“You can’t escape your destiny.”
Jonas lurched up from the hard wooden floor so quickly that a wave of dizziness slammed into him. Disoriented, but with dagger in hand, he scanned the small room to locate exactly what had torn him out of a deep sleep.
But there was nothing there except a beautiful princess with long raven-black hair asleep on the small cot. A tiny baby lay at her side, swaddled in a piece of cloth ripped from Jonas’s cloak the night before.
The newborn’s eyes were open wide and staring directly at Jonas. Violet eyes. Bright . . . like glowing jewels.
His breath caught. What—?
Lucia moaned softly in her sleep, stealing his attention away from the baby for a moment. When his gaze returned, the baby’s eyes were sky blue like her mother’s, not violet.
Jonas shook his head to clear it.
Lucia let out another cry from her slumber.
“Bad dreams, princess?” Jonas muttered. “Can’t say I’m that surprised, given what we survived last night.”
Their journey to get to Lucia’s father and brother had been interrupted by Lucia giving birth during a massive rainstorm. Jonas swiftly found them a room at a nearby Paelsian inn so Lucia could recover her strength before they continued onward.
She shifted beneath the blankets, her face twisting. “No . . .” she whispered. “Please, no . . . no . . .”
The unexpected vulnerability in her voice tore at him. “Princess . . . wake up,” he said, louder this time.
“You . . . you can’t . . . No . . . I—I won’t let you . . .”
Without thinking, Jonas sat down on the edge of the bed. “Lucia, wake up.”
When she didn’t respond, he took hold of her shoulders to gently shake her awake.
In an instant, Jonas was no longer in the small bedroom. He was standing in the middle of a village, and the world was on fire.
Flames shot up as tall as the Forbidden Mountains, their heat an immediate, searing brand on Jonas’s flesh. The painful flames didn’t crackle like those of a campfire; they screeched like a vicious beast from the darkest corner of the Wildlands. Through the wall of destruction, Jonas watched with stunned disbelief as cottages and villas were set ablaze—people screaming for help and mercy before the flames devoured them whole, leaving nothing but black ashes where they had once stood.
Jonas was paralyzed. He could not cry out or run from the burning pain. All he could do was watch in horror as the destructive fire began to form something recognizable—the figure of a gigantic, monstrous man. This creature of fire stared down at another figure—that of a cloaked girl standing defiantly before him.
“Do you finally see the truth, little sorceress?” the creature snarled, each word the lick of a fiery whip. “This world is flawed and unworthy, just as all mortals are. I will burn all this weakness away!”
“No!” The hood of the girl’s cloak blew backward, revealing her flowing black hair. It was Lucia. “I won’t let you do this. I’ll stop you!”
“You’ll stop me, will you?” The creature began to laugh and stretched out his burning arms. “Yet you’re the one who’s made all this possible! Had you not awoken me after all these centuries, none of this would be happening.”
“I didn’t awaken you,” she said, her tone more uncertain now. “The ritual with Alexius . . . yes, I awoke the others. But you—you’re different. It’s like you awoke yourself.”
“You underestimate the reach of your magic—of your very existence. Melenia knew this. That’s why she envied you just as she did Eva. Perhaps this is why she wanted you dead after you’d served your purpose. Just like your mother wanted you dead.”
Lucia staggered back from him, as if his words were physical blows. “My mother feared my magic.” She turned her face away from the monster long enough for Jonas to see the tears streaking down her cheeks. “I should have let her kill me!”
“Your mortal life is the only one I still value, little sorceress. Take your rightful place by my side, and together we will rule the universe.”
Lucia stared at the fire Kindred for a moment in silence. “I don’t want that.”
The fire god chuckled. “You lie, little sorceress, especially to yourself. Ultimate power is all any mortal wants. You would allow your family, your friends, even your own child, to be destroyed if it meant you could achieve it. Embrace this, little sorceress. Little goddess.”
Trembling now, Lucia clenched her fists at her sides, and she screamed, “NEVER!”
The ear-piercing sound froze the fire god in place. In the next moment, he exploded into a million crystal-blue shards, each falling away to reveal the room at the inn behind them. And the girl sleeping in the small bed.
Lucia’s dark lashes fluttered. She opened her eyes, and her gaze locked on Jonas.
“What . . . what in the hell did I just see?” Jonas asked, his voice raspy. “Was that just a dream? Or was it a vision of the future?”
“You were in my head just now,” she whispered. “How is that possible?”
“I . . . I don’t know.”
Her eyes widened. “How dare you invade my privacy like that!”
“What—?”
Jonas suddenly found himself airborne, as if a large invisible hand had grasped him and thrown him back from the bed. He hit the far wall hard and fell to the floor with a grunt.
The baby began to wail.
Lucia gathered the child in her arms, her glossy eyes filled with outrage. “Stay away from me!”
He rubbed the back of his sore neck as he pushed himself to his feet and scowled at her. “You think that I did that on purpose? I was only trying to wake you from your nightmare. I didn’t know that would happen!”
“I’m beginning to wonder just how much magic you hold inside you.”
“Yeah, me too.” He willed himself to be patient. “I didn’t know I could enter your dreams . . . like . . . like . . .”
“Like Timotheus can,” she hissed.
A Watcher. An immortal who’d lived for millennia. Timotheus lived in the Sanctuary, a world apart from theirs, and Jonas didn’t trust him any more than he did the fire Kindred in Lucia’s dream.
“This is Timotheus’s doing,” Jonas mused. “It has to be.”
“Get out!” Lucia snapped.
“Listen, I understand that you had a rough night. We both did. But you’re being completely irrational right now.”
She thrust her hand toward the door. At her command, it flew open and slammed against the wall. Her cheeks were red and tear-streaked. “Leave me alone with my daughter!”
The baby’s cries hadn’t stopped for a single moment.
Was he supposed to simply ignore what he’d seen in Lucia’s dream just because she’d woken up in a foul mood? “I was trying to help you!”
“Once you get me to my father and Magnus I won’t need any more help from you, rebel.” She jabbed her finger in the direction of the door. “Are you suddenly deaf? I said get out!”