The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash 3)

In the center of the small room, a large gray feline struggled to its feet behind bleached-white bars. A wicked sense of deja vu filtered through me.

“Look,” I repeated, shaking my head. It couldn’t be the same one, but… “This looks just like the cave cat I saw when I was a child.”

“What the fuck?” muttered Kieran as he stopped at the mouth of the chamber while Casteel strode toward me.

“That…really does look like a cave cat,” Casteel murmured. The large cat now prowled restlessly, its muscles tensing and bunching under its sleek coat as it peered out from between the bars with vibrant green eyes. Intelligent eyes. Knowing ones. “Why in the hell would they keep this here?”

“Or bring it with them?” Delano added softly, his eyes narrowed on the creature. “The damn thing looks underfed.”

It really did.

I started toward it. The cat stopped, watching me.

“Poppy,” Casteel whispered. “We need to hurry.”

“I know. I just…” I didn’t know how to explain what I felt. Why the eather in my chest hummed so violently now.

“Okay. So you were right. They have a cave cat.” Tension crowded Kieran’s voice. “But we don’t have time to free the castle pets.”

I knew we didn’t have time, and I also doubted that a cave cat or any wild animal could be kept alive this long in a cage. But I…I couldn’t stop myself. I knelt before the cage, the cat’s unblinking stare capturing mine. I reached through the bars—

“Poppy! Don’t you dare stick your hand—” Casteel shot forward.

Too late.

The tips of my fingers brushed soft fur as Casteel’s hand wrapped around my arm. He jerked my hand back as the cat shuddered and—and kept shuddering.

“What’s happening?” Panic exploded as Casteel dragged me to my feet. “Did I hurt it? I didn’t mean to—”

I stopped.

We all stopped and stared.

Even Kieran.

The feline’s fur stood up as it sank to its haunches, shaking fiercely. Silvery white light seeped across its eyes, spitting and crackling. Under the glossy fur, the cat’s skin began to glow—

“Oh, gods,” Delano groaned. “You really need to stop touching things, Poppy.”

The fur retracted into skin that smoothed and became a golden, wheatish tone. Long, russet-colored hair fell forward, brushing the floor of the cage, shielding much of the nude man kneeling behind the bars, his upper body tucked close to his lower half. The sharp definition of the bones and muscles along his shoulders and legs showed how frail he was, but through the matted hair, vivid green eyes locked with mine once more.

The man shuddered again, and as quickly as he’d appeared mortal, he was once more a large feline. The cat was flat on his belly now, trembling and shivering, his head lowered.

“I’ll ask again,” Kieran said. “What in the actual fuck?”

“Maybe he’s a wivern,” Delano murmured, referencing one of the bloodlines believed to be extinct. “Or maybe a changeling? Some of the older ones could take on the form of an animal.”

“I don’t know.” Casteel swallowed, shaken as he stared at the creature. “But we…we have to keep going.”

“What?” I spun toward him. “We can’t leave him.”

“We have to, Poppy.” He clasped my arms. “You see what kind of bars they are?” he asked, and I looked again, my stomach hollowing. “They’re bone, and I doubt they’re the bones of a mortal. Your abilities won’t work on them, and we’re not going to be able to break through them without causing a shit ton of noise.”

“But—”

“And even if we did, what would we do with him?” Casteel asked, his eyes searching mine. He took a breath, lifting his hands to clasp my cheeks. “Listen to me. I know you don’t want to leave him here. Neither do I. But there is nothing we can do right now.”

“He’s right,” Kieran said, glancing back out into the hall. “We’re not abandoning him.”

“We’re not?” I questioned.

“We know he’s here. We’ll ask for his freedom,” Casteel explained. “That becomes a part of our deal.”

“That…that is a smart idea,” I said, glancing at the cat. His eyes were closed, and his sides rose and fell rapidly.

“That’s because I’m smart.” Casteel dipped his head, kissing my brow. “I love your compassion, Poppy,” he whispered. “I really do. But we must continue.”

Heart sinking, I nodded as I stared at the creature. “We’ll be back,” I promised him, unsure if he could understand what I said or if he was even aware that we were still there.

It took everything in me to leave the room, the man’s intense stare taking up space in my mind. I didn’t think he was a wivern or a changeling, because why would the bones of a deity be needed to cage one of them?

Surely that couldn’t be… “Could Malec change forms?” I asked as we entered a narrow stairwell.

“No,” Casteel answered from in front of me. “I know what you’re thinking. That’s not him. He was not the kind of deity that could shift forms.”