The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

freeing his brother. It would still hurt, but not nearly as
fiercely. “But you found yourself.”
“Unfortunately, Atlantia doesn’t have the luxury of
waiting for him to do the same. My parents have already sat
on the throne for too long,” he told me. A King and Queen
could only rule for four hundred years. And as he said, his
parents were far past that. “There has been pushback,
Poppy. It’s a combination of fear of what the future holds if
we can’t sustain our population, and the general unease
that comes with any two people ruling for too long.”
“You told me there had been no challenges to the
throne.”
“And you also know I didn’t want to tell you the truth
because I didn’t want to freak you out,” he reminded me.
“And you appear to be seconds away from—”
“Throwing a plate of cheese at you? Yes, I am seconds
away from doing just that.”
“Don’t do that.” Amusement crept into his expression,
irritating me further. “You’ll be upset when you don’t have
any more cheese to eat.”
“It will be your fault,” I snapped, and a dimple appeared
in his right cheek. “Stop smiling. You should’ve told me. Just
like you should’ve told me about the damage that was done
to the crops and the vandalism.”
“I only learned of the worst of it when I spoke with my
father last night.” His amusement faded. “I wanted to hear
it from him before I shared.” He tilted his head. “There
haven’t been any official challenges, Poppy, but pushback
will eventually become that, with or without your arrival.”
“My arrival has nothing—”
“Do not continue denying what you are. You’re smarter
and stronger than that,” he interrupted, and I snapped my
mouth shut. “You do not have the luxury of doing so. Neither
do I, and neither does the kingdom. Your arrival changes
everything.”