Holding his breath, Matthias stepped through the Gates at the Lucius Veil—and waited. But nothing happened. No Lightners came to drag him off to the king. No rough hands or angry faces appeared. Instead, all was peaceful.
The light that shone through the kingdom stretched as far and wide as the eye could see. Matthias was so taken aback at the sight that lay before him, he lost all means of communication. No words could explain the beauty of the Kingdom of Lucius. His father’s kingdom had its charms, and certainly wasn’t ugly, but here it was different. The light was different, brighter somehow, but not in a way that made you squint. It was as if it leaked into every crack and crevice of the kingdom, illuminating every dark space and erasing it.
As if there were no shadows.
Children’s laughter echoed through the streets, their joyful chase of birds and butterflies weaving an innocent dance through the air
Among them, Lightners tended to their gardens with gentle care, while farmers whistled melodies of contentment as theytoiled in their fields. Matthias found himself immersed in a scene that defied his previous thoughts of what lay behind the Lucius Veil, a story of a life that unfolded with a unique harmony he had yet to witness.
They’d just left the horses at the Gate. The stable boy, Blue, had stared as Adalia introduced them. It felt odd, being looked at with a sense of awe and wonder—people from his world only cared about themselves. Always looking, but never truly seeing.
Something behind his right ear began to sting, and he reached up to touch it. Was it his birthmark? Matthias rubbed it gently—it had never burned before. Perhaps he’d scratched it and not noticed.
“Are you okay?” Adalia asked quietly beside him.
Matthias cleared his throat and stood straighter. “Yes, I’m fine. Where is this king of yours?”
“He will be at the palace. We’ll have to walk there because we have Bones with us. Some Lightners may not appreciate a rogue wolf running through the streets.” Adalia offered him a grin.
Nodding in agreement, Matthias called Bones to his side, and the group set off on foot.
Nikolas glanced at him now and then, suspicious, and Matthias knew the Lightner male had something to say.
Probably ‘get out.’ Perhaps something less eloquent.
Even if came down to a fight, Matthias had endured worse, and refused to be cowed.
As they walked through a street that wove its way towards the palace, Matthias found himself speechless once again. Coloured umbrellas were strung together to form a covering above them. Starting with yellow ones at one end of the street and ending in burnt orange ones. A sea of sunset.
“This area of Lucius is called Sunset Plaza. It’s known for this street and its array of colour,” Adalia said quietly.
The prince smiled in response. He could see that she was trying to make him feel as comfortable as possible, and he wasn’t sure if he should feel pleased or not. Surely, if they were going to haul him off to prison, he would know by now.
It was midday and many of the Lightners were outside watering potted plants or eating lunch at little tables scattered everywhere. Many greetings were exchanged, and Matthias struggled to keep up with all of them. Every Lightner he saw smiled or waved at him.
He’d seen nothing like it before. He thought The Grey was beautiful, but this place was a whole different story. The colour was almost more than he could bear. He was so used to the duller tones of Oscuro, but here, there were colours he didn’t even know existed.
The stories his father had spun ever since he was a small boy—about how awful Lucius was and that Oscuro was a vision compared to the Light Kingdom—came to mind, and he realised his father was even worse than he’d already thought.
Was anything that came out of his mouth true?
Leaving Sunset Plaza behind, the group entered beautiful parklands full of trees and structured garden beds filled with perfumed flowers. The grounds seemed to stretch for miles with the palace in the near distance. Matthias struggled to consume all that lay before him. Across the landscape were small to large groups of Lightners picnicking by small ponds or playing games on the grass.
The group turned a corner on the gravel path that led them through the dreamy landscape and there, before them, stood the palace. It was enormous compared to his father’s castle. Its white, gleaming walls stood tall against the crystal-blue sky.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Adalia whispered beside him.
Matthias glanced down at her. Ever so faint freckles dusted the bridge of her nose—her lips slightly parted in a smile. He fought the urge to pull her close and kiss her like he had back in Oscuro—her presence always seemed to have that effect on him.
His thoughts skipped to the encounter outside his cabin, and how her feisty questions had riled him.
In that moment, he wanted her mouth on his so he could taste her. To feel her soft looking lips beneath his own. Her scent and mossy-brown eyes had captured his soul, toying with it like a cat does with a mouse–right before it eats it, and he would be damned if he didn’t take something in return.
So he took a chance when he stepped towards her. He’d expected her to pull back, to prove the disgust she claimed, but the look in her eyes belied the words. And she’d remained planted on the spot. It was all the permission he needed to reach for that delicate throat and clasp it in his hand. The feeling of her rose coloured lips on his was electric, so palatable he could almost taste it. His mind had fractured into a tiny million pieces when a moan escaped her and the sound of it nearly had him on the ground.
If they were alone right now, and she was looking at him the way she was, he would find it very . . . very difficult to keep his hands to himself.
“Well, it’s definitely nothing like the stories I’ve heard,” Matthias replied quietly.
