Academy of Falling Kingdoms Box Set

by Marisa Mills

  “I told you my father knew what he was talking about!” Tatiana declared proudly.

  “You did,” I said. “Now, we just have to figure out how to get in.”

  “But if the Council is looking for this charm,” Viviane said slowly, “And they haven’t found it, how are we supposed to find it?”

  “Do you remember your necklace, Viviane?” I asked. “You wore it at the gala.”

  “The fake one?” Viviane asked. “Of course, I remember. I had to listen to Eleanor complaining about it for a week. She thought Dorian took it.”

  “It wasn’t Dorian,” I said. “I don’t know who it was, but it wasn’t him.” I bit my lip. I’d been supposed to steal that necklace at the welcome banquet, and I’d failed. We didn’t know it was fake until it failed to contain the demon that attacked us.

  “So you’re thinking that someone, potentially someone on the Council, thought Viviane’s necklace had this charm?” Tatiana asked.

  “Someone close enough to steal it and replace it with the fake.”

  “Wait, so the charm looks like a diamond?” Viviane asked. “I thought you said it was blue?”

  “I don’t know that it’s a diamond,” I said. “But I guess, I mean changing the color of crystals is basic magecraft, right? Dorian had a tiara stolen, too.”

  I stole his tiara.

  I hesitated. “It was pearls and blue diamonds. Du Lac wanted it.”

  “Du Lac?” Alexander asked.

  I nodded.

  “I wonder if…he wouldn’t be behind all this, would he?” Viviane asked, furrowing her brow.

  “He’s not very pleasant,” Tatiana said, “but that doesn’t make him guilty.”

  “If he is behind it, he’s doing an exceptionally poor job of hiding it,” Alexander said. “It’s clear that he doesn’t like Wynter, or Dorian or Frederick, both of whom are investigating the demon attacks.”

  “Maybe,” I replied, crossing my arms.

  “But if Gwen’s charm exists,” Viviane said slowly. “We know that the Council suspects it’s somewhere in the Rosewood jewelry. At least, unless Du Lac is working on his own.”

  “But the Council hasn’t found it yet,” Alexander argued.

  “Well, the Council can’t exactly make Dorian give them all the family jewelry,” Viviane pointed out. “And I’m sure he’s making it hard for them. He’d do that just to amuse himself.”

  “Didn’t he sell a bunch of it, too?” Alexander asked.

  “He did,” Viviane replied. “Mostly Amelia’s things. He didn’t want her in his estate anymore. Drove Eleanor crazy.”

  I wondered if that was true, or just the story he’d given to cover up for Gwen.

  “So we might be unable to find it,” I said, my shoulders slumping.

  “Is there a chance Dorian knows where it is?” Alexander asked.

  He hadn’t, but he might know now, if the location was in the journal. Maybe that’s why he didn’t seem to need me anymore. Though when I’d mentioned it to him before, he hadn’t seemed interested.

  “If he does, he’s never mentioned it to me,” Viviane replied. “Eleanor has never mentioned it either.”

  “I think we’d better look through Oberon’s papers,” I said. “The necklace and tiara didn’t even have the same kind of stones, and if we can somehow get access to the Rosewood jewelry, it’ll take forever to go through it.”

  “And then, we’d have to get Uncle involved,” Viviane said. “He’s very liberal, for a noble, but I’m not sure whether he’d approve of all this.”

  “Let’s return to the bookshop then,” Alexander said. “In the meantime, the less people who know about this, the better.”

  He took his pen and drew healing sigils over Viviane’s arm. There was a warm glow as the cut I’d made on her arm started to seal. We headed back out, guided by Lucian’s fire. Abruptly, Tatiana paused, looking down a dark hallway.

  “Wait,” she said. “Where does this go?”

  The chamber appeared to branch off in another direction. Tatiana unrolled the schematics and looked them over. I peered over her shoulder, trying to make sense of the elegantly drawn diagrams. Tatiana flipped them over and looked at a smaller map on the reverse side. “I think,” she said slowly, “This chamber is connected to the Academy.”

  “Really?” Alexander asked, peering over my shoulder.

  Tatiana nodded and traced a path with her finger.

  “I think this will take us out behind the school.”

  “Near the lake?” Alexander asked thoughtfully.

  Tatiana frowned. “It looks further back to me. Maybe the sparring fields.”

  “Well, let’s find out,” Viviane said, twisting a strand of hair around her finger.

  Lucian’s fire leaped forward, lining the pathway.

  “You’re getting really good at that,” Viviane said, her eyes narrowed.

  “She’s been practicing,” Alexander replied.

  Viviane looked between us, sensing that we were still keeping secrets from her, then huffed and strode forward, undeterred. I followed, keeping a hand on the hilt of my sword. I should’ve thought about how suspicious Lucian’s powers would be. He was far stronger than I was. Of course, Viviane was suspicious. I’d been sustaining this fire for a long time, and I hadn’t even shown any fatigue. It was too late to do anything now, but I’d have to be more careful in the future.

  We walked for a while through the dark passage, ducking under the low ceiling and wiping away cobwebs. Despite the ground above being disheveled and broken, these underground chambers seemed neat and stable. We reached a dead end, and I caught sight of Lucian, flitting beneath the wall.

  It is the Academy, Lucian said, sounding bemused.

  I frowned and put my hand against the stones.

  “It’s a dead end,” Alexander said.

  “Not according to the map,” Tatiana said. “I don’t think, anyway.”

  “Maybe it’s a spell of some kind,” Viviane said, running her hands over the stones. “Or a secret passage.”

  “How do we get through?” I whispered.

  I might be able to do that, Lucian replied.

  The stone creaked, and Viviane jumped back as the door opened just a crack. Alexander pushed against it, slowly revealing the other side. We’d arrived somewhere dark. I squinted in the dim light, until my eyes adjusted to the gleaming piles of jewelry and weapons.

  “This is where we chose our objects!” Tatiana said, her tone hushed.

  I recognized it now. This was the place where I’d found Lucian.

  “Do you think our professors know it’s here?” Tatiana asked.

  “I have no idea,” Alexander replied, “But now, we know the chamber connects to the Academy. That might be useful later. For now, let’s turn back and go to Oberon’s through the tunnels.”

  “I’m sure we’ll find what we’re looking for there,” Tatiana said.

  Alexander grunted and slipped back through the door.

  I’m not sure if your princeling will like what we find, Lucian muttered. I don’t trust him anyway. Maybe we should break off and try finding this charm on our own.

  But what good would that do? Alexander, Viviane, and Tatiana already knew about a chamber filled with demons and a magical charm.

  I know, Lucian said, and that’s too much. I think we ought to try stealing that journal from your nobleman, and if we fail, then, we can ask him about it.

  And if Dorian didn’t want to tell us anything?

  You wouldn’t like it, Lucian replied tiredly. Wynter, I just don’t trust them.

  “Then, trust me,” I murmured.

  I felt Lucian’s hesitance like a spot of cold shifting around my thoughts. Then, we’ll do this, Lucian said, but don’t let down your guard. These mages are vipers—like the princess said—and vipers eat their young.

  Seventeen

  WE RETRACED OUR STEPS THROUGH the tun
nel, then walked back to the bookshop. A light rain started to fall, so we ran the last few blocks and piled into Oberon’s small office area. Tatiana made us hot chocolate while we were waiting for Oberon to find a box of Nick’s papers from the attic storage.

  When Tatiana said some of Nick’s things, I hadn’t anticipated just how much some would be. There were piles and piles of papers—sketches, sigils, poems, and letters—all crammed haphazardly together into a few large boxes. Apparently, the university had been ready to throw out all of Nick’s things from the dorm after he disappeared, but Oberon had saved them. I curled up into the window with the shop’s cat, Euphrates, on my lap. Viviane leaned over the desk, flipping through pages one by one before handing them to Alexander, who was leaning back in the leather chair.

  We’d been looking for hours. Alexander sighed and shoved a pile of papers aside, sending a few sprawling onto the floor. He turned to the next stack with a dutiful enthusiasm, but I could tell he was bored. While they studied the notes and letters, I’d claimed the books of sketches and drawings. Evidently, Nick had been quite an artist, but he hadn’t bothered to separate any of his content. There were flowers beside portraits of his classmates and professors. I lingered on one of Gwen, her eyes wide and trusting. She’d woven delicate-looking flowers into her braided hair.

  He must’ve loved her a lot, to capture so much detail. Lucian said. It’s tragic how things ended.

  How had things ended, I wondered. Not even Oberon seemed to know exactly what transpired between them. I retraced the events in my mind. A secret affair, a forbidden child. A fight. Had Nick really killed Gwen, or did she kill herself? What did it any of it have to do with a chamber of demons beneath Reverie, and why was it locked?

  I flipped the page but made a note to remember where it was in case Viviane wanted to see it later. I knew what it was like not to have a mother, and even though Viviane still had Eleanor, she must’ve felt like she’d lost something profound in never knowing Guinevere.

  She wouldn’t spare a thought for your mother, Lucian said.

  No, probably not.

  My eyes were starting to glaze over—star charts, portraits, birds and floral patterns all ran together in a blur. Still nothing. It was getting late, and I was about to give up for the night. We’d already discovered so much today, but were no closer to getting answers unless we could open that chamber. Why hadn’t Viviane’s blood worked to unlock it? What were we missing?

  I picked up the next sketchbook and turned the pages. This one was full of seals and sigils, though I didn’t recognize them. A few were in a different handwriting; softer and more fluid. I wondered if Gwen was helping Nick practice. The next page was filled with rough sketches of a gemstone, along with a series of runes. It was simple, and looked kind of like the one Gwen was wearing. Next to it were a series of designs and settings, and after a few pages one design seemed to be finalized, then retraced with dark lines. It was a faceted oval gemstone, surrounded by small, circular stones, in the form of a winged lion. It looked familiar somehow, but I couldn’t place it.

  The king’s brooch, Lucian said. That’s where you’ve seen it.

  “But why would he have it?” I asked. Viviane looked up suddenly and my cheeks heated, realizing I’d spoken out loud.

  “Did you find the pendant?” Alexander asked.

  “Not exactly,” I said. They were waiting for me, so I got up and brought the sketchbook over under the light.

  “Doesn’t your father have a brooch with a stone like that?” I asked, pointing at the page. “He’s worn it the last two times I’ve seen him.”

  Alexander furrowed his brow and took the sketchbook from me. Viviane paused her search and looked it over, too. “He wore that when he came to see me,” she said, “At the Academy. I remember thinking it was strange because we were in mourning for you, Alex. Everything was supposed to be black, but your father came in wearing this blue and diamond pin.”

  “You wore a diamond necklace when you were mourning Amelia,” I pointed out.

  “Sure,” Viviane said, “But that’s because months had already passed. After the first month, you’re allowed to wear colored jewelry. The first week, though?”

  “But why would my father’s brooch be in Nick’s journal? It must be a coincidence,” Alexander said. “My father has had that piece for ages. He wears it—I don’t know—sometimes. Maybe Nick just saw it and drew it.”

  “By ages, do you mean about eighteen years?” Viviane asked. “I think I’ve seen a portrait of Gwen wearing a brooch with that design.”

  “Plus,” I said, flipping through the last few pages, “it looks like Nick was playing with design ideas. Gwen’s pendant was simple originally. What if he modified it for her?”

  “It’s not that distinct of a design,” Alexander replied.

  “Do you know what kind of stone it is?” Viviane asked.

  “I don’t know. Sapphire?”

  “Are you sure it isn’t spinel?”

  “No, I’m not sure! Why would it matter?”

  “Because the royal family never used spinel in their jewelry. My family did,” Viviane replied, “so it should be easy to figure out if it’s Gwen’s charm based on the material.”

  “But if Nick made this, it could be any material,” I pointed out.

  “That’s true,” Viviane said. “Maybe if we keep looking, we’ll find what powers it’s supposed to have. Then we’ll have to get our hands on it somehow, so we can test it.”

  “Hold on,” Alexander said, standing up suddenly. “Are you suggesting we steal from my father? Just because his brooch happens to look a lot like your crazy aunt’s?”

  “My mother’s,” Viviane replied. “And you’re the one who wanted to figure all this out.”

  “Yeah but this is my father, Viv.”

  “You’ve never said a nice word about your father. All you do is complain about how he’s ruling and how if you were on the Council, Reverie would be so much better!”

  “That doesn’t mean I want to steal from him! And I don’t even know if I believe all this stuff. All we have are some old papers from a disgraced Lower Realms mage, and the word of an old man who’s been alone with his books too long.”

  I glared at him. Thankfully Oberon and Tatiana weren’t in the room, but he shouldn’t be insulting our hosts in their own shop. I closed the door quietly so they wouldn’t hear us arguing.

  “Let’s say there are actually demons in that chamber, and they’re escaping, and Reverie is sinking. How will this change anything?” Alexander asked. “What are we going to do about it? Let them all go? Find more?”

  “We’ll figure that out later,” Viviane said, crossing her arms.

  “I don’t want to wait until—”

  “Let’s not fight,” I said.

  “Oh no, Wynter,” Viviane said with a gleam in her eye. “Let’s. Alexander has been talking for years about how much good he wants to do and how many risks he wants to take, and now—”

  “I don’t fancy being beaten and exiled for high treason!” Alexander snapped. “I may not be a model son, but I won’t betray my father.”

  “And what if your father is hiding a greater crime?” Viviane asked. “Why does he have a brooch that looks just like my mother’s? You know as well as I how particular aristocrats are with their jewelry. Replicating the design would be considered poor taste and derivative. So why does your father have an amulet like the one my mother always wore?”

  “What are you implying?” Alexander asked, clenching his jaw.

  “My family told everyone Gwen killed herself,” Viviane said, her voice cold, “but no one believed that, at least not behind closed doors. Dorian always suspected that she’d been murdered. He thought it was Nick, I’m sure, and chased after him for years. But what if it wasn’t?”

  “And I suppose now my father killed her, so he could steal her necklace and make it into a brooch?” Alexander asked sarcas
tically. “That’s great, Viv. You’re as crazy as the rest of the Rosewood line. There’s one problem with your theory; if that is Gwen’s pendant, why hasn’t someone said something?”

  “Perhaps, because accusing the king of theft would be a very serious accusation,” Viviane said. “Amelia wouldn’t have because she wanted the whole affair to go away. And assuming Dorian or Eleanor know, it wouldn’t be politically advantageous. They’d have a brooch and the stigma of accusing the king of stealing, assuming they could prove it was stolen from Gwen.”

  “It’s more likely Nick killed Gwen, then sold the necklace to my father afterward. Or he could have hired someone to design the brooch, but Gwen died before he had the chance to give it to her. Or Eleanor could have given it to the king years later. Or more probably, there’s no connection at all.”

  I’ll bet the king realized your nobleman lost the magical objects that she was supposed to be safeguarding for him, Lucian said. I imagine that would have a way of buying someone’s silence.

  “Is there a way we can examine it without stealing it?” I asked, trying to be diplomatic.

  “If we ask to look at it, Gregory will know there’s something going on,” Viviane said, “Especially if it is Gwen’s charm. We don’t know what it does, but if we need it to open the chamber, we’d have to bring it there. He isn’t going to let us just borrow it.”

  “We don’t know for sure that will even work,” Alexander argued. “Maybe Oberon doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Just because we found an underground chamber doesn’t mean it’s housing demons.”

  “Why would he be right about all that and wrong about the rest?” Viviane asked.

  “We won’t know until we get inside, and if Oberon is right, the last people who went inside were Gwen and Nick, decades ago. They must have found something terrible,” I said. “And that charm is the only lead we’ve got right now.”

  “If only we knew a thief,” Viviane said, glaring at me, “this would be much easier.”

  My breath caught in my throat. I couldn’t tell if she was being playful or threatening, but she wasn’t wrong. Dorian brought me here to steal something important. First the necklace, Du Lac with the tiara, then Nick’s journal, which I found finally in Gareth’s desk. Was everyone looking for the same thing? If I found it and gave it to Dorian, would he honor our deal and take care of my brother and me?