“I’m afraid so,” one said, nodding gravely. “But they won’t get into the castle.”
“How can you sound so confident of that?” Cleo said, concern twisting inside her.
They exchanged a look. She might only be sixteen, but as princess they were obligated to answer her questions. “The doors of the castle are fortified by a witch’s spell.”
She looked at him with disbelief. “My father never told me this.”
“The spell is renewed every year by the same witch to keep it strong. But she won’t be much help to us anymore.”
“Hush,” his friend hissed.
“Why?” Nic asked. “Where’s the witch now?”
The first guard’s jaw tensed and his eyes shifted back and forth between his friend, Nic, and Cleo. “King Gaius sent her head to the king in a box three days ago. But it doesn’t matter. Whatever that bastard king tries to do now, the spell will still hold. He will fail.”
Cleo knew the king of Limeros had a horrible, bloodthirsty son, but it sounded as if he might be even worse—just as the rumors she’d heard about him threatened. “Why wouldn’t my father tell me any of this?”
“The king wants to protect you from the bad things that are happening.”
“So why are you telling us?” Nic asked.
“Because you have a right to know that we’re all in danger here.” His expression hardened. “The king has put us all at risk by refusing to surrender.”
Cleo inhaled sharply. “You think he should?”
“It would save a great many more deaths outside on the battlefield. Does he think that we can stay inside this castle forever, with or without a spell keeping the doors sealed? We’re no better than a cornered rabbit waiting for the wolf to tear out its throat.”
Cleo looked down her nose at this sniveling coward. “How dare you speak ill of my father? He’s making the best choice he can to keep Auranos strong. Yet you’d prefer he surrender to the King of Blood? Do you think that the world would be better then? Do you think those who have already lost their lives would be saved?”
“What do you know?” the guard asked darkly. “You’re only a girl.”
“No,” Cleo said firmly. “I am a princess of Auranos. And I support every one of my father’s decisions. And unless you too would like to find your severed head in a box, you’d do best to respect your king.”
There was now a cowed look to the guard’s expression as he lowered his head in deference to her. “My apologies, your highness.”
Cleo clutched the seeds so tightly in her hand they bit into her skin. “Get back to work,” she said icily before continuing on along the hall.
“That was brilliant, Cleo,” Nic said. “You defeated him with words.”
She gave him a sidelong look, almost amused. But worry creased her brow. “It’s not good out there, is it?”
He shook his head, his own amusement fading. “No. It isn’t.”
“Do you think we’ll lose?”
“King Gaius and Chief Basilius have a lot of men ready and willing to die for their cause. No matter how long this takes.”
“My father must never surrender.”
“If he feels he has no choice, he’ll have to.”
Cleo remembered the coldness in Prince Magnus’s eyes as he murdered Theon. She couldn’t bear to ever see him ever again. “No, he won’t.”
“Oh, no?”
She forced a confident smile, pushing away the dark memories. “Don’t you see? We can’t even think that we’ll lose—because we won’t. We’ll be victorious and send those greedy pigs back where they came from. Then when all is calm again, we can focus on helping those in Paelsia who really deserve our help rather than those who would steal our land in its entirety.”
“Put that way, I almost believe you’re right.”