“For now, it’s enough that we’re together, the four of us,” Kyan said. He tucked her hair behind her left ear and traced his finger along the blue wisp on her temple. She forced herself not to shove him away from her.
“As close to true freedom as we’ve been as a family,” Olivia added. “Access to my magic already feels stronger.”
“It’s incredible, this mortal form. I can feel everything.” Taran looked down at his hands, grinning. “I like it.”
“I hope you more than like it,” Olivia said. “This will be your vessel for all eternity.”
“Your vessel is perfect,” Taran replied with a nod. “As is mine.”
Cleo noticed as a muscle in Kyan’s cheek twitched.
“Are you unhappy with your vessel?” Cleo asked tightly. “You should know that I love that vessel very much.”
“I know,” Kyan said, his voice tight. “And it’s fine, really. However, it has not been without . . . difficulties. All souls of fire are challenging beings, hard to control. But after my little sorceress properly completes the ritual, all will be well.”
Cleo tried very hard not to physically react to his words, but they had shaken her. Did he mean that Nic was fighting him for control?
“I never would have guessed Nic had a soul of fire,” she said instead, as calmly as possible.
“Oh, no? There were many clues of this.” Kyan placed his fingers at his temples. “Memories of his bravery, his recklessness. His tendency to fall in love in the flash of an eye or nurture an unrequited and impossible love over many years. I have his memories here . . . of you, little queen. Much younger, much smaller, yet willing to take incredible risks. Leaping off high cliffs into the sea—your soul of water calling out to you even then.”
That Kyan was able to access Nic’s private memories shocked her. “I have always loved water,” she forced herself to admit.
“Running as fast as many boys could, and willing to trip the ones who were faster than you so you could win the race—including Nic. You’re the reason he broke his nose when he was twelve years old!” A smile stretched his freckled cheeks. “He was mad that it was always crooked afterward, but he never blamed you. Oh, yes, he loved you very much.”
She pressed her lips together, memories of someone she’d lost coming to her as pure and painful as if they’d been yesterday. Good memories of innocent times, stolen now by a monster.
It was jarring to be reminded of such fond memories through Nic’s own visage, as if they might endear her to the fire Kindred who’d stolen her best friend’s life.
“Kyan likes you,” the water Kindred told her. “That is deeply helpful.”
Yes, Cleo thought. It just might be.
Kyan’s gaze grew faraway. “I can see you riding your horse fast and free—no saddle, at least not until your father reprimanded you. ‘That’s no way for a young princess to behave,’ he told you. ‘Try to be more like your sister.’ Do you remember that?”
“Stop it,” she hissed, unable to listen to this anymore. “These are not your memories to tell like they’re nothing but amusing stories.”
“I’m just trying to help,” he said.
“You’re not.” A sob rose in her throat, but she desperately swallowed it back down.
Cleo took a deep breath, fighting to control her emotions before they overwhelmed her.
Kyan’s brows drew together. “This grieves you, and I do apologize for that. But there is no other way this ends, little queen. Allow my sibling to take control of you. It will happen soon, even if you continue to resist. It will be much easier and less painful if you comply. Your memories will also live on through her.”
Cleo clasped her hands together and turned away from him to study the roses carved into the marble pillar. She counted them, getting to twenty before she felt her heart begin to slow to a more manageable rate.
Taran and Olivia watched her every move, every gesture. Not with kindness or understanding in their eyes, but with curiosity.
Much like she would watch a newly trained puppy, amused by its antics.
Cleo reached out and touched one of the marble flowers, the cold, hard surface helping to ground her. “There has to be another way. You’re asking me to forfeit my life, my body, my future, so the water Kindred can just . . . take over? I can’t. I just can’t.”
“This is much bigger and more important than one mortal life,” Taran said.
Olivia frowned at her. “You are only making this more difficult for yourself. It’s illogical and rather frustrating, really.”
“Is there nothing of Olivia left inside you?” Cleo asked, desperate to know how this worked.
“Memories,” Olivia said, her expression now thoughtful. “Just like Kyan has retained Nicolo’s memories of Auranos, I remember the beauty of the Sanctuary. I remember taking flight in hawk form and flying through the porthole to the mortal world. I remember Timotheus—someone Olivia respected far more than many of the others who thought him far too secretive and manipulative. The others all believed in Melenia, but Olivia thought her to be a liar and a thief.”
“Melenia did a few things right,” Kyan said with a smile. “She acquired my first vessel—one that was, admittedly, superior to this one in many ways.”
Again, Cleo noticed a muscle in his cheek twitch.
“Does Lucia know where to find . . . us?” Cleo said, forcing the last word out.
“She will,” he said.
“How?”
Kyan cocked his head, studying her. “I can summon her.”
“How can you summon her?” she asked again.
“Be careful,” the water Kindred said, although its tone held amusement now. “Too many questions and he will lose his patience with you.”
But Kyan’s calm exterior didn’t shift at all. “The magic Lucia has—the magic every common witch or immortal has—it is our magic. A part of each of us is within her and within everyone touched by elementia. I have not been strong enough before to use this ability, but now that the four of us are together, I feel . . . very good. And very strong. When I know it is time, I will summon her, and she will take her rightful place by my side.”
Olivia muttered something under her breath.
Kyan’s eyes flashed from brown to blue in an instant. “What was that?”
“Oh, nothing,” she said. “Nothing at all.”
Kyan turned back to Cleo. He gave her a small smile, but any trace of warmth had disappeared from his eyes. Cleo could see that his patience was beginning to wane. “My siblings don’t share the confidence I have in my little sorceress. Lucia and I have fallen upon difficult times in the recent past, but I know she will fulfill her destiny.”
Interesting. And chilling. Did Taran and Olivia not know that Kyan had kidnapped Lyssa as an assurance of the sorceress’s help?
If Lucia did anything to help Kyan, surely it would only be to protect her daughter.
Cleo believed this almost completely. But the memory of Lucia coming to the Limerian palace as Kyan’s more than willing assistant still colored her confidence in Magnus’s sister.
She desperately wanted to ask where Lyssa was, if the baby was all right and being cared for properly, but she held her tongue.
Kyan would not harm the child. She was far too valuable alive.
At least, he wouldn’t harm her until Lucia resisted his demands.
Cleo needed to keep talking, to draw the truth from Kyan’s lips so she could learn if there was something she could do to stop this.
“Kyan,” she said as calmly as possible.
“Yes, little queen?” he replied.
“At Amara’s compound, you told me that I could help you because I am descended from a goddess. Was that true?”
“It certainly was.” He narrowed his eyes, peering at her as if inspecting her closely. “Your namesake . . .
Cleiona herself is your ancestor.”
She gasped. “But the goddess didn’t have children.”
“Is that what you think?” He smiled. “That is only more proof that written history does not hold all secrets to the past.”
“Cleiona was destroyed in her final battle with Valoria,” she countered.
“The word destroyed can mean so many things,” he said. “Perhaps only her magic was destroyed. Perhaps she was then free to live the life of a mortal at the side of the man she’d fallen in love with. Isn’t that possible?”
Kyan could be lying. In fact, Cleo was quite sure of it.
Breathe, she told herself. Don’t let him try to distract you.
“Is that why the water Kindred chose me?” she whispered. “Because I have . . . some sort of magic already inside me?”
Magic that I can use to fight this, she thought.
He shook his head. “No. You have no magic naturally within you, but don’t feel badly about that. Most mortals don’t, even those descended from immortals.”
Disappointment seeped through her.
That same muscle twitched in Kyan’s cheek again. “Taran, Olivia, I want to speak with Cleo alone. Do you mind giving us some privacy for a few moments?”
“What do you have to say to her that you can’t say in our presence?” Taran asked.
“I’ll ask again,” Kyan replied tightly. “Allow us a moment of privacy. Perhaps I can convince Cleo to stop fighting against the water Kindred and make this easier for all of us.”
Olivia sighed with annoyance. “Very well. Taran, come, we will take a walk around the temple.”
“Very well.” With a nod, Taran joined Olivia as they left the temple.
Kyan stood silently in front of Cleo.
“Well?” Cleo said. “Speak your mind, although I assure you it will take more than words for me to give up this fight.”
“That’s what I’ve always loved most about you, Cleo,” he said quietly. “You never stop fighting.”
Her breath caught. And she looked up into Kyan’s eyes.
Kyan never called her Cleo. Just “little queen.”
“Nic . . . ?” she ventured, her throat tight.
“Yes,” he said, his expression strained. “It’s me. It’s really me.”
She covered her mouth with the back of her hand as shock swept through her. Then she searched his face, fearful of letting herself feel any joy. “How is this possible? Are you back?”
“No,” he said. “He’ll regain control soon—that’s why we need to be quick.”
“What happened?” she asked. “How is this possible?”
“In the woods, not far from Amara’s compound”—Nic touched his arm—“Magnus was there, and he grabbed me—or, rather, he grabbed Kyan—and I don’t know why, but it was like a slap to the face, waking me up. Ashur was there too. I—I thought he might have done some kind of magic, some spell that caused me to regain a tiny bit of presence . . . I don’t know. It might have been my imagination that he was even there.”
“Ashur is still with us,” Cleo said. “He won’t leave, not for any reason. He’s determined to help save you, Nic.”
Hope filled his brown eyes. “I’ve been such an annoyance to him from the moment we first met.”
“Funny . . .” A small smile pulled at her lips. “I think he believes the opposite.”
“Ever since then, I have moments of control, like this, when the fire god isn’t conscious. Kyan blames the interrupted ritual, but I know it’s more than that. It doesn’t happen to Olivia that I’m aware of.”
Cleo reached toward him, touching his freckled cheek. He clasped his hand on top of hers and squeezed it. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Can we stop them?” she asked, her throat raw.
Nic took a breath before he replied. “Kyan wants the orbs. All four of them. And then he needs Princess Lucia to do the ritual again. He truly believes that she will do it without argument and it will go perfectly, giving the four of them ultimate power. They don’t have it yet. Their magic has its limits.”
“When does he want the ritual to happen?” she asked.
“I don’t know exactly. Soon. Very soon. He met with Lucia at the palace, presented his plan to her. Left it in her hands to decide, but he has no doubt that she will join them.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Cleo, I think Lucia’s still evil.”
Cleo shook her head. “No, I don’t believe that. Kyan has her baby. He stole Lyssa from her cradle. Don’t you remember that? Where is she right now?”
“Lyssa? I—I don’t know.” Nic’s eyes full of shock at this news, he shook his head. “I’m not always conscious. I see very little, but what little I do see and hear, I remember. Like . . . I very clearly remember when Kyan marked Kurtis—made him into his slave. I remember the way he screamed.”
“I don’t care about Kurtis.”
His expression grew pained. “I’m trying to think, but I don’t remember ever seeing Lyssa here. I remember Kyan went to visit Lucia at the palace, but . . . I don’t remember him taking the baby. She could be anywhere.”
Cleo tried to think it through, tried to piece together this puzzle. “What happens if Kyan doesn’t possess the crystals?”
“Then he will burn the world,” the water Kindred told her. “And everyone in it.”
A shiver went down Cleo’s spine.
“Nothing good,” Nic said, then he swore under his breath. “I can’t hold on to this control for much longer. But you have to. You can’t let what happened to Taran happen to you. You can’t let the water Kindred take you over.”
Cleo pulled off one of her silk gloves and touched the blue lines on her hand. “I don’t know how much longer I can resist. Every time I feel like I’m drowning, I’m certain I will die.”
“Stay strong,” Nic urged. “Because you need to gather the orbs together and destroy all four of them.”
She gasped. “What?”
“Ridiculous. He doesn’t know what he’s saying,” the water Kindred sneered, yet there was something now in its voice, something pained. “Ignore him. Listen only to Kyan. He will help you.”
“Kyan helps no one but himself,” Cleo muttered, and then louder: “Nic, what do you mean destroy them? The orbs are the Kindred’s prisons.”
He shook his head. “Not prisons . . . not exactly. The orbs are anchors, princess. Anchors keeping them on this level of existence. If you destroy all four, then there will be no remaining ties to this world for them.”
“You know this? You know this for certain?”
Nic nodded. “Yes.”
“Foolish boy,” the water Kindred snarled. “He speaks his last words, full of falsehood and desperation. So mortal, so pathetic.”
The more fiercely the water Kindred protested, the more Cleo was certain that Nic was right.
“I . . . I can’t hold on,” Nic managed, then he cried out in pain. “You need to go . . . go now and do as I say. Don’t let them catch you!”
A wall of fire blazed up around him, forming a circle of flames and blocking him from Cleo’s view.
She wanted to help Nic, wanted him to escape with her, but knew that couldn’t happen. Not now.
Cleo turned and ran out of the temple, as far and as fast as she could.
CHAPTER 24
NIC
AURANOS
All he could see were flames, as tall as he was, surrounding him on every side.
Then Nic felt as if he’d been punched in the gut, rendering him immobile as Kyan took control again. That had been the longest he’d taken control of both his body and of Kyan’s fire magic.
He’d called for flames to shield Cleo’s escape. And flames had appeared.
It had hurt like hell, but he took pride in his accomplishments tonight.
; He didn’t know how he’d been able to push through. Perhaps it had been the sight of Cleo, with frightening blue lines curling around the left side of her face, glaring at Kyan with so much courage and strength that it broke Nic’s heart.
He knew he had to do something to help her.
Kyan and Taran and Olivia would not have allowed her to leave. They would have put her in chains had she tried to escape.
With Cleo here, even without the water Kindred being in control of her body, Nic had felt Kyan’s power double in strength.
Kyan waved his hand, and the fire disappeared. It left a black, scorched circle on the pristine marble. Nic sensed that Kyan found it distasteful and imperfect—a physical marking of his failure to control the mortal inside him. He scanned the temple for Cleo, but she was gone.
“You think you’re clever,” Kyan said under his breath. “So very clever, don’t you?”
Actually, yes. Nic did think he was clever.
And, if he’d had any significant control over his body now, he would have made the rudest of gestures toward the fire Kindred.
“Not much longer now and you will be nothing but a memory,” Kyan said darkly. “One I will toss away and forget as if you never existed in the first place.”
That was rude, Nic thought. And it only made him want to fight harder to survive.
Kyan moved toward the exit, searching for Kurtis and finding him lurking outside in the shadows.
“Come here,” he growled.
Nic had swiftly gone from empathizing with Kurtis’s pain when he had received his branding to hating his pathetic guts again. Kurtis was a coward, willing to do anything if it meant he would not personally suffer. Surely, he’d offer up his own grandmother’s soul if it meant avoiding even a moment of discomfort.
It helped a little that Kyan, too, deeply disliked the former kingsliege.
“Did you see her escape?” Kyan demanded.
“Who?” Kurtis asked.
Fury rose up inside Kyan, and his fists and forearms lit with flames. Kurtis’s eyes filled with fear at the sight.
“The princess,” Kyan hissed.
Kurtis began to tremble. “I’m so sorry, master. I didn’t see her.”
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