The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“Okay, and a little confused,” I admitted. “I have a lot of
questions.”
One side of the wolven’s lips tipped up. “I’m so
shocked,” he murmured, pale eyes gleaming with
amusement.
“I’m sorry for trying to eat you.” I felt my cheeks warm.
Kieran smiled then. “It’s okay.”
“Told you he wouldn’t hold it against you,” Casteel said.
“Wouldn’t be the first time a hungry Atlantian tried to
eat me,” Kieran said, and my brows lifted. I now had more
questions, but a memory surged through me.
When I woke, I’d been too lost to the bloodlust to realize
that I hadn’t been covered in blood. And I should’ve been.
There had been so much blood from the wound. “You
cleaned me, didn’t you? You wiped away the blood.”
“It didn’t feel right letting either of you lay in your
blood,” he said with a shrug as if the act was nothing. “I
didn’t want either of you seeing that when you woke up.”
Emotion clogged my throat as I stared at Kieran. I
reacted without much thought, pitching forward. I didn’t
know if he sensed what I was about to do or if he was
worried that I was about to attempt to rip his throat out
again, but he caught me without falling over, even though
he did wobble a bit. He folded his arms around me without a
heartbeat of hesitation, holding me just as tightly as I held
him. I felt Casteel’s hand on my lower back, just under
Kieran’s arms, and the three of us stayed like that for a little
while. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“You don’t need to thank me for that.” He dragged a
hand up to the back of my head and leaned away enough
that his gaze met mine. “It was the least I could do.”
“But that wasn’t all you did,” Casteel said, reaching over
and clasping a hand on the wolven’s shoulder. “You made
sure we got here safely and kept watch. You did everything
we needed and more. I owe you.”