I placed my hand on her lower back, repeating what I said before. “I hate that you had to see that, Poppy.”
She gave me a brief, hollow smile. “But peopledidsurvive. Not there, but in other places. Thorne made it sound like death might be a better outcome. Like the Awakened Ancients would not treat them fairly. And they won’t. Not when they Awakened as…”
“Unia eta eram,”I said.
Poppy looked over at me. “Ruin and wrath.”
“Aydun told me.” I sat beside her, my thoughts going back to what he’d said. “He claimed they likely wouldn’t cross the Veil now, but others are asleep in our realm.”
“Yeah.” Poppy dropped her chin to her knees. “They told me they weren’t a concern right now, though.”
My gaze drifted over her profile. “Aydun said something similar.”
She tilted her head toward me. “Similar?”
Drawing my lower lip between my teeth, I debated what to tell her. It wasn’t like I wanted to keep this shit from her; more that I wasn’t entirely sure I trusted everything Aydun had said. A whole lot about him made me wary. “He mentioned the prophecy. Said Kolis was the Great Conspirator and that you were the Harbinger, the Bringer of Death and Destruction.”
Poppy went completely still beside me, causing my heart to lodge in my throat. “Death and Destruction,” she whispered. “Bone and Ash.”
CHAPTER 18
CASTEEL
Bone and Ash.
A strange sensation echoed through me, reverberating in my blood and bones.
I rubbed my chest, having no idea what had caused it.
“Death and Destruction?” Poppy said, looking at me. “He said that was Kolis?”
Dropping my hand, I replayed my conversation with the Fate. “He didn’t say it wasn’t. But who else could it be?”
“True,” she murmured, the crease between her brows slowly fading. “What else did he say?”
“He said something about your Ascension,” I told her, the words tasting bitter. “About how it created something that would basically kick off…things here.”
Her chin lowered to her knee. “SomethingIcreated?”
“I assume he was talking about Kolis.”
Poppy’s brow furrowed and then smoothed as she lifted her head to look at me. “I don’t know about that,” she said. “He might’ve been talking about you and Kieran. It lines up with what the other Fates said. Basically, that I didn’t really Ascend you and Kieran. I sort ofcreatedyou.”
“Created me…?” I raised a brow.
Poppy cringed. “Yeah, that sounds a little weird.” She took a shallow breath. “When my abilities split between you and Kieran, it created a new pantheon.”
My brows lifted. “I like the sound of that.”
She grinned. “Of course, you do.”
Chuckling, I reached over to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. “They told you that?”
“Yeah. They said we’reDeminyenPrimal gods.”
“Deminyen?”
“True Primals without a Court,” she explained. “A Court is just another word for what the gods represent—what their essence represents. But aDeminyenis a true Primal without ties to any Court. Your and Kieran’s presence in the mortal realm doesn’t impact the mortals like the Primal of a Court’s would. So, I don’t understand how that could kick off…wait. You both carry true embers, so youcouldtake a Court if necessary.” She cut herself off with a frown. “Because it doesn’t matter.”
