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

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

My first. My guard. My friend. My betrayer. My partner. My husband. My heartmate. My everything.

“But ask yourself why your bonded wolven is guarding someone other than you.”

had…it had to mean that they now obeyed me.

“A move against my wife is a proclamation of war against me. Their fate is already sealed. And, secondly?”

That primal power surged, invading all of my senses. It silenced every emotion inside me until only one remained: vengeance. There was nothing else. No empathy. No compassion. I was me. And yet, I was something else entirely.

am done with this, all of this.

Bone cracked. Arms and legs snapped. Backs broke. They fell like shattered saplings.

Others turned away from me, to run. Flee. I would not allow that. They would pay. All of them would taste and drown in my wrath. I would bring this structure down and then rip the entire kingdom apart to ensure it. They would feel what was inside me, what they wrought. Threefold.

Alastir met my gaze. “I’m not the threat to Atlantia,” he said. “You are. You have always been the threat.”

end him....

“I haven’t been a girl in years, so do not call me one.”

“You’re pale and pathetic compared to the Guardians.”

“You will die,” I promised, smiling at the red blush of anger staining his cheeks. “It will be by my hand, and it will be a death befitting a coward like you.”

“I couldn’t care less about this history lesson if my very life depended on it,” I fumed.

I stared up at him. “So, I’m a threat that must be dealt with because I’m descended from a deity, who may or may not have had anger-management issues?” A strangled laugh parted my lips. “As if I have no autonomy and am just a byproduct of what is in my blood?”

lmbo

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.”

“Believe it or not,”—Jansen drew closer, placing his hands on the stone as he leaned over me—“I wouldn’t wish your fate upon anyone.”

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.” “A little?” I whispered. “Okay. He’s really angry,” Kieran amended,

“Poppy?” Kieran’s hands were on the last of the bone bindings. “I’m going to assume that even if I ask you nicely to sit this fight out, you won’t listen to me, will you?”

nope

There wouldn’t be time for them to regret what they took part in. I would destroy them. I would obliterate them—

DO IT

He wiped away another tear with his thumb. “I never knew it could feel like this. That I could feel this for someone. But I do—I love you.”

“You are the foundation that helps me stand. You are my walls and my roof. My shelter. You are my home.”

“As you are mine, Poppy.”

Nervousness settled as resolve crept over me. I knew how tonight would end. Determination inked itself onto my skin, carving its way into my bones and filling the center of my chest. My chin lifted. “With death.” “By your hand or mine?” he asked, his lips grazing the curve of my jaw. “Mine.”

“If you think that what I did was a shock, then you need to understand that I will do anything and everything for my wife.” Casteel’s gaze latched on to his father’s. “No risk is too great, nor is anything too sacred. Because she is my everything. There is nothing greater than her, and I do mean nothing.”

yesss

“Meyaah Liessa. It means: my Queen.”

“If any of those who inflicted one second of pain on you still breathed, I would tear them apart, limb from limb. I pray that the death you dealt them was slow and painful.”

Don’t borrow from tomorrow’s problems? I needed to start living that way.

I crossed my arms. “I was being polite.” “The fact that you’re being polite is also weird.” “I am always polite.”

lmbo

“No, they are not.” I pulled free of Casteel. “I am not a Queen, but like I said before, even if I were, I would never be the kind that expects others to risk their lives while I sit back and do nothing. That will never be me, and I seriously doubt Casteel would be that kind of King.” “I wouldn’t.” Casteel came to stand behind me, folding his arms around my waist. “Not only can she defend herself,” he repeated, “she needs to be able to defend herself. And that is why she will be allowed to do so, whether she is our Queen or our Princess.”

“Yes. I do. People can’t be killed simply because they have concerns. That is something the Ascended would do,”

“But you found yourself.”

“Do not underestimate what I would or would not do to ensure your happiness. I think you know this by now. There is nothing that I wouldn’t do, Poppy. Nothing.”

He laughed again. “I did, and they are very open with their…affections. They feel no shame in doing so. I’m sure at some point you will definitely see a bare ass or two.”

lol

I liked that they felt no shame, possibly never even knowing the sourness of that emotion attached to such actions. There was an enviable freedom in that, to exist and be so free and open.

“Meyaah Liessa,”

Two wrongs never made things right or better, nor did they cancel one another out. They just were.

“Tried?” King Valyn said with an incredulous laugh that reminded me so much of Casteel. “I would say you succeeded, Maiden.” Casteel’s head snapped toward his father, tension stiffening his broad shoulders. “Her name is Penellaphe. And if you get my wife’s permission, you may call her that. If not, then you may call her Princess. Whatever rolls more respectfully off your tongue. But what you will never refer to her as is the Maiden. Do you understand

“And if you become King, you will have to do many things that will turn your stomach, haunt your dreams, and that you’ll have to live with.”

Not only was my…father prone to chaotic violence and was a habitual adulterer, he was also apparently a murderer.

The Queen stared for a moment and then smiled. “I would think not. My son would only choose a bride whose bravery equaled his own.”

Tension bracketed her mouth as she echoed, “Ileana.” Her nostrils flared in distaste. “The Queen of Blood and Ash.”

“The heart doesn’t care how long you may have with someone.” Kieran looked over at me, his eyes sheltered. “It just cares that you have the person for as long as you can.”

yesssssssss

“Already on it,” Emil said, bowing with a flourish. “I will find you a steed worthy of your beauty and strength, Your Highness,” he added with a wink and a smile. I grinned. “Every time he smiles at you, I want to rip his lips from his face.” My brows lifted as I looked at Casteel. “That’s excessive.” “Not nearly excessive enough,”

lmfaooooooo

“They don’t want me to take the Crown,” I said. “They failed. So will anyone else who thinks they can stop me.” A razor-thin smile appeared on Casteel’s face. “Damn straight.”

that part

I followed the vanilla-oak of Vonetta’s imprint. It’s okay. He is a friend of Casteel’s, right? There was a moment of silence, and then Vonetta’s whisper found my thoughts. Friends of Cas have betrayed him.

mmm facta

Although this was the Temple, a wicked sense of deja vu swept over me as we neared the semicircular steps, and two guards opened the door. This time was different, though, because I wasn’t entering as a Princess uncertain about her future. I was entering as one who was about to become Queen.

“Remember what you are. Fearless.”

“You are a descendant of the gods, Poppy. You run from no one and nothing.”

I was brave. I was fearless. And I ran from no one and nothing—and that included a crown.

“We have come to claim what is mine—the Crown and the kingdom.”

eeekkkkk