Crystal Storm (Falling Kingdoms #5)(47)

“If your guard had backed off when I told him to, this wouldn’t have happened,” the son of the King of Blood had said.

“He’s not just a guard,” she’d whispered in reply. “Not to me.”

Often, it felt as if it had happened a thousand years ago. Other times, it was as if he’d died only yesterday.

Yet here he was.

“Princess?” Enzo asked, frowning at her look of absolute shock.

Cleo didn’t answer him. Her legs were numb as she began to move without thinking, wending her way through the crowd toward him.

Hot tears splashed her cheeks, and she viciously wiped them away.

The crowd thinned this far from the stage, which allowed her to keep her murdered bodyguard in sight. Tight in his grip flashed the glint of a sharp blade.

And then she saw Magnus.

This apparition of the young man she’d loved and lost approached Magnus, who stood at the bar, eyeing Theon with as much disbelief as Cleo did. Then, so quickly she almost didn’t see it, Theon grabbed Magnus, hard, and pressed the blade to his throat.

She screamed inwardly, her entire body turned to coldest ice in an instant. She looked now to Magnus, his expression resolute, his jaw tight, his dark eyes void of emotion.

“Cleo?” Someone was blocking her path—a boy with freckles and red hair. “Oh, Cleo! You’re here! You’re alive!”

“Nic?” She spared him a moment’s glance before grabbing his shoulder and digging her fingers in. Behind him, she watched as blood trickled down Magnus’s throat from where this ghost from the past dug his dagger into his flesh. “What’s going on? Why is this happening?”

Suddenly, a third person approached the silent altercation between Magnus and Theon, which had so far gone unnoticed by the rest of the patrons, whose gazes were still directed toward the stage. It was a young, dark-haired man, broad-chested and heavily muscled, wearing a black eye patch.

He held a chunk of wood in his grip, and with it he hit the ghost of Theon, hard, on the back of his head. The dagger clattered to the floor, and the victim’s body slumped, unconscious, next to it.

“Magnus!” Cleo called out.

Finally, Magnus tore his gaze from the young man on the floor to meet Cleo’s.

His eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t be here.”

She gaped at him. That was what he chose to say to her right now?

The brute nodded down at the body. “He’s not going to be happy with me when he wakes up.”

Cleo rushed to Magnus’s side, quickly assuring herself that the wound on his throat was shallow. She spun to face the young man with the eye patch. “Who are you?” she demanded.

He bowed. “Felix Gaebras, lovely young lady. At your service. And who are you?”

“This,” Magnus said, gingerly touching his neck, “is Princess Cleiona.”

Felix’s eyes widened. “Ah, so this is the Golden Princess. It all makes sense now.”

“And who”—she pointed at the floor with a shaky finger—“is this?”

“That,” Felix replied, “is Taran Ranus, Theon’s twin brother.”

Cleo felt herself go cold. “His twin brother?”

Magnus’s jaw was tense. “It was so kind of Nic to introduce us tonight, don’t you think?”

From next to her, Nic looked down at the unconscious young man, then met her shocked gaze. “I think we all need to talk,” he said.

“Clearly!”

“I agree,” Magnus said stiffly. “I know a place that is much more private than this. Find Jonas, and come with me, all of you.”

Felix leaned down, picked up his unconscious associate, and threw him over his shoulder. “Where are Jonas and the others? Did the dancer tie him up with her snake and drag him away? I’ll go find him.”

Cleo didn’t wait—she needed fresh air. She needed to breathe normally and bring her heart rate down to a regular pace.

Twin brother, she thought, stunned. Theon’s twin brother.

Yet Theon had never, not once, mentioned to her that he had a twin brother.

Nic was at her side, swaying slightly with each step he took as Enzo escorted her outside. She glanced over her shoulder to ensure herself that Magnus was close behind.

“You’re drunk,” she said, turning to Nic and finding herself exceptionally angry with him and with everyone present.

“Extremely. And also extremely happy that you’re here.” He gave her a big sloppy kiss on the cheek, reminding her of the slobbering puppy her father brought back to her and Emilia after a long stretch of travels. As her heart rate returned to normal, she allowed herself to give in to her overwhelming sense of relief that Nic had returned from Kraeshia alive and well—and that he was here with her again.

Felix exited the tavern, still bearing the weight of Taran Ranus.

Behind him walked Jonas, who scanned the area before his gaze landed on Cleo.

She watched as a smile spread across his handsome face.

“I knew you were alive.” Jonas quickened his steps to reach her. He grasped her around her waist, and lifted her off the ground, spinning her around in the air. “It’s so good to see you.”

Any other day, she would be smiling just as wide as the rebel. “Explain to me what is going on.”