My back stiffened.
“You couldn’t have.” He moved toward me with slow, measured steps, stopping about a foot away. “Not if you think that has anything to do with why Poppy asked me to promise that, and I agreed.”
I felt a muscle ticking in my jaw. “I’ve been thinking about it between more pressing concerns, like dealing with the fucker to our north and the moments when I’m not considering how Poppy’s entire life was blown up.”
“Or learning your father is a demigod?” he questioned.
“That isnothing,” I said, my hand cutting through the air, “compared to what Poppy learned.”
“No,” he said after a moment. “It’s not.” He paused again. “But that fucked-up comment you just made tells me you haven’t said shit to her about it.” The glow behind his pupils flared. “Not that I needed confirmation of that.”
My hands fisted as I held his stare. Seconds passed with only the guards on the inner Rise moving along the battlements.
“Want to know why I followed you?” Kieran asked. “Poppy didn’t ask me to.”
“I’m sure she wanted you to.”
“And I’m sure you’re right,” he admitted. “But even if she didn’t, I still would have, in case you wanted to, you know, be reasonable and talk the shit out since neither of us expected that to come out of your father’s mouth.”
Well, we could agree on that. Wehadn’texpected that.
Kieran stepped back. “You’re returning to the Solar?”
I nodded, forcing my hands to loosen.
“Good.” He started to turn and then stopped. His stare bore into mine. “You’re running out of time, Casteel.”
Something about the way he held my gaze and how he said that made the hairs on my arms stand up. “For what?”
“To talk to Poppy. Clear the air or whatever you want to call it.”
“Why?” I asked, my voice dropping to a harsh growl. “Are you going to do what you already warned and tell her?”
Kieran said nothing for a long moment, and the chill prickling over my skin shot down my spine. “Let’s hope that’s all that happens,” he said and then turned without another word, heading toward the gatehouse.
I stared at his retreating form, admittedly unnerved but mostly pissed.
Mainly because I knew I needed to talk to her. But, fuck, when was the right time? Between fucking skeleton ceeren attacking, her learning she was Sotoria, or right before a public address meant to calm the people?
Fuck.
I turned back to Wayfair, my gaze lifting to the top floor of the eastern wing. A dim light shone in the window of the sitting chamber.
Silencing my thoughts, I shadowstepped to the Solar. The chamber was empty, but the shawl draped over the back of the armchair wasn’t Poppy’s. First off, it was white. It also carried the faintest scent of stale lilacs and…something syrupy and slightly floral. Peaches.
Tawny had been here.
Walking forward, I began to unbuckle my baldric. Not knowing if Poppy had already fallen asleep like she had the night before, I stayed quiet. As I neared the bedchamber, a sweet, woodsy scent reached me. Poppy’s voice echoed from the bathing chamber before I could even let my gaze settle on the bed. My gaze flicked to the golden light spilling from the half-open door.
“I’m in here.”
Entering, I laid the baldric on the chest by the door opposite the couch. Despite my conversation with Kieran, a slow grin stretched across my lips when I heard a splash of water. My steps couldn’t carry me fast enough, but fuck if I didn’t jerk to a halt when I passed the privacy screen and saw her in the tub.
The sight of her went straight to my dick.
Poppy was nestled on one side of the tub, the foamy water barely concealing the swell of her breasts and doing very little to hide the shadowy curves beneath the surface. She shifted slightly, her legs pressing closer together. A single tantalizing knee pierced the sudsy water, and I drew my lower lip betweenmy teeth, slowly lifting my gaze to hers. Strands of wet hair the color of deep-red wine clung to her throat, and a pretty pink flush stained her cheeks.
“Enjoying yourself?” I asked, my voice roughened by the lust coursing through my blood.
