Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms 3)

The first was that he’d screwed up.

The second was that true friends were rare. And those with dark pasts didn’t always yearn for dark futures.

He could have given Felix a chance to explain, given him the benefit of the doubt after he’d shown his loyalty time and again.

It seemed that Felix wasn’t the only one now ready to earn his redemption.

CHAPTER 31

ALEXIUS

LIMEROS

While many of Alexius’s memories had grown foggy since Melenia applied her obedience spell to his flesh, one had remained crystal clear. It was of a starry, moonlit night in Paelsia when, in hawk form, he’d watched two sisters use magic enhanced by blood and death to steal a newborn child from her cradle.

He’d watched as they slipped away into the dark forest, the tiny baby swaddled between them. Then, soon after, he watched one sister betray the other in order to deliver the child to the man who’d given her the mission in the first place, a man she believed she loved—a man who would one day be king.

The witch was young and stupid and willing to do horrible things for love—even murder her own sister.

But what Alexius remembered most vividly was the moment he had gazed at the baby’s face, wondering if what the witches said could be true: that this innocent child was the sorceress reborn, after all of these years they’d waited.

In his heart, he’d known it was the truth. It was why he’d continued to visit the child for so many years, so he could watch her grow up into the beautiful, powerful, and dangerous girl she now was.

The night Lucia was taken from her birth mother, Alexius had silently pledged that he would always be there to protect her. At the time, he’d meant it with all his heart.

Now, they were together in Limeros. Lucia’s hand tightened on his as they drew closer to the temple.

“Oh, Alexius.” Her breath froze before her in the cold air as she spoke. “I’ve missed it here so much.”

Alexius didn’t have many good things to say about Valoria, so he kept his thoughts to himself. Valoria had believed her opinions were better than anyone else’s, never mind that nobody ever shared them. She frowned upon anything that would make a life, either mortal or immortal, more interesting, even reading fables or singing. Cleiona had been the exact opposite: a frivolous, vain creature who cared only about her own amusement.

It was no wonder the kingdoms they’d founded evolved to prize their respective values.

Rising up at the temple entrance was a statue of Valoria, wearing an expression of judgment upon all who entered. Her arms were raised at her sides, and etched into her palms were the symbols of the elements she represented, earth and water.

While this location paled in comparison to the grandeur found at the Temple of Cleiona, which was easily six times the size of this one, it was still very impressive. It was all clean lines of smooth granite blocks, exact angles, sharp edges, with nothing gaudy or out of place. Nothing extra or unnecessary or ornamental. The temple was pristine in all ways, and was open all hours of the day and night to anyone.

But Melenia had sensed great power here—as she had at the three other locations.

He’d thought it would be months, not weeks before he came here.

It had all happened much quicker than he ever would have imagined.

Inside, in the center of the black granite floor, a massive fire roared. This was in some ways ironic, since Cleiona was thought to be the goddess of that element. But in Limeros, one simply needed fire to keep from freezing to death.

The fire, Alexius noted, burned in the center of a long, rectangular pool of shallow water, and was regularly tended by temple attendants dressed in red robes.

There were very few people here tonight—a likely result of both the snowstorm and the late hour. He and Lucia had already secured a room at an inn close by, while keeping her identity well-guarded.

Once the clouds had cleared and the bright moon lit the frozen landscape almost as well as the sun, she had practically dragged him here, excited to show him what had been such a large part of her life before moving to Auranos.

He tried to walk quickly, but, even though the wound Xanthus gave him was healing nicely, his leg still troubled him. It was a harsh reminder of his mortality.

Lucia pulled him down the aisle toward the altar at the front. There she grasped hold of his hands and looked up into his eyes.

“This is where we’ll be married,” she said, a wide smile lighting up her sky-blue eyes.

“Here?” He raised his brow as he glanced around. “I’m not sure if eloping princesses should be wed in public places like this if they want their secrets to remain such.”