Seraphena stared at me, and what she felt pierced her walls once more, flooding the chamber with threads of guilt and sympathy that wove through my hot, undeniable anger. “It’s true. You’re Sotoria.”
CHAPTER 38
POPPY
You’re Sotoria.
The words echoed in my head, my heart thundering. Each beat was a deafening roar that silenced all other sounds until I heard Casteel’s voice.
And felt his shock whip through the chamber like a burst of cold wind.
“That’s impossible,” he stated harshly. His tone brooked no room for argument as the haziness surrounding the dream I’d had while in stasis evaporated.
“I know it’s hard to hear and believe, but it is true.” Seraphena rose and placed her palms flat on the table. Her eyes met mine. “I carried your soul within me.”
“No,” I repeated hoarsely, even as I sawherclearly in that field of poppies along the Cliffs of Sorrow.
“It’s why I’ve been able to connect with you, even while in stasis,” Seraphena insisted, her voice calm save for a slight quiver. “I’ve never been able to reach Millicent.”
“You’re wrong,” Casteel bit out, those two words raw and volatile.
“I wish I was—gods, do I ever.” Her head bowed. “I never wanted her to be in this situation again.”
Again.
The word was like a clap of thunder. The chamber seemed to blur and fade at the edges as if the realm were unraveling around me.
It was like I was there. I saw her holding that basket as the sky turned to crimson-streaked midnight. She’d spoken to me before I heard Seraphena’s voice calling to me, pulling me out of reach of the cold shadows.
You know who I am, she had said in a voice that…sounded like mine.And you know where you are. You’ve been here countless times before, in one way or another.
I flinched, feeling the essence vibrate in my chest.
And she had warned me.He’s almost here.
Death.
But it wasn’t her.
Because I saw now what I’d seen in that dream.
I sawmyself.
The fear I’d felt then had coated my skin as different, fleeting images formed in my mind, glimpses of places I didn’t remember traveling and faces I had no memory of. They melded together as voices rose around me and the air charged with energy. I had a sinking feeling the images were real.
I thought about how uneasy I felt looking upon the Cliffs. How I found myself staring at them without even realizing it—even while I slept.
“She’s not inanysituation,” Casteel argued with a swipe of his hand. “You don’t know—”
“A Primal cannot lie,” Seraphena cut him off. “We can skirt the truth. We can omit it. But we cannot tell a blatant lie.”
His head jerked back as if Seraphena had slapped him. Like me, he knew she spoke the truth. His breathing was heavy, his heart pounding fast in rhythm with mine.
“I’m sorry,” Seraphena uttered, her arms trembling. “I never wanted this for you.”
The chamber vanished for just a moment, and I sawgold.
“Bars,” I whispered, stumbling backward. My legs hit a chair, and I sat. Or fell. I wasn’t sure which, as I remembered what I’d briefly seen while in stasis. “Gold bars.”
