Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes

pressed up against the balcony railing.
    â€œWhat?” She tried to inject the single word with as much defiance as possible.
    â€œHave you managed to send word to Jonas Agallon and his trusty rebels informing him of your current whereabouts? Perhaps he can chase after Amara and bring you back the water Kindred.”
    The name Jonas Agallon was a sharp slap back to cold reality.
    Cleo pressed her hands against Magnus’s chest and pushed. “Step away from me,” she hissed.
    â€œDid I strike a nerve? Apologies, but some subjects need to be addressed—even if they prove unpleasant to you.”
    â€œI’ve already told you that I don’t and have never had anything to do with Jonas Agallon and his followers.” The belief that she’d colluded with rebels was what had led to her imprisonment and the king’s command for her immediate execution.
    But it was the truth of course—she
had
conspired with him. But she’d never admit that out loud. Especially not to Magnus.
    â€œWell, regardless, might I suggest Jonas as an archery tutor instead of Kurtis? Kurtis is skilled in the sport, I suppose, but Jonas—now there’s someone who’s killed Auranians
and
Limerians alike with his arrows, while Kurtis has only aimed at painted targets.”
    â€œKurtis will do nicely, but thank you for your opinion.” She shoved past him, then glanced over her shoulder as she left the balcony. “Good day, Magnus.”
    He watched her leave the balcony with narrowed eyes. “Good day, princess.”

CHAPTER 4
    LUCIA
    PAELSIA
    H e’d asked her to call him Kyan.
    He didn’t look much older than twenty years of age. He had dark blond hair, sparkling amber eyes, and was taller than any man Lucia had ever known.
    Immortal and indestructible. Omnipotent and fearsome. Able to end a mortal’s life in a flash of fire and pain with a mere thought. He was the elemental god of fire, previously imprisoned within an orb of amber for countless centuries.
    And now he sat right across from her, slurping barley soup in a small public house in northern Paelsia.
    â€œThis,” Kyan said as he signaled to the barmaid for another bowl, “is absolutely delicious.”
    Lucia regarded him with disbelief. “It’s just soup.”
    â€œYou say that as if this isn’t a miracle contained within a wooden bowl. This is sustenance that feeds both the body and the soul. Mortals could live off unseasoned meat and plucked grass and yet they choose to make concoctions that smell and taste divine. If only they applied their minds to everything in this manner,rather than wasting their time squabbling about mundane topics and killing each other for petty reasons.”
    When they’d first met, she’d expected him to lay waste to Mytica immediately in his quest to assassinate his enemy—a Watcher named Timotheus who, according to Kyan, was the only remaining immortal who had the power to imprison him again.
    At the time, she’d been so numb with grief she hadn’t been able to think straight. Her pain was so great that it was the only thing she’d wanted to share with the world.
    Lucia wondered what her father and brother might say if they could see her now, sitting in a tavern, across from the soup-eating fire Kindred. The thought almost made her smile.
    â€œEat.” Kyan pointed to Lucia’s bowl.
    â€œI’m not hungry.”
    â€œDo you want to wither away and die?” He raised a pale brow. “Is that what you’re doing? Starving yourself so you can be reunited with your beloved Watcher?”
    Whenever Kyan said the word
Watcher
, his expression darkened and his amber eyes flashed bright blue.
    Anger. Hatred. The need for vengeance. They simmered just beneath the otherwise genteel exterior of this powerful being.
    It was much the same whenever Lucia heard Alexius’s name. The pain of having learned that he, too, had used