Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, #1)(98)

If she’d found the exiled Watcher, everything would be different. She would very possibly have the means now to return Emilia’s health and vitality.

Perhaps it was only a legend. It pained her to even consider this.

All that had kept her optimism and belief going had been Eirene’s stories. They’d been so alive, so real. Eirene had given Cleo hope.

She’d all but forgotten the old woman these past days. The envelope with the name of the local tavern owner, to whom Cleo had planned to send her gifts of gratitude through, had gone untouched and unopened.

“Good fortune will find those with pure hearts, even when all seems lost.”

They were Eirene’s parting words to her. All certainly seemed lost right now. Trapped in a castle, with no idea when she’d be able to safely leave again. Her sister fading away before her very eyes.

Cleo swung her legs out of bed, determined to find the envelope. Even if she was unable to send anything yet, she could gather what she needed in her spare time. Lately, she had a great deal of spare time.

The small envelope sat on her dressing table, beneath a pile of unread books. She picked it up and broke the seal.

Instead of an address, she was surprised to find a note and two tiny brown pebbles inside.

The note read:


Princess, please accept my apologies that I couldn’t tell you the truth about myself. It is a secret that I’ve held for many years that no one knows, apart from legend, not even my granddaughter. A pure heart is worth more to me than gold. Yours is such a heart. Use these precious seeds to heal your sister so she can help lead Auranos toward a brighter future. —Eirene

Cleo read the note three times before it began to make any sort of sense to her. But when it did, the note literally dropped from her hands.

Eirene had seen through her and Nic’s lies about being from Limeros. She’d known Cleo was the Auranian princess.

Even more than that—Eirene was the exiled Watcher herself. While they had searched for her, she had found them instead.

And Cleo had no idea.

She looked down at the tiny pebbles and her eyes widened. These were the grape seeds infused with earth magic. They’d been in her possession the entire time.

Two seeds that were capable of healing someone near death.

If she’d known this, she could have saved Theon’s life with one of them.

The hopeless thought wrenched her heart from her chest. She let out a loud cry of pain, then gave in to her grief and collapsed to the floor, drawing her knees tight to her chest.

Even while wracked with sobs, she knew she had no time for tears or regrets.

She had to get to Emilia.

Cleo forced herself up from the ground and ran for the door. She burst into the hallway, only to crash right into somebody. Nic staggered back a few feet away and gingerly rubbed his chest.

“Ouch. You do have a habit of frequently hurting me, Cleo.” He studied her red, swollen eyes with concern. “I heard a cry from your chambers. I thought you were in distress.”

Her heart fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings. “I was. I am. I—I have the seeds. Eirene...she was the Watcher.”

He stared at her blankly. “How much wine did you have tonight? I believe you might be even drunker than Aron.”

“I’m not drunk. It’s true.” Her heavy heart lifted. “Come. We much go to Emilia’s chambers immediately.”

“You really believe in magic?” he asked.

“Yes!”

He nodded and a grin crept across his face. “Then let’s go save your sister.”

They hurried through the hallways toward Emilia’s room, passing through a corridor where she caught part of a conversation between two guards.

“Their forces are relentless,” one said. “The palace walls aren’t impenetrable.”

“They’ve breached the walls?” Nic asked sharply, drawing Cleo to a halt.

The guards looked sheepish as if they hadn’t meant to be overheard.

“I’m afraid so,” one said, nodding gravely. “But they won’t get into the castle.”

“How can you sound so confident of that?” Cleo said, concern twisting inside her.

They exchanged a look. She might only be sixteen, but as princess they were obligated to answer her questions. “The doors of the castle are fortified by a witch’s spell.”

She looked at him with disbelief. “My father never told me this.”

“The spell is renewed every year by the same witch to keep it strong. But she won’t be much help to us anymore.”

“Hush,” his friend hissed.

“Why?” Nic asked. “Where’s the witch now?”

The first guard’s jaw tensed and his eyes shifted back and forth between his friend, Nic, and Cleo. “King Gaius sent her head to the king in a box three days ago. But it doesn’t matter. Whatever that bastard king tries to do now, the spell will still hold. He will fail.”

Cleo knew the king of Limeros had a horrible, bloodthirsty son, but it sounded as if he might be even worse—just as the rumors she’d heard about him threatened. “Why wouldn’t my father tell me any of this?”

“The king wants to protect you from the bad things that are happening.”

“So why are you telling us?” Nic asked.