The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash 3)

“I…do you think it’s the Primal thing?” I asked, wondering if I had really heard Delano’s voice. That didn’t make sense because he had answered what I’d said in my dream.

“The Primal notam? I imagine so.”

Leaning into Casteel, I looked up. The trees were thinning, and I could see patches of the sky now painted intense shades of pink and deep blue. “Have we crossed the Skotos?”

“We have,” he confirmed. The air wasn’t nearly as cold as it had been before I’d fallen asleep.

We rode on, the sky turning dark, and the land under us smoothing and leveling out. Casteel loosened the blanket around me as we broke free of the last of the trees, and the remaining wolven poured out from our sides, joining the group. I twisted at the waist and looked behind Casteel, but it was too dark to see the trees of Aios.

I didn’t even want to think what the people of Atlantia felt when they saw the trees change. My heart tripped over itself as I faced forward again, scanning the rocky and jagged terrain. I didn’t recognize the land, even though the air seemed to warm with each passing moment.

“Where are we?” I asked as I caught sight of the large silver wolven moving ahead. Jasper easily navigated the boulders, leaping from one to another as the other wolven followed.

“We came out a bit farther south of Saion’s Cove,” Casteel explained. “Closer to the sea, at the Cliffs of Ione. There’s an old Temple here.”

“You might’ve been able to see the Cliffs from the Chambers,” Naill advised as he slowed his horse when the terrain became more uneven. “But probably not the Temple.”

“This is where my father is waiting, and Alastir is being kept,” Casteel told me.

I sat straighter, catching the blanket before it fell and tangled around Setti’s legs. Tall cypress trees dotted the landscape, thickening in the distance. The air carried the distinctive scent of salt.

“We can stop here, or we can travel onward to Saion’s Cove,” Casteel said. “We can deal with Alastir now or later. It is up to you.”

I didn’t hesitate, even though dealing with Alastir meant facing Casteel’s father. “We deal with this now.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

Something akin to pride drifted from Casteel to me as his lips touched my cheek. “So strong.”

To our left, the sound of running water reached us. In the moonlight, water glistened from the face of the Skotos Mountains and rushed across the wide strip of land. The water tumbled and spilled off the cliffs, reaching the rocks below.

Stars shone across the sky as the rippling light of numerous torches became visible through the soaring trees, casting an orangey glow over columned sides nearly as tall as the surrounding cypress.

Kieran joined his father as they darted between the trees, racing toward the wide steps of the enclosed Temple. People stood on the colonnade, dressed in black, and I knew without asking that these were Casteel’s men and Guardians of Atlantia. Those he trusted.

As several of the wolven climbed the steps, Casteel slowed Setti. “We will most likely see my father first. He needs to see that you didn’t Ascend.”

I nodded as nervous energy and something rawer buzzed within me.

“Then we will handle Alastir,” Casteel continued, the arm around my waist shifting. His hand slid across my stomach, leaving shivers in its wake. “I’ve gotten all I can get out of Alastir that will be of use to us, so you know how tonight will end?”

Nervousness settled as resolve crept over me. I knew how tonight would end. Determination inked itself onto my skin, carving its way into my bones and filling the center of my chest. My chin lifted. “With death.”

“By your hand or mine?” he asked, his lips grazing the curve of my jaw.

“Mine.”

Casteel and I climbed the steps to the Temple of Saion, our hands joined. Nearly two dozen wolven prowled the colonnade while Jasper and Kieran stood in front of doors as black as the sky and nearly as tall as the Temple.

The tartness of uncertainty and the fresher, lemony flavor of curiosity saturated the air as those waiting between the columns took notice of Casteel and then me. Whatever Casteel had sensed that was different about me, they felt it, too. I saw it in the way the Guardians stiffened, their hands reaching for their scabbards and then halting as their heads tilted to the side while they tried to understand what it was they sensed. I felt no fear from any of them, not the Guardians or the others. I wanted to ask one of them what they felt when they looked at me—what made them first go for their swords but then stop. However, Casteel’s grip tightened on my hand, preventing me from wandering over to one of the women—which I had apparently been in the process of doing.