Crystal Storm (Falling Kingdoms #5)(97)
It hungered for stolen magic.
Just as she’d done with Melenia, she focused on the magic that existed in the very air before her, seeing it with a vision that went far beyond common sight. It was a red glow swirling around her, incorporeal, eternal. And, she sensed without any doubt, currently vulnerable.
Kyan’s very essence. Fire.
The orb began to glow, and Kyan made a choked, pained sound.
“What are you doing?”
“Seems Timotheus isn’t the only one you need to fear, is he?” she said.
Fire flared up in a circle around Lucia and Jonas. It was so hot and blazing that Lucia lost her concentration, and the sleeve of her cloak caught fire.
Was that Kyan’s magic, or had she done that?
Jonas smothered the flames with his cloak, putting them out as quickly as he could. They extinguished as quickly as they’d appeared, leaving a scorched black circle around them.
“Did it work?” he demanded. “You tried to trap him, right?”
Lucia nodded and inspected the amber orb. “I don’t know.”
Jonas peered at the crystal. “I don’t see the black swirly thing.”
“Your companion has such a way with words, little sorceress,” Kyan hissed. “Your magic is still formidable, but you failed.”
“Then I’ll try again.” Lucia gripped the orb and tried to summon her magic, but it had weakened too much already. “Damn it!”
“My, my, little sorceress. You are certainly not the innocent, grieving girl I met in her darkest hour, are you?”
“No, I’m the witch who’s going to be the end of you.”
“We’ll see. I believe you seek your father and brother? I suggest you travel as quickly as you can to get to them before the empress tears out both of their hearts.”
CHAPTER 27
AMARA
PAELSIA
“Fifty-three were killed in the rebel attack, empress, many of them trampled by the crowd.”
“Unfortunate.” Amara took a steady sip of her wine as Kurtis presented the day’s news to her. “Do they hate me now? These violent peasants?”
“No. Favor among Paelsians remains high for you.”
“Good.”
“Do you want the prisoners executed?” Kurtis asked as scratched at his bandages. “I would suggest a swift public beheading, as well as mounting the heads of the other dead rebels on spikes, to show everyone that such crimes won’t be tolerated.”
Amara raised a brow as she considered this. “Is that how you do public executions here?”
He nodded. “In Limeros it is, empress.”
“In Kraeshia, my father liked to have his prisoners tied to posts, publicly skinned alive, and left there until they stopped screaming. It usually didn’t take long. I’ve witnessed many of these executions in my life.”
Kurtis blanched. “That could be arranged if that is what pleases the empress.”
She glared at him. “No, that would not please the empress.”
The only thing that would please the empress would be for Kyan to finally return from his travels and give her further instructions on how to unleash the powerful being within her water Kindred.
While it was quite unfortunate, the lives of a handful of Paelsians ultimately didn’t matter. And a failed assassination attempt by a former lover didn’t matter either.
Only magic mattered.
Nerissa silently topped up Amara’s glass of wine.
“No execution,” Amara told Kurtis, sliding her fingertip around the edge of the goblet. “They can stay in the pit until I decide what I wish to do with them.”
Chief Basilius had been kind enough to leave behind an ingenious prison. In the center of his walled compound was a large hole thirty feet deep, its sides crafted from smooth sandstone. There was no escaping from it, but Amara had asked for ten guards to keep watch on Felix and Taran just in case they might be able to sprout wings and fly away.
“Pardon me for saying this, empress,” Kurtis went on, “but I must raise my concerns once again about staying in Paelsia much longer. As you witnessed for yourself, despite winning the people over with the promises you’ve made to them, they are very dangerous and quick to violence, like cornered, injured wild animals. And if there are more rebel factions here in Mytica—let alone any who might arrive from overseas . . .” He shivered. “This is far too dangerous a place for you to remain.”
She squeezed her eyes shut as her head began to throb from the sound of his reedy voice. “And what would you suggest, Lord Kurtis?”
“I would suggest that we continue on to Auranos, to the City of Gold and the royal palace there. I assure you that it would be much more suited to your greatness.”
“I know how beautiful the palace is, Lord Kurtis. I’ve been there before.”
“I’ve already written to my father about this possibility, and he enthusiastically approves. There will be a great feast planned in your honor, and the greatest dressmaker in Hawk’s Brow, Lorenzo Tavera, will be commissioned to create a magnificent gown for you to wear to greet your Auranian subjects.”
Amara stared at Kurtis so intensely that he took a shaky step backward.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly, still running her finger slowly around the rim of her glass. “What do you think, Nerissa?”