Page 30 of The Gilded Cage

Suddenly, Kiva couldn’t breathe. She thought it was from being so anxious over what she was seeing that her lungs had stalled, but then all the fires in the room spluttered into pitch-blackness, and she realized that Jaren had caused this — that he’d purged all the air from the room to free himself from his sister’s tornado while also snuffing out Caldon’s flames before they could strike him.

It was clever — so very clever. But Kiva couldn’t fully admire his strategy. Blind, suffocating, and alarmed by the same choking sounds from Tipp and Naari beside her, along with the distressed Flox, she was only keeping from full-blown panic because she knew Jaren would never allow any harm to come to his family — or to her.

Sure enough, within seconds, she was sucking in fresh air again, and with it, fire burst back into existence — not only along the walls, but also at Jaren’s fingertips, remaining there just long enough for him to thrust it like a javelin toward his cousin.

Caldon ducked the attack, the fire slamming into the limestone behind him in a roar of sparks. A second javelin from Jaren had Caldon scrambling to summon a shield of fire to absorb the flames, which he managed just in time.

“You’ll have to try harder than that!” the rakish prince goaded.

Jaren didn’t have a chance to respond, because his other family members were still sending their own attacks his way. Wind was buffeting his clothes and hair, but it didn’t lift him off the ground, making Kiva realize he was nullifying whatever Mirryn was trying to do. At the same time, water was rising again, forming the shape of a serpent similar to the one from the River Festival last night. The snake moved to strike at Jaren, and he pointed a finger not at the beast, but at the ground near where he stood, an almightycracksounding as a section broke away and rose to shield him from the brunt of the attack. But what Jaren didn’t see was Oriel’s sneaky move, the young prince directing camouflaged vines to crawl along the ground and wrap around his brother’s ankles. With one quick hand gesture from Oriel, Jaren’s feet were yanked out from beneath him, his earth shield all that kept the queen’s snake from engulfing him as he wrestled now with the creeping plants that were moving swiftly up his body, trapping his limbs and squeezing the air from his lungs.

A flash of light had Kiva flinching backwards as Jaren summoned a sword made of flames, using it to cut through the vines. Freed from their grip, he somersaulted back up to his feet, shooting a proud look at his younger brother for his effort. But the moment was only brief, with Caldon, Mirryn, and Ariana all launching new attacks against Jaren, and Oriel jumping right back into the fight.

Kiva didn’t know how long they kept at it, earth, fire, air, and water moving around the cavern in ways she’d never imagined possible. Ice shards were thrown like daggers, a crevasse opened beneath Jaren’s feet, a horse and rider made of flames charged him and nearly sent him toppling into the river, and on it went. The attacks grew in creativity and difficulty the longer they continued, prompting Kiva’s stomach to tighten with the realization thatthiswas what it meant to be a Vallentis — andthiswas what her family would face if they dared challenge them for the crown.

No wonder Caldon had been wary of having witnesses. This kind of magic ... it was beyond what Kiva had ever envisioned. She’d known the royal family could control the elements, and she’d seen examples from both Jaren and Mirryn over the last few months, but she’d never truly realized what that meant. Not once had she considered that the queen could drown someone with a flick of her fingers, that the princess could force all the air from someone’s lungs, that young Oriel could bury someone alive, that Caldon could set someone alight with a thought. And Jaren ... he could do all of that and, as Kiva was seeing, much,muchmore.

He was unstoppable. No matter how his family attacked, he found a way to defend himself, whether by using their own element against them or one of the other three powers he had at his disposal.

He was magnificent.

And he was terrifying.

Watching him, there was no doubt in Kiva’s mind why the Royal Council had chosen him as the heir in Mirryn’s place. As long as Jaren ruled the kingdom, his people would be safe, no enemy force standing a chance at defeating him.

And that presented a problem for Kiva.

For her family.

For the rebels.

Nervous sweat was trickling down her back by the time Jaren finally called a halt to the magical attacks. He was breathing heavily, but the weight that had been hanging over him earlier was gone, his face glowing with contentment as he shared grins with his family, all of whom seemed equally revitalized by their training session. Kiva couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other, but she watched as Jaren threw back his head and laughed at something Caldon said, the sight and sound so carefree that her heart clutched in her chest.

Was it the magic that had done that? To all of them? If so, Kiva didn’t understand. Her own magic wasn’t something she’d ever been able to rejoice in. She’d barely discovered she evenhadit before she’d been carted away to Zalindov, after which she’d promised her father never to use it. She couldn’t fathom the lightness emanating from the royals in the wake of their training, the joy they were radiating. But she also couldn’t deny that she felt a prickle of envy — and a hint of curiosity. If she trained like they did, would her own power grow like a muscle? Would she stop seeing it as a burden and embrace it as a blessing? She didn’t know. And as long as she was living at the palace, she wouldn’t have a chance to find out, so she slammed the door shut on her thoughts, resolved to think on it no further.

After the royals shared a few more words among themselves, Jaren led the group over to where Kiva, Naari, and Tipp waited, with Oriel hurrying forward to reclaim the wide awake and mildly agitated Flox.

“He didn’t like not being able to breathe,” Kiva explained, standing and shooting a pointed look at Jaren, who offered a contrite grimace in return, fully aware that she wasn’t talking only about the fluffball.

“Poor Floxie,” Oriel cooed, stroking the critter until he made what sounded like a purring noise.

Naari and Tipp had risen beside Kiva, the latter staring at the royal family with stars in his eyes. “That was a-a-a-mazing,” he breathed.

“Nah, that was nothing. Barely a warm up,” Caldon said, dusting ash off his clothes and out of his golden hair. “You should see us when we really let loose.”

No one disagreed with him, which told Kiva that he wasn’t just boasting. She schooled her features, inwardly horrified by what they might be able to do when really trying.

“If we’re done here,” Mirryn said, wringing water from her skirt, “I need to go and order my birthday cake.”

“I should leave, too,” said Queen Ariana. “I have a desk full of paperwork that I’ve been putting off for days.” Her eyes moved to Oriel and Tipp. “And you two need to get back to your studies with Tutor Edna.”

Tipp looked as if he might expire on the spot if he didn’t ask a million questions about what he’d just seen, but at the queen’s stern look, he exhaled loudly with resignation.

“Don’t worry, we can write notes to each other when Edna’s not looking,” Oriel whispered to him.

Ariana made a disapproving sound, and her young son sent her a sheepish look.

“Um, during our break,” Oriel quickly added.

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