The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

appeared frozen, and then an older man in blue yelled, “Our
Prince! Prince Casteel! Our Prince returns!”
A gasp went through the crowd like a gust of wind.
Doors of shops and homes alike opened down the road.
They must not have known that Casteel had recovered from
the shadowshade flower. I wondered exactly what
knowledge they had of what had occurred in the Chambers
of Nyktos. Had the blood rain not fallen on the city? Surely,
they had seen the trees of Aios, even though soaring
buildings now blocked the mountains.
Shouts of excitement and cheers filled the streets as
people clamored and spilled out of buildings or leaned from
windows above. Arms rose and trembled as some yelled
Casteel’s name, and others praised the gods. An older man
dropped to his knees and clasped his hands together
against his chest. He wept. And he wasn’t the only one.
Women. Men. Many openly cried as they yelled his name.
Casteel shifted behind me as my eyes grew to the size of
the sun. I…I’d never seen anything like this. Ever.
“They…some of them are crying,” I whispered.
“I think they feared I was dead,” he remarked. “It has
been quite some time since I’ve been home.”
I wasn’t sure if that was the reason. From what I’d seen
in New Haven and Spessa’s End, he was well loved and
respected by his people. My throat tightened as I looked
around, seeing a blur of ecstatic, smiling faces. Nothing like
this happened when the Ascended rode through their towns.
Not even when the Queen or King moved about in public,
which if I remembered correctly, had been rare. There had
always been silence.
People jerked to a stop, their cheers falling to whispers.
At first, I didn’t understand what the cause was.
The wolven.
They must’ve fallen back at some point, but now they
returned to our sides. They prowled the street and swept
over the sidewalks, moving between mortals and Atlantians