Frozen Tides (Falling Kingdoms #4)(22)
No weapon to defend himself, only his bare hands.
This was a test he was meant to fail.
“Last I heard, everyone thought you were dead,” Aeson snarled. “But I knew you’d gone off of your own free will. I could see it in your eyes, it was always there—that wanderlust.”
“You’ve really got me figured out. So what’s your excuse?” Felix walked a careful circle around Aeson, watching his every move, then ducked under the next side-swiping swing.
“I realized that it’s much more profitable to be a mercenary than to kill for the kingdom.” Aeson grinned, revealing a row of broken, yellowed teeth. “Do you happen to know how much certain individuals are willing to pay to have the King of Blood killed?”
“Plenty, I’m sure,” Felix replied tightly.
“A small fortune, actually. I also learned a lot in the dungeons . . . tasty rumors of all kinds.” His glittering eyes narrowed, and he flicked the barest of glimpses toward the king. “Is it true your son recently committed treason, your highness? That he freed a prisoner you’d condemned to death and then they both fled to Limeros? Perhaps you’re losing your grip on your kingdom after all this time. I assure you, it’s a long fall for someone like you.”
“The rumors of the condemned,” the king’s words weren’t much more than an icy hiss. “Sad, really.”
Aeson gave Felix one last crazed smirk, then turned and stormed toward the dais, slicing his sword through two guards, one after the other, who stood in his way.
Felix was after him in an instant. He snatched the sword off one of the fallen guards and took leaping steps toward his enemy, who was fast approaching the king. Then, in a single, instinct-driven motion, he thrust his blade clean through Aeson’s chest. The man’s borrowed sword clattered to the floor.
Felix pulled his blade free. Aeson’s lifeless body fell backward down the steps, landing in a broken heap on the floor.
The remaining guards swarmed Felix. One of them pressed a blade to his throat, hard enough to break the skin and send a trickle of warm blood down his neck, while another disarmed him and a third dragged him back down the steps.
The king was still up on the dais but was now on his feet, clutching the moonstone.
“Release him,” he commanded.
The guards obeyed, but kept their heated glares fixed on Felix.
King Gaius silently regarded Felix for a long, tense moment. He looked perfectly calm for man who’d just been seconds away from being assassinated.
“Well done, Felix. I knew Aeson would use this opportunity to make an attempt on my life.”
“And so you just sat there?” Felix sputtered.
“I was more than ready to defend myself,” said the king, pulling a dagger from his leather surcoat. “But you acted swiftly, and chose to protect me. You passed my test.”
The realization of what the king said slowly sank in. “Well, good then. So . . . now what? What does this mean? Will you pardon me?”
The king re-sheathed his dagger and slipped the orb into his coat. “I’m leaving Auranos’s shores tomorrow at dawn to set out on an important journey. You will accompany me as my bodyguard.”
This unexpected pronouncement stunned Felix every bit as much as a slap would. He grappled to find his voice. “Where are we going?”
The king smiled, but his eyes remained cold. “Kraeshia.”
CHAPTER 6
AMARA
KRAESHIA
I will find you . . .”
This is what Ashur snarled in every nightmare she’d had since leaving the shores of Limeros.
“And when I do, I will tear you apart for your betrayal. I will make you scream for mercy, but no one will hear you.”
She woke with a start, frantically reminding herself that no, her brother wouldn’t find her. Not ever again. She tried to focus on pushing away any remaining doubts she had about her new responsibilities, and what still needed to be done to fulfill them. Nothing else mattered.
Finally, her ship passed through the sea gates and docked at port. She’d returned to the Jewel of the Empire, the capital of Kraeshia.
“Welcome home, princess,” said a familiar voice. Mikah, a palace bodyguard, waited for her at the end of the gangplank. Like all Kraeshian guards, Mikah started his training at the age of twelve—after having been sold to the emperor by his parents—and had now been stationed at the royal residence for a decade. In a way, he and Amara had grown up together.
She raised her chin and did not smile in greeting. “Take me to my father.”
Mikah bowed. “Yes, princess.”
The following journey to the palace went by like a blur. She didn’t bother to gaze at the sights her carriage passed—she’d seen them a million times before, and even her long stay in Mytica hadn’t done much to erase them from her memory. One could get bored even with beauty when one was constantly surrounded by it.
Auranians believed their City of Gold was the most beautiful place in the world, but that’s only because they had never been to the Jewel. Here, it wasn’t gaudy gold or cold marble, but rather the brilliant and diverse colors of nature that ruled.
It was evident everywhere one looked that Emperor Cyrus Cortas favored shades of amethyst and emerald. Huge murals depicting the emperor himself adorned the walls of every block in every neighborhood, painted predominantly in those two bold shades. The streets were paved in beautifully complicated patterns of purple and green cobblestones, and so many citizens of the Jewel daily wore purple and green robes and gowns to try to please their ruler that foreign visitors might think it was the country’s official uniform.