The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

than all the stars in the sky.”
“I love you more than all the fish in the sea.”
“That’s my girl.” Papa’s hands trembled on my cheeks.
“Cora?”
Momma came forward, her face pale. “You should’ve
known she would find a way down here.” She glanced over
her shoulder. “You trust him?”
“I do,” he said as Momma took my hand in hers. “He’s
going to lead us to safety….”
Wind roared like thunder through the inn, coming from a
place that was not here. Voices rose, ones that didn’t come
from Papa or Momma, but from above, somewhere beyond
the whirlpool of colors at the other end of the nothingness.
“Who remains?” a male voice reached me, the same
one that had found me when I was drifting toward the
silvery light, but it was now hoarse and faint, weary and
weakened.
“Just us,” another deep voice replied, this one strained.
“We don’t have to worry about the guards. I think Jasper
decided it would be best if they were…no more.”
“My father?”
“Not an issue for now.” There was a pause. “We won’t
make it back to the Cove, but there is…” He faded out
briefly. “We’ll have to make it work just in case she… Do you
think you can move?”
There wasn’t an answer for a long moment. “I…I don’t
know.”
I fell again, slipping back through the years once more.
“Stay with your momma, baby.” Papa touched my
cheeks, drawing me away from the voices. “Stay with her
and find your brother. I’ll be back for you soon.”
Papa rose and turned to the door—to the man who
stood there, watching from the small crack between the
panels. “Do you see him?”
The man at the door, whose hair reminded me of the
beaches of the Stroud Sea, nodded. “He knows you’re