Kieran’s lips parted, and a long moment passed. “What in the actual fuck?”
“Yeah.” Folding an arm over my stomach, I dragged a hand down my face. “If I hadn’t seen Millicent without the paint on her face, I wouldn’t believe it. But it’s true. She’s damn near the spitting image of Poppy.”
“The fuck?” Kieran whispered, straightening.
I would’ve laughed, except none of this was funny. “And there’s no doubt in my mind that Malik knows that.”
Kieran gave a slow shake of his head as his hand fell to the table beside the daggers. “But she’s a Revenant,” he said, and then gave me a brief rundown of how and why the third sons and daughters could become Revenants.
It all kind of made sense, considering how mortals had been created.
“She’s something like a Revenant,” I said, sharing what Millicent had told me. That did nothing to clear up any confusion because what the Handmaiden had said was about as clear as the soup in that pot.
“Gods,” he uttered. “Have you told Poppy?”
“I didn’t want to unload that on her when she was so exhausted. Once she wakes up and feeds…”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s going to mess with her.”
The muscles in my shoulders cramped. “It will.”
He ran a hand over his head, where his hair had grown since the last time I saw him.
“Wait. Did Poppy tell you that there was more to that prophecy? What Tawny told her?”
“She told me bits of it—fuck. The first-and-second-daughter parts? Didn’t even connect when Poppy said it. Fated for the once-promised King?” I looked toward the hall. “If Malik speaks the truth about her being his heartmate, it makes sense.”
“And doesn’t because Poppy isn’t going to remake any realms.”
I nodded. “You know, Millicent even called herself the first daughter. She also referred to herself as her mother’s failure.”
“Failure at what?”
“I don’t know, but I’m thinking it’s what Isbeth plans.” I pushed away from the counter as more of what Millicent had shared with me cleared in my mind. “She told me she planned to remake the realms.” I went to the window, pulling the blinds back a little to see thin wisps of mist-strewn night.
Kieran turned in his chair. “Yeah, we heard that. One of the Priests in Oak Ambler said it was Poppy’s purpose.”
Closing my eyes, I let the blinds fall back into place. I recalled jumbled words spoken by Millicent and the Blood Queen, some slipping past me before I could make sense of them. “Millicent said that to remake the realms, you had to destroy them first. And I think that’s how Isbeth failed with Millicent. She would’ve had to go through the Culling—Ascend into her godhood. I don’t think Millicent survived it.”
“And you think Isbeth made her into one of those things as a way to save her?” Kieran sounded incredulous. “You think she cares that much?”
“I think she loves Poppy in her own twisted, fucked-up way. I think that’s why she also didn’t touch me this time around.” I faced Kieran. “And I think she probably loves Millicent in that same demented way of hers. After all, the death of one child propelled all of this into motion, didn’t it?”
“Shit.” Kieran looked up at the exposed beams of the ceiling. “So, what? You think Millicent was her first, and Poppy was her second attempt at creating something she thinks will destroy the realms?”
“Yeah.”
“Poppy will never do something like that. Never,” Kieran said from between clenched teeth with a swipe of his hand. Gods, I couldn’t love the wolven more. His loyalty to our Queen was everything. “Yeah, she’s had her moments—ones you haven’t seen, where she’s…she’s something else. Like when she saw what Isbeth had done to you.”
I had to breathe through the rage. I had to resist picking up one of the daggers and slamming it into the wall of a mortal’s home. Ones who’d done nothing but aid us. I had to get over the guilt.
“But it’s still Poppy,” Kieran said, and shadows crept across his face, quickly disappearing. “Isbeth may have succeeded in creating a powerful god, but she ultimately failed.”
“Agreed.” I went to the table, my movements stiff. “There’s more. I know there is. But my head, man…it’s got these patches of nothing. They’re slow to fill out.” Placing my hands on the table, I leaned over. “I know Millicent said that I needed to stop Poppy. That, soon, I would be the only one.”