“Remember what I told you about how he was depicted with a wolf?” Kieran said, drawing my gaze to a painting of the King of Gods standing beside a tall, grayish-black wolf.

“This represents his relationship with the wolven?”

Kieran nodded. There were many like that, even small sculptures of Nyktos with a wolven by his side. And farther down the long wall was a sketch with a white wolf drawn behind him, symbolizing his ability to take the shape of a wolf.

“I wonder what is in the museums in Solis,” I said as we stopped before a painting of the Goddess Ione, cradling a swaddled infant. “Do they have paintings like this? Did they copy them?”

“Is it true that only the upper class could enter the museums?” Kieran asked.

I nodded, stomach souring. “Yes. Only the wealthy and the Ascended. And so very few mortals are wealthy.”

“That is an archaic and brutal caste system.” Casteel’s eyes narrowed upon a landscape of what appeared to be Saion’s Cove. “One purely designed to create and strengthen oppression.”

“By creating a gap between those who have access to all the resources, and those who have access to none,” I said, my chest becoming heavy. “And Atlantia is really not like that? Not even a little?” The last bit I asked of Kieran, as I thought of those who needed to be reminded of who the wolven were.

“We are not like that,” he said. “Atlantia has never been that way.”

“That doesn’t mean that we’ve been perfect.” Casteel’s hand threaded through my hair. “There has been strife, but the Council of Elders was formed to prevent anyone from making a choice or decision that could jeopardize the people of Atlantia. That doesn’t mean the Crown doesn’t have ultimate authority,” he explained. “But the Council has a say, and it would be very unwise for their opinions to go unheard. It has only happened twice before, and the end results were not favorable.”

“When Malec Ascended Isbeth, and the others started following suit?” I surmised.

Casteel nodded. “The Council was against allowing it to occur, having the opinion that Malec should apologize, make what he did right, and forbid future Ascensions.”

“And what do you mean by make things right?” I had a sinking feeling I already knew.

“He was advised to rid himself of Isbeth, one way or another,” he said. “He did none of those things.”

“And so, here we are,” Kieran murmured.

I swallowed. “And what of the other time?”

A thoughtful expression pinched Casteel’s features. “It was back before Malec ruled, when there were other deities. The Council was started then, when the bloodlines began to outnumber the deities. The Council suggested that it was time for the crown to sit upon the head of one of the bloodlines. That was also ignored.”

Alastir hadn’t mentioned that in his cruddy history lesson. If they had listened to the Council, would the deities have survived?

A couple with two young children hastily bowed as we rounded a corner. Their shock at seeing us was evident in their widened eyes. As Casteel and Kieran greeted them with a smile and words of hello, I saw that they were most likely mortal. I followed suit with the greeting, hoping I didn’t come across as stiff.