The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

mine with a look that made me think of my Ascension. “And
it can take time for them to find their way out of that, but it
is who they are in their hearts and souls that determines
whether or not they can be trusted.”
My breath caught. Could that be why a part of Ian
remained? Because he had been a good person before his
Ascension? If so, then there was hope for Tawny and how
many others?
“That is an extremely optimistic and naïve outlook on
the Ascended,” Gregori asserted.
Willa looked at the Elder. “I’d rather be optimistic than
bigoted and close-minded, but I am never naïve. I have
more than a thousand years on you,” she said softly, and I
blinked. “Consider that before you speak so ignorantly, and
maybe you will save yourself future embarrassment.”
I…I really liked Willa.
And it had nothing to do with her diary.
She held Gregori’s stare until he looked away, a muscle
flexing in his jaw. Then she turned to Casteel and me. “You
have my support, even if you do not require it. You also
have my advice. I’ve never been to Iliseeum. Obviously,”
she told us, finishing off her glass of whiskey. “But I know
those who have.”
A thought I really didn’t want to entertain entered my
mind. Malec apparently knew what the Temples in Iliseeum
looked like, and my father had a lot of mistresses.
And Willa had had a lot of partners.
What if she’d written about him in— Nope, I stopped
myself from going there. I did not want to think about that.
Willa’s gaze met mine and then Casteel’s. “Whatever
you do, do not enter Dalos, the City of the Gods. You will
know it when you see it. If you enter, you will never return.”