Rebel Spring (Falling Kingdoms #2)(36)
“Their location has been shielded all this time from others of my kind. But it’s time. Here, now. And I am certain that you are the one who will bring it all into being.”
His breathing had increased; his heart pounded harder than it had in recent memory. This was what he wanted more than anything. “I’m ready to do whatever it takes.”
She nodded. “Blood is essential to all of this. It must continue to spill. Many will die; many must die for us to succeed.”
“Then many will die . . . my queen. As many as it takes.”
“I hope you mean that.”
“I do.”
Melenia had told him everything he needed to know, everything he’d already known on some level. He was born for a greatness beyond that which he’d already achieved. He was born to be an immortal god, the most powerful king the universe had ever known. Everything and everyone would bow before him.
Eternally.
CHAPTER 10
CLEO
AURANOS
Cleo clutched the gold and amethyst ring in her fist so tightly she was sure it would leave a permanent imprint on her skin. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to sense something from it. Anything.
Finally, she opened her hand to look at the small piece of jewelry. “It belonged to your mother,” her father had told her moments before his death. “She always believed it had the power to help find the Kindred. If you can find it, you’ll be powerful enough to take back this kingdom from those who seek to destroy us all.”
“I’m trying, Father,” she whispered, tears of frustration and grief stinging her eyes. “But I don’t know how. I wish you were here. I miss you and Emilia so much.”
The weeks of searching in the palace library had yielded nothing.
Maybe he was wrong.
There was a hard knock on her door and she quickly scrambled to hide the ring behind the loose stone in her wall. A moment later, the door opened and two young attendants entered, one fair, one dark. Both Limerian. Cleo wasn’t allowed to have servants from her own kingdom anymore.
“We’ve been sent to help you get ready for your trip,” the fair-haired one, Helena, said.
“Trip?” Cleo repeated. “Where am I going?”
“To Hawk’s Brow,” the other, Dora, said, bottomless envy shining in her dark eyes. “The queen herself is taking you there. You have an appointment with Lorenzo today.”
It was a name Cleo knew well from a simpler time. A famous man known throughout Auranos for his flawless taste and exemplary style, a man who had dressed Cleo and her sister since they reached adolescence.
The reality of the situation dawned. Queen Althea was accompanying Cleo to the fitting of her wedding gown.
Her stomach sank. The sensation of being cornered, of being ordered to do what she didn’t want to, settled over her. But then she realized this would be the first time she left the palace since the day after she had been captured.
There was a chance Lorenzo might secretly assist her, and her thoughts went again to the ring. Hawk’s Brow was the home of many scholars and artists—citizens who were well versed in history and legend. If she could speak with the dressmaker alone and enlist him to her cause . . .
“Fine,” she said, raising her chin. “Then let’s not keep the queen waiting.”
? ? ?
“I hear you’re going to Hawk’s Brow today, Cleo.”
The slithering words slowed her steps as she moved down the hallway after dismissing Helena and Dora once they’d dressed her in traveling robes.
“Lord Aron . . .” Cleo turned to see him loitering nearby.
The last time she’d been in Hawk’s Brow had been nearly a year ago, she remembered. It was a gathering of friends who’d spent a few days in the large Auranian city, nestled along the coastline, without a single care on their minds apart from having fun. Aron had been there as well. At the time, she’d thought herself infatuated with him.
How times had changed.
“I know you’re still angry with me for revealing your secret.” His eyes glittered from the torchlight set into the smooth stone wall beside him.
She forced a gracious smile. It took effort. “Such unpleasantries are in the past now. Let’s leave them there.”
He took hold of her arms as she tried to slip past him. “You really think I’ve given up so easily?”
The wine was heavy on his breath. He only drank Paelsian wine, which caused deep inebriation with no chance of illness afterward. This, of course, made it difficult to know when best to stop.
“Easily? What part of this has been easy?”
“Despite everything, I still want you.”
She wrenched away from him, shoving him backward. “Don’t be so pathetic, Aron. You never wanted me. You wanted the position marrying me would put you in. You would be very wise to let it go now. You’ve lost.”
We all have . . . for the moment.
Aron narrowed his eyes. “If that’s so, then maybe I’ll set my sights on your little friend, Mira. She wouldn’t deny me—not if she knew what was good for her. Would it make you jealous if I took her as a lover?”
She willed herself to remain calm. “Leave Mira alone, you drunken ass.”
“Or what?”