The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

come in right under their noses. And being caught off guard
was often a fatal weakness.
“Careful.” Casteel found my hand in the darkness. “The
ground slopes.”
“What did the Ascended create this for?” I asked as I
tried to make sense of the area we were in.
“It was here before the Ascended,” Casteel said as he
moved like a shadow through the nothingness. He stopped,
shouldering a door that creaked softly. A torch-lit earthen
tunnel awaited. “The woods led to a path straight to the
bluffs. I imagine it was once used for smuggling of some
sort.”
“And I can tell you that the Ascended who once stayed
here used it for smuggling of a different sort,” Kieran
commented from behind me.
People.
They could use it to smuggle mortals in and out of the
castle without them ever being seen entering the grounds.
I shuddered as we walked between the damp stone
walls of a passageway, my hand on the wolven dagger’s
hilt. We came upon a short set of steps, where the hallway
split in two. Casteel headed right.
“As your advisor,” Kieran began in a low voice as we
passed rooms, some with old, wooden doors now barred,
and others open to reveal racks of dusty bottles of what I
imagined—or hoped—was wine. “I would like to formally
suggest the placement of guards at the entrances of any
and all tunnels at any of the residences you two may end up
staying in.”
Casteel snorted. “I think that is an excellent
suggestion.”
A sense of wariness rose in Delano, drawing my
attention. “What is it?”
His pale eyes were sharp and alert as he scanned the
rooms we passed. “They know we’re coming. You would
think that someone in their guard would have thought to