The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“Oh.” I leaned over, my interest more than piqued, but
the moment I saw one of the pages, I sighed. “It’s in a
different language.”
“It’s in old Atlantian—the Primal language of the gods.”
Casteel sat on the arm of the settee. “I can barely read that
now.”
Jasper snorted. “Not surprised to hear that.”
One side of Casteel’s lips tipped up as he took a drink.
“I’m hoping this book you kept for some reason tells us
exactly how the Gyrms were here, in our realm, and why
they were after Poppy.”
Our realm? Why did that sound familiar to me?
“He kept all of his old schoolbooks,” Jasper explained.
“Well, his mother did. They’re in one of the rooms in the
back.”
I had yet to meet Kirha and really hoped I got to soon. I
wanted to thank her for the clothing. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine.” Jasper smiled, and the rough lines of his
face softened. “Slept through the whole damn thing.”
My brows rose. “Really?”
He nodded. “She’s always been a heavy sleeper, but
with the babe on the way, she could sleep through the gods
waking.”
“Here it is,” Kieran announced, lowering the book to his
knees as he looked over at Casteel. “Did you see them
without the mask?”
“That I did,” he drawled. “At first, I thought my vision
had gone out on me, and then I heard my father say
something like, ‘What the fuck?’ and I knew it wasn’t just
me.”
I got momentarily distracted by picturing the tall and
ominous figure that was his father saying that. Kieran
tapped on the page, and I looked down, my stomach
hollowing as I saw an ink sketch of one of the creatures we’d
seen outside. It was extremely realistic—the head, the thin
slits for eyes, and then nothing but smooth skin. Then again,