The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

when I first met her. “You are the Queen. You can ask
whatever you like.”
I didn’t think being Queen gave me carte blanche for
questions—which I had many I wanted to ask. “Why were
you at the Red Pearl?” I asked.
“I have a wandering soul that has a thirst for
exploration,” she answered, and based on her diary, I could
agree with that.
“But isn’t it dangerous for you?”
Her laugh was throaty. “The best kind of adventures
always carry a hint of danger, as I’m sure you know,” she
said, and my cheeks warmed. “And it had been many years
since I’d been to Masadonia. I had the strangest urge to
travel there.”
Her strange urge roused my suspicions about exactly
what she was. “Why did you send me to the room Casteel
was in?”
Her red lips curved upward in a slight smile. “It simply…
felt right to do so.”
“That is all?”
She nodded as she approached me. “One’s instinct
should always be trusted.”
“You’re a changeling, aren’t you?” When she nodded, I
asked, “So, your instinct is far more…accurate than others?”
A soft laugh left her. “Some would say that. Some would
even say that instinctual accuracy has led me to become
one of the greatest Seers Atlantia has ever known.”
A Seer. I knew it!
“When I saw you in the Red Pearl, I knew you wore a
mask. Not the one that hid your identity, but one you were
forced to wear for many years beneath the veil. One you
didn’t know you even wore. I saw you, and I knew you were
the Maiden.” Willa’s eyes searched mine as tiny bumps rose
all over my skin. “I knew you were a second daughter, one
who shared the blood of the gods.” Her gaze flicked over my