The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

The Revenant lifted a dark brow. “Ouch.”
“Stand aside,” came a voice from behind the knights. A
voice I hadn’t heard in years.
The knights parted, lowering their shields, and I saw
who stood behind them.
The golden hair was longer than I remembered,
brushing the tips of his ears, but I recognized the features of
a good-looking man—the heavy brow, the straight nose, the
square jaw, and the thin lips that I’d rarely ever seen curved
into a smile. The ruby crown glinted darkly in the moonlight.
I almost couldn’t believe that I was staring at the Blood
King, dressed in a white cloak trimmed in red and black with
crimson crisscrossing his chest. She had answered my
request and sent the King to meet with me. Laughter rose
so quickly, it almost burst free from me, but then I realized
that there was only one Revenant among a handful of
knights to protect the actual King of Solis. It was obvious
that the Blood Crown truly saw me as no threat.
And, well, now I truly was offended.
“Maiden,” King Jalara spoke, and I stiffened. “It has been
quite some time, has it not?”
“It has,” I answered, aware of the rise of anger from
Delano and where Kieran remained hidden in the shadows
of the trees. “A lot has changed, starting with the fact that I
am no longer the Maiden.” I lifted my left hand, tugging
down the cloak’s hood. “But you already know that.”
There was a slight widening of his eyes. “The gilded
crown,” King Jalara murmured, sounding as awed as I’d ever
heard an Ascended, which was a lukewarm reaction at best.
His jeweled hand winked in the moonlight as his grip on his
sword increased. “My, my, my, Penellaphe,” he murmured,
eyeing the crown as he stepped forward. “Look at you.”
Delano withdrew his sword, his features sharpening to a
deadly thinness. “You will address her as Queen Penellaphe
or Your Majesty.”