JONAS
AURANOS
I can only hope this message finds you in time. You must go the Temple of Cleiona, as quickly as you can. There you will use your blood to draw the symbol of earth on the floor. This will reveal the earth Kindred. However difficult you find this to believe, you must trust me and do what I say.
Claim the crystal and keep it safe until we meet again.
Jonas, Lysandra, and Felix had set off for the temple the very next morning. Jonas nearly stumbled at the crumbling site of the first rebel battle, which had gone so horribly wrong. Of the two dozen rebels who’d volunteered to stand with him that day, he alone had walked away. Crawled away, really.
Lysandra touched his shoulder. “Jonas, are you all right?”
“Perfectly fine.”
“Why don’t I believe that?”
Her concerned gaze made him grin weakly. “It’s funny . . .”
“What?”
“You never used to look at me the way you are now. You used to look at me like you wanted to kill me.”
“I did want to kill you. Still do, sometimes.” She offered him a smile.
“Come on, you two,” Felix urged, marching ten paces ahead of them. “Let’s go find some treasure.”
Lysandra grabbed Jonas’s arm. “Are you absolutely sure you trust him?”
“I’m sure. Despite any admissions of his past from last night, he’s earned my trust, Lys. Again and again.”
She nodded. “All right. If you trust him, then I will too. Your golden princess, on the other hand . . .”
He began to climb the temple steps behind Lysandra. “I know you don’t like Cleo, but that she wanted me to do this for her . . . is it stupid that I consider that an honor?”
“No, it’s not stupid.” She glanced at him over her shoulder and her light brown eyes met his. “So what happens if we find it?”
A month ago he believed in neither Watchers nor the Kindred, but now they could mean all the difference in the world. All because of some magic rocks.
“Honestly? I have no idea.” He grinned. “I try not to plan too far ahead.”
As they entered the temple, Jonas’s grin fell away. A rush of memories pressed at him from every side, making it hard to breathe.
He’d been so blind that day, and so incredibly cocky. For a brief, shining moment, assassinating King Gaius and Prince Magnus and liberating his people had seemed like a true possibility. There had seemed to be so few guards there to protect the royals, but really the guards had been disguised as wedding guests, waiting to crush a rebel attack.
The blood from that day was still there, dried to reddish brown stains on the pale marble floor. The temple was in a shambles and each step they took brought more creaks, more crumbling, as if one wrong move might destroy it completely. Its majesty had been tarnished. What was once a sacred place to worship the Auranian goddess was now a dangerous beast waiting to consume intruders.
“Let’s make this quick,” Felix said. “Or this whole place is going to cave in on our heads.”
Jonas found a bare patch of floor and kicked away some ragged shards of stone.
He pulled out his jeweled dagger and cut his hand. The pain was sharp and deep, but he didn’t even wince. He squeezed his fist, and blood began to drip to the floor. He crouched and smeared it into a circle with another circle within it.
When he was done, he rose to his feet, his stomach churning nervously.
“Okay, princess,” he muttered. “Now what?”
The ground rumbled. Small chunks of marble came crashing down around them.
Lysandra looked up and grimaced. “You must have triggered something. This place is going to fall to pieces any moment.”
“Wait.” Felix grabbed Jonas’s arm, his fingers biting deep enough to cause pain. “Look over there.”
Along the aisle sullied by the blood of his fallen rebels, a narrow shaft of light streamed through a hole in the roof, illuminating a small object. Jonas followed the light and stared down at the object with stunned disbelief.
“It worked,” Felix said, breathless. “I can’t believe it, but it worked.”
It was a sphere of obsidian the size of a small plum, and so smooth and polished that it reflected the image of the three of them staring down at it.
Hearing new voices close by, Jonas grew tense. He grabbed the black orb and shoved it into his pocket.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Now.”
“No time,” Lysandra whispered harshly. “We need to hide.”
The three rebels ducked behind a pillar and peered out to see four people enter.
It was none other than Princess Cleo, Princess Lucia, Prince Magnus, and another boy Jonas didn’t recognize—tall and lean, with golden-tan skin and coppery-brown hair.
Jonas and his companions held a collective breath from their hiding spot as the four made their way deeper into the temple.
“What’s the ritual?” Magnus said.
The other boy pulled out a dagger. “It’s a blood ritual.”
“Isn’t it always.”
As the boy prepared to cut his hand, Jonas indicated to Lysandra and Felix to slip out of the temple while the others were distracted. Following Jonas’s lead, they raced down the broken stairs and kept running until they were shielded by the nearby forest.
“Keep going,” Jonas said. “We need to put all the distance we can between us.”
He only wished he could have seen the look on Magnus’s face when he realized the crystal was gone.