The ​Crown of Gilded Bones

Poppy reflects on Alastir and Cas’s complicated relationship. Cas killed Shea, Alastir’s daughter and Cas’s former fiancée, though Alastir believes that Shea died heroically while fighting for Atlantia. In reality, Shea betrayed Malik, Cas’s older brother and rightful heir to the Atlantian throne. Cas believes that Malik is now a captive of the Ascended—vamprys (vampire-like creatures) that feed on his magical Atlantian blood to create more Ascended. Most others believe that Malik is dead. Alastir and King Valyn (Cas’s father) hoped that Cas would marry Alastir’s wolven great niece, a plan that was thwarted when Cas returned home already married to Poppy. Cas believes Alastir knew about the angry mob awaiting Poppy at the chamber and that he intentionally lured Cas and Kieran away, leaving Poppy vulnerable. Cas arrests Alastir.

Suddenly, Alastir calls for select Atlantian guards to “Protect your King and Queen” (37), putting into motion a coup to overrule Eloana and Valyn. Enraged, Poppy calls on her newfound, godlike powers to exact vengeance on the betrayers. She fights dozens of masked guards without mercy, turning off her empath abilities as she slaughters guards with Cas’s sword. Poppy momentarily sees a woman with silver-white hair, likely a goddess, who whispers, "It wasn’t supposed to be this way” (41). Poppy shakes off the vision before using telekinesis to trap the rebel guards in gilded cords, breaking their bones. Poppy confronts Alastir with the intent to kill. Alastir explains that he believes Poppy is a threat to Atlantia just as something hits Poppy in the back of the head. She falls unconscious.

Poppy wakes hurt and barely clothed in a dimly lit crypt, a skeleton at her side. Polished bones with sharpened barbs adorn her wrists and ankles. She tries not to think about Cas and Kieran, whom she suspects are dead. Commander Griffith Jansen reveals himself to Poppy, warning her not to strain against her handcuffs, which tighten as she struggles. Jansen is the former commander of the Royal Guard in Solis (home to the Ascended). Poppy believed Jansen to be dead.

Jansen reassures Poppy that the royal family and all wolven are alive and well after experiencing paralysis and deep, multi-day sleep. He reiterates Alastir’s accusation that Poppy threatens Atlantia because she cannot control her rage and unchecked power. The skeletons surrounding Poppy are those of former deities, and Jansen describes their long, painful deaths. Poppy allows herself to consider the possibility of this accusation, recognizing that she would have exhibited excessive wrath to exact vengeance had Cas died at the Chamber of Nyktos. Jansen explains that he infiltrated the royal guard in Solis to pursue the best interests of Atlantia, though he doesn’t follow orders from the royal family. Jansen then reveals himself to be a changeling and seamlessly shifts into Beckett’s form.

Jansen explains that he is a rare, powerful changeling. He is able to hold the form of another for an extended time. As an empath, Poppy briefly senses Jansen’s anxiety when he reveals that changelings can forget their identity if they remain in another person’s form for too long. Jansen confesses to killing Beckett, and he and Poppy enter into a moral argument about the necessary deaths of innocents. Jansen believes that the people of Atlantia will ultimately understand and forgive the murder of a child; he sees this act as the lesser of two evils. He considers himself “a true guardian” (54) of Atlantia, though he becomes enraged when Poppy uses his logic to argue that he is a coward. Jensen attacks Poppy, who blacks out again.

Alastir visits Poppy when she wakes. He talks about the history of the deities, explaining that they grew too violent and powerful when they lived among the mortals. Elemental Atlantians rose against the deities, forcing them into the same chamber where Poppy is now imprisoned, leaving them to die slow, painful deaths. Alastir believes that Poppy is descended from Nyktos, a Primal (Primals are powerful rulers among the gods). Alastir also believes that Poppy is related to Malec, the former King of Atlantia. As a wolven, Alastir was previously bonded to Malec, though these bonds were broken when Malec turned his lover, Isbeth, into the first known Ascended. Alastir describes Malec as brutally violent and uncontrollable; he also claims that Poppy reminds him of Malec. Alastir reiterates his concern that Poppy is a threat to Atlantia, especially because she is only just entering the Culling—a period of rapid maturity that will enhance her power.

Alastir explains that Malec procreated with several mistresses, creating many heirs before his death. Alastir and an army of others have hunted and killed all of these children for centuries. He references a prophecy about a “Chosen, birthed of the flesh and fire of the gods” (62), who will bring death and destruction to Atlantia. He then asserts that Poppy is the Chosen. Alastir reveals that he is partially responsible for the deaths of Poppy’s mortal parents when she was a young child, explaining that Poppy’s mother was a Handmaiden to Illeana, Queen of the Ascended. Poppy’s face remains scarred from the bites and scratches from Craven (zombie-like creatures created by vampry), who, via Alastir’s betrayal, attacked her family. Alastir admits that killing Poppy will only turn her into a martyr and bring an unnecessary war to Atlantia. He intends to return Poppy to the Ascended in Solis.

Poppy deduces that Alastir is working with select Ascended, his supposed enemies. He believes that Poppy will kill as many Ascended as possible before they ultimately kill her, solving two of his problems. Thinking of Cas and how he wants to avoid war and bloodshed while expanding Atlantia’s territory, Poppy extrapolates that Alastir’s plan has more to do with his selfish desire to remain in power and exact revenge on the Ascended than it does with any wish to protect Atlantia. He is a hypocrite, accusing Poppy of possessing too much power while he relentlessly flaunts and abuses his political influence.

Poppy vaguely remembers Handmaidens as ferocious bodyguards, and she wonders why her mother couldn’t protect the family from the Craven when Poppy was a child. Poppy then considers her lineage, wondering how Queen Eloana and Cas will feel about the fact that she is descended from King Malec. Hundreds of years prior, Malec and Eloana were married when Malec ascended his mistress, Isbeth. Eventually, Poppy eats and drinks, then realizes that the water is tainted with a sleeping elixir.

Poppy wakes in Castle Bauer in Irelone, a city in the Wastelands. Surrounded by guards, Jansen appears and gags her. A cloaked woman appears, and Poppy recognizes her as an Ascended. Arrows blast through the woman, and an attack on Jansen and the guards ensues. Kieran appears next to Poppy and begins removing her restraints. Poppy recognizes King Valyn fighting alongside Cas and feels touched that the ruler is taking such a tremendous risk to protect her. Cas brutally dismembers several guards, ripping out one guardsman’s spine.

Kieran explains that Cas used compulsion (his magical ability) to uncover the identity of the betrayers. Cas, Kieran, and the others searching for Poppy captured Alastir before attacking Castle Bauer. Kieran removes the last of Poppy’s restraints, and Poppy can feel the eather (magical god-given blood) flow through her veins, warming her. Poppy uses her magic to absorb the rage of everyone in the room, and she considers using her abilities to kill her enemies instantly. However, Poppy remembers Alastir’s concerns about her inability to control her tremendous power. Poppy shows restraint by staying out of the fight. When Cas corners Jansen, Poppy insists on killing him herself. As soon as she stabs Jansen in the chest, an arrow strikes Poppy through the chest.

Cas catches Poppy as she falls to the ground and slips in and out of consciousness. Blanketed in cold and unable to feel her legs, Poppy realizes that she is about to die. She stares at Cas, wanting his face to be the last thing she sees before entering the afterlife. Cas attempts to feed Poppy his blood, but Poppy chokes on her own blood and cannot drink. Lightning erupts, and a tree with blood-red leaves instantly appears as a symbol from the gods.

When Cas realizes that Poppy is about to die, he ascends her, an act that is forbidden by Atlantian law. Upon realizing Cas’s plan, Valyn forbids Cas from ascending Poppy and orders his guards to intervene, but Kieran commands the wolven to protect Cas and Poppy. To ascend Poppy, Cas must drain her of her remaining blood and compel her to drink his own. Doing so will turn Poppy into a vampry. Poppy realizes that she would rather die than suffer this fate, but she is too near death to communicate her wishes to Cas. She loses consciousness as Cas bites her arm and drinks her blood.

As Poppy regains consciousness, she dreams about her childhood, remembering her parents in the moment before their deaths. She recalls seeing her mother moving extraordinarily fast and remembers Alastir reassuring her parents that the Craven wouldn’t take Poppy. When Poppy fully regains consciousness, she cannot recognize the two male voices speaking, though they are obviously Cas and Kieran. Kieran urges Cas to drink blood from another Atlantian, asserting that he will need his strength to control Poppy if she awakens as a vampry. Poppy drifts back to sleep, dreaming first of her mother and then of a god-like woman with silvery hair who cries tears of blood.

A painful, unrelenting hunger wakes Poppy. She sees Kieran’s pulse throbbing in his neck and attacks, attempting to drink his blood. Kieran tells Poppy that he can sense the Primal notam, or the bond that wolvens naturally have with deities. He notes that her eyes are green, not black like the eyes of a vampry. Cas pulls Poppy from Kieran and offers his own blood to drink, explaining that she is experiencing bloodlust—a lack of control over her awareness and abilities in her need for blood. Kieran and Cas don’t understand why Poppy has not become a vampry. Cas strokes Poppy’s back while she feeds, sensually reassuring her that she is strong and resilient. Poppy’s arousal for Cas overtakes her bloodlust. She and Cas have sex as she continues to drink his blood. Kieran prevents Poppy from draining Cas, holding her neck as she and Cas finish having sex. Finally, Poppy remembers herself. Recalling the events leading to this moment, Poppy believes that she has ascended, and she feels confused by the barrage of emotions: fear, anger, terror, but mostly love. (Ascended cannot feel emotions.)

Poppy and Cas have sex again in private, and Poppy reflects on the immense risks that Cas took to keep her alive. For the first time, Poppy tells Cas that she loves him, referring to him as Cas instead of Casteel. At this gesture, “All the many masks Casteel wore [crack] and [fall] away” (116) as his relief and mutual love for Poppy consumes him emotionally.

Cas tells Poppy that they are in a hunting cabin outside Spessa’s End. Cas couldn’t risk bringing Poppy into Atlantia as a potential vampry, though it is now clear that she is not a vampry after all. Poppy recalls seeing Cas’s memories when she fed on his blood, and Cas interprets this as further proof that Poppy is now Atlantian.

Poppy feels guilty for breaking the wolven bonds and believes that she is a wedge between Cas and Kieran. (All wolven are now bonded to Poppy instead of their Atlantian pair.) Kieran explains that bonds are complicated, but he assures her that the underlying friendships between Atlantians are stronger than blood ties. Poppy tells them of Alastir’s belief that she is the descendent of Nyktos, the King of the Gods and the “God of Life and Death” (128). Kieran recalls that Poppy has always subtly smelled like death, and Cas believes that Poppy’s blood tastes “ancient.” These details track with Alastir’s suspicions.

Cas believes that Poppy’s god-like power only emerges now because she is entering the Culling, is on or near Atlantian soil, and has his blood in her system. Poppy wonders if she is now immortal, but no one can confirm this. She worries whether she will become a violent, oppressive entity, as Alastir predicted. Cas confirms Alastir’s horror stories about the past deities, but he explains that their apathy and disrespect for life only developed after they had lived for thousands of years.