The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

last time still haunted me, and I really didn’t need a repeat
of that right now.
My mind was still skipping all over the place when
Kieran left to ready the rest of the wolven and the Atlantians
who remained—my memories jumping from one discovery
to another. There were three things I was not thinking about
as I made use of the small bathing chamber and returned to
the sparse room.
The immortality thing and everything with that.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t hard not to think about it because I
didn’t feel any different than I had before the bolt struck me
in the chest. And I didn’t think I looked any differently. There
was no mirror in the bathing chamber to confirm, but
Casteel hadn’t mentioned anything. I felt like myself.
I wasn’t allowing myself to think about the whole Queen
thing, either, which was something neither Kieran nor
Casteel had brought up, thank the gods. I would have
probably ended up in the corner of the hunting cabin if they
had.
The third thing, I was failing at not thinking about. Who
Alastir claimed I was related to kept popping up in my head
every couple of moments. I watched Casteel pull on a thick
tunic. Did he know? Had Alastir told him when he captured
the wolven? Maybe he hadn’t. I didn’t have to say anything.
If Casteel didn’t know, that was probably for the best.
Because how would he feel to know that he was married to
the descendant of the King who’d nearly destroyed Atlantia?
And his mother? My stomach twisted and churned. What
would she think?
Or did she already know? Was that why she had asked
Casteel what he’d brought home with him? King Valyn had
fought beside him, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know.
Alastir had arrived before us, and even if his parents hadn’t
been involved, they still could know who I was related to.
And his father… I remembered him shouting at Casteel
to stop—to not give me his blood. His father had known