Academy of Falling Kingdoms Box Set

by Marisa Mills

  She reached into her blouse and pulled out a gold chain. On the end was a simple blue stone, carved with tiny runes and sigils. It was glowing softly.

  She has another pendant, Lucian said weakly.

  But how? Nobody knew how it worked, other than Nick.

  Celeste’s lips curved into a sly smile. She yanked me forward and I stumbled. My legs and feet were still numb and prickling. I felt stickiness from blood welling over my right ankle, where the thorns had broken skin. A heavy exhaustion stole over me. I’d used too much magic. I thought they would bring me outside, but we emerged through a secret panel into the lower chamber entrance and kept climbing further up stairs inside the building. I breathed a sigh of relief. If my friends were alive, maybe they’d get free.

  You are the only one they need to destroy Aubade, Lucian said.

  But Dorian had said they wouldn’t be allowed to return home. Finally the not knowing was unbearable and I broke the silence.

  “Did you hurt my friends?” I asked.

  “Not enough,” Celeste replied, “but we will. The senate would just be delighted to have some prisoners, especially Alexander. Why, I can only imagine how angry Reverie will be when we execute her prince.”

  I balled my hands into fists to keep them from shaking. That couldn’t happen.

  “You should be honored,” Dorian said, shoving me towards a familiar door. I looked up at him in confusion. “People spend months petitioning to meet the chancellor in his chambers, and you’ve managed two visits in less than a week.”

  Too soon, we entered the chancellor’s study, where I’d been only the day before. It looked different at night, with small glowing lanterns reflecting against the dark windows, the mirrors making them seem to stretch into the distance. Jeremiah waited behind his desk, but the light cast long shadows across his features.

  When we entered, he wheeled himself forward and waited beside the empty chair.

  “High Chancellor, we’ve brought her as asked,” Celeste said.

  So Celeste had been working for Aubade’s Chancellor all along. I felt like such a fool, hoping I’d find a kind and just ruler. Lucian had been right all along. You could never trust a mage.

  Celeste shoved me into the vacant chair and took a position behind me. Her fingers dug into my shoulders, hard enough to leave bruises. Dorian pulled a pen from his jacket and perched on the edge of the Chancellor’s desk, placing my sword beside him. He slipped his pen beneath the torn fabric of his trousers and began drawing the healing sigils absently over the place where I’d stabbed him.

  Jeremiah glanced fleetingly at Dorian before turning his attention to me.

  “I don’t think the chains are really necessary,” he said.

  The shackles around my wrists snapped open.

  “A demon for you,” Celeste said.

  She leaned over me and dropped a faceted ruby into the chancellor’s hand.

  Lucian! My heart leaped into my throat.

  With a small smile, Jeremiah turned the gemstone over in his hand. Then he reached over and placed the large ruby on his desk. Lucian had been trapped in a gemstone once before, and he’d been unable to feel anything. Would he even realize I was here? Was he afraid? I shifted, as if I could magically make the gemstone fly into my hand. Celeste’s fingers pinched the back of my neck, keeping me in place.

  “Wynter,” the chancellor said, smiling. “Dorian has told me so much about you.”

  Of course he had.

  “I can’t believe you’re really here,” Jeremiah continued. “Gwen’s daughter. I didn’t even know you existed until Celeste told me. You do look so much like her.”

  How did the Chancellor know Guinevere? And why were they talking about me?

  I tipped my chin up defiantly. “You won’t win,” I said. “Even if you take my blood and access Reverie’s demon chamber, you—”

  “Oh, I won’t need you for that,” Jeremiah said, steepling his fingers. “I have Dorian.”

  “Dorian?” I asked, glancing up at my uncle in confusion. “But I thought—I thought it had to be Nick’s blood.”

  “It had to be both,” Dorian replied. “Nick sealed the chamber with his blood, but Gwen convinced him to use hers, also.”

  “A Rosewood and an Armenia, a mage from Reverie and one from the Lower Realms. Whatever happened, they’d decide together, or not at all. It was terribly romantic, if not foolish. When Gwen died and was cremated, Nick wanted justice but had no way to complete his plan.”

  “So you made an alliance with a Rosewood,” I said, nodding towards Dorian. “But you would still need Nick’s blood. My blood.”

  There was something in Dorian’s blue eyes I couldn’t place, a mixture of something akin to guilt and fear. Neither made sense, given the circumstances. I felt like I was missing something, a final piece of the puzzle that would reveal the full picture, but I was too tired to think clearly.

  “I don’t need your blood, Wynter,” Jeremiah said.

  My eyes snapped to him, and the chancellor smiled tentatively.

  “Because I am Nicholas Armenia.”

  Nineteen

  SLOWLY, THE TIPS OF THE chancellor’s dark hair lightened to blond, the color spreading all the way to his roots. His gold eyes softened into a moon-silver. He looked older than the young man I’d once seen in a memory, but the resemblance was still there. I recognized his sharp, angular face even older and fine-lined. I was looking at Nicholas Armenia, my brilliant, long-lost father.

  I couldn’t sort through the anger and elation and horror, as all my thoughts and feelings collided like pieces of shattered glass. Had he been here, in Aubade, this whole time? Yesterday, he’d treated me like a stranger. He’d known what we were to one another, and he’d lied to my face.

  “How is this possible?” I asked.

  “It was all Eleanor’s idea, really,” he said. “When she found me, crippled and broken in the forests after Gwen’s death, she told me to leave Reverie and said something about a disguise. I literally crawled to Aubade on my hands. I was never able to restore function in my legs, but I found a way to serve my new kingdom. I served it so well, in fact, that they elected me as Chancellor.”

  “As for all this,” he said, waving at his face, “appearances can be deceiving.”

  “I don’t understand, why are you doing this?” I asked. “The Nicholas Armenia I know wouldn’t—”

  Celeste laughed. “But you don’t know him, Wynter. You never did.”

  But I’d read his journals! I’d read his ideas, and I’d seen a memory of the way he looked at Gwen, and all the times he sketched her face. If he truly loved her, why would he want to destroy her home?

  “Thousands of people will die if Reverie falls,” I protested. “Surely, that must mean something to you.”

  “Didn’t your king send Dorian here to do the same thing?” Nick asked.

  “That—that was the plan,” I said, “but we came to stop him… and to find you! I thought you could help us.”

  “Help you what?” Nick asked, leaning back in his chair.

  “Help me create the world you wanted,” I said. “The one where mages and demons can live in peace together. Where mages choose to alter their lifestyle, and set their demons free.”

  “Oh, Wynter,” Nick said, “that was…just a young man’s dream. Gwen always told me it was impossible to achieve. I didn’t believe it until the king killed her. When I tried to confront him, he chased me off the edge of Reverie. I’ve counted down the days until I could get my revenge.”

  Thud! Nicholas and Celeste turned sharply to the noise. Dorian abandoned the desk and walked over behind the sofa, peering out at the dark sky. My heart was in my throat. I hoped my friends had fled to safety. This wasn’t a battle we could win.

  Dorian paused and tilted his head.

  “A bird must have hit the window,” he said, returning to his place on the desk.

  “Find her c
ompanions,” Nick said with a wave of his hand. “And kill them. We have everything we need. Tomorrow, Reverie will fall.”

  Celeste narrowed her eyes but returned her attention to me.

  “I think we should use the sigils to control her. She’ll draw out her friends.”

  “So you can almost kill her like you did Viviane?” Dorian asked.

  “That only happened because Viviane was weak,” Celeste sneered. “They should be fine on Wynter, and we only need to control her long enough for us to find the others.”

  Dorian clenched his jaw but offered no further argument.

  I looked desperately at Nick, whose face softened.

  “Fine, but be careful, Celeste,” he said, nodding his head lightly.

  Celeste smiled at me, something horrific and eager etched across her face.

  “Of course,” she purred. She leaned closer to me, pulling out a thin dagger and drawing it down the side of my face. The blade scraped against my skin.

  Thunk! This time the glass shattered as something broke through the window. Blood spattered across my face and chest. I panicked, thinking Celeste’s knife had sliced through me, but it wasn’t my blood. An arrow protruded from Celeste’s shoulder.

  Celeste’s fingers scrabbled over the shaft, and with a snarl, she whipped around. Claribel was standing on the narrow balcony outside the window. I jerked back as she nocked another arrow, my heart pounding as the door burst open and my friends rushed into the room. Alexander and Viviane cast spells, the sigils on their arms and palms glowing. Jessa moved into a dancing stance, and Tatiana crouched behind a sofa, sending out sharp, staccato notes that whooshed through the air.

  My heart soared to see them, but it was quickly replaced by dread. They’d done exactly what I hadn’t wanted them to do and come after me. And how could we possibly win against three powerful battle-mages? With Celeste distracted, I clambered from the chair and dove towards the desk, reaching for Lucian and my sword, but Dorian wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling my feet off the ground.

  Nick wheeled around in his chair, facing the newcomers.

  Celeste ripped the arrow shaft from her shoulder.

  “We’re taking Wynter with us,” Alexander said, brandishing his sword.

  Claribel loosed a second arrow, but Nick swept his hand up, halting it in midair. A second later, it had flipped and reversed directions. There was a thud and a sharp crunch as it buried itself into Claribel’s collarbone. Then everything seemed to happen at once.

  Alexander unleashed his lightning. Nick deflected it with a flick of his wrist and sent it crashing into a bookshelf. Sterling bent over Claribel, trying to dig the arrow shaft out, while Tatiana hovered over them. Jessa spun on her heels, and vines sprang up from around Celeste’s feet. Celeste swept her arm and Jessa’s vines turned into snakes. She screamed as they pulled her to the ground, the marble cracking beneath her.

  Celeste’s back was exposed, so I rushed forward and kicked as hard as I could. My foot met the base of her spine. She stumbled but twisted around with a snarl. Alexander darted around Claribel and past Nick. He lunged forward, his rapier ready. Nick barely lifted a finger, and the sword flew to the side, stabbing into the wall. With a sharp yell, Alexander slammed into the floor, thrown there by some invisible force.

  Claribel was gasping for breath, her face white. Celeste hadn’t been this strong last time. My eyes fixed on the pendant, glowing beneath her clothes. If she could hear demons, maybe the gem as capable of healing as well. There was still time to defeat her and save Claribel.

  I lunged towards her, clawing and scratching, but she punched the hilt of her sword into my stomach, so hard I felt my ribs break. Pain jolted through my abdomen, and I slid to the ground. My head struck the marble, and stars danced in my eyes. Celeste twisted around. Her teeth were bared and her face manic. It was hard to say if she even noticed the blood pouring from her shoulder.

  She stood over me, pulling out a barbed blade with a crystal handle, with so many teeth it looked like a small saw.

  “Fortunately, I don’t need you alive,” she grinned, with blood on her teeth. “I just need your blood.”

  Fire swept between me and Celeste. Viviane stumbled in front of me, going down on one knee. Her arm was covered in bloody sigils. Briar rushed towards us, pulling us away towards the exit, but my head spun as I tried to get to my feet. Dimly, I heard Tatiana scream. Nick hadn’t moved, but his brow was furrowed in concentration.

  “Pathetic,” Celeste snarled, she stepped right through the flames. She waved her hand and Viviane and Briar went tumbling against the wall like rag dolls. I scrambled backwards, away from her, until my back was against the broken window. I looked down, seeing my blue eyes reflected in the fragments of glass. Then I pushed myself up on my knuckles, glass shards embedding into my skin, and slashed towards Celeste’s throat. She moved back just in time, but I left a deep scratch across her cheek and a trickle of blood.

  “Naughty,” she grinned.

  I closed my eyes as she raised her sword, waiting for the blade to tear me open. But then her eyes widened in horror, and a scream tore from her throat. She collapsed to her knees, clutching her chest, her movements stilted and uneven. Alexander’s hands were on my arm, gently pulling me up. I leaned heavily against him. Before us, Celeste gasped and panted for air. Then, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, she fell limply to the ground.

  ***

  I winced at the pain in my skull. The world seemed to have stopped. Jessa stumbled up. Briar had managed to free her, but her trousers were streaked with blood. Claribel leaned shakily on Sterling. Tatiana was upright but holding her side. Broken marble and shattered furniture littered the ground, and in the midst of it, Nick sat, unharmed and unruffled.

  “Wh—what happened?” I rasped.

  “I froze her heart,” Dorian said. “I can’t very well lose two nieces on the same day.”

  Nick tipped his head back and curled his hands into fists.

  “Disappointing,” he said, “but not unexpected.”

  Viviane stumbled over to Claribel, drawing healing sigils over her injury.

  “So… does this mean you’re switching sides, again?” Alexander glowered.

  “I never could have defeated both Celeste and Nick,” Dorian said. “They were too strong, so I promised to help them, until the moment when I had the upperhand and better odds. And then you came along.”

  “I should’ve killed you like the senate wanted,” Nick said. “Only I remember what it was like to stumble into Aubade, exiled from Reverie, without hope or purpose.”

  “We’re nothing alike,” Dorian said. “I do what I must. You seek only vengeance.”

  “As should you, or does Gwen’s death mean nothing?” Nick asked.

  “You killed my sister,” Dorian snarled. “I spent years dreaming of putting a blade through you.”

  “Do you honestly still believe that?” Nick chuckled. “You are a fool. King Gregory killed Guinevere. He learned about the charm I’d made her, and he killed her for it. When I challenged him, he threw me off the edge of Reverie. We fought, and I fell. I’ve counted down the days until I could get my revenge.”

  “Even if you didn’t kill her, she died because of you.”

  Dorian moved into a fighting stance and unleashed his ice. Nick flicked his wrist, and the ice fell apart, collapsing into water. The water swept back and crystalized around Dorian’s ankles, keeping him in place.

  “You and Eleanor didn’t deserve her,” Nick said. “You were both terrible siblings.”

  Dorian thrust his rapier forward and bared his teeth when his ice collapsed again.

  “Get out of here, children,” Nick said.

  “Wait!” I shouted, pulling away from Alexander.

  I darted between them as Dorian prepared to strike again. Fire crackled around Nick’s fingertips.

  “Move out of the way, Wynter,” Nick said. “I’m not a
ngry with you.”

  I shook my head. “That’s enough fighting,” I said. “Isn’t there a way to resolve this?”

  “Maybe if I bring Nick’s head to the king,” Dorian said.

  “You know that bastard wouldn’t stop this war on my account,” Nick returned. “Now that the kingdoms are finally falling, the mages will kill each other to maintain control. In a few decades, there will be no more floating kingdoms or Lower Realms.”

  “So help us figure it out,” I said, taking a step towards him.

  “Stay back!” Alexander exclaimed. “He’s dangerous.”

  But I didn’t. I was tired of people risking their lives for me. I was tired of people being hurt. I bent down and reached out a hand.

  “Would Gwen really want this?” I asked. “For you to kill her brother? Or her sister in Reverie? If you think my mother would want this, kill me first,” I said, “because my heart will break if I have to watch you kill my friends or my uncle.”

  Nick’s eyes narrowed. Fire still crackled and snapped around his fingers. Although he hadn’t hurt me, my mouth tasted of blood. I swallowed and looked over my shoulder at Dorian, still with his sword raised and ready to fight.

  “Dorian,” I said. “This doesn’t have to end in bloodshed.”

  I met Sterling’s green eyes. He glanced at his mother, leaning on Briar, and then at me. Sterling slowly sheathed his knives back into his boots. Tatiana and Jess stood motionless. Viviane curled her hand into a fist and slowly lowered it. Alexander’s blue eyes darted nervously over us, but he slowly tucked his pen away in the pocket of his trousers and sheathed his sword.

  Dorian looked like he’d rather stab himself than lower his rapier. “Wynter, I will not—”

  “Genteel with your violence, remember? Prove me wrong,” I said. “Do the one thing Gabriel would never do and believe in me. Dorian.”

  Dorian hesitated, but slowly, he sheathed the blade.

  Nick looked uncertain, but slowly, the flames vanished. “You’re so much like your mother,” he said with a sad smile. “Brave and selfless.”