Gathering Darkness Read Online Free PDF

him all wrong. If he was courageous in the end—”
    â€œHe wasn’t.” All the acidity Magnus had felt this evening poured out of him through those two words.
    Cleo regarded him with shock.
    â€œApologies,” he said, attempting to rein in the poison that threatened to leak from him in a horrible gush of truth. “Lord Aron acted in battle exactly according to his experience, which was lacking. He had no chance. I only regret that I wasn’t able to save him.”
    Such lies. He wondered how she’d react if he told her the truth—that Aron was an insipid bootlicker, a pathetic wimp who’d sooner bow down before a conquering king and do whatever was asked of him without question than defend his or his people’s honor.
    Aron only got what was coming to him.
    Cleo watched him now with a frown.
    â€œThis topic has upset you,” she said.
    Magnus turned toward the garden to shield his face from her. His sister and the Kraeshians were gone. “I feel nothing other than eagerness to end this conversation. Unless there’s anything else you wish to know tonight?”
    â€œOnly the truth.”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œI feel that there’s something you’re holding back.”
    â€œBelieve me, princess, even if I were, it’s nothing you’d want to know.”
    She looked at him intently as he absently brushed his fingers against the scar that stretched from the top of his left cheek to the left corner of his mouth. He despised such close scrutiny.
    There was a time when Lucia had been able to see through his masks, the invisible ones he’d perfected over the years to hide his emotions, to keep a necessary distance between himself and those around him. To appear as a younger version of his father. Now that his sister had lost that ability, he had the deeply unnerving sensation that Cleo had learned how to see past his masks as well.
    â€œTell me more about what happened in Paelsia,” she urged.
    He met her gaze again only to find that she’d drawn alarmingly closer to him. “Careful, princess. Remember what happened the last time we shared a balcony. You don’t want that to happen again, do you?”
    He expected to see disgust flash in her eyes at being reminded of their wedding tour, when they’d been forced to share a kiss in front of an eager, cheering crowd.
    Their first kiss and, as he’d promised her at the time, their
last
.
    â€œGood night, Prince Magnus.”
    Without another word and only a chill in her voice to indicate her reaction to the memory, Cleo turned and exited the balcony, leaving him alone in the darkness.

CHAPTER 3
    LYSANDRA
    AURANOS
    L ysandra pounded on the bars of her cell until she finally earned the attention of a passing guard.
    â€œWhen is Gregor coming back?” she demanded.
    â€œWhat do you care? Mind your own business, girl. You might stay alive longer.”
    Why did she care? Because Gregor was her brother—something the guards didn’t know. And because she loved him, and wanted him to be safe and strong so they could escape this overcrowded dungeon stinking of filth and death.
    Gregor had been arrested after attempting to assassinate Prince Magnus in Limeros during his wedding tour. He’d claimed to have had contact with an immortal Watcher named Phaedra through his dreams—a confession that most would consider to be the ravings of a madman. But it seemed as though King Gaius didn’t share that opinion. Gregor wouldn’t have been spared execution for so long if the king didn’t believe him valuable.
    The guard still stood there, staring at Lysandra through the bars with growing interest.
    She glared back at him. “What?”
    â€œPretty little girl, aren’t you? Such prettiness in an ugly place like this.”
    â€œI’m not a little girl.”
    Keep looking at me like that
, she thought,
and I will claw out your