The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

Nova frowned from where she stood by the door. “You
think he spoke the truth? That this is not a trap of sorts?”
“He said he knew the truth,” I told her—told the room.
Casteel had been close enough to overhear my brother’s
whisper. The rest hadn’t. “He had to be talking about the
Ascended.”
“He didn’t sound like he knew the truth about the
Ascended,” Jasper remarked with a scowl. “He sounded like
every Ascended I’ve come across.”
“That had to be an act,” I said.
“Then he’s one hell of an actor,” the older wolven
retorted.
It was a good act, but we were thinking about two
different situations. “Growing up, Ian made up these stories
and then told them to me. He did it because he knew I
was…I was often lonely and bored.” I started walking again,
fiddling with the edge of my braid. “Anyway, when he told
me those stories, he acted them out, adopting different
accents and mannerisms. He was good at it—good enough
that he’d be at home on a stage.”
“And I barely heard what he whispered to Poppy,”
Casteel commented. “There’s no way the knights did.”
I nodded. “He made sure they couldn’t hear. That’s why
he moved so far from them—something I could tell made
them uncomfortable.”
“Truth or not, the fact that Ian even brought up Nyktos
makes me think that he knows about your heritage,” Kieran
began, leaning against the table beside where his sister sat
perched on the edge, her feet resting on a chair. “And that
means the Blood Crown likely does, as well. Which isn’t
exactly a surprise, but it could mean they have some
understanding of your abilities.”
“They may.” I stopped playing with my braid and instead
started worrying the skin of my thumb. “I mean, it sounded
like they orchestrated my creation,” I said without going into
too much detail. It was strange how twenty-four hours ago, I