The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

He shook his head. “That light behind your pupils seeps
out into the green. It’s far more intense.”
“Oh,” I whispered.
“I think it’s the eather in you,” he told me, angling his
body toward mine.
“Oh,” I repeated, thinking that it must be the same thing
that made Casteel and the other Atlantians’ eyes become
luminous and churning.
He arched a brow. “That’s all you have to say to seeing
your eyes? Oh?”
“My eyes…they feel the same,” I offered up, truly
having no idea what to say.
One side of his lips quirked. “And they’re still the most
beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.”
I turned to him, looking up. “None of this bothers you?
My heritage? Whatever it is that I am?”
His half-grin faded. “We had this conversation when we
talked about Malec.”
“Yes, we did, but…but when you met me, I was the
Maiden. You thought I was mortal, and then you learned I
was half-Atlantian. But now you know I’m descended from a
god, and you don’t even really know what I am,” I pointed
out. “My gifts aren’t even the same. I’m changing.”
“So?”
“So?”
“When you met me, you thought I was a mortal guard
who’d sworn an oath to protect you. But then you learned I
was an Atlantian and that I was the Prince,” he countered.
“Did any of that change how you saw me?”
At first it had, but… “No. It didn’t.”
“Then why is it so hard for you to believe that it changes
nothing for me? You are still Poppy.” He touched my cheek.
“No matter how much more you change, you are still her in
your heart.”
I glanced back at the mirror, seeing a familiar face that
was also unfamiliar in the smallest ways. I felt like myself in