The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

I focused on taking deep, even breaths as I reminded
myself that I had already suspected that at least one of my
parents hadn’t been related to me by blood. I’d even started
to accept that, and I…I could accept this. But Malec as my
father? Something didn’t add up about that. But my
thoughts were too much of a whirlwind to figure out what
that was at the moment.
“And he would’ve told me if he had happened across
Malec,” Casteel’s mother stated, snapping my attention
back to her. “He would’ve told both of us.”
Casteel’s fingers slipped from mine then, and my heart
stuttered at the blast of iciness that rolled off him as he
stared at his parents. “Did you two know about Penellaphe
before me? Did you know what Alastir took part in that night
in Lockswood?”
Oh, my gods.
I…I hadn’t even considered that. But I tasted it then, the
sourness of shame, coming from both of them. The center of
my chest hummed, and Kieran inhaled raggedly as he
stretched his neck from left to right. “You…you knew?”
“We knew that he had found what he believed to be a
descendant of Malec’s,” Queen Eloana answered as her
husband reached between them, clasping her hand. “But we
did not know anything else about you or your family. He
didn’t even know then that you were Malec’s child. He only
came to realize that when he met you again.”
Casteel’s body was impossibly rigid, and I saw Hisa inch
away from the window and move toward his parents. “But
you knew that he killed her parents? Left her to die?”
His father met his stare. “We only knew after the fact.
There was nothing we could’ve done then.”
A moment passed, and then Casteel started to stand. I
snapped forward, grasping his arm. “He’s right,” I said,
swallowing thickly as his head swung in my direction. His
eyes reminded me of frozen topaz. “There was nothing they
could’ve done after the fact. This is not their fault.”