The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

Chapter 19
“The Unseen?” I repeated.
“You’re fucking kidding me, right?” Casteel demanded.
“I was under the impression that the Unseen were either
disbanded or had died out long before the War of Two
Kings.”
“That’s what we all thought,” King Valyn said. “Until
lately.”
“What exactly are the Unseen?” I asked.
The King glanced over his shoulder, and it was then that
I noticed a woman. She was tall and muscular, her skin a
light brown with golden undertones, her hair jet-black in the
floodlight, pulled back in a tight, singular braid much neater
than the one I usually wore. She was dressed in white like
the Crown Guards, but golden scrollwork crossed the center
of her chest. She held a sword in one hand, and the hilt of
another was visible from her back. A silent command passed
between her and the King, and then she nodded. Turning,
she sheathed her sword and then let out a low whistle.
Several guards drifted out of the trees’ shadows, and
from the spaces the floodlights didn’t penetrate.
“Search the premises,” she ordered. “Make sure no one
is here that does not belong.”
I watched the guards hurry off, splitting up and heading
in different directions, passing Jasper as he prowled toward
us in his wolven form. Whoever this woman was, she held a
place of command. Within moments, she was the only guard
remaining.