The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

So focused on Casteel, I couldn’t quite place the strange
sensation again, a fleeting emotion that was sour yet also
tangy. I had no idea who it came from or if I had really even
felt it when Casteel’s rage was a fire storm. “They’re not to
blame for what Alastir did,” I told him, curling my other
hand around his arm. “They’re not.”
He didn’t move for several heartbeats and then stiffly
returned to sit beside me. The muscles under my hands
remained tense as Hisa stepped back to her post by the
window, her hand easing away from the hilt of her sword.
“How?” Casteel demanded raggedly. “How could either
of you continue a friendship with that bastard after knowing
what he did?”
That…
That was an excellent question.
His father’s chest rose with a heavy breath. “Because
we thought that he was acting in the best interests of
Atlantia.”
“He allowed a child to be attacked by Craven,” snarled
Casteel. “How in the fuck is that in the best interests of
Atlantia?”
“Because Malik was gone, you showed no interest in
taking the Crown, and a descendant of Malec, raised among
the Ascended, cared for by a Handmaiden of the Blood
Crown, would’ve been able to claim the throne,” his mother
said, and I felt Casteel flinch. “And even not knowing the
extent of the blood that she carried in her, there was no way
that Alastir or either of us believed it to be a coincidence
that a Handmaiden was masquerading as the mother of a
child who was the heir to Atlantia.”
Masquerading as the mother…
“Gods,” Kieran muttered, dragging a hand over his face.
Casteel sat back, a muscle flexing in his jaw as he
looked at me. “Poppy, I—”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare.” Releasing his arm, I clasped the
sides of his face. “Don’t you dare apologize. This isn’t your