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

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

He had been many things to me. A stranger in a dimly lit room who’d been my first kiss. A guard who had sworn to lay down his life for mine. A friend who had looked beyond the veil of the Maiden to truly see me underneath, who’d handed me a sword to protect myself instead of forcing me into a gilded cage. A legend cloaked in darkness and nightmares that had plotted to betray me. A Prince of a kingdom believed to have been lost to time and war, who had suffered unimaginable horrors and yet managed to find the pieces of who he used to be. A brother who would do anything, commit any deed to save his family. His people. A man who bared his soul and stripped open his heart to me—and only me. My first. My guard. My friend. My betrayer. My partner. My husband. My heartmate. My everything.

“You are the foundation that helps me stand. You are my walls and my roof. My shelter. You are my home.” His lashes swept up, the amber of his eyes churning wildly. “As you are mine, Poppy.”

Most of us have fostered friendships that can’t break. So, we just…we just made room for you.”

“I do not want to be party to forcing you into yet another role you did not ask for nor desire. I will not replace the veil you loathed with a crown you hate. If you do not want to take the Crown, I will support you,” he swore, and the intensity in his words captured me. The irrevocable oath he was making. “And if you decide you want to take what is yours, claim the throne, I will set this entire kingdom on fire and watch it burn if that ensures that the crown sits on your head.”

Nothing should ever make you forget that I laugh because of you.”

The only thing I have ever chosen is your son.”

“I think too much value is given to forgiveness when it’s easier to forgive but far harder to forget. That understanding and acceptance is far more important than forgiving someone,”

“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.”

“You will bow before your Queen.” Casteel eyed the Atlantian coolly. “Or you will bleed before her. It is your choice.”

Willa looked at the Elder. “I’d rather be optimistic than bigoted and close-minded, but I am never naïve. I have more than a thousand years on you,” she said softly, and I blinked. “Consider that before you speak so ignorantly, and maybe you will save yourself future embarrassment.”

“One’s instinct should always be trusted.”

“Cutting off the head does not work,” Emil shouted, and I turned to see a…a headless skeleton tracking the dumbfounded Atlantian. “I repeat. It does not work!” Vonetta whirled, thrusting one sword through the chest of a soldier, and her other blade through the headless skeleton. “You,” she said to Emil, “are a mess.” “And you are beautiful,” he replied with a grin.

“When you call me Cas, it reminds me that I’m real.”

I wasn’t the Maiden. I wasn’t a Princess or even a Queen. I was a god. And I was so over this.