Crystal Storm (Falling Kingdoms #5)(49)

Nic grunted out a sound of disgust. “Cleo, how have you maintained your sanity being around him this long? To have sustained this unnatural alliance with him . . . there must be some reason behind it that you haven’t told me.”

“Please, Nic,” Magnus said. “We’re all friends here. Feel free to speak your mind.”

“I just did.”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry your carrot-stained head, Nicolo. The princess continues to tolerate me—just barely—focused solely on reclaiming her throne as soon as Amara is defeated and sent on her merry way. I recently suggested your Golden Princess return to Auranos, but she refused. Don’t try to tell me that this was my idea.”

Cleo shot him a look as he met her gaze with something like defiance. Then she realized what he was doing.

Nic hated him. Jonas was barely allied with him. And Theon’s twin had just tried to kill him.

To reveal that she and Magnus were more than begrudging allies could cause unnecessary stress, especially now that they were all together.

“Believe me, Nic,” she finally said. “I look forward to the day when I return to my kingdom. But that day is not today.”

“Well, now that that’s settled,” Magnus said, “let’s discuss how to proceed, shall we?”

Felix raised his hand. “I enthusiastically volunteer to kill the empress.”

Magnus eyed him with interest. “How do you plan to do that?”

“Now, I know some of you are probably going to suggest I use an arrow, aimed from afar,” Felix said eagerly. “But I’d really prefer to do it up close and personal. With my bare hands, if possible. I just want to see the look on her pretty face.”

Magnus blinked. “I just remembered that you’re the one who sent me the flayed patch of your skin to prove your loyalty.”

“I certainly did, your highness.”

Cleo watched this young man warily, shocked by his words. Was he insane?

However, he had saved Magnus’s life back at the tavern, and she was deeply indebted to him for that, so she supposed she would have to spend a bit more time around him, watching him, to see what he was truly like.

There had been a time when she’d wished for Magnus to die for what he’d done to Theon just over a year ago—she had wanted to kill him herself.

And yet, the moment Magnus’s life was in danger, she focused nowhere but on the prince. Any need for revenge had fallen away from her months ago, like shedding the skin of her former self.

It wasn’t forgiveness that she felt. She still hated the boy Magnus had been that day.

But she’d come to understand him over the months since, perhaps even better than she understood herself.

“There is a threat far greater than Amara in Mytica right now, I’m afraid to say,” Jonas said, breaking Cleo’s reverie. He was wiping the dancer’s kiss marks from his face with a handkerchief handed to him by Olivia, and Cleo couldn’t help but find the contrast between this silly act and his solemn tone amusing.

“Let me guess,” Magnus said. “You’re referring to my sister? I know you must be grieving your friend, Jonas, but there is no sense expending any of your vengeful energies on either Lucia or her companion, Kyan.”

Jonas met Magnus’s gaze directly. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“You’ve searched for the Kindred. People have died over these crystals. You already revealed in front of everyone that Cleo has one in her possession, and we know that Amara has water and your father has air.”

“Yes. This is all known to me, rebel. And we already know that Kyan has the fire Kindred.”

“Wrong.” Jonas’s expression tensed. “Kyan is the fire Kindred.”

Cleo stared at him, certain she’d heard him wrong. “What do you mean he is the fire Kindred?”

“The magic you’ve been seeking—that we’ve all be seeking—it can think. It can speak. And it can kill without remorse. And three more just like Kyan are waiting to escape their prisons. They’re not magic rocks, princess, they’re elemental gods.”

The room went silent, and Cleo frantically searched the faces of the others, hoping to find someone rolling their eyes. Hoping this was only an amusing lie to break the tension.

This couldn’t possibly be true.

But even Nic nodded his grim agreement.

And at this very moment, right in her pocket, she held one of those very prisons.

She looked at Magnus, his deep frown the only outward sign of his surprise.

“Lucia must have helped him escape the amber orb,” Magnus said.

“I think that’s obvious,” Jonas replied tightly, earning him a dark look from the prince.

Cleo clamped her hands together to stop them from trembling. “Do we know for certain that whatever goals Kyan has are evil? The Kindred could still help us defeat Amara.”

“I watched him burn Lys to nothing,” Jonas snarled. “Not even a single ash was left when he was through with her.” The rebel turned to Magnus. “Kyan is evil. And so is that bitch sister of yours.”

Magnus rose to his feet, fists clenched at his sides. “I don’t care what’s happened, you will not speak that way about Lucia in my presence. I won’t allow it.”