Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms 3)

Finally, after so long under Melenia’s command, his head was clear of her influence. It meant he didn’t have much time left, but he would use that time to help the girl he loved.

He drew her closer to him. “Please, listen to me. Listen very carefully . . .”

Her hot, salty tears fell against his skin as he began to speak, but their warmth couldn’t stop the chill that swiftly spread through his body. Throughout his long life, he’d always wondered what the moment of his death would be like—if it ever came. He’d never thought he would be foolish enough to leave the Sanctuary, to risk his immortality for a girl.

But for this girl, he would gladly risk anything.

And before death finally claimed him, he kissed her one last time and told her what she needed to know about what was soon to come . . .

CHAPTER 32

MAGNUS

LIMEROS

As if this trip to Limeros hadn’t given him enough problems to deal with, the fact that the Kraeshians were every bit as deceitful as his father believed them to be added a whole new set of troubles. On the carriage ride to the temple, Magnus imagined how he would kill them.

Slowly, he thought. Very slowly.

“Are we there yet?” Amara asked her brother, her usually honeyed voice edged with impatience.

“It won’t be much longer,” Ashur replied.

Magnus couldn’t help noticing that the carriage driver had chosen to take a meandering route to the temple after Ashur informed him of their destination. It had taken nearly twice as long to get there as it should have.

The dawdling ride gave him plenty of time to consider this unfortunate situation, but not enough to figure a way out of it.

He wished he’d seen Amara’s threat before now, but he’d been distracted by her beauty and refreshing bluntness. Certainly he couldn’t have been the first to make that mistake.

Cleo sat across from him in the carriage, her hands folded on her lap as she quietly gazed out of the window at the snowy landscape speeding past. On the surface, she was so serene, but he was certain a storm raged behind those eyes. There was no way Cleo would have let them kill Nic; he knew that. He didn’t even blame her for telling them about the temple while under such pressure.

Well, he blamed her a little. But what was done was done.

They finally reached the temple. Magnus stepped out of the carriage, then halted, shocked. An ice storm of a magnitude he’d never witnessed before had ravaged the place. Thick shards of ice protruded from the snow-covered ground. Bodies, some of which had been cut cleanly in half by the gargantuan blades of ice, were scattered everywhere. Blood, black as ink, stained the frosty ground.

Cleo looked around with horror. “What happened here?”

Amara surveyed the scene with her hands on her hips. “An elemental disaster, by the looks of it. I choose to think of this as merely a good sign that we’ve arrived at the right place.”

Magnus crouched next to a body, feeling the man’s throat to find it nearly frozen solid. It was enough to tell him this hadn’t just happened. At least an hour had passed since this man had died.

The skies were dark but cloudless, displaying nothing but the bright full moon to light the gory scene before them while the rest of Limeros slept.

“Shall we go inside?” Ashur asked briskly.

Magnus hesitated, and a guard shoved him forward. His hands itched for a weapon, but he’d been fully disarmed at Lady Sophia’s villa.

Walking inside, Magnus saw that the ice had also penetrated the temple walls. The floor was covered in a cold, crystal-clear layer, some of which had begun to melt.

The guard shoved him again as they moved down the aisle.

“Careful,” Magnus growled, “or I’ll make it a point to kill you first.”

The guard laughed. “We’ll see, boy.”

Boy? This lowly Kraeshian guard didn’t even bother to use his royal title. It was an insult beyond any other.

Magnus would definitely kill him first.