Cleo’s desire to reclaim what was rightfully hers had not faded at all, and Kurtis Cirillo would make for an interesting ally. If only something about his approach, his naked desire for the throne, hadn’t left such a rancid taste in her mouth.
So, the council hated Magnus. And, if presented with a choice, they would side with Kurtis. If Magnus were to then put up a fight, his life would be in danger.
That had once been her goal—to see the prince dead alongside his father.
Judging by the tight, sick sensation that now roiled in the pit of her stomach, times had certainly changed.
• • •
She returned to the ice gardens later that day, pulling her cloak closer as she explored the grounds, trying to clear her head. Everything around her was covered in a coat of pure white. Even the palace, a black and ominous beast of a structure, appeared muted and gray today, frost covering nearly every inch of its surface. She walked the long icy pathway leading through the gardens, imagining that it was lined with manicured hedges and blooming rose bushes. Perhaps an ivy-covered archway. Full of color and warmth, just like home.
Cleo loved Auranos, of course. But Limeros did have its beauty, too—a cold, untouchable beauty best admired from afar.
Much like the prince himself.
Yet the prince isn’t always cold and untouchable, is he? she thought.
Suddenly, something—a sensation, a small sound . . . she wasn’t sure what—made her pause and turn around.
Someone walked along the pathway behind her, about a hundred paces off. She stood there, transfixed, as the figure drew closer.
Until she could finally make out who it was.
“This is impossible,” she whispered.
When he was about thirty paces away, she started to walk, her legs moving of their own accord, taking her closer to him.
Theon.
Theon Ranus wore brown woolen trousers and a thick black cloak, the hood pushed back to reveal his handsome face. It was a face she’d memorized, a thousand times over. A face that had haunted her. A face she loved.
“H-how? How are you here?” she managed when she knew she was close enough from him to hear her.
He stopped, only an arm’s reach away. “I told you I’d find you and I meant it, princess. I will always find you. Did you doubt me?”
She reached out to him with a trembling hand, and found him solid and warm and real. “But . . . I saw you die! That—that sword pierced straight through your heart. You were gone!”
He grasped her hands in his. “An exiled Watcher found me, just in time. She healed me with a grape seed concoction enchanted with earth magic, but still it took months before I was strong enough to leave. I’ve searched for you ever since, princess. I searched everywhere and, thank the goddess, I’ve finally found you.”
That was why she’d been in Paelsia in the first place, to search for the mythical grape seeds rumored to bring someone back from the edge of death.
He was alive. Theon was alive! This changed everything. “I’ve missed you so much!”
Theon looked at her tenderly, seriously. “You’ve endured such horrors these last months. You’ve been forced to do terrible things in order to survive. But it’s over now. I’m here, and I promise to keep you safe.” He looked up at the façade of the black castle. “We need to leave here immediately.”
“Leave? But wait . . . I have to tell Nic . . .” Her life had been filled with hope again, but everything seemed to be changing so fast that she barely had the time to process it.
“We’ll send word to him so he’ll know where to find us.”
“My kingdom . . . Theon, I need to take it back.”
“You will, but not here. Not with him.” Theon’s expression darkened. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you from that monster, my love. But I will now. You’ll never have to see him again.”
He drew her into a tight embrace, but she stiffened against him.
“I can’t leave,” she said, her voice so quiet she barely heard it herself. “There’s too much I need to do here. I’m sorry.”
Theon pulled back from her and shook his head. “How can you say this to me?”