Inhaling deeply, I nodded. It felt like the right thing—terrifying, but right. “I just hope I’m not expected to walk around wearing a crown all day,” I murmured.

Kieran barked out a loud laugh, one that drew both Casteel’s and Lyra’s attention. The former raised his brows. I sank a little lower in my seat. “You have the weirdest mind, I swear,” Kieran said, shaking his head.

“Crowns look heavy,” I retorted as Lyra continued staring at Kieran, a faint smile on her pretty face. “And irreplaceable if you break or misplace them.”

Kieran was silent, but I could feel his stare on me.

“Lyra seems to like you,” I said, swiftly changing the subject.

“She seems to like you.”

“Glad to know, but I think we’re talking about two different types of liking someone.”

He lifted a shoulder.

“Do you like her?”

“I like her.” He propped a boot on the leg of another chair. “She’s fun. A good person.”

My brows lifted as I snuck a peek at Lyra. She was speaking with Delano and Naill. Fun? A good person? Kieran was often as transparent as a brick wall, but that wasn’t how I would talk about Casteel if someone asked me what I thought of him. I’d probably wax on poetically for quite some time…and also list all the ways he was utterly infuriating.

I studied Kieran’s profile, thinking of what he’d said while we sat along Stygian Bay. “I want to be nosy.”

“Like when you watched Lyra and I on the beach?”

I choked on my breath—my actual breath—as my face flamed red. “That is not what I was referencing.”

He was grinning so hard, I was surprised his face didn’t crack. “You’re not going to deny it?”

“What is the point?” I muttered.

Kieran eyed me. “Intriguing.”

“Shut up.”

He laughed. “What do you want to be nosy about?”

I looked down, running my finger over my ring. “The person you spoke about loving and losing? What happened to them?”

Kieran was quiet for so long, I didn’t think he’d answer. But then he did. “She died.”

My chest twisted. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded, and another long moment passed. “It was quite some time ago.”

“How…how did it happen?” I cringed at the question.

“Wolven are relatively healthy, just like Atlantians and other bloodlines, but there are a few diseases we’re susceptible to. All inherent,” he said. “Elashya was born with one—a wasting disease traced all the way back to the kiyou. It attacks the body and then shuts everything down.” He scratched his chin, squinting. “She knew her family carried the disease, but it doesn’t affect everyone, so she was hopeful. But her grandmother had it, and it commonly shows up every generation or two. The problem is that someone will be healthy for a hundred or so years, and then it just hits them. Starts with involuntary twitches and spasms of the muscles, almost so small you wouldn’t notice them. But then within days…that’s it. Over.”