The ​Crown of Gilded Bones

Returning to Evaemon, Poppy and Cas spend days preparing to meet with Queen Ileana in Oak Ambler. Without coming to any conclusions, Poppy contemplates Nyktos’s parting comment about her “power within.” The few council members who protested Poppy’s claim to queen continue to treat her distrustfully and disrespectfully. Poppy meets Gianna, a gorgeous wolven woman whom Valyn once hoped that Cas would choose to marry. However, Gianna confirms that she never wanted to marry Cas, and Poppy enjoys their brief conversation, though she mentions harming Gianna if she had been romantically interested in Cas. Later, Poppy reiterates her conversation with Gianna to Cas and Kieran. Leadership has a final meeting before leaving for Oak Ambler. A decoy group will travel by land while Cas, Kieran, and Poppy sneak into the territory via ship. They intend to surprise the royals with an early arrival. If the meeting ends poorly, Poppy plans to kill Queen Ileana.

Poppy becomes seasick on the journey to Oak Ambler, and Cas distracts her with sex. He makes Poppy read from Willa’s diary while he performs oral sex, and then they both feed on each other’s blood while having intercourse. Cas confesses to feeling as if he lost all sense of himself while he was imprisoned by the Ascended. He explains that those closest to him brought him back simply by calling him Cas. Poppy worships Cas with her words and body. The ship’s captain, Perry, helps Cas and Poppy to safely enter Oak Ambler. He asks the couple to watch over Delano, his lover. Poppy notices many guards patrolling, indicating the Blood Crown has arrived.

Poppy notices cracks in the Rise, the grey sky that covers the territory and protects the mortals from the Craven. Kieran and Delano catch up to Cas and Poppy just as a young boy darts into the street and is nearly crushed by a carriage. Cas grabs him, saving his life, and asks about the cracks in the Rise. The boy explains that an earthquake caused the change about a month ago, and people believe the event indicates that the gods are angry.

They approach Castle Redrock, and Cas explains that the Ascended flaunt their fancy possessions while failing to maintain the infrastructure that supports their towns and castles. The group can easily walk into the castle via a hole in the boundary wall and an underground tunnel. They pass through several rooms, and Poppy notices a caged animal in one. She believes it is a cave cat, the same one she saw when she was younger. Her eather draws her to the being; she touches it briefly, and it wearily shudders into the form of a man before shifting back into a cat. Cas, Kieran, and Delano convince Poppy to leave the creature behind, but Poppy insists they make its release part of their negotiation.

A masked woman dressed in black appears, telling the group that the Ascended royals have been waiting for their arrival. Delano reaches for his sword, but the woman quickly outmaneuvers him into a compromised position. Cas attempts compulsion to force Delano’s release, but the woman is immune. Poppy assumes that she is a Handmaiden. The Royal Guards appear, and the woman informs the group that they have intercepted the Atlantians and wolven traveling by land. She is displeased that Cas and Poppy snuck into the castle and saw the cat-like creature.

The Royal Guards assemble both Atlantian groups in preparation for the meeting. Ian appears, bringing Poppy’s friend Tawny with him. Poppy feels relieved to see that Tawny isn’t Ascended. Queen Ileana appears with Cas’s brother Malik at her side.

Malik claims to serve Queen Ileana and to believe in her vision for the future. He was intended to be Poppy’s husband and the one to Ascend her. Poppy and Cas give their ultimatum: Release Malik and return land to Atlantia or go to war. Queen Ileana declines these terms, suggesting instead that Poppy and Cas return to Atlantia as prince and princess, accept Queen Ileana as their ruler, convince their people to follow suit, and turn over Eloana and Valyn to be executed. Queen Ileana states that if they decline, she has prepared substantial armies, including the Revenant. She points to the woman in black, describing her as an entity born and bred to kill. Stronger than Atlantians and faster than wolven, the Revenant cannot be killed. They are the third sons and daughters of mortals, chosen from the Rite upon displaying power inherited from lingering, powerful bloodlines. Queen Ileana orders the woman stabbed in the chest, and the woman resurrects. Poppy feels desperation upon seeing this.

Ileana explains that she wants to avoid bloodshed and gain the respect of the people of Atlantia. Though Poppy believes that Ileana is a vampry, Ileana reveals that she is Poppy’s mother. Coralena was Ileana’s most trusted Handmaiden and cared for Poppy in obedience to a direct order. When Coralena, a Revenant, learned that Ileana intended for Poppy to marry Malik, she fled Solis with her husband, her biological son (Ian), and Poppy. Ileana captured and killed Coralena, but the queen portrays herself as a victim by detailing her own pain upon murdering Coralena, someone she loved. Ileana reveals that her actual name is Isbeth.

Ileana confirms that she is the original Isbeth, Malec’s heartmate. Malec is not a mere deity; he is a god, and when he ascended Isbeth, she claims that she also turned into a god. Now, Ileana stands in the sunlight to prove that she is not a vampry. She explains that Malec tired of living in Iliseeum and traveled to the mortal realm centuries ago. Cas and Poppy realize that Eloana and Valyn must know the truth about Malec and have been hiding it. The wolven move closer to Poppy.

Ileana explains that when the war of two kings started, Malec moved Ileana to a safe location alone. He intended to side with Eloana and Valyn to eradicate the Ascended before overthrowing the other royals and ruling over all lands. Ileana and Malec had a son, another deity, whom Malec promised to keep safe while Ileana remained in hiding. For decades, Ileana waited for Malec and her son to return, only to learn from Jalara that Valyn and Eloana now rule Atlantia, and Malec and their son have been gone for years. Heartbroken, Ileana vowed to get her revenge on Eloana for destroying her family.

Now, Poppy realizes the depth of both kingdoms’ lies. Poppy holds Ileana accountable for her actions in the name of revenge. She refuses Ileana’s terms of negotiation, and Ileana orders Ian to be killed. A knight decapitates Ian, which Ileana blames on Poppy.

Raging, Poppy unleashes her full power and directs it toward Ileana, who responds with a laugh. Ileana uses her power to choke Poppy, exclaiming that Poppy has no choice but to agree to Ileana’s terms. She nearly kills Poppy, compelling Cas to beg for Poppy’s life and agree to Ileana’s demands. Poppy dips in and out of consciousness, repeating the word “no” to Cas. Ileana orders Malik to seize Cas just as Poppy blacks out.

Poppy wakes in a forest outside of Oak Ambler with Kieran standing guard over her. An injured Tawny joins the group. Poppy learns that Cas sacrificed himself to Ileana to save her life; Malik took him prisoner. Consumed with rage, Poppy unleashes enough power to cause a thunderstorm and suddenly realizes that she could always control the weather with her moods.

The Revenant woman appears just as Poppy destroys a wall on the border to Oak Ambler. She stops Poppy from killing innocent mortals. Poppy’s power does not affect the Revenant woman. She tells Poppy that Ileana will take Cas to the capital, but other Revenants will guard him. Poppy needs the “fire of the gods” (613) to fight Ileana and rescue Cas. The survivors retreat to the same hunting cabin where Poppy healed and experienced bloodlust. Poppy tries to heal Tawny, but a mysterious brown substance taints her skin, and Poppy’s powers are useless. She bitterly reflects that if Eloana and Valyn had been honest with her and Cas, they would have been better prepared to face a god. Poppy thinks Ileana’s revelations and Nyktos’s advice about the “power within,” and she suddenly realizes that she is a god. She believes that she can summon the draken without Nyktos’s permission.

Poppy returns to Evaemon and confronts Eloana. She interrupts Eloana’s meeting with the elders, threatening to kill them all with her power and demanding that they speak to her with the respect owed to a goddess. The elders apologize, and Poppy realizes that Ileana would have killed these men to make an example of them; this separates her from Ileana. Poppy recounts all that happened in Oak Ambler and accuses Eloana of being solely responsible for the outcome, including Ian’s death. Eloana apologizes, confessing that her bruised ego from losing Malec and her sons to Ileana has prevented her from admitting defeat and being honest. She admits to having Alastir kill Ileana’s son.

Poppy outlines her plan to summon the draken and fight Isbeth (Ileana), save Cas, and bring peace to the lands. She accepts that she will soon enter the very war she wanted to avoid. Poppy sends a message to Isbeth, establishing a meeting with her in the forest outside of Oak Ambler the following week. She also asks Eloana to look after Tawny. Poppy takes a bath and leaves for Iliseeum to collect the draken.

Kieran accompanies Poppy to Iliseeum. They find the draken, Nektas, in his mortal form, and Poppy explains that they have come to collect him and the other draken and enlist them to fight the Blood Queen. Nektas warns Poppy that she must prepare for the massive loss of innocent lives. Poppy clarifies that she has no intention to initiate wholesale death and destruction. Nektas understands that Poppy intends to “bear the weight of two Crowns” (631), and he offers his support, but only if Poppy agrees to return Ires, Malec’s twin brother and Poppy’s father.

Nektas explains that Malec is “lost to us” (631), but Ires was summoned to the mortal realm with Nektas’s daughter, Jadis, some time ago. Ires is a shapeshifter who takes the form of a large cat. Poppy explains seeing Ires caged in Oak Ambler by the Blood Queen; Nektas denies that Isbeth is a god because it is impossible for someone to ascend into such an entity. He realizes that his intentions and Poppy’s are perfectly aligned. Poppy worries that Isbeth has imprisoned Jadis and is manipulating her via Ires. She believes that Malec lies entombed under the Blood Forest, and Nektas confirms that the son of a Primal god would not die but would waste away painfully in such a place. Poppy intends to rescue and use Malec as a bargaining chip, knowing that Isbeth still loves him. Poppy summons the other draken, who emerge from the ground and commit themselves to Poppy.

At the royal palace, Tawny slowly recovers, though her hair turns white. Poppy prepares to leave for the forest near Oak Ambler with Kieran. Valyn tells Poppy that he is proud to have her as a daughter-in-law; he is also confident that she will rescue Cas. He asks her to ensure that Malik has a quick and painless death. As Poppy leaves Atlantia, she sees the new Atlantian crest fly from several banners, the sword and arrow equally crossed. Poppy vows that Cas will see the new crest.

Kieran struggles to get along with Reaver, one of the draken. Aurelia, one of two female drakens, shifts into her mortal form and teaches Poppy the names of the draken soldiers. Female draken are rare, and this is yet another reason to recover Nektas’s daughter, Jadis. Aside from Aurelia’s brief transformation, the draken do not change into their mortal forms.

A handful of royal guards appear, guarding King Jalara. A Revenant is among them. Poppy is insulted by how few guards have been sent. Jalara refers to Poppy as The Maiden, and Poppy reveals her gilded crown. Delano demands that Jalara speak to Poppy respectfully, but Jalara throws multiple insults and threatens to hurt Cas. Poppy asserts that Ileana is not a god but a “twisted mess of bitterness and greed made manifest” (642). Jalara grows insulted when Poppy charges him with bringing a message to the Blood Queen; he feels himself to be above the position of a messenger. Kieran emerges from the shadows, latching onto Jalara’s arm, and Poppy decapitates Jalara.

Poppy unleashes her power without summoning it, instantly killing the guards. Reaver swipes the Revenant with his tail, injuring him badly. Delano places Jalara’s head at the Revenant’s feet, and Poppy proclaims this to be the message that he must deliver to Isbeth, along with Poppy’s declaration that Isbeth’s survival is dependent upon Cas’s release. Poppy vows to level every city and castle until Cas is released. If Cas dies, she vows to kill Malec and to devise a painful, centuries-long death for Isbeth. Poppy states her full title, then instructs the Revenant to tell the queen to “prepare for war” (647).