The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

That throaty, smoky voice stopped me. A wave of tiny
bumps pimpled my skin. I turned around and felt as if the
floor fell out from under my feet. A woman stood there, her
hair a deep black and thickly curled, hanging loosely to
frame deep, rich brown skin. Full, red lips curved into an
impish smile as she dipped in a bow that was subtle even in
a gray tunic and pants.
My lips parted. I couldn’t believe who I was staring at.
“You were at the Red Pearl,” I exclaimed as Vonetta looked
up, cocking her head to the side. “You sent me to the room
Casteel was in.”
The woman before me’s smile grew as she straightened,
the soft scent of jasmine surrounding us as she whispered,
“I was right, wasn’t I? About what you found in that room.”
“You were, but how…?” Was she a changeling? I knew
they could know things by speaking or touching someone.
Others simply knew things. So many questions rose to the
tip of my tongue, starting with why she’d done that and
what she had been doing at the Red Pearl. She had been
dressed as one of the employees—
Casteel slid his arm along my lower back as he came to
stand by my side. He lowered his head, pressing his lips
against my cheek as he said, “I grew lonely and came to
find you.”
In any other situation, I would’ve pointed out that he
hadn’t been alone, and I also would’ve been secretly thrilled
with his willingness to say such a thing in front of another,
but this was not a normal situation. I stared at the woman
before us.
“Ah, the last of you have arrived,” Valyn announced as
he joined us, stopping beside the woman from the Red
Pearl. Over his shoulder, I saw Eloana. He smiled at the
woman. “I don’t think you’ve had a chance to meet before.”
“We haven’t,” Casteel confirmed, as I kept my mouth
shut, and the woman smiled at me.