The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

husband’s.
Casteel squeezed my hand as I said, “Alastir told me
that I share similar abilities with—”
“Malec?” Queen Eloana interjected, her sorrow
becoming a thickness that cast a pall on the room. “You do.
You would. He spoke the truth.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, I was stunned and even more
surprised by the fact that I was so shocked. Apparently,
some part of me hadn’t wanted to believe it was true. I sat
back, trying to pull my hand free of Casteel’s grip.
He held on as he angled his body toward mine. “It
doesn’t matter, Poppy. I told you that before.” His gaze
snared mine. “It doesn’t matter to me.”
“And it doesn’t matter to us,” Kieran stated softly from
behind us, bravely speaking for the entirety of the wolven.
“You actually look like him,” Casteel’s mother
whispered, and my head swung in her direction. “Even if I
hadn’t seen the power radiating from you, I would’ve known
exactly who you came from. You have many of his features
and his hair—though his was a shade of red that carried
more brown in it, and his skin was a little darker than
yours.”
I could feel the blood slowing in my veins. “I was always
told that I looked like my mother—”
“By who?” she asked.
“By…” Queen Ileana had told me that. Ever since I could
remember, she’d said that I was a replica of my mother
when she was my age. I never once questioned that growing
up, and even though I was beginning to suspect that at least
one of my parents wasn’t related to me by blood, I’d never
truly thought it was my mother.
Casteel stared at me for a moment and then turned to
his mother and father. “What are you saying?”
“What we’re saying is that it’s impossible for the ones
you believed to be your parents to be who you remember
them to be.” King Valyn’s tone was softer than what I even