The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“Remember what I told you about how he was depicted
with a wolf?” Kieran said, drawing my gaze to a painting of
the King of Gods standing beside a tall, grayish-black wolf.
“This represents his relationship with the wolven?”
Kieran nodded. There were many like that, even small
sculptures of Nyktos with a wolven by his side. And farther
down the long wall was a sketch with a white wolf drawn
behind him, symbolizing his ability to take the shape of a
wolf.
“I wonder what is in the museums in Solis,” I said as we
stopped before a painting of the Goddess Ione, cradling a
swaddled infant. “Do they have paintings like this? Did they
copy them?”
“Is it true that only the upper class could enter the
museums?” Kieran asked.
I nodded, stomach souring. “Yes. Only the wealthy and
the Ascended. And so very few mortals are wealthy.”
“That is an archaic and brutal caste system.” Casteel’s
eyes narrowed upon a landscape of what appeared to be
Saion’s Cove. “One purely designed to create and
strengthen oppression.”
“By creating a gap between those who have access to
all the resources, and those who have access to none,” I
said, my chest becoming heavy. “And Atlantia is really not
like that? Not even a little?” The last bit I asked of Kieran, as
I thought of those who needed to be reminded of who the
wolven were.
“We are not like that,” he said. “Atlantia has never been
that way.”
“That doesn’t mean that we’ve been perfect.” Casteel’s
hand threaded through my hair. “There has been strife, but
the Council of Elders was formed to prevent anyone from
making a choice or decision that could jeopardize the
people of Atlantia. That doesn’t mean the Crown doesn’t
have ultimate authority,” he explained. “But the Council has
a say, and it would be very unwise for their opinions to go