Crystal Storm (Falling Kingdoms #5)(50)

“No? And do you think you can stop me?” Now Jonas also had his fists clenched, and the two of them drew closer together.

“Perhaps he won’t stop you,” said a new voice, cutting into the conversation and causing the rebel and the prince to freeze where they were. “But I am certainly willing to try.”

With that promise, the King of Blood entered the room.





CHAPTER 14


    JONAS


   PAELSIA



King Gaius Damora. The King of Blood. Murderer. Sadist, torturer, enslaver, betrayer. Enemy. Target.

And currently standing in the very same room as Jonas.

There had been many surprises this evening—the first being an encounter with Laelia Basilius, to whom Jonas had briefly, and reluctantly, been betrothed—but all of them disappeared from his mind the moment the king entered the room.

Gaius swept his gaze over the group, ending on Jonas. “Jonas Agallon. It’s been a long time since I last saw you. I believe it was at my son’s wedding.”

Jonas found he could do nothing but stare at the man who had killed so many and destroyed so much.

“Magnus . . .” Cleo said from across the room.

“Oh, yes,” Magnus said, his tone now void of the outrage over any slurs against his sister. “Did I forget to mention that I’m traveling with my father?”

“You did,” Jonas replied tightly.

“Yes,” the king agreed. “And it’s so good of my son to bring his new friends back here without prior notice.”

Jonas fought to keep his composure, to not show how stunned he was. “Not as new as you might think.”

King Gaius’s skin was pale, his face bruised as if he’d been held down and beaten. He leaned, as if casually, against the wall by the staircase, but there was something to the angle. A weakness, a frailty, that he’d never seen in the man before.

“Go back upstairs,” Magnus snapped.

“I don’t take orders from you.” The king smiled without humor at this. “Tell me, Magnus, do your new friends know we’re all on the same side now?”

The very suggestion of an alliance with Gaius rendered Jonas utterly speechless. The others—Nic and Olivia—remained silent as well, their expressions tense.

“Oh?” It was Felix’s dry growl, like the warning of a caged beast, that broke the silence. “Did you decide this before or after you allowed Amara to let me take the blame for killing her family?”

The king raised a dark brow and regarded Felix. “I never allowed Amara to do anything. She makes her own choices. By the time I knew what had happened, it was too late to intervene. I was told you were already dead. Otherwise, I would have done whatever I could to free you.”

Felix kept his gaze fixed squarely on the king, his single eye bereft of anything except cold malice. “Of course you would have. Why would I ever doubt your word, your highness?”

With a sigh, the gaunt and sickly-looking king turned to Jonas. “You have every reason to hate me. But you must hear me now and realize that together we are strong. We have a common enemy now: Amara Cortas.”

“Your wife, you mean,” Jonas managed to choke out.

“Of necessity and circumstance only. I have no doubt she’s already conspiring to have me killed, especially now that she has taken control of Mytica and knows her soldiers far outnumber mine. I have now dedicated myself to fixing some of my more recent mistakes, starting with casting Amara out of this kingdom.”

“Sounds like a fine start,” Jonas allowed.

The king moved forward slowly, wincing as if sudden movement caused him pain, and stretched his hand out. “I ask that we put our differences aside until this goal is achieved. What do you say?”

If he wasn’t so stunned, Jonas would have laughed. The King of Blood had just offered him—the very same person he’d accused of murdering Queen Althea—an alliance.

Jonas looked around at the others, all of whom were staring at him and the king with silent shock. Nic’s and Cleo’s faces were pale, and Felix’s top lip curled with disgust. Olivia kept her eyes emotionless and unreadable as always. Enzo, Cleo’s guard who dressed in civilian clothing, stood with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. In contrast, Magnus had taken a seat and leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest, his head cocked to one side.

Finally, Jonas gripped the king’s hand in his right, meeting his gaze directly. “What do I say, your highness?” With his left hand, he thrust his jeweled dagger into the monster’s heart. “I say go to the darklands, you lying son of a bitch.”

The king grunted weakly, excruciating pain apparent in the weak sound. Jonas twisted the knife deeper then, until Gaius staggered backward.

Dimly, Jonas heard Nic howl in victory at this act, just as Enzo slammed into him, taking him to the floor. Felix was there in an instant, pulling Enzo off of him. Another one of the king’s guards appeared and wrenched Jonas’s arms behind him. A flash of blond hair joined the pile—Cleo was trying to pull the second king’s guard back from Jonas. Magnus was on his feet, his grim focus on the king. Olivia stood in Jonas’s periphery, waiting. She only ever intervened if he was in mortal danger.

The rage Jonas felt, his hatred of the king, buzzed anew within him, making him tremble. As he watched the dying king from his prone position, not a single part of him felt even the slightest fraction of regret.