Academy of Falling Kingdoms Box Set

by Marisa Mills

  “Maybe she’s right,” I said. I smiled, thinking back to something Lucian had said once, about me becoming the ruler of the Dregs. But then I felt a thorn pierce my heart, as I remembered Lucian, trapped in a stone at the bottom of the ocean, and suddenly everything felt overwhelming again.

  I was the granddaughter of a countess from one of the oldest aristocratic families. But even if I managed to confront King Gregory, and defeat Celeste in time to save Reverie, how much change could Alexander and I really hope to make, and how long would it take? I’d never be enough.

  “Maybe someday,” I said softly. “You’ve seen what we’re facing, Sterling.”

  “Doesn’t magic fix everything?” Sterling asked, a hopeful naivete in his eyes.

  I took a deep breath.

  “No,” I said. “Sometimes it makes it worse.”

  He nodded, looking thoughtful for a long moment. He’d always known the fairy tales Claribel had told us were unrealistic. There were no happily-ever-afters. Just whoever was left to pick up the pieces.

  “So what’s the alternative?” he asked, shifting forward and considering me with an intense stare.

  “We could run. Like we always planned to. Gabriel’s dead, and I’ve got more money than we’ll ever need,” I said, remembering my grandmother’s sapphire tiara that was still stuffed in my bag. “Just you, me and Briar. Find somewhere small and quiet, away from mages, monsters, and all of it.”

  “But you won’t,” Sterling said, his eyes suddenly hard. “You wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if you just stood back and did nothing. That ain’t who you are. You really going to let Celeste destroy Reverie, destroy the Scraps?”

  I bit my lip. “No,” I admitted, thinking of Nick’s dying words. “No, I think I’ll have to face her.” My father’s rings thrummed in my pocket.

  “Of course, you gotta. And even if you could let all that go, could you leave your friends to fight alone? You, the girl who always stood up to Gabriel when he was bullying Briar? Who rescued me from a monster? You ain’t no coward. You’re gonna have to save these people or die trying.”

  “But how?” I trailed off and let the question hang between us. Sterling grabbed a leafy branch from a low hanging tree and stuck the end in a pocket of sap, before lighting it with the stub of his cigarette. The orange flames illuminated his thin face as he turned towards me.

  “If anyone can save these mages from themselves, it’s you,” Sterling said softly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “They ain’t never cared about the Scraps or anyone from there, but they care about you. I can see it. They love you. There’s power in that.”

  A pleasant warmth spread through me, like melting chocolate. Sterling’s gaze was haunted, and I remembered him telling me he loved me once, a long time ago, before I ever went to Reverie. The energy charged between us, but I leaned away, thinking of Alexander. I didn’t know what we were to each other anymore, but I cared too much about Sterling to let him get the wrong idea.

  He sighed, closed his eyes for a long moment, then kissed my forehead lightly.

  “Thank you,” I said. I smiled and placed a small kiss on Sterling’s cheek.

  “It ain’t nothing,” Sterling said, his eyes crinkling at their corners. “Anything for a pretty lady.” I laughed at his roguish grin. For a moment, he reminded me of Kit.

  He threw an arm over my shoulders and made to guide me back.

  “Speaking of—uh—pretty ladies,” Sterling said, once we were close enough to see the others, huddled around the small fire. “Viv is quite lovely.”

  He was already calling her Viv?

  I looked askance at him, a smile pulling at my lips. Even after surviving in the forests and fighting two battle-mages, with her bloody, torn-up clothes and tousled dark hair, Viviane was still beautiful. Her hair had been singed in the fight, and was now considerably shorter on one side.

  “Always had a thing for a girl in a uniform,” he said, eyeing her long, bare legs. I wondered what he’d think if he saw her as she usually was, in a cinched corset, cosmetics and a wide dress that made it seem like she was floating across Reverie’s crystal pavement.

  “Would you like me to put in a good word for you?” I asked.

  I probably shouldn’t offer. I had no idea how Eleanor would feel about me encouraging my friend from the Scraps to court her daughter, but…

  “You ain’t gotta do that. I just wanted to know if she’s…available.”

  “As far as I know,” I said, glancing between her and Alexander, “she is.” They had an easy closeness about them, but it had been months since she’d warned me away from him, and so much had changed since then.

  Sterling brightened. “Well, then,” he said, rubbing his hands together.

  I smiled as I watched him go sit beside her. A few months ago, she’d have been mortified, but I saw her smile and offer him some of her snacks. Briar gave me a nod, but I wasn’t ready to try and sleep again. Sterling believed in me, and the anxiety and fear that kicked up made my heart thunder in my chest. Were the others counting on me as well? To stop Celeste, I’d need my father’s four demons, locked within the rings he’d given me. But I had no idea if they’d work with me. Maybe it was time to find out.

  “I need to get something from Dorian,” I said, to no one in particular.

  Briar stood up quickly.

  “I know where he is,” he said. “I’ll go with you.”

  I nodded, though my breath caught in my throat as he grabbed his knives and walked along with me through the dark trees. The easy smile and jokes I remembered from my little brother were gone, and this tall, dark stranger filled me with unease. I tried to remind myself he was the same Briar I’d always known and loved, but I couldn’t help remembering what he’d done in the tunnel, surrounded by monsters with dark eyes. I knew he’d saved us, but I hated how much he looked like Gabriel, when he was squeezing the life out of me.

  We climbed up through the bowels of the ship, everything slanted and disoriented, until we came to the top floor. I sighed in relief when we found Dorian and Claribel, sitting very close together on a concrete ledge, an empty bottle of wine between them. Although they whispered, Claribel was quite animated, gesturing as she spoke. It was strange to see them together, my family from the Scraps and my family from Reverie, in the same place. And talking to one another. It was like two clock-gears that shouldn’t work together but somehow did.

  “He ain’t flirting with Sterling’s mom, is he?” Briar whispered.

  “I’m quite sure his heart belongs to Francisca,” I said.

  Briar snorted. Dorian snapped his head towards us, and Claribel immediately fell silent. My cheeks burned, and I had the uncomfortable feeling that I’d been the subject of their conversation. I glanced at Briar, but his face gave nothing away.

  “Y’all ought to be sleeping,” Claribel said.

  “So should you,” Briar replied. “I’m just escorting Wynter to him.”

  Claribel patted Dorian’s shoulder.

  “I’ll give y’all some privacy,” she said, slipping back towards the others. “Briar, could you walk an old lady back?”

  “Sure,” Briar said reluctantly, flashing his teeth and knives in the dark to make sure Dorian could see them. “But I won’t be far.”

  ***

  “Aw, I think he’s beginning to like me!” Dorian said, loudly enough that I was sure Briar heard it as he walked away.

  I smiled to myself. “You’re awful,” I said.

  “I’ve never said I wasn’t,” he grinned. His cheeks were flushed. Where had he even found wine way out here?

  “Could we walk, Dorian?” I asked. “Not far. Just a little further out?”

  “I’m having difficulty walking, dear,” Dorian said, gesturing towards his leg.

  I winced at the blood-stained bandage over where I’d stabbed him. I wanted more privacy, but I guess this was as much as I was going to get. Someho
w, conversations with Dorian felt… personal. Like they should be just the two of us, as they usually were.

  “I’m sorry for stabbing you,” I said.

  Dorian waved a dismissive hand. “The difficulty stems more from Celeste’s injuries than yours,” he said. “I don’t mind your knife-wound so much. I might even keep the scar since you put it on me.”

  “Are scars signs of affection for you?” I asked.

  “Something like that,” he said.

  I pulled myself onto the ledge beside him and scuffed my boots against the concrete. The ship was so large we were nearly above the trees, and I could see the glittering surface of the ocean in the distance. Aubade was too close for comfort, but glowered like a burning coal in the dark sky. While Reverie’s crystal towers lit up brightly at night like broken glass, Aubade looked more like a covered lantern, its reflection shimmering in the waters below.

  “How are you feeling?” Dorian asked.

  “I…feel like…” I trailed off. It was such a deceptively simple question, I had no idea how to answer. “For a few minutes, I had a father. I never knew how much I wanted that until he was right in front of me. And then I lost him. First you betrayed me, and then he did. It’s been a day. I may need some time to process it all.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “For everything. Truly.”

  I bit my lip. It was the first real apology I think I’d ever gotten from Dorian, but not all of this was his fault.

  “Do you ever miss your father, Dorian?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

  “Sometimes,” he said. “It’s easier now that I’m older, but I don’t know if it’s something you’ll ever really work past.”

  I nodded and looked at the stars. They were so bright here, away from the halo of the Floats. In the Scraps, the stars had been invisible, hidden behind a wall of rock that thrust the mages closer to them. We’d only seen them on the horizon, and it was like they were meant for other people, people further away from Reverie’s shadow.

  “Your grandfather was Vivian, Count of Trebuchet,” Dorian continued, filling the silence easily. “He was the last of his line, and when he died, his county was absorbed into the Duchy of Northcutt. He and Northcutt were very distantly related; they barely knew one another. It was frustrating trying to learn about him because Mother hated him so much that she wouldn’t even speak of him, and he had no relatives or close friends. He didn’t even have a favored servant. For a nobleman, he wasn’t very sociable.”

  “Was Viviane named after him?” I asked.

  “Yes. In the grand Rosewood tradition,” Dorian replied.

  Silence fell between us again, broken only by the sound of my boots scraping against the concrete nervously. I’d asked Dorian to hold my father’s rings for me, and a small part of me was worried he wouldn’t return them when I asked.

  “I…I didn’t just want to talk to you,” I admitted finally.

  “You never do,” Dorian replied.

  I felt a twinge of guilt.

  “My father’s rings. I think I want them back.”

  “Your father’s rings could make me as powerful as Nick was,” Dorian said, making no move to retrieve them. “The magic he was capable of…”

  “And is that what you want? To be as powerful as Nick?”

  “Why wouldn’t I want that?” Dorian asked, his eyes alight with excitement. “You must’ve realized what a powerful currency magic is in Reverie. I could accomplish so much with those powers.”

  “It didn’t turn out so well for him,” I said. “Plus, I think you can accomplish a great deal with your own powers.”

  “You only think that because you were raised in Plumba where the most powerful man you knew was Gabriel. If you’d been born in Reverie, you—”

  “If I’d been born in Reverie,” I said, “I’d have been so eager for magic I would have poisoned myself to meet your approval, like Viv did. In the Scraps, we know that ideas are more powerful than swords. That’s why Gabriel was so powerful. Your cleverness, the way you can weave complex plans like you do, is more threatening than any magic you might wield.”

  “So your grand strategy is to win me over with flattery?” Dorian asked, with a sad smile. “Are you sure you even want to continue this fight? With these rings, I could face Celeste as well as you could, if not better. I could defeat the king and save Reverie. I could fix everything.”

  A small part of me was tempted, and that’s why I knew I had to refuse. Power corrupts all mages, even ones like my uncle. If he kept the rings, in a few years he could be just like the king, plotting the destruction of Aubade, to get more demons, more power, to lift the floating kingdoms higher and higher into the skies.

  “I’m not sure Reverie deserves to be saved,” I said quietly.

  “Ah, then you mean to destroy us,” Dorian said. “Free your demons and let the kingdoms crash. Complete your father’s work.”

  “I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet,” I said honestly. “And maybe that’s for the best. Whatever happens next, it shouldn’t be just be my decision to make. That’s what brought us here; making decisions for other people, other kingdoms, demons, monsters, everything. Taking away their choice. Forcing them to exist in the cracks and margins. But I made a promise to Lucian, and I’m going to keep it. If we want to build a better world for demons and mages, it needs to start now, Dorian. With me.”

  “It’s not going to be easy, Wynter,” Dorian said. “The nobles, the council, they’ll all fight you to preserve their way of life.”

  “Are you turning away from a challenge, Dorian?” I asked. “You’ll test your wits against the king of Reverie and my father, but when it comes to working to make the world a better place, you hesitate.”

  Dorian sighed, reaching into his pocket for a small drawstring pouch. He reached in, pulling out my father’s rings. He’d put them on a silver chain, and they shined in the palm of his hand, the metal gleaming in the moonlight.

  “It’s a gamble, Wynter,” he said quietly, closing his fingers over the rings. They lit up when the gemstones came in contact with his skin, highlighting his face in purple, red, green and blue.

  “Maybe I could…” he trailed off.

  I closed my hands over his. “Please,” I said. “Nick intended for me to have them. Let me decide how to use them, Dorian. Don’t take that choice away from me.”

  For a long moment, we stared at one another. We had the same eyes; I realized. The same thick, brown hair, too. That wasn’t shocking. We were related, after all. But something about the night and the ruins of the Lower Realms suddenly made me realize it much more strongly. His face was sharper and thinner than it’d been before he left for war.

  “You have no idea what it would mean to give these up.” Dorian whispered, almost haunted.

  “What are you giving up if you don’t, Dorian?” I asked.

  He seemed to deflate, and a solemn stillness gripped him. With a soft sigh, he dropped the rings into my hand. There was a power in the moment, and the horizon seemed to charge with energy, as if we were performing some great ritual.

  I latched the necklace around my neck and let the rings drop against my chest. I tucked them beneath my shirt, and the rings were cool against my skin. The demons hissed and murmured, barely at the edge of my hearing. Dorian sighed a deep breath, pulling his cane closer.

  “You know, you have quite an extraordinary effect on people,” Dorian said, gazing out over the waters. “You seem to bring out the best in them. I chased Nick for decades, trying to reclaim the family jewels. You meet him for one day, and he not only takes the rings of his fingers, but offers his life as well. You truly are remarkable.”

  “These came from the Rosewood estate?” I asked, clutching my chest with wide eyes.

  “I recognize at least two,” Dorian shrugged. “I’m not sure about the others. Of course, we were only holding them for the kingdom, so our family has no more right to them than
any other. They’re yours now. I trust you to use them wisely.”

  I helped Dorian to his feet, and together we climbed back down to our small camp. Already I could see the warm glow of the fire and hear laughter through the trees. I paused on the fringe. I just wanted to watch a moment longer. For a second, I could almost forget about the demon attacks, the rogue mages, the armies colliding on the battlefields. There would be time enough for that tomorrow.

  The shadows near me took on form, and I wasn’t surprised to see my brother standing next to me. He’d always been quiet, but now he seemed to move in the shadows like smoke. His dark eyes sparkled in the sparks of the fire, and I moved instinctively in front of Dorian, my hand on the hilt of my sword.

  Briar saw the movement, and smiled sadly.

  “Us against the world, right sis?” he asked.

  “The world has gotten much bigger than those nights we nearly froze in Gabriel’s bunker. I’m just trying to make it a safer place, for everyone.”

  I held my breath as he reached into his jacket, before holding out his fist and slowly unfurling his palm to reveal a sparkling red gemstone. It took me a moment to realize what it was, and tears sprouted in my eyes.

  “But how?” I gasped, reaching for the stone and snatching it out of his palm.

  “Snagged it off the desk,” Briar smirked, “just before the whole tower crumbled. Thought it might be valuable. It’s your demon, ain’t it? I heard what you were saying earlier. About the demons, and the monsters.”

  I pulled him into a tight hug, tears slipping onto his shoulders.

  “You have no idea what this means to me,” I said.

  “Wasn’t sure I was going to give him to you,” Briar admitted quietly. “I mean, he did kill Gabriel. Plus who needs a brother watching out for you when you got a dragon?”