The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“No one has spoken the name of that village in years.”
Casteel’s jaw clenched as he ran his palms up my
forearms, washing off the soap. “I knew where the inn was
located because I did some digging into your background
before we met, but that wasn’t readily available
information.” He scooped my hair back from my face as I
reached for more of the soap. “We don’t know how many
people Alastir shared that knowledge with.”
He held my hair as I quickly washed my face. When I
was done, the scent of stale flowers no longer clung to my
skin at least, and Kieran had turned off the water. “Thank
you,” I said as he handed me a towel.
“Alastir claimed there was another at the inn, correct?”
Water dampened Kieran’s throat and chest as his gaze met
ours in the mirror. “Called him the Dark One?”
I backed away from the vanity, lowering the towel. “He
did. Why?”
“Is it possible that Alastir simply shared that information
with others?” Kieran answered. “Or is there the chance that
he was speaking the truth? That another was there.”
Anything was possible, but… “Alastir made it sound like
this mystery figure led the Craven there.” I watched Casteel
strip off his ruined shirt. That strange, purplish blood
streaked the upper part of his chest. He took the bar of soap
from Kieran as I said, “Can these…Unseen control the
Craven?”
Tension bracketed his mouth as he lathered the soap
between his palms. “The Unseen were gone long before the
first Craven was ever created—or as far as we know. Either
way, the Craven can be herded in a direction, but they
cannot be controlled beyond that.” He looked back at
Kieran. “If you want, you can grab one of my shirts.”
Kieran nodded, making his way to the wardrobe just
outside the bathing chamber as I placed my used towel in a
hamper. “But I…”