The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“Malec is not your father,” Nektas said. “The blood that
courses through you is that of Ires, his twin.”
Shock rolled through me as I stared at the draken’s
back. Isbeth…she hadn’t confirmed that Malec was my
father…and she had spoken of Malec in the past tense, as if
she believed that he was gone. Oh my gods, Isbeth didn’t
know where Malec was, and…
“Ires was lured from Iliseeum some time ago,” Nektas
said. “Drawn into the realm with my daughter while we
slept. We have not been able to look for Ires. Not without
being summoned, and he…he has not called for us. But we
know he lives.”
My thoughts raced, settling on the painting I’d seen in
the museum of Nyktos and the two…the two large cats. “Oh,
gods…”
“What?” Kieran looked at me.
I swallowed, almost afraid to ask. “Could Ires shift
forms?”
“He, like his father, could take other forms. While Nyktos
preferred that of a white wolf, Ires was often fond of taking
the shape of a large gray cat, much like Malec.”
“Fuck,” Kieran whispered.
I…I could only stand there while it felt like my heart had
dropped out of my body. “I saw him,” I uttered. “We both
did.”
The muscles along Nektas’s back rippled and flexed.
“How?”
“He was…he was caged by the one who took Casteel,” I
said. I had only briefly considered that the creature I’d seen
in the cage had been Malec, but at that time, we’d believed
Malec to be a deity. Not Nyktos’s son. Not a twin. “The Blood
Queen,” I rasped, reeling. “She…she says she’s a god
because Malec Ascended her.”
“A god?” A rough, dark laugh left the ancient draken. “A
god is born. Not created. What she is…she, like the
Revenants, are an abomination of all that is godly.”