The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

What had changed the golden trees that had grown
through the foothills and the entire mountain range after the
goddess Aios had gone to sleep somewhere in the
mountain? That question haunted me with each hour that
passed. I may enjoy dabbling in denial every now and again,
but there could be no coincidence between the change that
had occurred here and what had happened to me. Three
times now, a tree had grown rapidly where my blood had
fallen, and in the ruins of Castle Bauer, the roots of that tree
had seemed to gather around me—around Casteel and I
both, as if the tree had tried to pull us into the ground or
shield us. I didn’t know, but I clearly remembered Kieran
tearing through the slick, dark gray roots.
Roots that had been identical to the ones that had
wrapped around the bone chains.
Had my near-death done this to the trees here? And the
deformed woods outside of the hunting cabin? Had the
potential loss of my mortality been the storm that swept
through the woods and changed the trees of Aios to blood
trees? How, though? And why? And had it impacted the
goddess who slept here somehow? The one who Casteel and
Kieran believed had awoken to stop me from plummeting to
my death?
I hoped not.
Despite the uneasy nature of the mountains and the
brutal pace, exhaustion dogged me, and I began to sink
farther and farther into Casteel’s embrace. Each time I
blinked, it became harder to reopen my eyes to the beams
of sunlight streaking through the gaps in the leaves
overhead.
Under the blanket, I curled my fingers loosely around
Casteel’s arm as I shifted my gaze to where Kieran and
Delano ran side by side ahead of us. My thoughts wandered
as my eyes started to drift closed. I had no idea how long I’d
slept after Casteel gave me his blood and we arrived at the
cabin. I hadn’t thought to ask, but it felt like I’d slept for a