Her back stiffened. “I would not have slowed you down.”
I looked to Cactus who gave me a wink as he patted her at the base of her tail, the equivalent of an ass pat on a woman. “Yeah, you were, kitten.”
“Kitten?” She spluttered the word and I moved between them before he could make it worse. The last thing I needed was her lashing out at him. Even if he did kinda deserve it.
“Peta, just lead the way, please. I’ll talk to Cactus.”
Her long tail sliced through the air, side to side, actually hitting the wall, but she did as I asked.
Cactus settled in beside me and he opened his mouth but I beat him to it.
“Why is no one else awake yet?”
His eyes widened. “Shit.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.”
Peta glanced back at us. “This isn’t the first time it’s happened. Eighty years ago, the queen’s father kept everyone in a subdued sleep while he hunted a threat to the throne.”
My mouth dropped open. “That’s what Fiametta’s doing. I told her there was more than one threat, that her lover Coal was answering to someone.”
Cactus stopped at the next intersection. “I have to go to her then.”
“What, why?” I stopped with him and Peta turned.
“I’m one of her enforcers, Lark. Not an Ender. I’m just brought out as a threat. She may be a hard ass, but she is still my queen. She needs to be protected.” He leaned in to kiss me and I turned my face so he only caught my cheek with his lips.
“You aren’t making any sense. Cactus, if she sees you’re awake when she put you to sleep with everyone else, what do you think she’s going to say? Thanks for waking up on your own to protect me?”
Peta snorted. “More like, ‘Ah, so here is my traitor. I’ll just kill him and be done with it. No one will miss him.’”
Cactus paled. “Shit.”
“You keep saying that.”
Peta brushed against my thigh, her fur warm under my hand. I threaded my fingers through her long fur.
“Cactus, we can’t wait. Either you’re with me, or you want to risk the queen’s suspicion that you’re one of the traitors.”
His jaw was tight, but he nodded. “Damn, there is no choice for me, is there?”
Peta shook her head. “No, there isn’t. As is often the way with life.”
There was no more discussion after that. Peta trotted in front of us and we jogged to keep up. She wove her way through the maze of hallways until she reached a dead end. A fountain of bubbling water stood in front of us, steam rising from the tiny pool. The fountain itself was made of hardened lava and shaped like a snarling tiger. The water poured out of the tiger’s mouth into the pond it stood in.
“The water is boiled as it comes through the tiger,” Peta said.
“Should have it pour out its ass,” I muttered. My only experience with a tiger was one that Maggie sent after me. So maybe I was more than a little prejudiced against that particular big cat.
Peta sniffed. “Yes, that would be fitting for a tiger, blowing smoke out its asshole.”
Cactus burst out laughing and then slapped his hand over his mouth as he winked. “Sorry.” Obviously not that sorry.
Ignoring him, I approached the fountain. “Peta, this is a dead end.”
“No, it’s not.” She dipped her face until her whiskers touched the boiling water. “You must reach in to find the thing to press. I don’t know what it is, Loam never told me. But he would reach in here, and something would click and then the wall behind us would open.”
Her eyes lifted to mine. “This is why I’m angry you healed me, Dirt Girl. You need your strength for this.”
Cactus stepped forward. “I’ll do it. I can hold the heat at bay a little.”
Peta shook her head. “No, you can’t. That is what everyone thinks but the heat is a part of the water. Only a water elemental could truly pass this without injury.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said. “Why would you want an Undine to be the only one to escape injury?”
Peta shrugged. “I didn’t make the rules.”
I put a hand on Cactus’s arm. “I’ll try first, if I can’t find the latch, you can try.”
His jaw ticked but he didn’t argue. We all knew our time was limited at best; no, that wasn’t true. Ash’s time was what was running out.
Taking a deep breath, I wiggled the fingers on my left hand. No point in damaging my dominant hand if I didn’t have to. “How deep, Peta?”
“To your elbow at least, based on what I saw Loam do.”
“Shit,” I whispered. “Cactus, stand by the wall. When the door opens, hold it if you have to,” then before I could stall any longer, I plunged my hand and forearm into the water.
The sensation was just like that of being tested by the mother goddess. My skin scorched instantly and I whimpered as I forced more of my hand in until I felt the slight bump of something under my hand. I jammed it hard and yanked my arm out. But the boiling water had done its damage. My hand and arm were bright red, and tiny boils broke out. I held my arm out from my body and waved it in the air, which only made the blood pulse stronger.
“Draw on me, Dirt Girl. Loam did, I know the pain will be temporary,” Peta said.
Gritting my teeth, I nodded. The pain was excruciating, and I knew now why the pool was set up that only an Undine could pass it easily. They didn’t like coming to the Pit in the first place so the likelihood of them finding this hidden place was small. But more than that, there was no way I could hide the injury from the queen. I had no doubt that was the reason behind the boiling water. How could you hide where you’d been?
The simple answer was—you couldn’t.
Peta’s energy flowed through me and I drank it down, like a bucket of ice water poured over my skin, as though her heritage in the mountains flowed through her veins into mine. The burn faded and I let go of Peta’s energy as soon as the pain was tolerable.
Peta pushed herself against me. “Fiametta will know, you should take more from me.”
“I’ll wear a long shirt,” I said. “I can’t take all your strength, Peta. I need you. And I don’t like causing you pain. How often did Loam come here?”
“Daily.” Her green eyes glittered with what I thought might have been tears, but she looked away before I could be sure.
“Ladies,” Cactus said and we both turned. He stood in a doorway that hadn’t been there only moments before.
Peta and I jogged forward and slipped through the door into the semi darkness. Cactus let go of the edge of the door and the panel behind us slid shut. A bloom of fire lit over Cactus’s hand. He moved forward and lit torches ensconced in the walls. The tiny place lit up as though we had noonday sun beating down on our heads. Bright shiny reflective panels covered the ceiling, picking up light and throwing it around with abandon.
The walls were lined with books and scrolls and the place felt . . .old. Not that it was dusty, in fact it was remarkably clean. Twenty by twenty feet across, it was by no means a large room. But there was history here, like it was the first place the mountain had given up to be used by an elemental. The age of the place seemed to settle in my lungs as I breathed, the feel of the past becoming a part of my body.
I walked to the far side of the room and put a hand on the spine of the first book that stood out. “The Divining of Souls,” I said and dropped my hand. “Not quite what we’re looking for.”
Peta nosed the books near her. “These are about controlling lava at the highest level.”
We skimmed the books, looking for something that would lead in the right direction. I froze in front of a thick book with pale leather so light, it could almost be called pink. The color isn’t what stopped me though, but the title etched into the spine as though with a rough tipped knife.
Destroying Spirit Elementals.
I pulled the book from the shelf and held it in my hand. Distant cries of terror, the beating of hear
ts slowing, the breath of a final goodbye to those they loved.
With a hard shove I jammed it back onto the shelf. Ash’s life was on the line, I needed to keep focused on that. I could always come back for the other book.
That’s what I told myself anyway.
“I think there is something here,” Cactus said, his excitement contagious. Peta and I ran to him and he held out a book at least twelve inches thick, and easily as wide. He flopped it onto the floor and opened it. The pages were so thin that the words on either side bled through and made the words difficult to read.
“Are you sure?” I frowned. A not so small part of me hoped the answers were not in it. The thing was monstrous and I doubted anyone had bothered with a table of contents, or goddess forbid, an index of some sort.
Cactus held the book up so I could read the cover. “Elemental Law.” Damn it, that was not what I wanted to see with the time we had left.
I sat beside him and started to thumb through the pages. “Look for key words like Ender or execution.”
We sat like that through most of the day, ignoring our stomachs’ demands for food or drink, ignoring the fatigue that finally caught up to me. We were halfway through the book when a bell sounded. A bell that could only mean one thing.
“The day is over,” Peta said softly, yawning. “I’m sorry, Dirt Girl, your friend will die in the morning.”
I skimmed the page I was on, the words blurring, but they were all I had left to stop the execution. This was the other option I’d sought, the fail safe that would allow me to stave off Ash’s execution.
Unable to fight the combination of the sleep spell and my own lack of sleep, I lay on the hard floor next to Peta. Cactus curled up behind me, his body a vibrant heat that soothed my aching muscles.
I clung to the two of them, knowing what I had to do when the morning came, and knowing they both would be furious with me.
But as far as I was concerned, it was the only way to save Ash, and it would buy us the time we needed. At least, I hoped it would.
CHAPTER 17
dreamed of fire and lava spilling over me as I screamed out my last breath, Peta’s eyes glowed as she laughed, and I sank under a wave of red death. Scar’s eyes glittered as Maggie tore him apart. “Save me,” he called out.
Jerking awake, I sat straight up, my heart pounding and my body covered in a fine sheet of sweat that evaporated as I slowed my breathing.
Beside me, Peta in her snow leopard form purred in her sleep, obviously her dreams were not anything like mine. Then again, she wasn’t planning what I was. Cactus lay flat on his back with his hands linked over his belly, a soft smile on his face.
I pushed myself to my feet and went back to the big book of Elemental Law. That last page was still there, the words as solid as they’d been the previous night. Carefully, I tore the page out, folding it and tucking it inside my vest. Turning back to my two companions, I clapped my hands together.
“Come on, you two, time to wake up.”
Peta yawned and stretched, sticking her butt in the air as she arched her back toward the ground. “The dawn is coming, we have to hurry if you want to say goodbye to your friend.”
I nodded, but kept my thoughts to myself. The last thing I needed was Peta or Cactus trying to stop me. We woke Cactus and the three of us left the tiny library. The tiger fountain continued to bubble and boil, and I knew I would not be able to help if they had to go back into the library. “Cactus, can you get messages out of the Pit?”
“Probably, why?”
This was the key to my plan, if we were to all get out of the Pit alive. “I need you to contact Belladonna. Tell her we need her help as an ambassador. Can you do that right now?”
He nodded. “I don’t think she’ll get here before the execution, Lark. Not even if she Travels.”
“Just go, and hurry,” I said.
His green eyes held more than a bit of suspicion as if he wondered what I was really up to. I knew because I would wonder the same thing if our roles were reversed. “Trust me, Cactus.”
“I do.” This time his kiss landed square on my lips and I kissed him back. In case I was wrong and what I was about to do would cost me my life. Which was a distinct possibility.
For a split second, he held my face. “Don’t do anything stupid, Lark.”
“Would I do that?”
“To save someone you love, yes. You would.” Still, he let me go and I watched him as he turned at the next intersection and was gone before I could say anything else.
“He knows me too well.”
“What are you doing, Dirt Girl?”
Now that he was gone, I decided to tell Peta, since she was stuck with me and the choice I made. “I’m going to confess.”
“No!” she roared and put herself in front of me, halting my moving forward, her snow leopard form big enough to physically stop me. “I will not allow it. You and I both know those Enders were killed after they were healing. You would at most have a lashing, and yet even that would kill you here in the Pit! Your death is not deserved, Larkspur. You can’t do this.” Her voice trembled and I dropped to my knees, wrapping my arms around her thick furry neck. She pressed her mouth against my collarbone, her teeth flat against my skin chattering with her emotions. Through our bond her intention was clear. To stop me no matter what it took. I hadn’t really expected her to be so firm in her conviction.
“Peta, I don’t plan to die. Belladonna will get me out of this and if I have to . . . I will fight my way out.”
She gasped against my neck and I pulled back. “I’m not like the other elementals. I won’t go down without a fight. Trust me. Please.”
“You would be banished, anathema to all who met you. Your life would be over; you would be the walking dead. For what? A single life freely given in exchange for yours?” Her mouth hung open on the last word as if she couldn’t believe the words even as she said them.
“No one will die, Peta.” The words sounded hollow in my own ears, and seemed to bounce off the walls followed by a low laugh, as though the words themselves mocked me.
I put my hand on her. “Peta.” Just her name, and she dropped her head.
Her green eyes rolled up so she could look at me. “Larkspur, please do not ask me to do this. To watch you offer up your life. You will be the thirteenth charge the mother goddess has given me. I cannot bear to watch you die, too.”
“Walk with me.” I put my hip against her shoulder and she gave way. We were close enough to the throne room that even if she refused to point out the turns, I could have found my way. The large doors beckoned and behind them I heard the rumble of voices, in particular Fiametta’s husky tone.
“Trust me to come out of this alive, Peta.”
“That is what my first Spirit charge said right before he died trying to save a friend,” she whispered and I wasn’t sure I was supposed to hear her.
I was committed though. Ash would not die.
I put my hands on the door and pushed against the sparkling firewyrm etched into the solid gold. They swung open with ease and when I stepped into the throne room, all activity stopped and every eye looked to me.
Ash was on his knees in front of Fiametta, his head bowed. Fiametta was dressed in her black Ender leathers and her hair was wild around her face, like a living flame, moving on unseen winds.
“Terraling, I thought you were going to miss your friend’s final walk,” she said as she smiled at me.
I smiled back, though it was an effort and my lips felt as if they were numb from ice. “I doubt that. Fiametta, I confess to the deaths of the four Enders and take all the consequences that will come my way as a result of this confession.” I crossed my arms and waited for a beat before I continued. “I instructed this Ender to confess in my place.”
Fiametta’s eyebrows climbed. “Truly? And why would he do that? You are the younger of the two, obviously less experienced as an Ender. Why would he listen to you?”
I drew mysel
f up to my full height and arched an eyebrow right back at her. “Because I am a princess of the Rim, and he is marked as my bodyguard.”
The entire room sucked in a sharp breath, including Peta at my side.
Ash let out a low groan. “No, Lark, do not do this.”
Fiametta stalked slowly toward me, though her voice was even and without emotion. “You think you can avoid punishment because you have royal blood? If anything, you are held to a higher standard.”
“Do you accept my confession and release Ash?”
Fiametta laughed. “No, I will not. You are a smart girl, Terraling. Very smart. You would take his place, then ask for a trial and try to find a way not to be thrown into the Pit, yes?”
I held my breath and kept my mouth shut, but still, she saw through me. Damn, maybe Belladonna wouldn’t be able to help. Fighting my way out was not something I wanted to do, but I would if I had to.
Nodding she smiled again. There wasn’t a drop of condescension in her. “You will not take his place, though I commend you for trying to save your friend. Very admirable.”
From under my vest I pulled the one sheet I’d taken from the book of Elemental Law. The thin sheet fluttered in the heat wafting through the room. I read it out loud. “It is my right as a royal of the Rim to take his place and his punishment in his stead. By law.”
Fiametta reached out and carefully took the paper from me. Her blue eyes darted as she skimmed the page. “Where did you get this?”
“It does not matter. This is law, regardless what family I would stand in.”
Fiametta lifted one hand and the lines of red flowed up her arms as she called on her element. Before she could burn the paper, I snatched it away.
Her eyes bugged out and the struggle on her face was momentary. “Come with me. Now. The rest of you wait here.”
She spun on her heel and I followed her out of sheer curiosity if nothing else. Why hadn’t she just allowed us to switch places?
Fiametta led me to her personal chamber, and when Peta moved as if to follow me in, the queen stopped her. “This is not for you, familiar. I see your hand in this; you took her to the library, giving her access that only Loam had.” She pointed at the paper I still clutched.
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