Emil clasped my hand, and I pulled the fucker in for a close, tight embrace. “Delano said Malik didn’t want to return?” he asked quietly.
Perry glanced at us. “And that Poppy told him it was complicated.”
“It is.” I turned, slipping an arm around Poppy as she came to stand beside me, but I didn’t take my gaze off my brother.
Malik knelt in front of Delano as Kieran crept close, eyeing both of them. My brother spoke, but even I couldn’t pick up on the words. Whatever he said, though, Delano responded with a slight nudge of his head against Malik’s hand.
The act sent a small shudder through Malik and didn’t go unnoticed by the other wolven. The tension thickening the air eased. Poppy pressed against my side, her palm resting just below my chest as Malik placed a trembling hand on the top of Delano’s bowed head. Malik’s eyes closed as Poppy’s fingers curled into my shirt, his features pinching as he turned his head, dragging his shoulder along his cheek. I knew what Poppy had to be sensing. The emotion was clearly etched into Malik’s face. Sorrow.
Preela, Malik’s bonded wolven, had been Delano’s sister.
Chapter 39
We descended the hill to Padonia, flanked by the dozens of wolven who kept pace along the narrow road and had even branched out farther, into the Wisteria Woods. Netta and several others had already returned to town. Horns sounded as we cleared the thickest of the trees, and the valley that Padonia rested in opened before us.
A sea of white tents sat at the edge of the River of Rhain and at the foot of the Rise, where— My godsdamn breath snagged in my chest.
Banners.
Gold and white banners rippled from the battlements atop the Rise, each one bearing the Atlantian Crest—the one Poppy had chosen with the sword and arrow fixed in the center of the sun at equal lengths.
Gods.
She’d done it.
Changed the centuries-old crest. Showing the kingdom and the realm that there was a balance of power between the King and Queen, no matter the fact that she was so much more powerful than I.
Seeing it was a punch of unexpected emotion, straight to the chest. I tightened my hold on Poppy, dipping my head. “You’re fucking perfect,” I rasped in her ear.
She turned her head slightly, her brows puckering. “What for?”
“Everything,” I told her, blinking back dampness. “Everything.”
Poppy looked to the Rise. “The banners,” she whispered. “You like them?”
“I cannot wait to show you how much I fucking love them.” I nipped at her ear, drawing a soft gasp from her.
Her face flushed, but the sharp, sudden rise of her arousal told me she couldn’t wait for me to show her either.
I straightened, refocusing on the Rise itself. Branches of the nearby wisteria trees had climbed the structure, pressing into the stone and smothering the Rise in the lavender-colored limbs.
“Well, that’s a problem,” I murmured. “The wisteria trees.”
“They’re beautiful,” Poppy whispered. “It’s the most beautiful Rise I’ve ever seen.”
“It is, but you’re not going to like what I’m about to say,” I replied.
She sighed. “I think I know what you’re going to say. The trees need to be cut back.”
A faint grin appeared. “They need to be pulled out. Should’ve been done long before it got to this point. It’s likely already weakened the Rise.”
“It has,” Emil confirmed from where he rode slightly ahead, Kieran trailing between us as Naill rode to our left. “The trees have breached the eastern walls in some areas.”
“Well, the Ascended have never been known for their upkeep of infrastructure,” Poppy murmured. “Speaking of the Ascended, what of the Royals who oversaw Padonia?”
“They’d abandoned the city before our arrival,” Emil answered with a snort of disgust. “Just as they did in Whitebridge—”
“And Three Rivers,” Malik spoke, breaking his self-imposed silence. “Most of the Royals had fled to Carsodonia. They have been arriving since Poppy relieved Jalara of his head.”
Naill’s gaze cut to him. “Yeah, well, the Ascended didn’t simply flee Whitebridge and Padonia.”
Dread took root. “What did they do?”
“It wasn’t like Oak Ambler. They left a graveyard behind in Whitebridge.” Naill looked away, his jaw working. “Like they did in the northern lands of Pompay.”
“Oh, gods,” Poppy uttered, stiffening. “Was there…？”