The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

I dug at my throat, panic blossoming in my chest. I
couldn’t breathe. Pain streaked down my throat as my nails
drew blood.
“Let her go,” Casteel said, dropping his other sword as
he clasped my wrist. “Damn it, let her go!”
“I don’t think I will. You see, she needs to understand
the same lesson you were so resistant to,” Isbeth said. “She
has no choice. She never has, and I can tell she still believes
otherwise. Perhaps she is a perfect fit for you, and she’ll
never learn. Your brother has been far more
accommodating.”
My lungs burned as sharp, stabbing pinpricks attacked
my hands and arms—my legs. Black dotted my vision.
Pressure clamped down on my skull. Those icy fingers sank
into my head, into my mind. Pain sliced through me—the
kind that seized control of my entire body, and this—oh,
gods, this was what I had planned to do to her but hadn’t
been quick enough or known how. It felt like she was tearing
me apart from the inside, scattering my brain. I jerked,
straining against Casteel as I clasped the sides of my head. I
twisted, only aware that I breathed because I could scream.
“Poppy!” Casteel gripped my arm as I clutched at my
head, tore at my hair as those claws kept digging in. Panic
filled his eyes as wet warmth gushed from my nose, from
my ears. “No. No. No.” He pulled me to his chest as he
twisted toward her. “Please. I beg you. Stop. Please,
godsdamn it. Stop! I’ll do anything. You want Atlantia? It’s
yours—”
“You are not the true heir,” she cut him off. “You cannot
give me what I want.”
“She can’t give it to you if you kill her,” he shouted as
my teeth bled. “You want to control her? You want me, then.
Take me. I won’t fight you. I swear. I won’t. Just stop.
Please.” His voice cracked.
Consciousness was slipping away as I fell further and
further into the soul-shredding pain. I could barely hear their