Immortal Reign(101)

She forced herself to take one breath and then another. Finally, the drowning sensation ebbed away.

Lucia gripped her upper arms. “You have to fight this.”

“I thought you didn’t want me to.”

“I never said that. Hopefully, this will give you just a bit more strength, like it did for me in the beginning. After all, it rightfully belongs to you. You’ve just let me borrow it, really.”

Cleo frowned, not understanding. And then she looked down at her hand.

Lucia had given her back the amethyst ring.

“What—?” she began.

Lucia raised her hand to silence her. “Tell no one. The longer you keep fighting, the longer I’ll be able to make him believe the ritual needs to wait. Now, follow me. If we take any longer, he’ll send his personal servant back out to find us.”

Cleo reeled from having her ring back—the ring that helped Lucia control her magic. “Who, Enzo?”

“I know you like him. I like him too. But he’s been marked by fire—he has no choice but to obey Kyan. That’s why I sent him away.”

Cleo realized then that Lucia was fighting just as hard as she was, just in a different way. They weren’t enemies, not anymore. Perhaps they never were.

They were allies. But they were both at an extreme disadvantage.

“Lucia,” Cleo said, her voice hushed. “I know how to stop them.”

“Do you now?” An edge of wry humor entered Lucia’s voice. “Did you find this nugget of information in a book?”

“No. This nugget of information came from Nic himself last night.”

Lucia’s brow furrowed. “Impossible.”

Cleo shook her head. “Kyan isn’t as in control as he might present himself to be. He’s vulnerable right now, and Nic’s found a way to break through at times.”

Lucia’s gaze moved around them as they walked past a yard they’d once been seated at together. Cleo remembered very vividly the day they’d shared, part of which had been spent watching a group of attractive young men practice their swordplay.

The yard was empty today, more like a graveyard than a place that had contained so much life.

“What did he tell you?” Lucia asked, her voice low.

Cleo was still hesitant to tell her, but she knew they were each other’s best chance. “The orbs—the crystal orbs. They’re the Kindred’s anchors to this plane of existence. If they’re destroyed, the Kindred won’t be able to walk this world any longer.”

“Anchors,” Lucia repeated under her breath, frowning deeply. “Anchors to this world.”

“Yes.”

“And they need to be destroyed.”

“Yes, but that’s the problem. Magnus tried to destroy the aquamarine orb, but it didn’t work, no matter how hard he hit it with a rock.”

Lucia shook her head. “Of course not. They’re not crystal, not really. They’re magic.” She pulled her cloak tighter around her as if she’d just become chilled. “This makes sense, all of it. I’ve been trying to understand where the Kindred were all this time—this last thousand years. The Watchers and countless mortals have searched Mytica from north to south looking for this treasure.”

Cleo’s gaze scanned the concourse, cringing as she noticed another deep prisoner pit to the north. “But it wasn’t until your magic came into being that they could be awakened.”

“Yes, awakened,” Lucia nodded. “Because that’s exactly what happened. They were asleep, as in not conscious. They had no consciousness like they do now. They’re joined—the Kindred and the crystals. To destroy the crystal is simply to destroy its physical form. The magic would still exist in the air. In the earth beneath our feet. In the water of the sea. And in the fire in the hearth. All would be as it should be. How it should have been from the very beginning.”

Cleo’s head swam with all this information. “I’m glad to see you seem to be understanding all of this far better than I could ever hope to.”

Lucia smiled nervously. “I understand it—but far less than I’d like to.”

“So that’s what we have to do,” Cleo said with a nod. “Figure out a way to destroy the crystal orbs.”

Lucia didn’t reply. Her gaze grew distant again as she paused just steps away from the palace entrance.

Cleo eyed it uneasily, not wanting to enter. Lucia appeared just as hesitant.

“I can try to figure it out,” Lucia said. “But there’s one large problem I can see.”

“What?”

A shadow crossed her expression. “You. And Nic, and Olivia, and Taran. Your bodies—they’re mortal and fragile, flesh and blood. You are the current vessels for the Kindred, and I have no way of knowing if you’ll survive the impact this much magic would have upon you. I saw what happened to Kyan the last time he came face-to-face with counter-magic. It destroyed his shell. And that shell had been immortal.”

Cleo blinked.

But of course, Lucia was right. There was no easy way for this to end.

To destroy the crystals, to send the Kindred into a form of being that had no conscious hold upon this world . . .

It would kill them all.

But it would save her city. And it would save her world.