The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

sorry because you spent the last several decades protecting
him from the truth.”
A muscle flexed in Casteel’s jaw, and a long moment
passed before Kieran said, “I believe Alastir cares for your
family, but he is loyal to the kingdom first and foremost.
Then to Casteel’s parents, and then to himself and Malik.
The only reason I can come up with for why he’d be involved
in something like this is that he somehow realized what you
were before anyone else did, and he knew what that meant
for Atlantia and for the Crown.”
I hadn’t told them about Alastir’s involvement, and I
didn’t think that was something that would’ve even come
during compulsion. My stomach tightened, and the center of
my chest hummed.
“It’s because he did know.”
Both of them stared at me.
“He was there the night the Craven attacked the inn. He
was there to help my parents relocate to Atlantia,” I said,
shaking my head. “They trusted him. Told him what I could
do, and he knew then what it meant. He said that my
parents knew what the Ascended were doing—that my
mother was a…a Handmaiden.” I looked at Casteel to see
that he’d stilled.
“I didn’t remember them until he mentioned them, but
then I recalled seeing these women dressed in black that
were often around Queen Ileana. I don’t know if that
memory was true.”
Tension bracketed Casteel’s mouth. “The Handmaidens
are real. They are the Blood Queen’s private guards and
cohorts,” he said, and I shuddered. “I don’t know if your
mother was one of them. I don’t see how she could have
been. You said she didn’t defend herself, and those women
were trained in every manner of death known.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I don’t remember her
fighting, but…” I had gotten those glimpses of her holding
something in her hand that night. “I really don’t know, but