The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

this one large and dark. It shot across the castle ruins’ floor,
its powerful muscles tensing as it launched over one of the
half-fallen walls. The wolven disappeared into the night, but
a sharp screech from the darkness followed. The wolven had
captured an Ascended.
“Poppy.”
My head whipped to the right, and I shuddered at the
sight of Kieran. He looked nothing like the last time I’d seen
him, his skin now a warm shade of brown against the black
of his clothing. I started to reach for him, and the action
ended in a hiss of pain.
With a curse, he grabbed hold of the gag and pulled it
free from my mouth as his pale eyes swept over me. “How
badly are you injured?”
“I’m not.” I forced myself to remain still as I ignored the
cottony feeling the gag had left behind in my mouth. “It’s
these bonds. They’re—”
“The bones of a deity.” Disgust curled his lip as he
reached for the one lying just below my throat. “I know what
they are.”
“Careful,” I warned. “They have spurs in them.”
“I’ll be fine. You just…don’t move,” he ordered, the
muscles of his bare arm straining as he pulled on the first
row of bindings.
A thousand questions rose, but the most important one
came out first. “Casteel—?”
“Is currently disemboweling some idiot in a godsdamn
Descenter mask,” he answered, gripping the bone and roots
with both hands. Even though that sounded extremely
grotesque, I turned my head to the other side, trying to find
him—
“Keep still, Poppy.”
“I’m trying.”
“Then try harder,” Kieran snapped, his eyes narrowing
on the ravaged skin of my wrists. “How long have you been
in these things?”