The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

swore an oath to protect Atlantia and her secrets. That was
why I was willing to break my bond with Malec. And it is why
I cannot allow you to do what he almost succeeded in.”
It was hard for me to fully comprehend that I carried any
godly blood in me. Obviously, I couldn’t deny that I wasn’t
just half-Atlantian and half-mortal. One of mixed heritage
couldn’t do what I had done. Not even an elemental
Atlantian was capable of that. But someone descended from
Nyktos? From King Malec?
The deity who had created the very first Ascended? His
actions had led to thousands of deaths, if not more.
That was in my blood?
I couldn’t believe what Alastir was saying. It sounded as
impossible as what Duchess Teerman had claimed about the
Queen of Solis being my grandmother. That was impossible.
The Ascended couldn’t bear children.
“How could I descend from Malec?” I asked, even if it
sounded impossible.
“Malec had many mistresses, Penellaphe. Some were
mortal. Some weren’t,” he told me. “And he had children
with some of them—offspring who spread across the
kingdom, settling in areas far west from here. It is not at all
impossible. There are many others like you—those who
never reached the age of the Culling. You are his
descendant.”
“Others who never reached….” I trailed off, a whole new
horror beginning to take shape in my mind. Good gods, were
Alastir and Jansen—and who knew how many others—
responsible for the deaths of…of children over the course of
the centuries?
“But it’s not just the bloodline, Penellaphe. We were
warned about you long ago. It was written in the bones of
your namesake before the gods went to sleep,” Alastir said.
My skin pimpled.
“‘With the last Chosen blood spilled, the great
conspirator birthed from the flesh and fire of the Primals will