The ​Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash, #3)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

he still reminded me of one of the wild and strikingly beautiful cave cats I’d once seen caged in Queen Ileana’s palace as a child.

They say little girls marry their father 😂

My first. My guard. My friend. My betrayer. My partner. My husband. My heartmate. My everything. Casteel Da’Neer bowed before me and stared up at me as if I were the only person in the entire kingdom.

His emotions were a kaleidoscope of ever-shifting tastes—cool and tart, heavy and spicy, and sweet like chocolate-dipped berries. Those unyieldingly firm and unrelentingly tender lips parted, revealing just the hint of sharp fangs. “My Queen,” he breathed, and those two smoky words soothed my skin.

His pupils glowed silvery-white, an aura that seeped out in wispy tendrils across the blue. My head jerked to Jasper. His eyes had changed, too. I’d seen that strange light before. It had been what my skin had done when I healed Beckett’s broken legs—the same silvery glow that had radiated from me minutes earlier. Icy bursts of surprise raced through Casteel as he eyed the wolven, and then I felt…relief radiate from him. “You all knew.” Casteel’s voice filled with awe, something no one standing behind him

A shock of white fur shot forward. Delano tucked his tail back as he pawed at the marble. He lifted his head and howled. The eerie yet beautiful sound raised the tiny hairs all over my body. Off in the distance, the faint sounds of yips and barks answered, growing louder with each second. The leaves on the tall, cone-shaped trees separating the Temple from Saion’s Cove trembled as a rolling rumble echoed from the ground below. Blue-and-yellow-winged birds took flight from the trees, scattering to the sky. “Godsdamn.” Emil turned to the Temple steps. He reached for the swords at his sides. “They’re summoning the whole damn city.” “It’s her.”

“If the idiots behind me actually laid down their swords instead of lifting them against my wife, we wouldn’t have an entire colony of wolven about to descend on us,” he bit out. “They are only reacting to the threat.” “You’re right,” his father agreed as he gently guided his wife to her feet. Blood soaked the knee and the hem of her lilac gown. “But ask yourself why your bonded wolven is guarding someone other than you.”

“Everything’s all right. They’re just protecting you.” Casteel smiled for me then, but it was tense and tight. He looked to my left, at Kieran. “I don’t know everything that is going on right now, but you—all of you—want to keep her safe. And I’m all about that. You know I would never hurt her. I would tear out my own heart before I did that. She’s injured. I need to make sure she’s okay, and nothing is going to stop me from doing that.” He didn’t blink as he held Kieran’s stare, as the rolling thunder of the other wolven reached the Temple steps. “Not even you. Any of you. I will destroy every single one of you who stands between her and me.” Kieran’s growl deepened, and an emotion I’d never felt from him before poured into me. It was like anger, but older. And it felt like that buzz in my blood had. Ancient. Primal.

“A move against my wife is a proclamation of war against me.

Casteel turned his head to the side, looking at the only wolven who remained, now standing on two legs. “You.”

“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.”

“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.”

“You’re in what remains of the city of Irelone. This,” he answered as he swept his arms out widely, “is what is left of the once-great Castle Bauer.”

“You know,” he said, lifting his hand now filled with a bundle of cloth, “at least you knew when to keep your mouth shut when you were the Maiden.” “I’m going—” He shoved the wad of fabric into my mouth, securing the ends behind my head and effectively silencing my threats.

Casteel was faster, reaching him in the blink of an eye. He shoved his fist into the man’s back and jerked his arm back sharply, pulling out something white and smeared with blood and tissue. His spine. Dear gods, it was the man’s spine. Kieran’s eyes met mine. “He’s a little angry.”

“He has been going crazy looking for you. I’ve never seen him this way.” His hands trembled slightly as they folded over the bone and root chains. “Never, Poppy.”

“I love him,” I whispered. Kieran paused by my legs. “Are you just now figuring that out?” “No.”

My gaze flicked to his as he secured the button just below my neck. It was then that I remembered I wore nothing but the thin, bloody slip. He pulled the halves together. “Thank you. I’m…I’m going to sit this one out.” “I want to thank the gods,” Kieran muttered. “But now you really have me worried.”

“Casteel, stop!” I shouted. He halted, his chest rising and falling with his heavy breaths as he leveled his sword at Jansen. Later, I would marvel over the fact that he had stopped without hesitation. Without question.

“Thought you were sitting this one out,” Kieran stated as he kept pace with me. “I am,” I told him. “But he’s different.”

As I passed Casteel, he pressed the hilt of his sword into my palm, and his bloodied lips touched my cheek. “Poppy,” he said, and the sound of his voice punched a small hole in the wall I had built around my gifts. Everything he felt in the moment reached me. The hot acidity of rage, the refreshing, woodsy feeling of his relief, and the warmth of everything he felt for me. And given what he’d experienced before, the bitterness of fear and panic.

“I’m sorry. I’m trying to keep your body stable so we don’t move the bolt. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Poppy,” Kieran said again and again. He kept saying that, and I wanted him to stop because he sounded too breathy, too rattled. He never got rattled.

Because I knew…I knew when my eyes closed again, they wouldn’t reopen. I wanted to remember his face when the world turned dark. I wanted to remember what it felt like to be in his arms, to hear his voice and feel his mouth against mine. I wanted to remember the way he smiled when I threatened him, and how his eyes lit up and warmed whenever I challenged him. I wanted to remember the pride I felt from him whenever I silenced those around me with words or by blade. I wanted to remember how he touched my scars reverently as if he wasn’t worthy of them—of me.

He was crying. Casteel was crying. Tears streaked his cheeks, creating glistening tracks in the dried blood as they rolled and rolled…and I knew…I knew I was dying. Casteel knew it, too. He had to. There was so much I wanted to say, so much I wanted to do with him and change. His brother’s future. Ian’s. That of the people of Atlantia and Solis. Our future. Did I ever thank him for seeing past the veil? Or for never once forcing me to stand down? Did I tell him how much he’d changed my life, how much that meant to me, even when I thought I hated him—even when I wanted to hate him? I think I did, but it didn’t feel like it was enough. And there was more. I wanted one more kiss. One more smile. I wanted to see his stupid dimples again, and I wanted to kiss them. I wanted to prove to him that he was worthy of me, of love and life, no matter what had happened in his past or what he’d done. But, oh gods, there wasn’t enough time.

Casteel…broke.

“Kieran, I need you to pull the bolt out. I—I can’t—” His voice shattered. “I need you. I can’t do that.” “You’re going to…” Kieran rocked forward. “Fuck. Yeah. Okay.” He tore through the roots. “Let’s do this.” Do…do what?

Howls and yips exploded between blasts of thunder. There were…there were screams. High-pitched wails of pain, and throaty, vibrating growls. Jasper prowled into my line of sight, crouching so he was over my legs, standing between Kieran and Casteel. I caught a glimpse of white fur, circling and circling. The sounds the wolven made—the keening, mournful howls—haunted every too-thin, too-short breath I managed. “No one is getting close to us.” Kieran shifted forward. “If they do, they won’t be standing for long.”

“I love you, Penellaphe. You. Your fierce heart, your intelligence and strength. I love your endless capacity for kindness. I love your acceptance of me. Your understanding. I’m in love with you, and I will be in love with you when I take my last breath and then beyond in the Vale.” Casteel lowered his head, pressing his lips against mine. Something wet glanced off my cheek. “But I have no plans to enter the Vale anytime soon. And I will not lose you. Ever. I love you, Princess, and even if you hate me for what I’m about to do, I will spend the rest of our lives making up for it.”

He was…. Oh, gods, he was going to Ascend me.

I stared at him, sensing that he was not mortal. He was something else. Something that belonged to me.

“It hurts.” “I know. You’re hungry. But you can’t eat Kieran. That would make me a little sad.”

“Shouldn’t you be more concerned about her well-being now?” “I’m concerned about both of you.” The male sighed. “This could get…intense.” There was a beat of silence. “It already is.”

“Gods, I hope you truly understand how strong you are. I’m constantly in awe of you. I’ve been in awe of you since the night in the Red Pearl.”

“I don’t think I’ve told you this. I didn’t get the chance yet. When you asked me to kiss you under the willow? Deep down, I knew then that I would give you anything you asked for. I still will. Whatever you want,” he promised roughly, his fingers tangling in my hair. “You can have it. Anything. Everything. You can have it all. I will make sure of it.”

I…I’d wanted acceptance from the people at the Temple, but they’d called me a Soul Eater. They’d called me a whore. They…they’d called me the Maiden, and I was none of those things. Anger crowded out the horror. A rage that carved itself into every bone in my body.

Casteel. My husband. My heartmate. My savior.

“If you ever tell me to kiss your ass,” he said, “remember that I already have.”

“I couldn’t let you go. I wouldn’t.”

My fingers curled around his side as I met his gaze once more. “I love you.” Casteel’s hand halted its movements under my hair and halfway up my back. “What?” he whispered. His eyes had widened slightly, and his pupils were dilated a little. I could see his surprise and felt it like a rush of cold air against my skin. Why did he seem so astonished? He had to know.

But I’d never said the words. And I needed to. Desperately. I pressed the tips of my fingers against his cheek as I drew in a shallow breath. “I love you, Casteel,” I said. His chest stilled against mine and then rose sharply. “I love—” Casteel kissed me, his lips moving over mine so gently, so tenderly.

“I love you. I would”—I swallowed—“I would do anything for you, Cas. Like you did for me. Anything—”

“Cas,” he echoed against my lips. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you call me that.”

“You know, don’t you?” He searched my eyes with his. “What you mean to me? What I feel for you?” “Yes.”

I don’t know where I would be right now if it weren’t for you. I don’t even know if I would be alive.” He said nothing as he closed his eyes, turning his head so his cheek pressed into my palm. I dragged my thumb along his bottom lip. “But I do know that I would be… I would be less.

“I will always find you. No matter what.”

“I…I tried to eat Kieran.” “He won’t hold it against you.” “I tried to eat Kieran while I was naked.” “That’s probably why he won’t hold it against you.” “That’s not funny.”

“Nothing’s happening.” “Thank the gods,” he growled, squeezing me tightly. “But I might be having a heart attack.” My brows pinched. “Can Atlantians have heart attacks?” “No.” “Then you’re fine,” I replied, biting down on my lip as I became aware of the dampness between my thighs. His forehead pressed against the side of my head. “That’s debatable. I feel like my heart is about to come out of my chest at the moment.”

“Because I did lose you, Poppy. I felt your heart stop. The imprint on my palm started to fade. I was losing you, and you are my everything.”

I just…I can’t feel that again.”

Kieran knelt in front of me as Casteel returned to sit beside me. “How are you feeling?”

admitted. “I have a lot of questions.” One side of the wolven’s lips tipped up. “I’m so shocked,” he murmured, pale eyes gleaming with amusement.