Light?
A tingle of awareness teased the hairs at the nape of my neck, lifting strands of hair from my face. It skimmed under my clothes, over my breasts, down my abdomen, to linger between my thighs. Shit, it was like someone was touching me, teasing me, begging me to open for them. I fell back against Baal, sinking into his warmth as he wrapped his arms around me, his erection pressing against the small of my back.
Images flitted across my vision—Baal’s bare chest under my eager hands, his lips on mine, a field of purple blooms, the smell of sulphur and copper, and a gleaming throne made of a shimmering smooth material I didn’t recognise.
Baal’s arms tightened around me, bringing me back to the present, to the moans echoing around me as the gathered djinn all got off on the strange moon probe.
It was over in a blink, leaving me unsteady and kinda freaked out.
The priestess’s reverberating tones filled the room. “We have been blessed, we have been touched.”
She could say that again.
Baal gripped my wrist, whispering urgently in my ear. “It’s time, Kenna.”
“And now, as with each moon we make out declarations, we keep our peace. Who claims this realm, who claims this throne?”
Up on the podium Kai rose to his feet, his lips parting to make his acceptance speech.
I’d expected to be nervous and sweaty right now. I was about to reveal who I was to a room of djinn, most of whom would side with Kai and want me dead for my impurities. But as I pushed my way toward the podium, my back remained straight, my knees didn’t tremble and my step didn’t falter. And when I spoke my voice came out strong and sure.
“I, last living heir of Ibris, claim this throne.”
38
The room fell into pin-drop silence, and then erupted into a cacophony of exclamations.
“Silence!” Kai held up his hand. “Silence!”
The sound died down, and I stepped up on to the podium.
Kai’s eyes raked over me. “Is this some kind of joke?” He looked over my shoulder. “Baal, get your sharmuta in line before I lose my temper.”
“This isn’t a joke.” I said. “You’re the joke. Mincing about with your minions, pretending that you could ever take my father’s place.”
“Your father? You’re an imposter! Everyone knows that Ibris’s heirs perished in the slaughter. All bodies were accounted for.”
“Yes, they were. But I had yet to be born.”
Kai’s eyes narrowed, lingering on my hair, my face. “Ibris’s wives, his sharmutas, all perished.”
“Not all, not his Twilight lover.”
A gasp rippled through the gathering.
I turned to face them. “Seriously? Are you that prejudiced? Is that what Ibris’s rule taught you?”
A few djinn averted their gazes guiltily.
“The throne is mine, Kai, so get the fuck out of my way.”
I took a step toward the throne and Kai blocked me.
My hand went to my blade.
“Stop!”
We both turned to the priestess. Shit! It was the woman from the market, the one who’d given me the broach.
She smiled at me and dropped me a wink. “I’m glad you found your way here, child,” she said.
“You knew?”
“What’s going on?” Kai asked.
The priestess turned to the gathered djinn. “This woman is indeed Ibris’s heir. I sense her lives, I see her soul, and she will lead us to glorious peace once more.” She turned to me. “Your presence here now tells me that you have finally accepted who you are. The voices inside you are silent, at peace, and you are whole. Take the throne my child. It has been waiting for you.”
What did she mean? Voices inside me? Was she talking about the alters?
But she was leading me to the throne, and there was no time to dwell as my ass kissed iron. The throne embraced me with fire.
I was floating in a red haze of cinder and flame, ash and sulphur. Whispers filled the air, pressing against me, touching me briefly before moving on.
“Time … Is it time?” a female whisper.
“The blood, the fire, the flame …” a male voice, low and deep “The blood, the fire, the flame …”
“The flame, our flame, our fire …” the female said louder this time.
My eyes scanned the red haze, but I couldn’t see anyone.
Heat pressed against my breast and the nape of my neck. And I flinched, held immobile in an invisible grip.
“The heart is the flame,” the male said.
Silence.
“The heart is the flame,” the voice said again.
“The head is not.”
“Broken soul, broken flame,” they said in unison.
The heat retreated, the grip vanished, and I was hurtling through the air, slamming into the ground, cracking my knees against marble.
I blinked and picked myself up. I was on the podium and the throne had rejected me.
I found Baal in the crowd, his eyes wide and incredulous.
Gentle hands picked me off the ground.
“Ah, child, you are not whole.” The priestess’s face was filled with sorrow.
“She’s not the heir!” Kai said triumphant.
A low hum filled the air as the priestess pulled herself to her full height, her hair bristled, rising up to float around her head. Her eyes began to glow. When she spoke, it was with the voice of a male—deep and filled with authoritative resonance.
“On the third day of the Black Moon, the heir will be judged, her soul will emerge triumphant or be engulfed in flame. So it is prophesised and so it shall be.”
The priestess’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell to the ground unconscious. I moved to help her, but Kai grabbed my elbow.
“I don’t care what she says,” Kai hissed. “I won’t be ruled by a pathetic little girl.”
“Get your hand off me.”
His lip curled. “No.”
My anger was a mini bomb going off in my chest, sudden and all encompassing. My arms lit up like orange and white fireworks.
Kai yelled, released me, and stumbled back.
“Don’t you ever presume to touch me again.” My voice wasn’t just mine, it was all of us, the alters come out to play. And they wanted to have some fun.
Kill him.
Burn him.
Give him to us.
I took a step toward Kai, caught up in their needs, their wants. I’d kept them locked up for too long. Surely they deserved this tiny taste?
Davin stepped into my path, blocking my view of Kai with his huge frame, and then I was being lifted off my feet and into a whirlwind of air and ice.
_____
I twisted in Baal’s arms. “We have to go back.”
Baal clutched me tighter. “No, we need to get you to safety.”
The air whirled around us as we moved through the sky.
“I won’t let Kai have my home. I won’t allow him to continue to rule.”
“You heard what the priestess prophesised. You will be judged, and if you fail your soul will been engulfed. You will die Kenna.” I could hear the tightness of his tone even over the buzz and moan of the air.
He held me as if he would never let me go, and for a moment I allowed myself the luxury of believing that we could run away, that everything would work out, but only for a moment because running away was not an option.
A sliver of fear cut through my bravado. I could die. I could fail, because I had no idea what she meant about being whole. I was fractured in mind and body, how would the throne ever accept such a broken substitute for its previous master?
Even though the odds were pretty crappy, I had to try. The flame had chosen me, had accepted me, the throne just needed a little persuading and, fuck, I’d been through some pretty tough shit and come out standing.
I exhaled into the crook of his neck
“I’m not giving up, Baal.”
He turned his he
“Just help me prepare for the judgement.”
“I can’t. Each judgement is personal to the walker. You’ll be sent into the pit Ibris climbed out of, and you will be forced to face your demons.”
“I can handle a pit.”
“This isn’t like your Academy pit, Kenna, this is … something else.”
“Maybe, but it’s my destiny, and you can’t run from destiny, or prophecy.”
His jaw tightened. “We can damned well try.”
His eyes glittered with determination and something clicked into place in my heart. Baal had wanted this—wanted me on the throne—wanted to bring peace, yet he was willing to sacrifice everyone just to save me. In that moment, the final vestiges of doubt were swept away. I was in love with this djinn.
“Baal, I—”
My teeth rattled as something slammed into us so hard we went into a tailspin.
Baal cried out, the air around us dispersed, and then we were falling.
39
BRETT
Brett kept his head down, hiding his face in the shadow of his heavy hood. Lauren led him quickly through the stone corridors lit by candle light. The air smelled musky and damp, and the ground against his bare feet was rough and cold. They turned a corner onto the corridor where Brett had been kept before he’d been promoted to lab rat.
“Wait.” He tugged on the rope.
Lauren shot him an impatient glance over his shoulder. “No time.”
He stopped by his old cell, peering in to see Farah and Naseem huddled in a corner of the cell for warmth.
“We need to get them out, take them with us.”
Lauren growled in exasperation. “I don’t have a key, there’s no way …” his gaze fell to Brett’s hand. Brett looked down to see them for the first time in days.
His skin was smooth, hard, and almost translucent.
“What’s wrong with me?”
Lauren leaned in. “I think I have an idea, but if you want to save those people there’s no time to explain. Break the lock.”
“What?”
“Break it with your bare hands Brett. Trust me, you can do it.”
He’d have answers in due course, but right now he needed to help his old cellmates. Reaching for the lock, he grabbed and twisted. It broke off in his hand like a piece of dry kindling.
Farah and Naseem looked up, fear etched onto their faces.
Lauren stepped around him. “If you want to get out of here, you need to come with us, now.”
The couple scrambled to their feet and bolted toward the door. Brett moved back, keeping his face in the shadows.
“Wait,” Naseem said. “There is a human here, an emissary, can we get him too?”
Lauren smiled. “Your friend will be fine. It was he who asked me to get you out.”
They were moving again, the couple scrambling to keep up. The corridor ended in a set of thick wooden reinforced doors.
Lauren peered out, glanced over his shoulder, and nodded. “Once we’re through these doors, keep your heads down and move fast. If we get stopped, let me do the talking. The room beyond is where the guards usually congregate, it’ll be teaming in a few minutes, so we need to be quick. We’ll take the first door to the left which leads into the servant’s buildings and the kitchens. There’s a hidden access to underground tunnels in the cellar below the kitchens.”
Lauren pushed open the door and they were through.
They headed through the doors to the servant’s buildings, which were bustling with life, but no one even gave them a look. It seemed that everyone here had somewhere else they needed to be. No one gave them a second glance as they slipped through the chaos down into the cellar.
It was clean, dry, and piled high with barrels of wine and sacks of corn and flour. Lauren led them to the far end of the space, into the shadows, and stopped by a huge metal shelving unit bolted to the wall. Lauren strode to the end of the unit, reached out and slipped his fingers between the wall and the back of the unit.
With a soft click the unit slid forward. Lauren pulled it open and ushered them through into the gloom beyond.
The door closed behind them.
Brett was aware that it should have been pitch black in the tunnels, he shouldn’t be able to see the hand in front of his face, but to him the tunnel looked like it was bathed in weak moonlight.
Lauren moved easily through the tunnels, and Farah and Naseem, with their djinn eyesight, succeeded in keeping up.
“I think it’s this way,” Lauren said.
He took a left then a right, and then the tunnel was bathed in the light from a grate above them.
“Dammit. I must have taken a wrong turn.” Lauren doubled back.
Brett made to follow, when something through the grate caught his eye. He moved closer, peering up through the crisscrossed bars. At first he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, and then it was all too clear. Above them was a chamber, and suspended from the ceiling, wrapped in glowing vines, were rows and rows of dark djinn.
“Lauren!” he whisper-hissed.
Lauren joined him under the grate. “Oh, god …”
“Who are they?”
Lauren shook his head, his eyes wide. “I think … I think they’re djinn. Earth djinn.”
_____
The tunnel joined the sewers that spat them out by a rushing river.
“They’ll be coming after us,” Lauren said. “We need to get you back to Lindrealm, and fast.”
Lauren turned to the djinn couple. “Follow the river east and stay undercover of the trees. It’s a half a day hike, but it will lead you to the borderlands of the fifth dimension.”
The nodded their thanks and headed off.
Lauren turned to Brett, “Follow me.”
He began to splash through the river and dove into the forest on the opposite bank. Brett followed, his bare feet stepping over the sharp river rocks and then snapping twigs and bracken without feeling a thing.
Lauren stopped by a large tree. “Give me your hand.” He reached out to Brett.
Brett took Lauren’s hand.
“Don’t let go.”
Lauren slammed his hand against the tree and the world shattered into a million pieces. Brett opened his mouth to cry out but there was no sound, there was no mouth to make the sound, then like a fragmented mosaic under the influence of superglue the world knit together, except they were no longer in the forest, they were in a pretty little garden bathed in the dying rays of the sun.
“What the fuck just happened?” Brett released Lauren’s hand and staggered back.
“We portaled, and I’m afraid we’re going to have to do it again.”
He began to stride toward what looked to be a cosy little cottage.
“Are we still in Twilight?”
“Yes, this is my home. I have portal inside. I can take you back to Lindrealm, but we need to be quick. I’m sure Orin will have a way to track you, and its best that we be gone before his guards find their way here.”
He pushed open the door and led Brett through a small neat kitchen into a living area and up a flight of stairs.
The cottage felt small, claustrophobic, but it was only when they got to the first floor and Brett tried to follow Lauren into a room that he realised how small the cottage was. His shoulders touched both sides of the door frame, and he had to duck more than usual to get through the doorway.
He stepped into the room, pushing back the hood of his cloak. Lauren’s eyes lingered on his face.
“Brett, the portal is a mirror.”
A mirror … he would finally get to see what Orin had done to him.
“Is Caldwell safe?” He was stalling, but he needed just one more moment.
“Yes, we made sure to get him out first.”
God, he really didn’t want to see this.
Lauren moved to the mirror and held out his hand.
Heart pounding so hard he thought it would burst out of his chest, Brett took a step to his left, bringing him level with the reflective surface.
At first, he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, and then his brain decoded the information his eyes were picking up. His hand went to his head—bald, smooth and hard as marble. No, not marble. Diamond. His face was all harsh planes and smooth angles. Angles cut from shimmering diamond, and his eyes … oh god, his eyes were translucent orbs with pin-pricks of obsidian.
Slowly, deliberately, he pulled up his sleeves, with his diamond hands, the effect ended at his elbows. Pulling the collar of his shirt he glanced down to find his chest unmarred. Human, flesh and bone.
He was a monster, a patchwork doll out of nightmares.
Lauren offered his hand once more. “Brett, we need to go.”
“They’ll kill me on sight. The humans … They won’t give me a chance to explain.”
“Trust me, where we’re going they will listen.”
What choice did he have?
There was vital information that needed to be passed on to Baal, to the government of Lindrealm, and he was a living example of what could happen if they didn’t take it seriously.
Taking Lauren’s hand, he stepped though the mirror.
40
We hit the ground on a cushion of air, still wrapped in each other’s arms.
Baal rose to his feet, pulling me with him.
I had no idea where we were, the landscape was dark, only the tiniest sliver of moon to light it as the Black Moon turned. I made out a few shrubs, rocks, and the sound of running water.
Something had hit us? “What happened?”
“Aerial collision,” Baal said, his eyes scanning the sky. “Question is, with what?”
“Agares and Irina? Where are they?”
“Not far behind, they’ll be taking the carriage.”
“The Ceffyl Dwr?”
“We need to get out of here.”
He reached for me and winced, his hand going to his shoulder.
“What is it?”
I stood on tip toe to inspect him, it wasn’t bright enough to see properly, but his shirt was torn and the area black and glistening.
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