The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

“You?” I laughed. “You want what is best for yourself.
Your motivations aren’t altruistic. You’re no different than
anyone else who’s hungry for power and vengeance. And
you know what?”
“What?” he barked as his façade of calm began to
crack.
“This plan of yours will fail.”
“You think so?”
I nodded. “And you won’t survive this. If not by my hand,
then by Casteel’s. He’s going to kill you. And he won’t tear
your heart from your chest. That will be too quick and
painless. He’ll make your death hurt.”
“I’ve done nothing that I’m not willing to accept the
consequences for,” he replied, lifting his chin. “If death is
my fate, so be it. Atlantia will still be safe from you.”
His words would’ve unsettled me if I hadn’t seen the
way his mouth tightened or how he swallowed. I smiled
then, just like I had when I’d stared down Duke Teerman.
Alastir rose suddenly. “My plan might fail. That is
possible. I would be foolish not to take that into
consideration. And I have.” He stared down at me. “But if it
fails, you will not be free again, Penellaphe. I would rather
see a war among my people than have the crown sit upon
your head, and you unleashed upon Atlantia.”
At some point, food was brought to me, carried in by
either a man or woman wearing the bronze mask of a
Descenter. They placed the tray just within my reach and
then quickly backed out without saying a word, leaving me
to wonder if Alastir and these Protectors had played a role in
the attack on the Rite. Casteel hadn’t ordered the attack
carried out in the name of the Dark One, but it had been