The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“That’s because you’re both idiots,” Jasper replied, and I
blinked.
Casteel took a healthy drink of his whiskey. “Can’t really
argue with that.”
“Wait.” I frowned. “The Stroud Sea reaches the coasts of
Atlantia? I thought the Skotos mountain range extended into
the water and—”
“Traveled to the ends of the realm?” Casteel finished for
me. “No. That’s why the mist is so thick. It makes it appear
as if the mountains are hidden behind it, but that’s only so
no one attempts to travel through it.”
I gave a little shake of my head and refocused. “What
about traveling through the mountains?”
“The Mountains of Nyktos are impossible to cross by
Atlantian or mortal. The mist there? That kind of magic is
deadly.” Jasper’s wintry gaze flicked between his son and
the Prince before returning to me. “You would possibly be
the only one who could cross the mountains.”
Casteel glanced down at me, and his lips twisted in a
faint smile. “You are just special.”
I ignored that. “So, it causes hallucinations like the mist
in the Skotos?”
“No.” Jasper laughed, shaking his head. “The magic in
these mountains suffocates anyone who it doesn’t recognize
as a god.”
My mouth dropped open. “Oh. Okay. That’s a lot.” I
twisted the sash of the robe around my hand. “But I’m a
descendant of a god. I’m not a god. Those two things are
vastly different.”
Jasper raised his brows. “I don’t think we know exactly
what you are, and that is a hill I am willing to crash and burn
on.”
I closed my mouth because he was right.
“Then how did anyone cross over to Iliseeum to obtain
the soil?” Kieran veered us back on track.