Cleo ran across the room and threw herself into his arms. “I was so worried about you!”
“Oh.” He stiffened, then gave a little laugh and pulled her closer. “And here I was expecting a painful slap. I like this much better.”
“Why did you come here? You must have known how much danger you’d be putting yourself in.”
“Why?” He brushed her hair back from her face. “To save you, of course. And to kill the prince. In that order.”
“I don’t need to be saved.”
“Yes, well, how was I supposed to know that? You disappeared from Auranos. You could have been dead for all I knew. You didn’t send me any messages to let me know you were safe.”
“And where should I have sent them? To some tree house in the Wildlands? Or should I have sent them through Nerissa and put her in further danger?”
“If there’s anyone who can handle herself, it’s Nerissa.”
“So can I.”
“Yes, I see that now. It seems you’ve managed to tame the darkest of beasts.” He tried to smile, but Cleo saw that his expression was strained. “And here I thought you loathed each other.”
“We do. I do.” Enough of this, she didn’t have much time with him, and she wanted to spend it discussing more important matters. “Jonas, I know you received my most recent message. The instructions to go to the Temple of Cleiona . . .”
“I did. And I followed them, exactly. In fact, we were still there when you and your entourage arrived.”
“You . . . what?”
That mischievous look had reappeared, and his grin seemed much less strained than before. “I know it was risky to stay behind, but I couldn’t resist the chance to see the disappointment on the prince’s face when he realized someone had gotten there before him to claim the earth Kindred. Priceless.”
A wave of relief fluttered in her chest, and she ignored the dig against Magnus. “So you have it.”
“Oh, yes.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out an obsidian orb small enough to sit on his palm.
Somehow, she’d forgotten how to breathe. “That’s it,” she managed to get out. She reached for the orb with a trembling hand. “The earth Kindred! It’s real!”
“And it’s yours.” He took her hand and placed the crystal in her palm. “I’ve been keeping it safe for you. And warm. So warm I thought it might hatch.”
This reality was more than she could have hoped for—more than she was letting herself hope for. The earth Kindred, right here, endless earth magic at her fingertips. With this in her possession, she could easily take her throne back. She felt the tingle of magic run up her arm as she stared at its glossy surface, and she was certain she saw an ebony shadow swirling within the orb.
She was breathless. “Jonas. . . . Thank you. I promise to reward you handsomely when this is all over—you’ll have riches beyond your wildest dreams. And what about the air and fire Kindred? Did you claim them, too?”
“Well, princess, we did travel to both of the locations you described, drew the symbols on the ground in blood just like you said . . . but it didn’t work. Not like it did with the earth Kindred. This is the only one I have. I’m sorry.”
“No, Jonas, please don’t be sorry. Finding just one is miracle enough. This is wonderful.” She squeezed the orb, finding that the mere weight of it in her palm gave her strength. “Now, how does it work?”
Jonas’s brow wrinkled up with uncertainty. “I have absolutely no idea. You had such clear instructions for how to find it . . . don’t you know how to use it, as well?”
She stared at him for several stunned moments, then started to laugh. “I have absolutely no idea either!”
“That is unfortunate. I was completely prepared for you to transform into an all-powerful earth goddess tonight and vanquish us all.”
Though Cleo was disappointed that, after all this, she still didn’t have access to all the secrets and powers of the Kindred, she also felt a large wave of relief. If she didn’t know how to unlock the earth Kindred’s power, that meant Amara probably didn’t know how to unlock the water Kindred either.
“Princess, I have a plan,” Jonas said in an unusually serious tone. “I believe I’ve now proven myself worthy of your trust, so I do hope you’ll listen with care.”
Cleo shook her head. “I’ve never doubted you.”
“Never? Really?”
She felt her cheeks grow warm. “Well, after you kidnapped me—twice—and tried to kill me, we did eventually come to a mutual understanding.”
“I’d feel so much better about things if you could forget about the kidnappings. At least the first one.”
She raised her brow. “Those days I spent trapped in your sister’s shed were very unpleasant for me.”
“I dug you a very nice makeshift chamber pot. I wouldn’t do that for just any royal hostage, you know.”
She grimaced. “Thanks for providing that memory. I do want to forget that.”
“I knew you’d come around.”
Cleo smiled and looked back at the orb, her thoughts swirling in time with the shadow of magic trapped deep inside of it. “So, what’s your plan?”
“I don’t trust the prince. Not for a moment.”
“No? You seemed to have trusted him well enough when you agreed to help kill his father—before and after he put you in chains.”
“Yes, well, luckily I’ve had time to think about it since. I’ve proven my trustworthiness to you, to many people over these last months, but he hasn’t. I’m not willing to take any more risks when it comes to him. Lys, Olivia, and I are leaving—and you’re coming with us. We can figure out how to get that magic rock to work and get our land back all on our own once we’re far away from here.”
Cleo had had many opportunities to simply walk away from the Limerian palace ever since that very first night when they’d arrived at the docks of Ravencrest. But she hadn’t. She felt she had more to learn here, more to gain, and that running away would only keep her in the same place she was now. “I know the prince is a brute with morals that can only kindly be described as questionable. I don’t want to be around him any more than you do. But I need to stay here a while longer. I need to know where the king is and what he’s planning.”
“We can track the king from anywhere.”
She shook her head. “That won’t be nearly as easy to do without the resources and intelligence in Limeros. Jonas, I also have a plan, and I hope you’ll be willing to help me with it.”
Jonas opened his mouth, as if ready to argue with her decision. But then he nodded. “Very well. Tell me.”
“We have a crystal, but we don’t know how to unlock its magic. However, I believe a Watcher would know this secret.”
“Well, then let me just snap my fingers and transport us to the Sanctuary to find one,” Jonas said, a sarcastic edge in his voice.
“Please, just listen to me. I know an exiled Watcher who lives in Paelsia. She spoke to me of legends, told me stories I’d never read or even heard of anywhere else. Real accounts of Eva, the original sorceress, and her love affair with a mortal hunter. Eva gave birth to his baby before the goddesses killed her for the Kindred.” Cleo paused to take a deep breath, then steadied her gaze on Jonas’s again.