Olivia smiled thinly. “Yes. I’m sure.”
“Give us the orb,” Kyan said. “It must now join the others.”
He gestured to a long table to their left. It was adorned with a blue velvet cloth—the backdrop for three crystal orbs.
Cleo turned a glare toward Lucia.
Lucia shrugged. “He asked. I delivered.”
Cleo shook her head. “I will give you the orb, Kyan, but I demand to see Lyssa first.”
“Ah, yes. Lyssa,” Kyan said evenly. “The sweet little missing baby that I kidnapped from her sweet little nursery, leaving the sweet little nursemaid in ashes. That was . . . so unkind of me, wasn’t it?”
Cleo watched him carefully. Every gesture, every look.
“Incredibly so,” Olivia agreed.
“But an excellent way to ensure the sorceress’s commitment to the cause,” Taran said. “You were very smart to think of it, Kyan.”
“Indeed, I was.”
There was something off about their delivery of this, as if they were mocking her.
“You don’t have her,” Cleo guessed. “Do you?”
Kyan’s smile fell. “Of course I do.”
“Then prove it.”
His eyes narrowed. “Or what?”
“Or . . . I won’t cooperate. I won’t give you the orb, and you won’t be able to do the ritual properly this time.”
Kyan sighed and pressed back into the throne, running a hand through his carrot-orange hair. “Taran?”
Taran waved his hand, and a strong gust of wind hit Cleo, wrapping itself around her like a large, hungry snake.
She watched with horror, unable to do anything to stop it, as the velvet pouch exited her pocket, sailed through the air, and landed in Kyan’s waiting hand.
He undid the drawstrings and looked inside. “Excellent. Over to you, little sorceress.”
He tossed it to Lucia, who pulled the orb out and placed it next to the others, exchanging a brief, pained glance with Cleo.
Four orbs, all ready to be used in the ritual that would solidify the Kindred’s existence here in this world and strengthen their power to the point where they could destroy the world with a thought.
Or four orbs ready to be destroyed, which would, very likely, kill Cleo, Nic, Taran, and Olivia.
For all Cleo had envied Lucia for her magic, she didn’t envy her current choice.
“I think it was a good idea to come here,” Kyan said, gazing around at the overgrown throne room that smelled of fresh life and acrid fire. “It has a sense of history, of eternity. Perhaps it’s all the marble.”
“I like it too,” Taran agreed. “We should reside here indefinitely.”
Olivia trailed her fingertips along the edge of the throne. “Oh, I don’t know. I think I prefer Limeros. All of that delicious ice and snow. Princess Cleo, you would do well there once my sibling takes over. Ice and snow is only water, isn’t it? Perhaps you could form a palace of ice.”
“Only if I could crush you underneath it,” Cleo replied.
Lucia snorted, but covered the sound with a cough.
“Oh, I don’t know,” another voice came from the throne room’s entryway. “The princess doesn’t favor the Limerian climate. She does look incredibly beautiful in her fur-lined cloaks, but she’s an Auranian girl through and through.”
Cleo spun around to face him.
Magnus leaned against the mossy doorframe as if he’d been there all the time, without a care in the world.
He pushed away and took several steps inside the room.
“I’ve come to negotiate a truce,” Magnus said. “One in which we are left in peace and the Kindred are sent directly to the darklands.”
CHAPTER 31
LUCIA
AURANOS
Clearly, her brother had lost his mind.
Lucia didn’t need this further complication added to an already impossible situation. But Magnus was here anyway.
While Kyan had taunted Cleo, Lucia had been studying the crystal orbs, trying to figure out how best to break them. Anything she thought of—blunt force, dropping them onto a clear area of marble on the now overgrown floor—seemed too expected, too easy. Cleo had already said that Magnus had tried to break the aquamarine orb and failed.
This would need something special. Something powerful. But what?
And even if she could figure it out in time, the more she considered it, the more she feared she’d been right about the effect on the Kindred’s mortal vessels.
She’d watched Kyan’s monstrous, fiery form shatter like glass.
He still hadn’t recovered from that. Cleo was right—the fire Kindred was currently vulnerable until Lucia performed the ritual.
But if she destroyed him, she’d destroy four people whose lives she valued.
And she might never find Lyssa again.
She could try to imprison them—but it would be slow, painful, and with an uncertain outcome. And she could only try to focus on one Kindred at a time.
The others would stop her.
Lucia turned toward Magnus as he approached. “What are you doing here?” she snarled at him.
He nodded at her. “Lovely to see you too. Beautiful day, isn’t it?”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Magnus hadn’t arrived alone. Prince Ashur entered the throne room right behind him. He gazed around at its new decor.
“Very nice,” Ashur said, nodding. “It reminds me of home.”
“Lovely Kraeshia,” Magnus replied. “I mean to visit the Jewel someday.”
“You should,” Ashur agreed. “Despite the current corrupt government led by my blackhearted sister, it’s the most beautiful place in this world.”
“I would argue that Limeros is, but I’d like to see for myself.” Magnus then turned toward Cleo. Despite his calm demeanor, there was a storm brewing in his brown eyes. “I got your note. I hope you don’t mind that I came after you anyway.”
Cleo’s expression was tense. “I mind.”
“I figured you would.” He looked up at Kyan and the others. “And here you are, seated upon a throne that far better men than you have possessed. And, quite frankly, I include my father in that statement.”
Kyan smiled down at him. “I do enjoy your sense of humor.”
“You are one of the few who do.”
“Kyan,” Lucia said, stepping forward. She had to do something, say something, to keep this from getting worse than it already was. “Spare my brother. Let him leave here without harm. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“Oh, I disagree.” Kyan’s smile only grew wider. A line of blue fire ignited in front of him, zipped down the stairs, and formed a shallow circle around Magnus and Ashur. “I think he knows exactly what he’s doing, don’t you, little prince?”
Magnus eyed the blue flames uneasily. “I’d really prefer that you never call me that again.”
“But it suits you,” Kyan replied. “Little prince, one who marches in to save his little queen, like the hero you aren’t and will never be. Your princess is lost to you, little prince. She belongs to us now.”
The flames rose to knee level.
“Stop,” Lucia hissed. “If you hurt my brother, I swear I won’t help you.”