Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms 1)

She looked at him with alarm. “Do you think it will?”

He nodded. “It’s one of the reasons your father chose to act now in announcing your engagement. It’s a distraction.”

Her shoulders sank. “My future misery is being used as a distraction. How wonderful.”

“Like your sister said, you don’t have to marry him. Not unless you want to.”

“You make it sound like I have a choice.”

“Princess Emilia was able to stop her engagement because she loved someone else.”

“So you think I should fall in love with someone else?”

He didn’t respond to this right away. She realized that he was watching her carefully.

“Maybe you should,” he finally said.

Her heart skipped a beat. “And be as fearless as my sister if I fall for someone not suitable for a princess?”

“That is entirely your decision.”

Her gaze moved to his lips, as if she couldn’t help herself.

“I want to help Emilia,” she whispered. “I can’t lose my sister. She believes she’s dying—I saw it in her eyes. I can’t let that happen.”

“I know.”

“I need to go to Paelsia and try to find more information about this exiled Watcher.”

Theon’s expression hardened. Anything previously confusing in his eyes faded away. “Forget this, princess. Besides, you don’t believe in magic.”

“I haven’t believed in magic because I don’t believe in anything that I haven’t seen with my own eyes. Therefore, I must go to Paelsia as soon as I can and learn the truth for myself.”

He studied her patiently, and a very small sliver of respect moved through his gaze. “You’re determined to save your sister.”

“She’s dying. I—I feel it, Theon. I’m going to lose her if I don’t do something immediately.” She swallowed hard and looked up at him. “Would you go with me?”

Theon was silent for a moment. “If you get your father’s permission for this trip, then of course I’ll go with you.”

This could be the answer she needed—that Emilia needed to restore her health. And if there was a little unrest in Paelsia, Cleo would make sure to avoid it. With Theon at her side, nothing could stop her. A swell of motivation and optimism filled her.

“Then I’ll get my father’s permission.”

“She’s just a girl. Nothing more. But you believe?”

Ioannes could communicate with the others mentally while in the mortal world, even in hawk’s form. He turned his sharp eyes from the dark-haired princess who had emerged from the tall and ominous stone castle to his right to see his friend Phaedra, perched on the branch next to him.

“I believe.”

“And what does it mean if she is?” Phaedra asked.

“Everything.”

It meant that the Sanctuary could be saved, that they would finally have a chance to reclaim the Kindred for themselves before it fell into someone else’s hands.

The Sanctuary would continue on well after the mortal world faded completely, but it wouldn’t last forever. What had become their prison would soon become their grave.

Without elementia, everything eventually faded away. Especially that which was created from magic itself.