Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms 3)

“I have eyes and ears at the palace—three willing spies in place, all happy to tell me anything I need to know to ensure victory over that Limerian bastard and free my people from a future at the mercy of that monster. I will get to him, don’t ever doubt it. My plan to abduct Prince Magnus could still be a sound one—or perhaps Princess Lucia. The king would venture out of his safe little kingdom to save her neck if he thought it was at risk, don’t you think?”

“Kidnapping. Right. You’ve tried that before, haven’t you? Snagged Princess Cleo herself. How’d that work out?” Before Jonas could respond to his snide comment, possibly with a fist to his jaw, Felix’s gaze shifted away from him. “Well, well. The sleeping beauty awakens. Welcome, sweetheart.”

Jonas turned to see Lysandra standing behind him. He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand to stop him.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she said.

“I don’t think you were trying very hard,” Jonas replied.

“Perhaps I thought it would be smarter to stay awake so I could come down here and listen in on what you two say behind my back.”

“The more the merrier, I say. Come join us.” Felix patted his knee. “Why don’t you sit right here?”

She regarded him with a bored look on her face. “Why don’t you kiss my arse?”

“Bring it over here and I’d be happy to consider it.”

“Over my dead body.”

“That can be arranged, too, if you ask real nice.” Luckily for Felix, he said this with a jovial grin rather than an edge of menace.

Jonas groaned inwardly. These two had been squabbling all week, and it was nearly impossible to be around them once they got going. He thought he knew the real reason Felix didn’t want Lysandra around; it had very little to do with the speed at which she was recovering from being the king’s prisoner, and a lot to do with him disliking being challenged by a girl.

Lysandra pulled up a chair and glared at Jonas. “Why do you put up with him?”

Yet again, he had to be the intermediary, a job he’d never asked for. “Felix is an arse, but, like you, he’s an asset and a friend.”

“I agree with you on the arse part.” She regarded Felix, scrutinizing him from head to toe. “But do you really know anything about him?”

“I know enough,” Jonas replied, although silently he had to be more honest. He knew next to nothing about the boy sitting across the table.

nodded. “As well as can be expected.”

“Good. Sit down, we need to talk.”

Jonas sat down in a hard chair facing his traveling companion and braced himself for the conversation he had been dreading for some time. “What is it?”

“You know what it is. Her. She’s a liability.”

And there it was. What had remained unspoken between them for their week with Tarus had finally risen like the stench of a rotten potato. “You’re wrong.”

Felix took on a grim expression. “Look, I know she’s important to you. But she’s broken, Jonas. Whatever happened to her in those dungeons . . . she’s no good to us.”

Jonas’s insides tightened. “The king forced her to watch as her older brother’s head was hacked off. Do you know anyone who could recover immediately from something so horrific? She’s grieving, even if she refuses to admit it. She needs more time to heal and recover.”

“And just how long do you plan to give her?”

Jonas knew Felix was impatient, but he had to understand that Lysandra wasn’t just any rebel. She was his friend. And she was an asset, she just hadn’t been given a chance to show it yet. “As long as it takes.”

Bruno approached their table, gripping tankards in both hands. “Brought these over for you, boys. On the house! My son admires everything you’ve done for the rebels, and that’s worth some free ale in my opinion. Anyone who’s devoted his life to killing the king is aces in my book!”

Jonas looked up at him, slightly alarmed. “Thanks?”

The smiling barkeep set the tankards on the table and slapped Jonas’s back. “Any time, son. Any time!”

He retreated to the bar without another word.

“Do you think he would have said all that if we weren’t the only ones in here?” Felix asked.