Gathering Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page A

thirty feet above. His shoulders hunched, he clutched the cool marble banister and inhaled.
    Suddenly, a small movement caught his eye. Down in the gardens, along the mosaic pathway winding its way through the lush area, he saw three figures: his adopted sister, Lucia, walking with the Kraeshian prince and princess.
    He found he could not look away.
    â€œSomeone looks rather unhappy tonight.”
    The voice cut through his concentration and tightened the muscles in his back.
    Without turning around, he said, “I thought I was alone out here.”
    â€œAnd yet, clearly, you’re not.”
    â€œI would
like
to be alone out here.”
    â€œI’m sure you would. But I was here first. Actually, I was here for sixteen years before you arrived and murdered practically everyone I know and love, so I believe that definitely grants me the right to this particular balcony.”
    He turned to face the girl standing in the shadows and was shocked that he hadn’t noticed her immediately. Known as the Golden Princess to the citizens of Auranos, Princess Cleiona’s hair was so pale it nearly glowed beneath the moonlight. She had eyes of aquamarine, as vibrant as a lake’s surface under a summer sky.
    Perhaps he hadn’t seen her because her dress was so dark: bluish, like the deepest shade of dusk in the moments just before nightfall.
    Cleo emerged from her cloak of shadows and joined him at the balcony’s edge. Following his gaze, her eyes locked on Lucia and the visiting prince and princess.
    â€œI’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve become rather well acquainted with Lucia in your absence,” Cleo said.
    â€œHave you, now.”
    â€œYes. I might go so far as to call us friends. She’s very special, your sister. I see why you love her so much.”
    Taken at face value, it was a cordial observation.
    But taken another way . . .
    Magnus knew that rumors about his unrequited desire for Lucia were circulating the palace. Servants always enjoyed gossiping about people of higher stations. And sometimes they gossiped
to
those of higher stations.
    â€œI’m very pleased to see that Lucia has been up and around the palace during my absence,” he said, ignoring Cleo’s unspoken accusations. “Have you met Princess Amara yet?”
    â€œBriefly,” she said crisply and without warmth.
    â€œIs she also to become one of your
friends
?”
    Cleo’s demure smile remained, but her eyes stayed cold. “I certainly hope so.”
    He couldn’t help but be amused by this girl. Princess Cleiona Bellos was an incredibly deceptive creature.
    But there was something besides lies and passive aggression in her expression tonight. He saw fresh pain there—an edge of it that she couldn’t hide.
    He waited for her to speak again.
    Cleo returned her attention to the garden. “They buried Lord Aron today.”
    His mouth went dry. “I heard.”
    She played with a long tendril of her hair that had come loose from its pins. “I knew him all my life, through good times and bad. To know he’s gone now . . .”
    Her grief over the fallen boy was misplaced. Aron deserved neither tears nor heartache from anyone, but Magnus understood grief. He’d felt it himself when his mother was killed. He still felt it, like a dark, bottomless hole in his chest.
    Lord Aron had been betrothed to Cleo when, without warning, King Gaius changed their plans and bound Cleo to Magnus instead.
    â€œHow did he die?” she asked now, her voice soft.
    â€œWhile battling the rebels who attacked the road camp we were inspecting.”
    â€œAnd a rebel killed Aron?”
    â€œYes.”
    Cleo turned and looked at him directly. “He died in battle. That sounds so . . . brave.”
    â€œYes, it does.”
    â€œAron was many things, but brave was never one of them.” She turned away. “Perhaps I had