood proudly on a small island.
Hadbeing the keyword.
None of it sounded believable, but I knew she spoke the truth.
“I think when I felt the…unease, it was the first Ancient stirring. And then when I felt the pain, it was him waking up in another part of the Continents.” Her fingers stilled on my arm. “Thorne—one of the Ancients—said the Continents are several times larger than our realm. Or were.” She paused, clearing her throat as her tangy sorrow reached me. “Anyway, when I first arrived, I could hear voices coming from these small things people carried in their hands. I have no idea what they were, but I don’t believe it was magic. I don’t think there was much of that there,” she added. “But the voices spoke of a catastrophic eruption. I think that’s what I felt at first. And it matches whatI saw while in stasis. I actually saw it when it happened. I think that’s how great the death and destruction were. Actually, I know it is.”
She leaned back a bit, putting a little distance between us—enough that if I looked down, I would see her lovely breasts. That would do nothing to aid me in concentrating on what she was saying. And she needed my attention right now. Not my cock.
“It was…there was so much death. And they—” Poppy moved suddenly, and I reluctantly let go. My arm fell to the bed as she sat up and tugged her sleeping gown up—much to my disappointment.
Drawing her knees to her chest, she wrapped her arms around her legs. “Holland wouldn’t let me do anything to stop it, and they refused to aid the Continents.”
“Did they have a reason?”
“A good one? No.” She tipped her head to the side, sending the section of her still-braided hair across her back. “They said it was because everyone in the city would die no matter what, and…” A heavy breath shuddered through her. “I know that’s true. It was like the ground itself had cracked open to its core. Very little—if anything—could survive that.”
