Immortal Reign (Falling Kingdoms #6)(26)

Limeros was her home. She craved her chambers at the palace and knew several trustworthy nursemaids there who could help her with Lyssa.

However, they were not headed for Limeros.

Her father wanted to go to the Auranian palace, where he could speak with Lord Gareth Cirillo. Gareth had remained grand kingsliege during the king’s lengthy absence.

Through Lord Gareth the king wanted to find his son, Kurtis.

And Lucia wanted to help him.

The evening before they were set to leave for the Auranian palace, Lucia searched the compound for Jonas, finding him sharpening his sword by his temporary quarters.

“Are you coming with us?” she asked. “Or are you staying in Paelsia?”

He looked up from his work, as if surprised to see her. “Should I come with you?”

Lucia had been forced to spend time with Jonas when he’d been tasked to return her to her father and brother, but now— after all this time together—the thought of parting from the rebel felt oddly painful.

But she certainly wasn’t going to admit that out loud.

“Cleo needs you,” she’d said instead.

Jonas’s brows raised. “She said that?”

“When Kyan returns, she will need all the help she can get. And I know Taran has chosen to stay with her until everything is resolved.”

His expression grew thoughtful. “You make it sound like a minor inconvenience with a simple solution.”

Hardly. Lucia needed time herself to strengthen her magic, to figure out how best to trap the fire Kindred—and now the earth Kindred as well—in their crystal prisons.

“I know it isn’t,” she allowed.

Jonas studied her. “For what it’s worth, I’d already decided to come with you to Auranos. I feel a great need to keep a close eye on you, princess. Both you and Lyssa.”

She searched his face, looking for any sign of deception, but found nothing but sincerity.

Jonas Agallon was, quite possibly, the most honest and forthright person she’d ever known in her life. She’d come to value him.

And the thought that she wouldn’t have to bid him farewell eased something unnamable within her.

And so they left the royal compound—Lucia and Lyssa, her father, Cleo, Jonas, Taran, Felix, an attendant named Nerissa, and a guard by the name of Enzo. They began their five-day journey south, with the empress’s full permission, taking a ship from Trader’s Harbor to the Auranian City of Gold.

Lucia didn’t speak to Cleo. The other princess had gone into seclusion since learning of Magnus’s death.

She loved him, Lucia realized without anyone confirming it for her in as many words.

This thought made her hate the princess just a little less.

The waters along the channel from King’s Harbor to the palace city were a blue-green that reminded Lucia of the aquamarine orb Cleo kept with her in a velvet drawstring pouch. A perfect match for the princess’s eyes.

Lucia would rather have that orb safely in her possession, along with the other three, but she hadn’t yet made any demands.

To think that Cleo had the power of a goddess within her . . .

Part of her felt jealous. The other part felt . . . sympathy.

As Lucia watched the banks of the wide river pass from the deck of the ship, she twisted her amethyst ring, deep in thought.

The ring protected her from her magic, once erratic and nearly impossible to control. It had protected her from Kyan when he’d taken his monstrous form, something she dreamed about most nights, and not only during the dream that Jonas had witnessed.

Kyan had wanted to kill her, and he would have succeeded had it not been for the mysterious magic within the ring.

A ring that Cleo had given to her of her own free will.

It was the greatest treasure—apart from Lyssa—that belonged to Lucia. She prayed that it might help her defeat Kyan when the time came.

And when the time came, she prayed that her magic would also be there without fail or doubt.

The City of Gold appeared in the distance, a glittering and spectacular sight under the sun, surrounded by blue water and seemingly endless rolling hills of greenery. Lucia longed for a different sight, that of an obsidian-black castle in the center of stark white perfection.

Home.

Would she ever see home again? Perhaps it would remind her far too much of Magnus—her brother and her best friend.

He was yet another person she had betrayed, and now it broke her heart to know she would never have the chance to make amends for this.

Lucia, with Lyssa in her arms, disembarked from the ship, and as they walked along the lengthy wooden dock to reach a series of waiting carriages that would take them the remaining short distance to the palace, Lucia shielded her eyes from the sunlight to look up at the shining City of Gold with its glittering wall. The towering spires of the palace were in the direct center of the guarded city.

Then her view of the city was replaced by the face of Cleiona Bellos—her skin was pale and the rims of her eyes red, but she held her chin high.

“Yes?” Lucia prompted when she didn’t immediately speak.

“The nursemaid who looked after my sister and me is still at the palace,” Cleo said. “She was wonderful—kind and sweet, but not weak in any way. I would highly recommend her to look after your daughter.”

Lucia looked down at the face of her baby for a moment. Lyssa blinked, her otherworldly purple eyes shifting in an instant to a more normal blue.