The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

other guards followed, as did Sven. Gregori remained
standing, his eyes wide.
“Try me,” I whispered, and those two words echoed
throughout the room.
A tremor coursed through Gregori as he slowly lowered
himself to one knee, bowing his head. “I’m sorry,” he
uttered, placing a hand to his chest and the other to the
floor. “Please forgive me.”
In the hidden, darkest corners of my being, the urge to
lash out was a tempting force. To unleash all the sorrow and
anger I felt, and let it flay open Gregori’s skin and rip out
each bone. I could—with just a thought, a single will. He
would be no more, and he would be the last to speak to me
in such a way.
Isbeth would do it.
But I wasn’t her.
I reined in the eather, and pulled the power deep within
me. The radiance retreated, seeping back into my skin.
“Leave,” I ordered the Elder. “Now.”
He rose, stumbling around me and the wolven. I heard
Naill’s soft snicker as the Elder rushed past him. My gaze
flicked to Sven. “You should leave, too,” I said. “And the
guards. Leave.”
Sven nodded, exiting the room with far more grace than
his predecessor. A few of the Crown Guards lingered,
obviously still loyal to Eloana—or afraid for her. I turned to
where I saw that she had lowered herself to the floor.
I fought a cruel smile, stopping it from reaching my lips
as she looked up at me. “I do not believe you want many to
hear what I have to say.”
The skin around the corners of her eyes puckered as she
closed them. “Listen to your Queen,” she whispered
hoarsely. “Leave.”
Vonetta and Kieran tracked the guards’ progress. It
wasn’t until Naill and Hisa had closed the door that I said,
“You may rise.”