Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms 3)

The ring.

Magnus fought to keep his expression neutral. Phaedra, the Watcher in Paelsia, told him about a ring that could help Lucia control her magic.

This was it. His heart pounded at the realization. She’d found it, it had simply dropped into her lap, when he’d had no idea where to even begin looking.

Magnus cast a dark, quizzical look at the blond princess, and Lucia caught his eye. “Cleo gave it to me,” she said. “To help me. To help us all.”

All this time, Cleo had had the ring. It couldn’t be a coincidence. “Did she now?”

“I like to help when I can,” Cleo said evenly.

He forced a smile and said, “If you’ll excuse us for a moment, I’d like a quick word with my wife.”

Lucia regarded him with uncertainty. “Of course.”

She then took Alexius’s hand and drew him away, closer to the temple’s entrance, to give the pair their privacy.

Magnus studied the ruins before him, remembering, with a churning sensation in his gut, the last time they’d been here. Cleo stood nearby, just as quiet and still as the crumbling statue of her namesake goddess.

“I know what you’re trying to do,” Magnus said to her finally. “And you can’t have it.”

“Can’t have what?”

He wrestled with frustration. Cleo had a way of testing his carefully crafted composure that was unlike anyone else he’d ever met. “The Kindred belongs to my family, not to you.”

“That’s strange. Didn’t you just hear Lucia say that the Kindred belong to the Sanctuary? And I thought I heard you agree with her.”

“As if I believe you’d willingly let it go.”

“To do my part to save the world? Why wouldn’t I?”

“Mark my words.” He leaned closer. “If you try to steal the crystal, we will have a very serious problem, you and I.”

She sighed with impatience. “Well, I wouldn’t want that, especially since we’ve gotten along so well up until now.”

“Tread carefully, princess, or this will end very badly for you.”

Her gaze turned to ice. “How ashamed I am that I could have ever thought for one tiny moment that you were anything more than what you appear to be.”

“And what’s that?”

“A hateful, selfish monster with no kindness in his heart.”

He repressed a wince, despising the fact that sharp words from this particular girl could succeed in wounding him. “Hear me well, princess. I’ll say this only once. Keep your hands off any treasure we find today or I swear I’ll reduce you to nothing but ashes to scatter on the wind.”

Before he could hear Cleo’s rebuttal, he walked off toward Lucia and Alexius, who waited at the temple’s entrance. He’d expected something cutting and sarcastic, but she said nothing.

He supposed this was his way. When someone pushed him, he responded by crushing them.

“We need to go inside,” Alexius said.

Magnus eyed the shattered rooftop and the crumbling beams waiting for them at the top of the stairs. “So it can collapse on our heads?”

“Magnus,” Lucia said sternly. “We’ll do as Alexius says.”

Lucia’s decision to defend the Watcher without hesitation annoyed him deeply. “Fine. Then please show us the way, Alexius.”

The Watcher led them up the broken stairs to the grand entrance. Sunlight shone through the damaged roof. Cleo peered around with a pinched expression on her beautiful face.