The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“And?” he queried quietly. “You seek to use us to take
everything from the Blood Crown, then? To destroy them,
the cities they protect themselves in, and those who stand
between you and them?”
I pressed the marriage imprint against the pouch that
held the toy horse. “I seek the aid of the draken to fight the
Revenants and the Ascended—to fight beside Atlantia. I do
not seek to destroy the cities or kill those caught between
them and me. For the most part, the people of Solis are
innocent.”
“You seek to fight with the guards of the gods at your
side, but you do not expect cities to fall?” He barked out a
short laugh. “You are not ready for war.”
“You misunderstand,” I stated carefully. “Or I misspoke. I
do not seek to do those things, but I understand that they
may be necessary. I am ready for war. I would not be here if
I wasn’t. But I do not plan to soak the lands with blood and
leave nothing but ruins behind.”
There was a beat of silence. “Then you plan to take
what is owed you and bear the weight of two Crowns?”
I forced my hands to loosen. “Yes.”
His head bowed slightly. “And will you help bring back
what was ours to protect? What will allow the Consort to
wake?”
Kieran sent me a glance of concern, and I really had no
idea what Nektas was speaking of or what would happen if
the Consort awakened. But I asked, “What is it that I need to
help bring back?”
“Your father.”
I opened my mouth, but it took several moments for me
to find the ability to speak. “Malec?”
“Malec is lost to us. He was lost to us long before any of
us realized.”
Confusion swept through both Kieran and me. “I don’t
understand,” I started. “Malec is—”