The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

Chapter 11
Casteel’s chest rose with a deep breath. “What I know is
that I took what was left of the blood in your body. And when
I felt your heart stop,” he said, clearing his throat, “I gave
you mine. It was my blood that restarted your heart and
kept it beating, and it was my blood that fed your body.
There isn’t a drop of mortal blood in you.”
My lips parted as I tried to wrap my head around what
he was saying—and what it meant.
“And that is not all I know,” he continued, and a fine
tremor danced through my body. “You…you don’t feel
mortal to me.”
“You don’t feel that way to me either,” Kieran added.
“You don’t smell mortal any longer.”
“What…what do I feel like? What do I smell like?” I
asked, and Kieran looked like he didn’t want to answer that
question. “Do I smell more like death?”
He blinked slowly. “I wish I’d never said that.”
“Do I?” I demanded.
Kieran sighed. “You smell of more power. Absolute. Final.
I’ve never smelled anything like it.”
“You don’t feel like an Atlantian or an Ascended,”
Casteel said, curling his fingers around my chin and guiding
my eyes to his. “I’ve never felt anything like you before. I
don’t know if that means you feel like a deity. My parents
would know. Maybe even Jasper, but he was very young
when he was around any of the deities so I’m not sure about
him.”