I breathed a little easier.

“The only way to know for sure if Malec has risen is to go to the Blood Forest,” Kieran stated. “And that would be damn near the definition of impossible with all the Craven there and how deep within Solis it is.”

“And what would be the point?” I asked, glancing at the wolven. “It would only confirm what we already know to be true.”

Kieran nodded after a moment.

“Why the blood tree?” I asked, looking over at Casteel’s parents. “Why do they grow where my blood spills and Malec is or was entombed? Why did they change in the mountains?”

“The…the trees of Aios once bore crimson leaves,” Queen Eloana answered. “When the deities ruled over Atlantia. They changed to gold when Malec was dethroned.”

“And we think that when Casteel Ascended you, it changed something in you. Perhaps…unlocking the rest of your abilities or completing some kind of cycle,” Valyn explained. “Either way, we believe the trees changed to reflect that a deity was now in line for the throne.”

“So…they’re not a bad thing?” I asked.

A faint smile tugged at Queen Eloana’s lips as she shook her head. “No. They have always represented the blood of the gods.”

“And that is why I did not become an Ascended? Because of the blood of the gods, or that I…I was never truly mortal?”

“Because you were never truly mortal,” King Valyn confirmed. “Who your mother is? What she is? She would’ve had to be of elemental descent or of another bloodline, perhaps one that died out as far as we knew. And she would’ve had to be old—nearly as old as Malec.”

I nodded slowly, realizing that there was no way Coralena was my birth mother unless she was somehow fully aware and party to what the Ascended were doing. I doubted that was the case, as I couldn’t see any Atlantian being okay with that.

Or surviving long enough in the capital if the Blood Crown had moved me away from there because I would’ve been too much of a lure.

“It is possible,” Kieran began, looking past me to Casteel. “Isn’t it? That another Atlantian was held by the Blood Crown?”

“They were usually half-Atlantians, at least that I saw or heard of,” Casteel answered, his voice rough. “But it’s not impossible that I just never knew or that…she was held at a different location.”

If that were the case, then was my birth mother…forced into pregnancy? Raped by a deity out of his mind and somehow manipulated into the act?

Gods.

My hands trembled, and this time when Casteel released me, I pulled my hand free. I rubbed my palms over my knees.

“I hate asking this,” Casteel whispered, even though everyone in the room could hear him. “But are you okay?”

“I feel like vomiting,” I admitted. “But I won’t.”

“It’s okay if you do.”

A strangled laugh left me. “I also feel like I could very well become the Bringer of Death and Destruction that the masked Unseen called me.” I looked at him then. “I want to destroy the Blood Crown.” Tears filled my eyes. “I need to do that.”