“I don’t think I’ve ever told you about that. It wasn’t that I was hiding it from you. I just didn’t want you to feel embarrassed,” I told Poppy as she slept, curling my arm around her waist. “I also figured you’d probably stab me if you ever learned I had been in your bedchamber while you slept.” I paused. “More than once.”

My laugh stirred the wisps of hair at her temple, but my amusement faded. “I didn’t know about the Duke. I just knew something was up. The way you and Tawny responded. How Vikter was when he showed up. Now, I know why he dismissed me. He knew you wouldn’t have wanted me—or anyone really—to see you after you finished with your lesson. He was protecting you the best he could.”

His best wasn’t good enough in my opinion. He’d known what was being done to her, yet he stood by. But I kept that opinion to myself. She didn’t need to hear it.

I stared at her as dawn approached. I should attempt to sleep while Delano rested at the foot of the bed in his wolven form. I could try to find her in our dreams, though I feared we wouldn’t find each other. None of us knew if walking in each other’s dreams happened naturally when we both slept or if one of us needed to initiate it. But this wasn’t ordinary sleep; she was in stasis.

Still, rest would be wise. I needed it, but I couldn’t bring myself to close my eyes until she opened hers and recognized me.

Recognized herself.

And she would.

I believed that.

Because she was strong and fiercely stubborn. She was brave. I hadn’t always understood the extent of her strength.

A smile tugged at my lips as I recalled the first time I truly grasped her bravery and skill. “At the Red Pearl, when I found that dagger and you said you knew how to use it, I wasn’t sure I believed you. You were the Maiden, after all. Then you cut Jericho, and I should have realized you weren’t at all what I expected.”

I leaned in and kissed the bare skin of her shoulder, just beside the thin strap of the gown Vonetta had found for her. “But that night on the Rise, when the Craven attacked, Kieran and I truly underestimated you. I saw you then, your cloak billowing as you threw a dagger at me. That’s when everything began to shift—how I saw you. You were no longer just the Maiden. You were becoming… you were becoming Poppy.”