The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“I couldn’t let her die,” Casteel stated before I could.
Anger simmered from him like a riptide under still waters. “I
knew exactly what I was doing and what I did is on me. Not
her.”
Queen Eloana’s gaze flicked to her son. “I know. That is
what your father said. I don’t hold her responsible for what
you did.”
My breath caught. “You shouldn’t hold Casteel
responsible, either. I’m not a vampry.”
“I can see that,” she said, her gaze tracking over my
features as if she were searching for a hint of the Ascended
we all knew. “But what if you had become that?”
“What if?” Casteel challenged softly, releasing my hand.
His father took a long drink from the glass he held, and I
had a feeling we were quickly veering down the same path
Casteel and his father had taken about my Ascension. I truly
didn’t want a repeat of that.
“We can’t change what was done to me or what Casteel
did to save my life. It happened,” I said, clasping my fingers
together tightly. “And, obviously, we are all lucky that I
didn’t turn into a vampry. It seems rather pointless to
continue discussing what could’ve happened when it simply
did not. He understood the risk. He still took the chance,
and I am still here. Not a vampry. It’s over.”
The anger receded in Casteel, but the coolness of his
mother’s surprise grew. “It’s only over if what was done in
those ruins remains between those who were present. If
word of what happened were to ever make it out, some
would possibly see you as no different than the Ascended,
so it’s not simply over just because it seemingly turned out
well.”
Her tone was level, but there was a condescending
touch to it that scalded my throat and stung my eyes. Warm
skin brushed against my arm. Kieran had stepped in closer
to me, and the simple touch was another jolt, reminding me
of how such a thing had been forbidden to me as the