ashen city (Black Tiger Series Book 2)

by Sara Baysinger

  All of it led us here.

  And here happens to be the end, hopefully, of Ky, and the beginning of a new era. I guess Leaf got exactly what he wanted in the end. He wanted change, and by standing up against the government on Career Day, he set things into motion to make that change. What a genius. I just wish he could be around to watch it unfold before him.

  As for Titus…I knew he was sick, but not sick enough to get his own sister pregnant and then take her baby away. Just the thought makes my blood grow hot.

  “He put his royalty above your wellbeing,” I say through gritted teeth. “He never really cared about you. He just cared about his bloodline. If he loved you, he would have let you keep the baby. If he loved you, he wouldn’t have locked you in a small room all your life. A monster like that doesn’t deserve to live.”

  “No. No he doesn’t,” Aurora whispers. “And after seeing what he did to your brother—Elijah”—she shakes her head and looks at me—“I want to take him down myself.”

  “Now we’re talking!” Jonah says, grinning so big that his teeth are stark white against his unruly black beard.

  “And then?” Aurora’s voice is full of resolve. “I want to lead Ky to a better place. This is my country, and I’ll not see her suffer by the hands of my brother.”

  Inside, I’m cheering her on. Outside, I’m shocked to silence, because of everything she’s been through. Despite being half-starved in the Community Garden, I think I actually lived the better life between the two of us, and definitely had the better parent. But Aurora is safe now. We’re together, she realizes what a horrible person Titus was, and between the two of us and the Resurgence, Ky might actually have a decent leader by next week.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  I lie in bed long after our talk and stare at the darkness surrounding me. I don’t know how it all happened, how Forest became an…untraitor. How Aurora, the snobby Patrician, is suddenly sincere and on our side. How Rain and I got wrapped up in this strange romance that I didn’t even think he was capable of. But it happened. And now more of the royal family is on the Resurgence side than the chief’s side, and Titus is all alone, fighting his own battle with a bunch of brainless Defenders on his side.

  But not for long.

  Because as soon as Levi gets this antitoxin gas bomb constructed, we’ll take down Titus.

  Strange, how everything worked out. How I never wanted to lead, and then a new “me” just appeared. A “me” who has all the knowledge and training necessary to lead a country. And she’s actually willing. And so incredibly able. And I’ll help her take the lead or die trying.

  Realization strikes me, and it’s so obvious that I laugh. This must have been what God meant in my vision.

  Prepare the way.

  I was born to prepare the way for her. I’m the dirt, she’s the seed. Now I totally get it. Aurora Whitcomb is the future Chief of Ky. The mere thought brings a smile to my lips. I kind of like this role. But will anyone else be open to the idea of her leading instead of me?

  My smile fades, and I blow out a hard breath, thinking through what needs to be done.

  In order for Ky to be saved, she needs a new leader. A good leader has to be someone who’s trained to lead, but also someone who sees potential to make Ky good again. Aurora has all that. The training. The blood. The desire to improve the government. She is the perfect candidate to take Titus’s place. But the Resurgence only agreed to take down Titus if I was willing to take his place after he was dethroned. But would they allow a swap? Would they be open to Aurora taking the helm?

  I chew the inside of my cheek. I can see Jonah Walker agreeing to this. But not anyone else. Not the Fearless Six. Not Mcallister or Dad. Definitely not Rain. As long as I’m around, I’m the one the Resurgence expects to take the leadership role. But how much control will I actually have with them behind me? Will I have a say in keeping Aurora and Forest around to help? Or will they kill them both along with the chief to ensure stability? Nobody trusts either of them. No one even wants them here.

  This is where I realize that I should have placed a better bargain when I agreed to take the chief’s place. This is where I wish I’d spent a good few days drawing up a document and making everyone in the Resurgence sign it.

  This is where I decide to use my royal bloodline to make demands I know the Resurgence will NOT be okay with.

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  “Can I…can I have a…sip?”

  I almost choke on my drink as I look up from my mug at Aurora approaching from across the fire. “It’s, um, coffee.”

  “Yeah,” Aurora says, sitting beside me. “It’s gross. But Levi said something about how it helps him think sharper. And I’m feeling kind of foggy this morning.”

  I pour the hot liquid into a tin cup. Most of the camp is awake now. A new energy fills every corner the cavern, rattling our bones and filling our lungs, like everyone knows our time to strike out against the chief is soon.

  “It’s better with milk and sugar.” I hand her the mug. “We don’t have sugar, but maybe some milk will help it go down?”

  She nods and I pour some milk we got straight from the dairy cow. Then I pick up my own mug and take another sip.

  “You should have seen Rain this morning,” Aurora says. “He was trying to use Elijah’s sling shot.”

  I smother a snort. “Oh no. What happened?”

  She chuckles into her coffee. “He hit Isaac in the head.”

  “WHAT?”

  Her lips disappear entirely with a laugh she’s trying to suppress, and she lowers her mug. “I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but Isaac lost it. I mean, he was red-face-ready-to-kill-Rain pissed. Of course, Rain was gone by the time Isaac turned around.”

  And now I’m laughing. Hysterically. Because it’s so like Rain to pick on the tough guy. And it feels. so. good. to laugh again, to forget for a minute that the Resurgence wants me to be chief of Ky and that we’re basically going to war.

  Isaac walks up a moment later and both Aurora and I sober up. He shoots us a strange look, then pours himself some coffee.

  “Ember,” he says, his features deadpan. “You need to seriously control Rain.”

  “What makes you think I can control him?”

  “He listens to you.”

  And his words are my undoing. I snort coffee out of my nose. Rain listens to me? How hysterically wrong Isaac is. He knows so little.

  “Seriously,” he says, staring at me. “I can’t have him messing us up while we’re trying to get serious work done.”

  I can’t help it. I don’t know why, but I cannot rein in my laughter. And then he shoots me that look that means he’s not joking around, and then Aurora bursts out laughing beside me, and it’s so wrong but so incredibly freeing.

  He sighs and shakes his head. “Whatever.” And then he stalks off, and my lungs can’t get enough air, and my biggest regret is taking a sip of hot coffee while Isaac was present because that did not feel good coming out of my nose.

  When our laughter finally dies down and my sides aren’t hurting quite as bad, I peek at Aurora. “That was…fun. I mean, I didn’t know you had a humorous bone in your robotic clone body.”

  She smirks. “Hey. I’m programmed to have a little fun.” Her smile fades and she looks at the fire. “I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time, though.”

  My chest hollows. She looks at me, then lifts her hands. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be a downer, but it’s just so…weird sharing a moment like that with someone. No matter how insignificant it is to you, because you probably laugh all the time with Elijah, but Titus is too stuck up to laugh at anything. And I would watch people socialize on my cameras, and I always longed for a friend…or sister…to share laughter and tears with. I mean, I had Krin, who was my closest companion, but she wasn’t a sister.”

  My heart aches for her. “I feel the same way. Elijah’s great, but I always wanted a sister—someone close to my age who went through the same thing
s I did at the same time, y’know? Can’t exactly find that in a little brother. And all the girls at school…well…you know.” I flip my hand in the air, the guilt once again eating at me.

  “They were all Deltas,” she finishes for me.

  I nod slowly. “And you can’t exactly have a real relationship with someone who’s never going to disagree with you, as twisted as that sounds.”

  “Aw, sounds just like us.” She grins and I laugh and shove her. And a longing fills me. A deep longing for her to be real and genuine and good.

  “Are you…really on our side?” I ask. “I mean, you’re all for the Resurgence taking over now?”

  She shrugs and rests her wrists on her knees, her fingers wrapped tightly around her mug as if to ward off the chill. “They’re the only ones willing to stand up and fight. No surrounding tribes are interested in helping our pathetic little colony. The Indy Tribe isn’t interested in getting involved, and Nashville’s noses are too far up their butts to care.” She sighs. Takes a sip of her coffee. “So. Yeah. I support the Resurgence.”

  “How do you, um, how do you think they could take over, though?”

  She shrugs. “I mean, Titus would probably have to die for anyone else to take leadership.”

  She says that with zero remorse; I can’t tell if she’s playing me or if she’s truly so over Titus for all he’s done to her. But if it’s the latter, why didn’t she just kill him when we had the chance?

  “You’re not ready for that to happen?” I ask. “Are you?”

  She looks at me, conflicted. “He…has someone I want. I don’t really want Titus dead until I have him.”

  “Gideon?”

  She nods. “But once he tells me where Gideon is, I’m all for the Resurgence doing whatever to him. I mean, it hurts. I love him, because he’s my brother. My blood. The only person I’ve really known my whole life. But he’s done so many wrong things. He’s killed so many innocent people for the sake of stability. He took Gideon, then used the Resurgence to cover up his tracks.” She looks down at her coffee and frowns. “It’s only right that he falls and someone else takes the helm.”

  I look into my own half-empty cup. And wonder if I can believe her. This twin of mine. I wonder if everything she’s saying is sincere. I look at her once more. “And who would you pick to be Ky’s next leader, if you could choose?”

  She shrugs and gives me a sad look. “Honestly? Me.”

  Those two words couldn’t offer more relief than they do now. I’m on board with Aurora leading. She’s on board. If we can just get the Resurgence on board…

  The ground trembles.

  I drop my mug and leap to my feet. The caverns are rumbling like the hungry belly of a tiger. And a voice sounds through the loud rumbling. The guard.

  “Run!” he screams. “We’re under attack. RUN!”

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  My heartbeat skyrockets. I catch a glimpse of Dad carrying the injured Elijah in his arms. He catches my eye and jerks his chin toward the trucks. I grab Aurora’s hand and bolt toward him. Forest and Rain appear at our sides and race beside us through the winding cavern toward the exit. It’s the only sane thing to do right now. The emergency tunnels won’t be of any use when it feels like the caverns are about to cave in on us.

  The walls are trembling with anger; the ceiling rumbles in agony. Rocks fall all around us, and I cough up dust, then cover my mouth with my shirt. Rain’s fingers weave through mine. I tighten my grip around Aurora’s hand and glance back to see her reach for Forest’s. We may be refugees. But we’re the Resurgence, and nothing can tear us down. Not even Titus.

  We cram into Rain’s car, Forest and Rain in front, me and Aurora in the back. I’m just about to shut the door, when I catch a glimpse of Julius. His ears are laid straight back as he bounds through the crowd. I give a whistle, and he looks toward us, then races to the car and leaps in. I close the door behind me as Julius settles in the middle between me and Aurora. Rain puts the car into gear and spins through the tunnel around one of the pillars and toward the exit, the trucks filled with the others following behind. But another jolt of the earth makes rocks tumble all around us, and the ground is shaking, and I wonder if any of us will make it out alive. But then I remember Walker saying these caverns could withstand a bomb, so then why would the walls be trembling if they could?

  Finally. Daylight. The pale yellow of dawn. We zoom out of the cavern at a neck-breaking speed, and I grip Julius’s neck to steady myself. We whiz up the street, shoot down another street. I catch a glimpse of Louisville, just barely visible in the pale morning light.

  And. Everything. Stops.

  Two pillars of smoke rise up from the crumbling city. Another jolt of the ground, and now there are three pillars of smoke.

  “What the hell?” Rain says.

  “Bombs,” Aurora’s voice is a husky whisper. “Titus is blowing up Louisville.”

  Rain utters a curse. “He must have discovered our location.”

  Another explosion. That’s bomb number four. Titus is literally turning Louisville into ashes.

  “How many of those suckers does he have?” Rain asks.

  “Too many to count,” Aurora says. We all look at her, and she shrinks into the seat guiltily. “He was preparing for an uprising. He was ready.”

  Rain curses again, then turns down a street and begins heading straight toward the burning city.

  “Wait,” I say, my heart in my throat. “Where are you going?”

  “There’s only one way out of this god-forsaken country, and it’s across that shoddy bridge. If we cross, Titus can’t touch us without pissing off the Indy Tribe.”

  “But…we’ll die!” I say. “You’re headed straight toward the bombs.”

  “Ember,” Rain says. “I love you.” And he looks at me in the rearview mirror, his eyes gray slates full of complete resolve. “And because of that, I’m taking you to safety. Titus has this entire country monitored. Louisville was the only place where we wouldn’t be caught, and now. It’s. Blowing. Up. So if we don’t cross that river, we’re dead, anyway.”

  He slams his foot on the gas and we’re taken to a faster speed. I glance back at the trucks behind us. They can’t go as fast as us and are lagging behind. And Dad and Elijah are in those trucks.

  “Hurry up,” I whisper.

  “As for you, princess,” Rain says to Aurora. “You’re free now. You can open your door and go to hell.”

  “What?” she shrieks.

  “You can open your door.” Rain speaks slowly, as to a child. “And leave. No one will stop you.”

  “At this speed?” she asks.

  “If you don’t,” Rain says. “Ember will gladly open the door for you and shove you out.”

  She looks at me, a look of pure horror on her features.

  “No I won’t,” I say.

  Rain glances at me in the rearview mirror. “Seriously? Are you serious right now?”

  “Yes, I’m serious! She’s on our side, Rain!”

  “Oh, shoddy rot. No. Please. Don’t tell me you still believe her lies? She’s led Titus straight to us!” He groans in so much agony you’d think his leg was being chopped off. “We should have left her in Frankfort.”

  “Ember’s right, Rain,” Forest says quietly, ever the peacemaker. “Aurora is on our side.”

  “Like I should believe anything you say, brother. You stood by Titus’s side until it was almost too late.” He looks at me. “Shove her out. Or Titus will have our heads.”

  “Can’t you see what’s happening?” I say. “Titus is bombing the city with the full knowledge that she’s with us. He doesn’t care about her!”

  “And neither do we.”

  Ugh, Rain can be so incredibly stubborn. “She’s staying with us, Rain. I would give my life for her before causing her any harm.”

  Both Forest and Aurora look at me in obvious shock.

  “Now you’re just being dramatic,” Rain mutters.

  �
��Just focus on driving before you get us all killed in a wreck!”

  “Whatever.” He takes a sharp turn, then we’re on the interstate, in clear view for any shots the enemy might want to take.

  “Why don’t you stay on the hidden roads?” Forest asks. “Now we’re an easy target.”

  “This way’s five times faster,” Rain says.

  “It’s okay,” Aurora says. “We’re okay. Those bombs were placed around the city hours ago. Titus and his men have most likely already evacuated.”

  “And you still believe she’s with us?” Rain asks no one in particular. “Unbelievable.”

  Another explosion, and this one makes my heart sink into my gut. Because from our angle on the interstate, I can see smoke rising straight from the bridge we were supposed to cross.

  And the iron scaffolding that was our one way out of this country crumbles into the river.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  “Son of a jackal,” Rain mutters.

  Smoke billows around where the bridge used to be, and I’m not entirely sure if the bridge even crosses the river now or if it’s disintegrated, but Rain keeps driving toward it as if we stand a chance.

  Hopelessness. It’s right in front of our faces.

  “Ember,” Rain says. “Do you know how to swim?”

  “No.”

  He utters a curse. “What about climbing. Do you know how to climb?”

  “Yes. I can climb. I used to climb trees at the orchard all the time.”

  “Perfect. Because it looks like the entire bridge isn’t lost. Part of the frame is still there, though I don’t know how easy it is to scale.”

  I look at Aurora. “Can you climb?”

  She shrugs. “Looks like I don’t have a choice.”

  Another explosion shakes the ground, and this one hits the tower Elijah took me to. The proud, tall-standing building with a dome on top. But the dome roof caves in and the building begins crumbling. The one beauty left of Louisville, just…gone.