“This doesn’t change the fact that I think she’s right and you’re wrong,” Brion managed to groan. “Feel free to go after the king at that wedding, but it’ll be at your own peril.”

Jonas turned to the other rebels, furious now that his best friend, someone he considered a brother, refused to stand with him on this decision. “You know my plan. With or without help I will be at the royal wedding in four days. I will assassinate King Gaius myself. I welcome any volunteers who want to join me. After this, we won’t be put on reward pamphlets, we will be held up as heroes. Think about it.”

Then he turned his back on the lot of them and walked into the darkness of the thick forest to clear his head.

Chapter 19

LUCIA

AURANOS

Darkness became her world, and Lucia was left with two horrible thoughts that echoed, bouncing against each other over and over again. My mother thinks I’m evil.

My mother wants me dead.

Finally, after far too long waiting in the smothering emptiness, there was a dawning, and she found herself once again in the familiar lush, green meadow with its jeweled grass and crystalline trees.

The Sanctuary.

Or, rather, a dream version of the Sanctuary. But it felt so very real—from the warm breeze to the emerald grass beneath her bare feet, to the sight of the glittering city in the distance beneath the seemingly endless clear blue skies. So real it was difficult to tell the difference.

She sensed Alexius’s presence behind her but didn’t turn. “You left me for far too long,” she said quietly.

“Apologies, princess.”

Before this, they’d had four shared dreams. Dreams in which they walked through this meadow, as far as the diamond-encrusted stone wheels, talking about everything. About Lucia’s childhood, about her relationship with Magnus and all its recent complications, about her mother, about her father, about her magic. Perhaps she’d shared too much, but with Alexius, she felt . . . comfortable. Which was surprising, considering who and what he was. An immortal Watcher two thousand years old.

She had never felt like this before. About anyone.

He asked her questions about herself, so many questions. And she answered them. However, he was skilled in evading the questions she asked of him in return. She still didn’t know why he brought her here, and her mind was in a fog whenever she was in this meadow. Despite her best intentions, the gravity of what had transpired in her waking life seemed to fade away when she was here.

Death. Destruction. Prophesies. Magic.

She needed answers. Perhaps he had been purposefully evading her since the last dream—letting her stay adrift in sleep all this time.

This, then, was her chance to find out more, and she would not let herself become distracted by this golden creature who made any other thoughts drop from her mind. Lucia turned to face him directly. “What do you want from me?”

The beautiful boy smiled at her as if he couldn’t stop the expression from appearing on his face. “It’s good to see you too, princess.”

Such a smile. Her gaze moved to his lips before snapping back to his silver eyes. “My mother wants to kill me because of my elementia.”

His smile fell away. “I assure you, she will do nothing of the sort.”

Lucia looked down at her hand and willed fire into it. It flickered to life immediately. “Will this power I have corrupt me? Will it make me evil?”

“Elementia is neither good nor evil. It simply is. The world was created from the elements. I was created from the elements.”

“And you’re not evil.” Despite the flames, she shivered as he drew closer.

Another smile. “Evil is a choice one makes, not a natural state of being.”

“Always?”

His brows drew together. “This troubles you.”

“Of course it does.” She wrung her hands, dousing the fire. “How do I get rid of it?”

“Get rid of—?”

“My magic. What if I don’t want it? What if I want to be normal?”

Alexius studied her as if he didn’t understand. “You can’t change what you are. The elementia is a part of you.”

“How can you say that when I didn’t have it for sixteen years? My life was—well, it was uneventful and sometimes dreary, but it wasn’t like this. I couldn’t kill someone with a thought by lighting them on fire. I wasn’t looked at with fear and hate. I didn’t have to worry about mastering something dark and unpleasant that seeps through my very skin like a poison.”

“You must not think of your magic like that, princess. It’s not a curse, it’s a gift. One many would give everything they have to possess—including many of my kind.”

She shook her head. “Watchers are made from magic.” “Made from it, yes. But we can’t wield it as easily as you can.”

Lucia paced to the edge of the meadow, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “What do you need my magic for, Alexius?”

She had to know this. She could think of no other reason for this boy to continue to visit her if not to use her in some way.

Not a boy, she reminded herself. Not even close.

“There’s not enough time left to explain.” He scrubbed his hand through his bronze-colored hair and glanced back in the direction of the city.

“Not enough time before what?”

“Don’t you feel it? You’re on the very brink of waking. And this time, you’ll stay awake. I feel it because it is taking a great deal of my energy to stay in this dream with you.”