The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

had been caught up in the knowledge that Malec was my
father. Now, replaced by something far more important, it
felt like a non-issue. “Then they probably have a good idea
of what my gifts could grow into. But these Revenant
things? I’ve never heard of them before.”
“Neither have I,” Casteel said, which was unsettling
since he’d spent time in the capital far more recently than I
had.
“But whatever they are, they must be bad for Ian to say
a large army couldn’t beat them.”
“That is if what he said is true,” Kieran pointed out.
“It may not be. It just might be.” Casteel squinted as he
drew his thumb along his lower lip, watching me. “Wake
Nyktos.”
Our gazes connected. What my brother told me to do
sounded too bizarre to even consider, but…
“I doubt any god would be all that happy with being
awakened, let alone Nyktos,” Vonetta said. “What if he said
that in hopes the god takes you out?”
My stomach tumbled at the thought. Angering a god
would be a surefire way to remove me from the picture. But
I also thought about what the Duchess had said. That I had
succeeded where she couldn’t. Could waking Nyktos be a
part of that?
I didn’t think so. Duchess Teerman referenced Atlantia,
and I truly believed that Ian was trying to help us.
“But the Blood Crown wants Poppy alive,” Casteel
pointed out. “And they want her at this meeting. If the plan
is to get her killed by waking Nyktos, why set up the
meeting?”
“Good point.” Vonetta’s fingers tapped on her bent
knees as she glanced between Casteel and me. “You two are
seriously thinking about it, aren’t you? Waking Nyktos?”
Casteel still held my gaze. “If what Ian said is true, we
may need Nyktos’s guards. Either way, Atlantia has lost the
element of surprise when it comes to our armies.”