The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

show your gratitude. Should I kill all of you before I learn
why, or do I even care enough to discover the reasons?”
It could’ve been everything I’d experienced in my life
that’d led to this moment. It could’ve been the bitter fear
that punched through Casteel—fear for me and not him. It
could’ve been my fear for him and my friends. It was
probably all those things that drove me to my feet and
loosened my tongue. “How about you don’t kill any of us,
considering you’ve been asleep for eons, and we came here
seeking your aid?”
The King of Gods came down a step. “How about I just
kill you?”
Casteel moved so fast, I barely saw him do so until he
was standing in front of me, using his body as a shield. “She
means no disrespect.”
“But she has disrespected me.”
My stomach twisted as Kieran’s fingers dug into the
diamonds. I knew that not even the wolven would protect
me in this situation. I may represent the deities to them, but
Nyktos was the god that gave them mortal form. “I’m
sorry,” I said, attempting to step to the side, but Casteel
moved, too, keeping me behind him.
“Then should I kill him?” Nyktos suggested, and terror
turned my blood to ice. “I have a feeling that would serve as
a better lesson than your death. I’m sure you’d mind your
manners then.”
Real fear for Casteel seized me, reaching deep inside
and sinking its vicious claws into my chest. Nyktos could do
it with a thought, and that knowledge severed whatever
self-control I had. Heat rolled through me, turning the ice to
slush in my blood. Anger flooded every part of my body, and
it felt as potent as the power in the god’s voice. “No.”
Casteel stiffened.
“No?” the King of Gods repeated.
Fury and resolve mingled with the hum in my chest.
Eather throbbed throughout my body, and this time, when I