The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

Casteel chuckled. “That won’t be necessary, my Queen.
We will simply walk through it and into one of the old
passageways underneath.”
I glanced at him and then at Kieran, thinking of the
inner wall around Castle Teerman and the section near the
jacaranda trees. My head snapped back to Casteel. “Are you
seriously telling me a part of the wall is down here, too?”
Grinning, Casteel tugged on the lapel of my cloak as he
passed, heading for several low-hanging branches. “The
Ascended are known for spending extravagant sums on rich
gowns and sparkling stones. But do you know what else
they are known for?” He lifted one of the branches, and
through the remaining thin, bare limbs was a pile of gray
rock at the foot of a narrow opening in the wall. “Their
unwillingness to spend any of that coin on the most
fundamental upkeep of their cities and even their castles.”
“Gods,” I muttered, shaking my head.
Casteel winked.
“Really is shameful.” Delano knocked several pale
shades of hair back from his face. One side of his lips kicked
up. “And also very beneficial to us.”
Casteel led the way, lifting the branches as he passed
under them and holding them up for me. The earthy, musty
scent that greeted us as we entered the tear in the wall and
eased into a dark space reminded me too much of the
tunnels that led to Iliseeum. I forced my mind to focus on
the plan at hand. According to Casteel and Kieran, the
courtyards could be accessed from underground walkways
and chambers. From there, we would be able to get an idea
of what kind of forces we were dealing with.
And then? Well, we were going to walk right into the
heart of Castle Redrock, into the Great Hall, and announce
that we were earlier than expected. We would catch them
off guard, and that would surely mess with the heads of the
guards and the Blood Crown alike, that we had been able to