The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

to even process what that could mean, what that could
signify, he continued. “But that’s not what you came to talk
to me about, is it? And I bet you have a lot of questions.”
One side of his lips tipped up as a somewhat…fond look
crept into his otherwise cold features. “Is your brother who
you want him to be? Is the mother who you remember
yours?” His eyes drilled into mine as goosebumps spread
across my skin. “Are your dreams a reality or your
imagination? Who truly killed the ones you called Mother
and Father? But you don’t have long to ask those questions.
You have time for only one. These lands are not meant for
your friends, nor your lover. If they stay much longer, they
will not be able to leave.”
I stiffened. “None of us has entered Dalos.”
“It doesn’t matter. You came to ask for my aid? There is
nothing I can do for you.”
“I don’t need your aid,” I clarified, placing my glass on
the table. Gods knew how many questions I wanted to ask
about Ian, about my parents and the memories, but this trip
wasn’t about me. It was about those waiting outside and all
those I had yet to meet. “I need the aid of your guards.”
Nyktos’s brow rose. “You know who my guards are.”
“Now I do,” I mumbled under my breath. His head tilted,
and I cleared my throat. “You’re aware of what the Ascended
are doing, right? They’re using Atlantians to make more of
them, and they’re feeding upon innocent mortals. We need
to stop them. I’ve learned that the Ascended have created
something that I was told only your guards can help us stop.
Something called a Revenant.”
The change that swept over the god was instant and
final. The façade of ease vanished. Streaks of white bled
across his irises, luminous and crackling. Everything about
him hardened, and every instinct in me went on high-alert.
“What?” I ventured. “Do you know what the Revenants
are?”