Immortal Reign(39)

Kyan left the room without another word, and all she could do was watch him go. When he was out of sight, she rushed to the side of the cradle.

Lyssa was fast asleep.





CHAPTER 13


    MAGNUS


   AURANOS




“I don’t think you understand,” Magnus said to the green-uniformed Kraeshian guard at the palace gates. “I am Prince Magnus Damora.”

The guard pursed his lips, casting an appraising look over the length of him.

“I’ll admit, you do bear a striking resemblance to the portraits I’ve seen of him,” he replied. “But the real Prince Magnus is dead.”

“Clearly, you’re new around here.” Magnus glanced at Ashur, who wore the hood of his gray cloak over his head to keep his face from view.

Ashur just shrugged.

No help there.

“I demand an audience with King Gaius,” Magnus said with as much royal dignity as he had left. “Who is my father. We’ll leave the determination of the status of my existence to him, shall we?”

The guard sighed and waved the pair through.

“He likely doesn’t care if he just allowed a potential assassin access to the palace grounds,” Ashur muttered to Magnus.

Likely not.

Upon entrance into the palace itself, they found themselves in a vast, seemingly endless hallway, every column along its length chiseled with artistic perfection.

Some said the palace had existed in this very place when the goddess Cleiona ruled. Someone had to be blamed for importing this much annoyingly white marble into Mytica.

“Frankly, I’m surprised your sister didn’t take my father’s life when she had the chance,” Magnus said, his voice now echoing against the marble walls.

“I’m surprised too,” Ashur replied. “It’s very unlike her.”

They encountered a guard who wore red as they walked.

“Where is the king?” Magnus asked him.

The guard’s eyes widened. “Your highness! I’d heard that you were—”

“Dead?” Magnus finished for him. “Yes, that seems to be the general consensus. Where’s my father?”

The guard bowed. “The throne room, your highness.”

He felt the guard’s surprised gaze on him as he and Ashur continued down the corridor.

“Limerians and Kraeshians working side by side,” he said under his breath. “How friendly.”

“Amara has no further interest in Mytica,” Ashur said. “I’d be surprised if this occupation lasts more than another month before she requires the full strength of her army at the next place she plans to conquer.”

“Let’s not count it as a victory until it actually happens.”

“No, definitely not.”

Ashur thought it best that Magnus see his father by himself. Magnus agreed. The pair parted ways as the hallway forked into two directions.

The tall doors to the throne room appeared before Magnus, and he came to a halt, taking a deep breath into his lungs. Nervously, he twisted the heavy golden ring on his left hand as he summoned the courage he hadn’t thought he’d need today.

Finally, he stepped forward and pushed the doors open.

The king sat upon the throne, a position Magnus had seen him in—here and in Limeros—a thousand times before. There were six men at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the royal dais, each holding a piece of parchment.

The business of a kingdom must continue, he thought. In good times and in bad.

King Gaius looked up, and his eyes locked with Magnus’s. He stood up so quickly that the silver goblet he held clattered to the floor.

Then he looked down at the men. “Leave,” he said. “Now.”

They didn’t argue. Collectively, they filed past Magnus and swiftly exited the room.

“Don’t let me interrupt,” Magnus said, his heart pounding hard.

“You’re here,” the king said, his voice hushed. “You’re actually here.”

“I am.”

“So it worked.”

Magnus knew exactly what he meant. He touched the ring, then pulled it off of his finger. “It did.”

His father drew closer, his face pale as he inspected Magnus, walking an entire circle around him. “I had held hope for so long that the bloodstone’s magic might save you, but that hope had faded completely.”

“It seems that everyone believes me dead,” Magnus said.

“Yes.” The king drew in a shaky breath. “We know Kurtis buried you alive. And that he tortured you first. But you’re right here in front of me. Not a spirit, not a dream. You’re here, and you’re alive.”

Magnus’s throat constricted, and he found himself at a loss for what to say, what to think. He didn’t realize it would be this difficult. “I’m surprised you seem to care. It’s not as if you haven’t attempted to send me to my grave long before Kurtis did.”

“I fully deserve that.”

Magnus held the ring out to him. “This is yours.”

The king didn’t reach for the ring. Instead, he embraced his son so tightly that it became difficult for Magnus to breathe.

“Unexpected,” Magnus managed. “Quite unexpected.”