Immortal Reign(104)

“Kyan,” Lucia said, stepping forward. She had to do something, say something, to keep this from getting worse than it already was. “Spare my brother. Let him leave here without harm. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

“Oh, I disagree.” Kyan’s smile only grew wider. A line of blue fire ignited in front of him, zipped down the stairs, and formed a shallow circle around Magnus and Ashur. “I think he knows exactly what he’s doing, don’t you, little prince?”

Magnus eyed the blue flames uneasily. “I’d really prefer that you never call me that again.”

“But it suits you,” Kyan replied. “Little prince, one who marches in to save his little queen, like the hero you aren’t and will never be. Your princess is lost to you, little prince. She belongs to us now.”

The flames rose to knee level.

“Stop,” Lucia hissed. “If you hurt my brother, I swear I won’t help you.”

“But what about Lyssa?” Kyan asked evenly.

“Lucia, it’s a bluff,” Cleo told her. “He doesn’t have her, I’m sure of it now. She wasn’t at the temple last night, and Nic hadn’t seen her. He didn’t know anything about the kidnapping.”

Lucia’s breath left her as she considered this possibility.

If Kyan didn’t have her daughter, who did?

A thought occurred to her then, one that hadn’t even entered her mind until this very moment. Amara. It could have been Amara, using the chaos surrounding the king’s assassination, to kidnap her daughter.

Oh goddess, she couldn’t think about this now. Surely, she would go mad.

No, she had to stay focused or everything, absolutely everything, would be lost—including Lyssa.

Kyan stood up from the throne and descended the stairs. He stood in front of Magnus, studying him carefully. “How did you get past the gates?” he asked.

“There are other entrances into this city,” Magnus replied. “What, you think there’s only one way in, one way out? That’s not how a city like this works. There are books about this in the library. Perhaps you’d like to borrow a few and read up on the subject.”

Kyan narrowed his eyes. “Did you come here to sacrifice yourself to save the girl you love?”

“No,” Magnus said. “In fact, I’m very much counting on us both walking out of here alive and well. I believe she’s promised me another wedding very soon, and I intend to hold her to it.”

Kyan glanced at Cleo. “But you know the hard truth that your husband does not. There will be no happy ending for you—either of you.”

Lucia fully expected Cleo to break down, to start to cry and beg for her life and Magnus’s, but instead she watched the princess’s expression harden.

“Wrong,” Cleo said. “There will be no happy ending for you, Kyan. Today is the last day you will have the privilege of walking this world. A world that you could have embraced rather than tortured. One you could have helped rather than hurt. And here we are.”

“Yes, here we are,” Kyan repeated, nodding. Then he shot a look at Lucia. “Start the ritual now.”

“We need to wait for the water Kindred to fully take control,” Lucia lied.

Although she honestly didn’t know for sure whether it was a lie or not. She’d never done this ritual before, never wanted to do it. She only knew the steps because Kyan had described them to her.

The ritual needed her blood and the blood of an immortal—Olivia’s blood, which is what her grandmother had used during the last ritual at Amara’s compound—combined. The orbs would react to it, even without the wisp of Kindred magic within.

More proof that the orbs were more than prisons.

Magic. Pure magic.

“How long must we wait?” Kyan hissed.

“I don’t know,” Lucia replied.

“Perhaps this will help speed things along.” He gestured toward Taran, who came down the stairs, grabbed hold of Cleo’s hand, and wrenched the amethyst ring off her finger.

Cleo gasped.

Lucia turned to Kyan, clenching her fists at her sides to stop herself from lunging at him.

“Don’t push me, little sorceress,” Kyan hissed. His eyes were glowing—a striking blue color that matched the flames. “Or you will be very sorry you did.”

The fire surrounding Magnus rose higher, to his waist now, and the fire Kindred turned a cold smile toward her brother.

“Do you feel that?” he asked. “My fire burns brighter and hotter than any other.”

“Do you feel this?” Magnus asked, then his hand shot out and he grabbed Kyan by his throat. “That’s the bloodstone my father gave me to save my life. It’s full of death magic, and it has a rather interesting effect on people I hate. I think you felt it once before. Let me show you what it can do.”

Kyan scratched at his hands but didn’t succeed in breaking free. The skin at his throat where Magnus clutched him had started to turn a sickly gray color.

Lucia watched this unfold in shock. She’d known Magnus’s ring contained death magic, but she didn’t think that it might affect Kyan.

“Apologies, Nic,” Magnus growled. “But this has to happen.”

Kyan began to shake, and his eyes rolled back into his head. Olivia had descended the stairs to stand next to Taran, but neither of them made a single move to stop Magnus.