“Shit,” the dark man cursed, and a spray of something rotten hit my face. The thing let go of my leg. I started to twist away, but the shadow man reached inside the cupboard, grabbing my arm. “Gods, help me,” he muttered, yanking me out.

Panicked, I pulled at his grip as those things came at him. He swept out an arm. I twisted, struggling. My foot slipped in the wetness. I turned sideways—

Momma was there, her face streaked with red. She thrust that black spike into the center of the shadow man’s chest. He grunted out a bad word. His grip loosened and slipped away as he fell backward. “Run, Poppy,” Momma gasped. “Run.”

I ran. I ran toward her—

“Momma—” Claws caught my hair, scratched my skin, burning me like the time I’d reached for the kettle. I screamed, straining for Momma, but I couldn’t see her in the twining mass on the floor. Teeth sank into my arm as Papa’s friend silently backed away. Fiery pain roared through me, seizing my lungs and my body—

What a pretty little flower.

What a pretty poppy.

Pick it and watch it bleed.

Not so pretty any longer...

I jerked awake, a scream burning the back of my throat as my wide-eyed gaze swept across the dark bedchamber.

“Poppy,” Casteel called, his voice thick with sleep. A second later, his chest pressed into my back as he folded an arm around my waist. “It’s okay. You’re safe. You’re here.”

Heart pounding, I stared into the darkness, telling myself that I was in Spessa’s End. I wasn’t trapped in Lockswood, alone and—

My breath caught. “I wasn’t alone.”

“What?”

I swallowed, my throat sore. “There was someone else in that kitchen where I was hiding in the cupboard. Someone my mother knew. I know she did.”

“Alastir—”

“No,” I whispered hoarsely, shaking my head. “It was someone else. He was like…like a shadow, dressed in black.” I twisted in Casteel’s embrace, barely making out his features in the darkness. “He was dressed like the Dark One.”

Chapter 34

Casteel had sent Arden, a wolven from Spessa’s End, ahead of us. He would travel first to Saion’s Cove and then to Evaemon to alert the King and Queen of our impending arrival.

Casteel let me handle Setti’s reins and guide the horse until we encountered more treacherous terrain. It took us a day and a half to reach the Cove this time, having stopped halfway through the Skotos Mountains to rest. We stayed the night at Jasper and Kirha’s. The seamstress that we’d visited while we explored the city had been able to create several pairs of leggings, tunics, and even a gauzy dress in emerald for me, along with some underclothing. Those items were now packed carefully, and the remaining pieces she worked on would be sent to Evaemon. That night, we shared supper with the Contous, several of the wolven, and Naill and Emil. It had been so normal that it was almost hard to believe that we had just met with Ian and were planning to enter Iliseeum.