Chapter Fifteen

The courtyard erupts as some Royal Knights attack the Descenters and townsfolk with fang-led bloodlust, confirming they are Ascended. Elijah, Kieran, Naill, Delano, and Magda fight alongside Casteel, using bloodstone weapons that reduce Ascended to ash. Poppy observes the distinctive cracking death, realizing bloodstone is lethal to the Ascended.

Seeing a knight using a child as a shield, Poppy acts. She kills the captor with a precise bloodstone throw to the eye, then fends off another knight by driving her dagger through his armor, avoiding his disintegration. Her actions underscore her training and resolve to protect innocents amid chaos.

Lord Chaney reappears holding the same boy. To save the child, Poppy feigns submission, drops her bloodstone dagger, and claims she wants to return to the Queen. Chaney signals an accomplice, and Poppy is struck from behind and taken.

In a speeding carriage, Poppy awakens to Chaney, who is badly wounded by bloodstone. He claims Sir Terrlynn hit her and boasts of “eyes everywhere.” Chaney reveals they found Mrs. Tulis fleeing and killed her for defying the Rite, implying grim fates for disobedient subjects. He probes Poppy’s knowledge, noting she saw Ascended true natures and survived an Atlantian bite.

Chaney insinuates Poppy will “usher in a new era of Ascended,” confirming the plan to use her bloodline while asserting she is needed alive. As his wound throbs, he demands a taste of her blood. Poppy resists with a meat knife, wounding him and fighting fiercely in the cramped carriage, but Chaney overpowers her.

Despite kicks and cuts, Chaney pins Poppy and bites into her forearm, feeding as the chapter ends, leaving her captured and in immediate peril while Casteel’s rescue remains uncertain.