“I’m hard on him because I know he needs a firm hand. He’s at a difficult time in his life. But, despite some resistance, he has proven himself to me again and again. He will not let me down.”

“Yes, send your son to find the answers to reassure you. We are closer than you think.”

He clasped her face between his hands, a gentle touch now when before he was rough. She didn’t pull away as he drew her closer to kiss her. Her mouth was as sweet and warm as it would be in the waking world.

When this was all over, when he had the Kindred in his possession and was an immortal god free to journey wherever he pleased, he looked forward to discovering how pleasurable it would be to kill the woman he now embraced.

By then, he would have no use for a queen.

Chapter 27

MAGNUS

LIMEROS

Magnus had come to regret summoning Nicolo Cassian to ease the princess’s suffering on the wedding tour. The boy despised him, blamed him for his sister’s death, and would gleefully shove a sharp blade into him the moment his back was turned.

Nic’s palpable animosity had shot up even more during the last days of the tour after the unplanned kiss on the balcony. It was jealousy, pure and simple. Clearly, the boy imagined himself in love with the princess.

This, if nothing else, could prove an amusement.

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Magnus said casually to Nic the morning they were set to begin the journey back to Auranos. Cleo climbed aboard one of the carriages, assisted by a guard.

“She is,” Nic hissed.

He had to wonder if Cleo had shared any details of their unconsummated union with her friend. That would be deeply unwise of her. “With every day that passes I realize how lucky I am to have such a creature to share my life with. So cool and innocent on the surface, yet so passionate in our private moments. Insatiable, really.” Magnus smiled at the guard. “Apologies, Nic. I shouldn’t discuss such things with a mere servant, should I?”

Nic’s face reddened to nearly the color of both his hair and his uniform. For a moment, Magnus was certain the top of his head would erupt like a volcano.

Very amusing, indeed.

Then Nic spoke loud enough for only Magnus to hear.

“Know this much, your highness. She’ll hate you forever for what you did to Theon.”

Magnus’s amusement fell away and he turned a glare of warning on Nic, but the guard had already stalked toward the carriages.

The late spring thaw had quickly set in, one that swept away some of the snow and ice for a precious couple of months here in western Limeros before everything froze over again. As Magnus stepped foot aboard the carriage, he noticed that he’d crushed a small purple wildflower that had managed to struggle through the remaining frost. He stared at the decimated spot of color with dismay before a guard closed the door, shutting off his view of it.

“You look ill. Is there something wrong with you?” Cleo asked. It was the first thing she’d said directly to him since the kiss he’d forced upon her yesterday.

She’d hated it. And she hated him.

So much is wrong with me, princess. Where do I even begin?

“Nothing is wrong.” Magnus turned to look out the window as the carriage pulled away. He had no idea when he’d next return here to his true home—a place of ice and snow and small crushed pieces of beauty. “Nothing at all.”

Magnus met with his father the moment he returned from the tour. His prisoner had been delivered to the dungeons and Magnus explained what had happened. He knew it was possible he’d overreacted by bringing the boy back to Auranos after hearing the mention of dreams and Watchers. But the king seemed pleased by his decision. The boy would be questioned further to see if he spoke truth or nonsense.

The king informed him that not only would Magnus be joining Aron on the hunt for Jonas Agallon, but they would also be journeying to the Paelsian road camp located in the Forbidden Mountains, where Magnus was to meet with a man stationed there named Xanthus.

Xanthus was an exiled Watcher assigned as the road’s engineer by the king’s mysterious dream advisor, Melenia. Xanthus was her representative in the mortal world. He did as she commanded. And Melenia commanded that the road be built and infused with Xanthus’s earth magic in order—the king was certain—to coax the hidden location of the Kindred out of the very elements themselves, which were now connected by the twisting ribbon of road.

To Magnus, it was all as hard to swallow as an entire roasted goat. Especially the fact that the king was now certain, thanks to his dream advisor, that if he took a step beyond the palace walls, he would be slain.

Even still, Magnus had seen enough magic in past months to agree readily to any chance to gain more information that would put the Kindred in his family’s hands, no matter how far-fetched such possibilities were.

Magnus did not argue. He did not debate. He did not laugh or roll his eyes.

All he did was nod. “As you wish, Father.”

By the rare and genuine smile he received from the king, this was the correct answer. “Good boy. Now, go and visit your sister. She has greatly anticipated your return.”

Considering how uncaring she’d sounded when Magnus overheard her discussing him with their father on the day of the fateful wedding, Lucia greeted him back at the Auranian palace with a warm embrace and a kiss on both of his cheeks.

She was every bit as beautiful as she ever had been—even more so than the last time he’d seen her, since the color she’d lost during her slumber had returned to her cheeks. Today, however, there was a thick layer of apathy on top of his appreciation for his adopted sister, much like storm clouds hiding the sun’s true brightness. This apathy had grown substantially in the time they’d been apart. The conversation he’d just had with his father had done nothing to improve his mood.