Home.

I still felt that way. It was the skip in my chest. The sense of rightness. I looked over my shoulder at Casteel to tell him as much, but I picked up on the anger brewing inside him. It pooled in my mouth like acid, and his concern was a too-thick cream in the back of my throat.

“I’m okay,” I told him.

“I wish you’d stop saying that.” His grip tightened on the reins. “You’re not okay.”

“Am, too,” I insisted.

“You’re tired.” Casteel looped his arm loosely around my waist. “You’ve been through a lot. There’s no way you’re okay.”

I stared at his grip on the reins. Sometimes I wondered if he could feel my emotions or read my thoughts. He couldn’t, but he knew me better than those who’d known me for years. It was sort of amazing how that had happened in such a relatively short period of time. But right now, I almost wished he didn’t. I blinked back the hot rush of pointless tears. I didn’t even understand why I suddenly felt so emotional, but I didn’t want it weighing on his mind. I started to reach for him but stopped, dropping my hand into my lap instead. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“For what?”

I swallowed hard as I lifted my gaze to Kieran’s back. “Just…for everything.”

Casteel stiffened behind me. “Are you serious?”

“Yes?”

“What exactly is this everything you’re apologizing for?”

I doubted repeating the word would suffice. “I was just thinking about how you haven’t seen your parents in years, and how your homecoming should’ve been a good one—a happy one. Instead, all of this happened. And Alastir…” I shook my head. “You knew him far longer than me. His betrayal has to bother you. And I was also thinking about the Chambers of Nyktos and wondering how damaged it must be now. I bet the Temple has been there for thousands of years. And here I came and—”

“Poppy, I’m going to stop you right there. Part of me wants to laugh—”

“Same,” Kieran commented from up front.

My eyes narrowed on the wolven.

“The other part of me finds absolutely nothing funny about you apologizing for things you have no control over.”

“I also second that,” Kieran tossed out.

“This conversation doesn’t involve you, Kieran,” I snapped.

The wolven shrugged a shoulder. “Just chiming in with my two cents. Carry on. My father and I will pretend we can’t hear either of you.”

I scowled at him as I glanced to where Jasper rode past us in his mortal form. I had no idea when he’d shifted.

“Look,” Casteel said, his voice low, “we’re going to need to talk about a lot when we’re somewhere private, and I’ve had a chance to make sure your injuries have healed.”

“What injuries?”

Casteel sighed behind me. “Since you apparently didn’t notice, you were still covered in bruises after you rested in the hunting cabin.”

After he’d Ascended me into…whatever I was now. “I’m—”