Chapter Forty-Two

Traveling east toward Atlantia, Poppy rides with Casteel, Kieran, Jasper, and an enlarged retinue, mourning recent losses while noting Beckett’s buoyant presence. The looming Skotos Mountains appear as a wall of mist. Casteel recalls crossing with Malik years ago, lightening Poppy’s anxiety as they pass through.

On the other side, the party emerges into golden Trees of Aios. They discuss sacred sites—the sleeping goddess Aios beneath the range, Nyktos’s Chambers, and the distant Pillars of Atlantia—before Casteel orders the company to split into small groups and rendezvous at Gold Rock, warning that the mountain’s magic can distort senses.

As daylight fades and the mist thickens, Casteel and Kieran guide Poppy to camp near the peak. Poppy experiments with the mist and discovers it reacts to her touch, behaving almost sentient. Casteel explains the fog is god-wrought magic, an extension of the sleeping gods’ will meant to protect the Pillars. They light a small fire and prepare close sleeping arrangements for warmth.

Banter about propriety and the Joining gives way to quiet. Poppy wrestles with grief and doubt, then queries the locations of sleeping gods, learning Theon and Lailah rest beneath the Pillars while Penellaphe may lie under Carsodonia. Eventually, she drifts to sleep between Casteel and Kieran, unconsciously nestling closer for heat, and imagines a peaceful future free of looming threats.

Near dawn, in the dense, living mist, Poppy hears an uncanny whisper call her name, suggesting the mountain’s magic—and possibly the gods’ will—are aware of her.