Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms #3)(101)

All she could do was stare at him until he scowled and turned away.

“Satisfied, princess? Now, stop asking me stupid questions.”

As soon as her shock began to fade, an uncontrollable rise of laughter escaped her throat. As she laughed, he cast a look at her and a flash of pain crossed his face before he could shutter it off.

“That’s right, princess. Laugh at me. It is funny, after all.”

She laughed until tears flowed down her cheeks, hysterical now. Gasping for breath. “It’s just . . . what Nic said once . . .”

“And what, pray tell, did Nic say?”

Cleo sobered quickly as an invisible hand clutched her throat, squeezing hard, making it nearly impossible to breathe. “That he thought I was falling in love with you.”

Magnus stared at her. “What an idiotic thing for him to say.”

“I know. Because I’m not. Never. How could I be? I hate you.”

And then she was kissing him, and she wasn’t even sure who approached whom first. It had happened so quickly, and there was no way to stop it. His lips crushed against hers, her hands twisting into his shirt, sliding over his shoulders, and up to tangle into his hair. He pulled her closer, until there was no space between them at all.

It was desperate, this kiss. Violent, even.

But of course it was. It had been building up between them for such a long time, as the battle about this boy who had destroyed her life had raged inside her. This boy who had saved her life, who was cruel and kind, strong and weak. Who was selfish and selfless all at once.

This boy who had, in a single moment of fear and weakness, taken someone so special from her. She knew she could never forgive him for that. This was the boy she was forced to marry in a destroyed temple, surrounded by dead bodies and an ocean of blood.

This was the boy who now kissed her without reservation, as if he were dying and she was air itself.

A sharp knock at the door made her gasp and pull away from him. She stared up into his eyes as she touched her swollen lips. He looked back at her, no invisible mask in place now to cover his shock.

Finally he turned away and went to the door. He opened it up with such force that she was surprised he didn’t tear it from its hinges.

Princess Amara stood at the doorway, a smile on her lips. She glanced past Magnus at Cleo.

“Did I interrupt anything?” she asked. “Apologies, of course. But this couldn’t wait.”

It took Cleo a moment to fully register the fact that the princess was standing right there in front of her. Here, on the other side of Mytica, in the house of a woman they’d met by chance.

This couldn’t be real.

“What are you doing here?” Magnus asked. “How did you find us?”

She shrugged. “I’m very good at negotiations. People spill many secrets for the right amount of gold. And here we are. If both of you could come downstairs with me, that would be lovely.”

“What’s downstairs?” Cleo asked guardedly, though she knew whatever it was couldn’t be good.

She knew that Amara had followed them, just as they’d followed Lucia.

“Come and see.”

Cleo didn’t like the sound of that, but she had no choice but to do as the princess requested.

Standing in Lady Sophia’s central hall were six green-uniformed Kraeshian guards, along with Prince Ashur and . . . Nic?

There he was, hunched over, his hands bound behind his back.

“Nic!” Cleo surged forward, but a guard put out an arm to stop her from getting too close. “What have they done to you? Are you all right?”

“Cleo,” he managed, casting a hateful look at Ashur and Amara. “I’m alive, so that’s a start.”

Another guard held a pale and trembling Lady Sophia by the arm. Cleo’s heart twisted for the kind woman who hadn’t done anything to deserve this rough treatment.

“What is this?” Magnus asked, his tone edged with warning.

“Another of my negotiations.” Amara moved toward Ashur. “And one we had to come all the way to Limeros to discuss, which is unfortunate. This is not a place I’d ever choose to come to if I had any say in the matter. But here we are.”

“A negotiation about what?”

“We tried to do this the pleasant way. We offered Cleo an alliance, but we couldn’t wait forever for a reply, could we? And Magnus—I did what I could to gain your confidence, but I knew your heart wasn’t in it. Too bad. I don’t waste my time or attention on boys I can’t manipulate.”

“We’re all here in search of the same thing,” Ashur said. His gray-blue eyes were steely, and fixed on Cleo in particular. “The Kindred.”

The prince was as cold and calculating as his sister, and every bit as greedy. Even if Cleo had agreed to their terms, she wouldn’t have been able to trust them. The moment they got what they wanted, they would have betrayed her.

She caught Nic’s gaze and searched his face for injury, but saw nothing. Even the bruises and cuts from the guards’ horrible beating had faded in the time that had passed.

I’m so sorry, Nic, she told him silently. This is all my fault.

The Kraeshians knew how important he was to her. Now they would shamelessly use that knowledge to manipulate her.

“The Kindred?” Magnus said. “Sorry to disappoint, but we’re in pursuit of my sister, who has unwisely chosen to elope with her tutor. We want to stop her from doing something she’ll regret for the rest of her life.”