The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

he’d barely spoken of his wife, and it wasn’t like I’d seen a
loving relationship between an Ascended pair before.
“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” Vonetta replied dryly as I sensed
a rise in Kieran’s annoyance.
“Shame,” Ian murmured. “I had hoped to continue our
conversation.”
“Not me,” she muttered, and I so wondered what
conversation he was referencing.
“Why, in either kingdom, would we trust that offer?”
Casteel had silently moved to stand beside me once more,
something that caused the knights to start forward.
Ian held up a hand, halting the knights. “Because the
Blood Crown has no desire to start another war,” he
responded. “One I hope you realize you will not win.”
“We’re going to have to disagree on that,” Casteel bit
out.
“So we shall.” Ian inclined his head. “But you should
also know that if you come with ill will, not only will you be
destroyed, but so will Atlantia—starting with Spessa’s End.”
Rage coated the back of my throat, and I reached out,
curling a hand around Casteel’s arm. A slight tremor
coursed through him. His chin had dipped, his features
becoming sharp angles. I squeezed his arm, and he briefly
glanced down at my hand as if he didn’t know who touched
him. It took several seconds for him to wrangle his anger.
“The Blood Crown is rather confident,” I said, taking on
the same tone of nonchalance Casteel had had in the
beginning. Dark eyes met mine. “Which tells me that the
Queen has no real knowledge of what armies are gathering
to the north.” Considering that I had no real idea, it was
nothing more than a bluff.
“Sister,” Ian purred, turning my stomach. “You could
have hundreds of thousands of soldiers, half of them wolven
larger than the ones before me, and you would not defeat
what the Queen has created.”