The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

awaken as the Harbinger and the Bringer of Death and
Destruction to the lands gifted by the gods. Beware, for the
end will come from the west to destroy the east and lay
waste to all which lies between.’”
I stared at him in stunned silence.
“You are the Chosen, birthed of the flesh and fire of the
gods. And you come from the west, to the lands the gods
have gifted,” Alastir conferred. “You are who your namesake
warned about.”
“You…you’re doing all of this because of my bloodline
and a prophecy?” A harsh laugh rattled from me. There had
been old wives’ tales about prophecies and tales of doom in
every generation. They were nothing but fables.
“You don’t have to believe me, but I knew—I think I
always did.”
He frowned as his eyes narrowed slightly. “I sensed it
when I looked into your eyes for the first time. They were
old. Primal. I saw death in your eyes, even all those years
ago.”
My heart stuttered and then sped up. “What?”
“We met before. You were either too young then to
remember or the events of the night were too traumatic,”
Alastir said, and every part of me flashed hot and then cold.
“I didn’t realize it was you when I saw you for the first time
in New Haven. I thought you looked familiar, and it kept
nagging at me. Something about your eyes. But it wasn’t
until you said your parents’ names that I knew exactly who
you were. Coralena and Leopold. Cora and her lion.”
I jolted, feeling as if the floor of the crypt had moved
under me. I couldn’t speak.
“I lied to you,” he said softly. “When I said that I would
ask to see if any others had known of them or had
potentially tried to help them escape to Atlantia, I never
planned to ask anyone. I didn’t need to because it was me.”
Heart pounding fast, I snapped out of my stupor. “You
were there that night? The night the Craven attacked the