A Kingdom of Death and Despair: The Four Kingdoms Book Three (The Four Kingdoms Books 3) by Whitney Dean

Author:Whitney Dean [Dean, Whitney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gorgon — an imprint of Phantom House Press
Published: 2023-06-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

ZEKE

NOVA

Standing on the outer edge of the kingdom of Nova, I looked over at Luca. We hadn’t stopped at any other village before arriving here, only pausing our journey to set up camp for the night before rising again at dawn to continue riding.

Luca would never admit it, but he was exhausted. I would’ve been lying if I said I wasn’t. This journey had been much longer than anticipated, even by horseback. We’d lost the lead we had before arriving at Reine. The witches stole an entire day from us, which only meant more time away from my wife. The temptation to abandon this trek and return home to her was strong, but we’d made it this far.

I glanced down at my ragged and worn clothing, the dirt on our hands and faces from sleeping on the ground. We looked the part of weary travelers, but I wasn’t sure that would get us an invitation into the castle, which we could see from standing on one of the surrounding cliffs.

Nova reminded me of Thoya.

From my vantage point, I saw that roofs of manors and cottages spanned miles. Cobblestone roads weaved throughout the kingdom, littered with carriages, wagons of peddlers, and shoppe owners.

It was abundant. There was no mistaking that.

It confused me slightly. As a realm, we’d been told multiple times that the surrounding kingdoms were less than kind to their inhabitants, which was how many of them ended up in one of our four kingdoms.

Staring at Nova in front of me, I doubted the validity of those stories.

The castle sat in the center of town. It had multiple access points through tall, golden arches. The beige coloring of Melik’s castle itself matched ours in Seolia, but it looked brighter with the grand windows wrapped around its entirety.

To the left of the castle were so many stables that I couldn’t count them at first glance. Horses freely cantered, led by stablehands, in grass that was nearly too green.

Nova looked almost too plentiful.

Why would anyone flee from here?

Luca didn’t look at me as he asked, “Now what?”

I wasn’t afraid to enter Nova, but I was hesitant. While Melik had left the offer open to visit, Raven had burned his arm. I wasn’t sure how long he could remain so forgiving.

“We need to get to the castle,” I answered briefly. “We are at a disadvantage here. Melik and Alfie are the only royals I’m acquainted with, and Raven didn’t leave a good impression.” I chuckled despite it. I missed that fiery little witch more with each breath I took.

“I don’t want to be here long,” I continued. “Two days tops. I want to find out what kind of magic lives outside our realm and how I can acquire knowledge of Raven’s mate, and how it’s possible she has one other than myself.”

“That’s a lot to learn in two days,” Luca said. “Especially since it’ll take at least a day to get you looking presentable.”

I grinned, looking down at my clothes again. I would care if the only person I ever wanted to impress wasn’t days away from me.

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