The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

Before I could demand that he find Jasper immediately,
he continued, “And I don’t even know if you will continue to
need blood.”
Oh, gods.
“I hadn’t even thought of that.” My newly restarted
heart was going to give out on me. Vamprys needed blood—
mortal or Atlantian—nearly every day, while an Atlantian
could go weeks without feeding. I didn’t know about deities
and the gods. Wasn’t sure if they needed blood or not. No
one had really specified that, nor had I even thought of it.
“Do deities and gods need blood?”
“I don’t think so,” Casteel answered. “But the deities
were guarded when it came to their weaknesses and needs.
The gods even more so. It’s possible.”
I bet his mother would know. But even if they needed
blood, it truly didn’t matter. I was neither of those things.
“I don’t even know if I can think of that right now. Not
because I find it repulsive or anything...”
“I know. It’s just different, and it’s a lot to add on top of
a lot. But we will figure it out together.” He tucked a strand
of hair back from my face. “So, I don’t know if you’re
immortal or not, Poppy. We’ll have to take that question day
by day.”
Immortal.
Living thousands and thousands of years? I couldn’t
process it. I couldn’t even fully comprehend it when I had
been the Maiden and believed I would go through an
Ascension. The idea of living for hundreds of years had
frightened me then. A lot of that had to do with how cold
and untouchable the Ascended were. I knew that the
Atlantians and the wolven weren’t like that, but it was still a
lot to wrap one’s head around.
And if I ended up immortal, Casteel wasn’t, even though
he could live like a hundred or more mortal lifetimes before
he truly began to age. He still would. He would eventually
die. And if I was something…else, I wouldn’t.