Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms #3)(22)

The question was, could she be a friend? A true friend Lucia could trust with her deepest, darkest secrets?

Lucia bit her bottom lip and focused on the boys in front of her, but eventually her gaze drifted back up to the hawk circling in the sky.

“Have you ever been in love?” she asked.

“Yes,” Cleo said after a moment, softly.

“Where is he now?”

“Dead.”

Dozens of questions rose up inside Lucia. Dead? How? An accident? In battle? Was it Lord Aron she spoke of, or someone else?

She waited for the heart-wrenching story to come pouring out, but Cleo said nothing further about it. In the silence, Lucia felt the overwhelming urge to share her own loss with someone who might understand.

“In my life, I’ve only truly loved one boy.” Lucia shook her head, nearly amused. Boy seemed such a trivial description for him. “Do you . . . believe in Watchers?”

“Yes.”

So many people would scoff at such things, but Cleo’s quick, definitive answer and calm expression held the same gravity that Lucia felt in her heart.

She’d told no one this before. No one.

And now the words surged forth before she could stop them.

“When I was trapped in sleep, a Watcher named Alexius visited my dreams. He was the most beautiful boy I’d ever seen. He promised to visit me again after I woke, but I haven’t seen him since. And now . . . now I’m not sure if he was ever real to begin with.”

It wasn’t until she felt the dampness on her cheeks that she realized she was crying. As she remembered the last time she’d seen him, the kiss they’d shared, pain wrenched through her heart, and the heavy darkness within her grew.

Just then, lightning crackled above the field as dark storm clouds gathered, blocking the sun. Thunder rolled, and the rain began to pour. The boys looked up with surprise, their hair and clothes drenched in seconds.

“Princess, we must go now,” a guard urged.

Lucia looked up at the clouds with surprise. Auranos rarely experienced anything but perfect, temperate weather.

“Did you do that?” Cleo whispered.

“I don’t know.” Her elementia gave her the power to do so many incredible things—both wonderful and fearsome—but to control weather itself . . .

The thought was just as frightening as it was exciting.

Cleo linked her arm with Lucia’s as they stood up together. “I know what it’s like to love someone different from you. Someone others might look down upon or deny you. It causes more pain than happiness, especially if the one you love is stolen from you too soon.”

“Yes,” Lucia whispered.

“Before my father died, he told me to believe in magic. And that’s what I do. I believe in things other people think are impossible, and it makes me strong enough to face whatever comes next. I believe that your Alexius is real and that right this moment he’s thinking about how much he misses you.”

Lucia couldn’t deny it. Cleo was getting to her, breaking through that dark wall that surrounded her.

Believe in magic. Believe in the impossible.

Believe, tentatively, in this fragile new friendship with Cleo.

And believe that one day she’d see Alexius again.





CHAPTER 7


ALEXIUS

THE SANCTUARY



In the two thousand years Alexius had existed, he’d never wanted anything as much as this.

He lay back in the grass of his favorite meadow with his eyes closed and reached out through the darkness, searching for her.

Where are you?

No answer. He tried until his head ached, until his body felt weak. Until he was so frustrated he could scream. But once again it didn’t work.

The princess was lost to him—out somewhere in the mortal world, alone with no one to guide or protect her.

The thought made him laugh, and the sound rumbled deep in his chest.

Protect her.

“Alexius.”

He jumped to his feet at the sound of Timotheus’s voice.

“Greetings,” he managed to say through his hoarse throat. He hadn’t spoken aloud all day.

Timotheus, Alexius’s friend and mentor, as well as one of the Three that made up the council of elders, regarded Alexius with his arms crossed and patience in his golden eyes. “Am I interrupting your daily meditation? Or were you attempting to dreamwalk?”

“Neither,” he lied. “I was only resting.” To admit he was trying to visit the dreams of a mortal would only spark additional questions. Questions he couldn’t answer.

“There’s something different about you,” Timotheus said, walking a slow circle around Alexius as he studied his tall, lean frame. “I’ve noticed for many months now, ever since you began spending so much time with Melenia.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Be wary of her.”

A bolt of worry struck Alexius, and he fought to hide it from his face. “I’m wary of everyone here in the Sanctuary.”

“That makes you wise.”

“Are you just out for a stroll? Or did you come here looking for me?”

“Neither. I’m looking for Phaedra. She’s still missing.”

To hear the name of his dearest friend was an unexpected blow. “I know.”