The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

I couldn’t help but try to imagine any of the Ascended—
let alone the King or Queen—allowing such familiarity. Those
who hadn’t greeted Duke Teerman formally tended to
disappear shortly thereafter.
Harlan nodded as Jasper dismounted. “Yes, Your—” He
caught himself with a sheepish smile. “Yes, it has been a
while.”
As the man took Setti’s reins, I saw that his eyes were a
dark brown. He was either mortal or of the changeling
bloodline. I wanted to ask, but that seemed like a rather
impolite question. He looked up at me, his gaze briefly
lingering on my face before moving on.
“Harlan, I would like to introduce you to someone
extremely important to me,” Casteel said as Kieran faced
us. “This is my wife, Penellaphe.”
My wife.
Despite everything, my heart still did a silly little leap.
“Your wife?” The male blinked once and then twice. A
toothy grin spread across his face. “Congratulations, Your—
Congratulations. Wow. I don’t know what is more surprising.
Your return or that you’re married.”
“He likes to go big or go home,” Kieran commented as
he patted his horse’s side. “In case you’ve forgotten that.”
Harlan chuckled as he scratched at his mop of blond
hair. “I guess I have.” He looked at me again. “It’s an honor
to meet you, Your Highness.” He bowed then with far more
flourish.
Kieran raised his brow at me as he mouthed, Your
Highness.
If I weren’t so tired and uninterested in making a second
bad first impression, I would’ve jumped from Setti and
punched the wolven in the face. Hard. Instead, I unglued my
tongue from the roof of my mouth. “Thank you,” I managed,
hoping I didn’t sound as strange to him as I did to myself.
“You don’t have to call me that either. Penellaphe is fine.”