The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash 3)

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.

And wake the King of Gods.

Or that Casteel and I were about to become King and Queen.

We’d discussed everything with Kirha and Jasper at length when we arrived. We would need to travel to Iliseeum as soon as we could if we hoped to make it to Oak Ambler before we were expected. A group would travel with us—not a large one as Casteel and Kieran had explained that the tunnels could be narrow and cramped. And then from there? Well, we hoped that one of the Elders knew where Nyktos slumbered and that my blood would help us enter unharmed.

But during dinner, we didn’t talk about any of that, even though everyone present knew what was about to happen. Instead, Kirha and Jasper had entertained us with stories about their children and Casteel when they were younger—much to their annoyance and reluctant amusement. I didn’t think I’d ever laughed as much as I had that night. And later, when Casteel and I were alone, I didn’t think it was possible to be loved more thoroughly than I was.

I held onto those two things as we left Saion’s Cove early the next morning, dressed in buttery-soft black leggings and a matching, quarter-length-sleeve tunic that hugged my chest and then flared at the hips. I’d grinned when I saw that she’d left a slit in the right side for me to easily reach my dagger. Jasper remained behind with Kirha, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Vonetta would travel with us to Evaemon. I had expected her to stay with her parents or return to Spessa’s End, but she’d said that she wanted to see Casteel’s and my coronation.

She wasn’t the only one.

Dozens of wolven traveled with us, many that I hadn’t met yet, and a few, like Lyra, that I was just getting to know. Emil and Naill were also with us, and listening to those two bicker about everything from the best-tasting whiskey to whether a sword or an arrow was a better weapon was quite entertaining. All were alert, though, just in case the Unseen made an appearance.

The content feeling kept everything at bay, as did my continuous practice with speaking to the wolven through their imprints. Even the nightmare that, if true, possibly confirmed what Alastir had claimed.

That he hadn’t killed my parents.

I couldn’t focus on that as we traveled north through Atlantia. There would be time later to deal with that possibility, but if I’d learned anything in the last several months, it was how to compartmentalize. Or maybe it was just Casteel’s advice not to borrow tomorrow’s problems.

Either way, it wasn’t all that hard to just exist in the hours it took to reach Evaemon because I got a little lost in the beauty of Atlantia—the limestone homes with their terracotta roofs filling the rolling hills, the small farming villages, and the running streams that split the land, rushing from the cloud-capped Mountains of Nyktos that eventually became visible in the distance. One thing quickly became clear as we traveled.