Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes Read Free Book Online

shifted to Magnus, a small smile playing at his lips. “I thought you’d want to know.”
    Magnus ignored the sharp and sudden twinge of pain in his chest. He measured his words before he spoke. “It was . . . the end such a thief deserved.”
    “I’m glad we agree.”
    Amia had been innocent and foolish—a girl who lacked the steel in her heart to survive the harshness of the Limerian palace. But she hadn’t deserved to die. Magnus waited to feel grief but felt only coldness slide over his skin. Part of him had been expecting this since the moment Amia’s carriage had departed the castle, but he’d hoped for the best. He should have known better. His father would never allow one to escape who might possess secrets that could be used against him.
    The girl’s fate had been set from the moment her path had crossed that of the Damoras. This was only confirmation of it. Still, it incensed Magnus that his father said such things casually when Amia’s death was anything but. The king was testing him—checking for weaknesses in his heir.
    The king was always testing him.
    They were silent for a while, Lucia the focal point between them.
    “I need her to wake,” the king said, his jaw tense.
    “Hasn’t she done enough for you already?”
    “Her magic is the key to finding the Kindred.”
    “Who told you that?” His growing impatience with his father’s decisions today made his words sharper than usual. “Some random witch with a need for silver? Or perhaps a hawk perched upon your shoulder and whispered—”
    The sting of his father’s hand across his scarred cheek caught him entirely by surprise. He pressed his palm to his face and stared at the king.
    “Never mock me, Magnus,” the king growled. “And never again try to make me look like a fool in front of others as you did today. Do you hear me?”
    “I hear you,” he gritted out.
    His father hadn’t struck him recently, but it had been a common practice in his youth. Much like the cobra, the official sigil of Limeros, King Gaius struck out violently and venomously when angered or challenged.
    Magnus wrestled against the urge to leave the room since he knew it would make him look weak.
    “I learned this new information from my latest royal advisor,” the king said finally. He moved to the opposite side of Lucia’s bed, his attention fixed again upon her peaceful face.
    “Who is it?”
    “That’s none of your concern.”
    “Let me guess. Did this mysterious advisor also suggest building your road into the Forbidden Mountains?”
    This earned Magnus a look that had regained some respect. He’d asked the right question. “She did.”
    So his father’s new advisor was a woman. This didn’t come as a complete surprise to Magnus. The king’s last trusted advisor had been his longtime mistress, a beautiful if treacherous witch by the name of Sabina.
    “You really believe the Kindred are real.”
    “I believe.”
    The Kindred were a legend—Magnus had never thought them anything more than that—four crystals, containing the very essence of
elementia
, that had been lost a thousand years ago. To possess them would give their bearer omnipotent power—the power of a god.
    Magnus was tempted to think his father had gone insane, but there was no madness in his steady gaze right now. His sight was clear and focused, if obsessed. The king truly believed in the Kindred and he believed in the existence of Watchers. Until recently, Magnus had not shared this belief. But the proof of magic, of
elementia
, lay in this very bed. He’d seen it with his own eyes. And if a prophesied sorceress could be real, so too could the Kindred.
    “I will leave you to watch over your sister. Inform me immediately if she awakens.” The king then departed from Lucia’s chambers, leaving Magnus alone with the sleeping princess and his own troubled thoughts.
    Her magic is the key
.
    He was silent for a long time, his gaze focused on the balcony and the bright sunshine