Rebel Spring A Falling Kingdoms(110)

“But we need every one of you to help us,” Jonas said. “Everyone.”

“It’ll still be a blood bath,” another rebel standing next to Phineas spoke up, uncertain. “You think we’re going to lay down our lives for this? Based on information from your ‘reliable source’?”

“Yes!” Lysandra spun to trap the rebel in her fiery gaze. “We will lay down our lives if that’s what it takes! I watched Brion die today and to the very end he was brave and strong. We owe it to him. I can only hope to be half as brave as he was. I’m willing to die if it means I can show the King of Blood that I am not now nor will I ever be one of his slaves!”

“We shall cut King Gaius where he’s sure to bleed buckets,” Jonas said firmly, “and we will have our victory. Come on. Who is with me? Who is with Lysandra?”

One by one, the gathered rebels stepped forward, voices growing ever louder in enthusiasm and strength.

“I am!”

“And I!”

“Yes! Enough weakness, we’ll show the King of Blood our strength once and for all!”

“Once and for all!”





CHAPTER 29


LUCIA




AURANOS




Magic burned beneath Lucia’s skin, begging to be released. It felt as trapped as she did in this strange palace with its brightly lit hallways and glittering, golden floors, different from the dark and cool Limerian castle in so many ways. She missed her real home more than she would ever have thought possible.

The bunny was not helping matters at all.

“You’ve grown so quickly, Hana.” She held up the bundle of soft fur to look into the rabbit’s sweet face. Its heart beat quickly against her touch and its nose twitched. This was one of the few things that could make her smile.

Finally, Lucia put Hana down into her small pen in the corner of her chambers and went to the balcony, her gaze moving out across the green fields and hills that surrounded the City of Gold beyond the glittering walls.

It was all so painfully beautiful. To punctuate this, a pink and purple butterfly flew by on a warm breeze.

“Ugh.” Lucia turned away. She didn’t care about butterflies. She cared about hawks and had searched the skies endlessly for a sighting of one, just one! But there was nothing.

It had been five long weeks since the last time she saw Alexius, when he promised he would see her again—when they’d kissed so passionately and she’d been torn from his arms by waking. If he was real, why hadn’t he come to her again? It wasn’t just a dream. It wasn’t. She knew Alexius was out there somewhere.

She gripped the banister, and it warmed beneath her touch before beginning to crumble into dust from a surge of earth magic. She let go of it immediately and wiped off her hands, glancing around nervously to see if anyone had witnessed this, but of course there was no one. After learning of the fright she’d put into her elementia tutor, her father had strongly suggested she remain alone in her chambers until he sought the help of another.

And so she had. But after so many days trapped in such a small space, she needed to be free.

She was curious to know if the king had had Domitia executed since she had not fulfilled her purpose. It saddened Lucia that she didn’t care what the woman’s fate had been—life or death.

Once she would have cared.

The butterfly lit on the edge of a nearby flowerpot and she eyed it, fighting the sudden urge to squash its beauty in the palm of her hand.

“What’s happening to me?” she whispered.

She’d been cooped up in this room for far too long. Answers were what she needed more than anything. Books had always given her knowledge in the past. Why would now be any different? She’d heard that the Auranian palace library was second to none. Perhaps there, unlike the Limerian library, which contained only books of hard knowledge, she might find more answers about elementia. About the sorceress and the Watchers.

Her decision made, Lucia left her chambers and moved through the hallways, looking neither left nor right, except to ask a guard for directions to her destination. The library was on the other side of the palace and the hallways were virtually deserted, apart from the occasional guard who stood as still as a statue. Magnus had always prided himself in his ability to move through the castle unseen—like a shadow. It was a true talent, one she’d only started to appreciate.

She missed Magnus, she realized. She missed the days when they had talked for an entire afternoon about bards or books or nothing, how they laughed about some silly private joke, like the way Lady Sophia always slipped pastries into the pockets of her dress at palace dinners and thought no one noticed. She missed the way she could coax a smile from him even on his darkest days.