The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“Malec gave her his blood when you poisoned her.” I
reclaimed what distance she’d gathered. “He couldn’t make
a vampry with his blood. Isbeth was never the first
Ascended.”
“I didn’t know that at first,” Eloana spoke. “I swear to
you. I had no idea that she wasn’t a vampry. She had black
eyes just like the others that were made after her—”
“Because her eyes are black but not like the Ascended,”
I interrupted. “They’ve always been black.”
“I didn’t know,” she repeated, one of her hands curling
into a fist. “I didn’t know until I found Malec and entombed
him. That is when I learned that Isbeth had never been a
vampry, that she had Ascended into something else—”
“Something like him,” I cut her off, not even truly caring
if she spoke the truth at this point. “When you learned the
truth doesn’t matter. What does is that you knew Ileana was
Isbeth, and you didn’t tell us. You didn’t prepare us for the
fact that we weren’t dealing with a vampry but with
something far more powerful than that. That is why your son
is not with me.”
“I…” She shook her head, her features beginning to
crumble. “Is my son alive?”
“Which one?”
Her eyes widened. “W-what do you mean?”
“Are you asking about Malik or Casteel?” I said. “Malik is
alive. He’s actually doing just fine, all cozied up with
Isbeth.”
She didn’t move. I didn’t think she even breathed. I
could’ve broken the news to her in a far kinder way, but she
could’ve also told us the whole truth.
“No,” she whispered.
“Yes.” I nodded as Isbeth’s voice haunted my thoughts.
“It was him who retrieved Casteel.”
A tear fell from her eye, streaking across her cheek. “Is
Casteel alive?”