The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

I swallowed hard as instinct demanded that I put as
much distance between myself and these things as I could.
The Craven always provoked the same reaction, but I didn’t
run from them, and I wouldn’t run now.
Kieran’s chin dipped. “I have no idea what in the hell
any of you are, but whatever you are planning, I strongly
advise against it.”
Movement along the wall caught my attention. Another
masked man was crouched there, his skin carrying a pink
undertone. He wasn’t the shade of death. I reached out with
my senses, tasting…something dry and oaky, like whiskey—
almost nutty. Determination. The one on the wall was
different. He was alive, for starters. My eyes narrowed on an
ivory and gray-brown chain draped over his chest. Anger
rushed through me like a swarm of hornets. If there had
been any doubt about what they wanted, it was erased now.
Those bindings would not touch my skin again.
“You have no idea what you guard, wolven,” the masked
male spoke, his deep voice muffled from behind the mask.
“What you seek to protect.”
“I know exactly who I protect,” Kieran stated.
“You don’t, but you will,” the man replied. “We just want
the Maiden.”
“I am not the Maiden.” I welcomed the burn of my rage.
It smothered the ache of grief over the fact that others were
of like mind with Alastir. I pushed it aside before the sadness
could settle inside me.
“Would you rather be called the Blessed One? The
Chosen?” he countered. “Or would you prefer to be
addressed as the Harbinger? The Bringer of Death and
Destruction?”
I stiffened. I had heard those titles before, but I’d
forgotten. Jansen had called Nyktos something similar. The
hum in my chest vibrated. “If you truly believe that is what I
am, then you’re a fool to stand there and threaten me.”