The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash 3)

“Are we going to scale the wall?” I asked.

Casteel chuckled. “That won’t be necessary, my Queen. We will simply walk through it and into one of the old passageways underneath.”

I glanced at him and then at Kieran, thinking of the inner wall around Castle Teerman and the section near the jacaranda trees. My head snapped back to Casteel. “Are you seriously telling me a part of the wall is down here, too?”

Grinning, Casteel tugged on the lapel of my cloak as he passed, heading for several low-hanging branches. “The Ascended are known for spending extravagant sums on rich gowns and sparkling stones. But do you know what else they are known for?” He lifted one of the branches, and through the remaining thin, bare limbs was a pile of gray rock at the foot of a narrow opening in the wall. “Their unwillingness to spend any of that coin on the most fundamental upkeep of their cities and even their castles.”

“Gods,” I muttered, shaking my head.

Casteel winked.

“Really is shameful.” Delano knocked several pale shades of hair back from his face. One side of his lips kicked up. “And also very beneficial to us.”

Casteel led the way, lifting the branches as he passed under them and holding them up for me. The earthy, musty scent that greeted us as we entered the tear in the wall and eased into a dark space reminded me too much of the tunnels that led to Iliseeum. I forced my mind to focus on the plan at hand. According to Casteel and Kieran, the courtyards could be accessed from underground walkways and chambers. From there, we would be able to get an idea of what kind of forces we were dealing with.

And then? Well, we were going to walk right into the heart of Castle Redrock, into the Great Hall, and announce that we were earlier than expected. We would catch them off guard, and that would surely mess with the heads of the guards and the Blood Crown alike, that we had been able to come in right under their noses. And being caught off guard was often a fatal weakness.

“Careful.” Casteel found my hand in the darkness. “The ground slopes.”

“What did the Ascended create this for?” I asked as I tried to make sense of the area we were in.

“It was here before the Ascended,” Casteel said as he moved like a shadow through the nothingness. He stopped, shouldering a door that creaked softly. A torch-lit earthen tunnel awaited. “The woods led to a path straight to the bluffs. I imagine it was once used for smuggling of some sort.”

“And I can tell you that the Ascended who once stayed here used it for smuggling of a different sort,” Kieran commented from behind me.

People.

They could use it to smuggle mortals in and out of the castle without them ever being seen entering the grounds.

I shuddered as we walked between the damp stone walls of a passageway, my hand on the wolven dagger’s hilt. We came upon a short set of steps, where the hallway split in two. Casteel headed right.

“As your advisor,” Kieran began in a low voice as we passed rooms, some with old, wooden doors now barred, and others open to reveal racks of dusty bottles of what I imagined—or hoped—was wine. “I would like to formally suggest the placement of guards at the entrances of any and all tunnels at any of the residences you two may end up staying in.”

Casteel snorted. “I think that is an excellent suggestion.”

A sense of wariness rose in Delano, drawing my attention. “What is it?”

His pale eyes were sharp and alert as he scanned the rooms we passed. “They know we’re coming. You would think that someone in their guard would have thought to station guards in these tunnels just in case, especially since the castle was breached in the past.”

“Yeah, but they didn’t know this would be how we came in,” Kieran told him.

Delano had a point, but the Blood Crown rarely left the capital as far as I knew. Would they have known of these tunnels? Would whoever had been placed in the Royal Seat have discovered them? I imagined they had because of how easy it would be to bring people in or to…dispose of bodies.

Unease prickled my skin as we walked on, crossing another set of short steps. My gaze swept down another narrow hall that Casteel and Kieran passed, their attention focused ahead. There was a chamber to the side, one lit with several torches. I stopped suddenly, nearly causing Delano to walk into me.

“What is…?” Surprise rocked him as he saw what I did. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Casteel turned as I pivoted, heading for the chamber. “What are you doing?”

“The cage—look at what’s in the cage in that room.” I hurried forward, not quite believing what I saw.