“If you die by Kolis’s hands, it breaks any bond. The Joining wouldn’t have protected him,” I said.
He shifted his attention to the doors. “Where is she?”
What felt like a fist punched through my chest.
Where is she?
My father had asked the question, but all I could hear was Cas’s roar, demanding the same.
That was roughly when the inner Rise had been destroyed.
“Iliseeum,” I said finally.
My father stiffened.
“Attes—the Primal I wrote about—told me. I tried to tell Cas but…” That had not gone well and ended with the manor being destroyed. And Attes…well, it hadn’t ended well for him either. I rubbed at my chest. “She was taken there. She was injured,” I forced out in a low voice. It wasn’t like Cas hadn’t realized that, but he didn’t need the reminder. Fuck. The city didn’t need the reminder. “It’s the only thing I can come up with to explain why we’d still be here but not able to feel her.”
“She’s alive, then.”
She was.
“That’s all that matters.”
It was.
And wasn’t.
I dropped my hand, my jaw working as I reined everything in. We didn’t need two out-of-controlDeminyenPrimals.
“If she’s in Iliseeum, she’s with family then,” he said, shaking the snow from his silver hair. “That means she’s safe.”
Not trusting myself to speak, I nodded and stepped forward.
“What you were saying about what would’ve happened if Cas went to Pensdurth?” my father said. “He’s never gotten himself killed before.”
True. “But there’s a first time for everything.” I reached for the door again.
“Kieran.”
Hearing the quietness in his tone, I shut my eyes. He didn’t speak. Several moments passed in silence. Not even the damn ravens made a sound. “We fucked up,” I rasped, the eather thrumming. “We shouldn’t have let her go without one of us. We should’ve been with her. We should’ve—” The tremor in my voice caused me to shut my mouth.
My father placed his hand on my shoulder. The weight was grounding. “You both did what you thought you should’ve done at the time. Just as Poppy did.”
“He didn’t,” I whispered, turning to him. “Cas didn’t do what he thought he should.”
“I know, son.”
I opened my mouth, closed it, and then tried again until I could speak what I hadn’t been able to before. “When Poppy learns about Delano…”
“You’ll be there for her.” He squeezed my shoulder and then dropped his hand.
I would.
Would Cas?
Clenching my jaw, I opened the door. “Fuck—”
I threw up my hand, the essence pulsing hotly down my arm as a flurry of wings and small, dark bodies darted past me.I called the eather back before it reached my fingertips as the ravens veered to my left. My father ducked with a curse.
