The First Spark (Dynasty of Fire Book 1), page 21
Kalie pressed her hand to her mouth.
As Uncle Jerran’s face flushed a livid shade of red, a murmur rippled through the crowd. On the balcony, the nobles gazed at Iliana with sympathy.
Mylis’s grip tightened on his pulser.
“It was many months,” Iliana mumbled, “until I found out I was on Titan. By then, I knew no one was coming. I was told my mother took her own life weeks after I was captured. The guard’s exact words were, ‘the bitch has finally offed herself.’”
“Enough!” Uncle Jerran roared, marching towards her. “You will leave, now, and never show your face here again. Lies! All lies!”
Kalie shivered. Judging by his initial reaction, they weren’t lies at all.
Iliana raised her nose high in the air, cold and imperious. Her resemblance to Mother was uncanny. “The day has passed when I listened to you, Uncle Jerran. I made that mistake once. It’ll never happen again.”
Kalie’s lip wobbled as Uncle Jerran limped towards her. His face was drawn, his posture stooped.
Mylis stepped away, taking his hand off his pulser.
The birds had stopped chirping. The nobles had stopped shouting, and the crowd below had gone utterly silent. Rays of golden sunlight crept over them, but Kalie couldn’t tear her gaze from Uncle Jerran long enough to see where they’d landed. She already knew they’d fallen on the emaciated woman standing behind her.
Her aunt, whom he’d betrayed.
“Is it true?”
His throat bobbed. “Not entirely. Kalista, I…” He reached for her, and she flinched away. “Please, there’s more to the story—”
“I can’t believe it,” Kalie breathed.
The people imprisoned on the Dalian moon Titan were those so wicked they would never see the light of day. The prisoners faced the worst abuses imaginable, and Uncle Jerran had sent his innocent niece to rot there.
A niece who’d been her age.
She took a step away from him, and hurt flashed in his eyes. “Kalista, she’s dangerous. Your mother—”
“I’m sure this will come as a blow, dear,” Iliana crooned. “I once looked up to him the way you do, and I’m sure he’s manipulated you the way he manipulated my sisters and I. But I’m afraid I cannot recognize your rule. My bloodright is stronger than yours.”
Kalie stopped breathing. She wanted the crown.
Ten steps separated them, but her aunt’s voice seemed far away. “I’m my mother’s firstborn, and unlike you and your mother, I’m a full-blooded Dalian. If you turn the crown over to me, I’ll name you my heir. I’m past the age to have my own.”
“A trap,” Uncle Jerran babbled, “Kain… Caira almost died…”
Kalie trembled. All eyes were on her.
“And…” Her voice rasped against her sandpaper throat. “If I refuse?”
“Then I will take what is mine.” Iliana tipped her head towards the traitorous guards. “You should accept my offer, Kalista. It is far more generous than the alternative.”
Kalie swallowed painfully. She was cornered. Her guards were working for Iliana, and the forcefield was active; no one could get in or out. Vale had insisted on the forcefield. He’d insisted on not bringing in the Skyforce. He must’ve planned to betray her all along.
She was trapped.
By doing this publicly, Iliana had ensured her story couldn’t be covered up.
Her options were simple: surrender the crown and live, or fight for it and die.
The sapphire crown sparkled on its pedestal. It promised the power to create change. It was Aunt Calida’s legacy. Her legacy. She was meant to wear it, not some vengeful stranger.
Iliana’s eyes narrowed. “I won’t wait forever.”
“Listen to me.” Uncle Jerran’s clammy hand gripped hers. Kalie tried to jerk away, but he held tight. “You can’t trust her, Calida made that mistake—”
One of Iliana’s men aimed his pulser at Uncle Jerran’s skull. “Not another word.”
Kalie’s heart thumped as she looked from the crown, to Uncle Jerran, to Mylis. They were all she had left. Aunt Calida, Lexie, and Ariah were gone. Ariah had died so she could claim the crown and make things right. To give it up wouldn’t just betray her, it would betray them all.
She took a ragged breath. Released it.
“I refuse to surrender my crown.”
Taking a step back, Iliana bowed her head. “So be it.”
Ancient glass windows shattered, the forcefield flickered, and an army of men on jetpacks broke through, opening fire.
Dali, Sector 4
Decemmensis-29, 817 cycles A.F.C.
Shards of glass rained down as the forcefield returned. Terrified screams rang in Kalie’s ears, but the bodies were falling too fast to keep up. A woman nearby shrieked and crumpled. Carmine liquid pooled at her temple.
Oh, gods, what had she done?
There wasn’t time to think about it. Lasers were flying.
Kalie’s heart leapt into her throat as she hit the ground. A million stabbing pains pierced her skin. A sharper, keener pain tore at her cheek, and she threw her arms up to shield her head. Blood trickled down her face. Shards of crystal littered the ground around her.
The crown glittered on its pedestal.
As lasers streaked across the platform, Kalie dodged a blast and slipped between two guards. Hitching up her gown, she sprinted past the throne—
“Not another step.”
She froze a few feet from the pedestal with her hand outstretched. The barrel of Vale’s pulser pointed at her. Her stiff limbs were locked in place, but her eyes flicked to the crown.
“Stop. It’s over.”
Cries pierced the bright morning air. Clouds of smoke billowed past, and the acrid stench made nausea roil in her stomach. The cloying, metallic odor of blood was everywhere, as overpowering as the shrill screams and distant bellows of fear.
As Kalie’s arm fell to her side, her fingertips brushed against the pedestal.
Vale motioned for her to raise her hands.
“Why?” she whispered, trembling.
“Why?” Vale’s face twisted, but his pulser didn’t waver. “My daughter was ten when your father’s troops killed her. That’s why. And now—now, he’ll know how it feels.”
A choked sob ripped from Kalie’s throat.
There was a final moment where she saw everything. Red lasers rained down on the platform as airborne troops descended. Beyond them, blasts cut down the last of her guards. Tears blurred her vision, but she was sure she’d be able to make out Mylis anywhere. He wasn’t anywhere.
A soldier shoved Uncle Jerran to his knees.
The noxious odor of smoke and the sickening scent of blood caught up with her as she stood there, paralyzed, with muffled shouts ringing in her ears.
The guard raised his pulser and struck Uncle Jerran’s skull.
He hit the floor with a thud. Kalie gasped.
Time careened forward impossibly fast. As Vale’s finger tightened around the trigger, Kalie squeezed her eyes shut.
A thunderous boom made her eyes fly open.
Fire—the warplanes guarding the bridge spiraled out of the sky.
Shadow—a ship hovered above them.
Its ramp lowered. On it—Zane.
Vale had turned. So had Iliana.
Kalie was already running, even before Zane bellowed, “Go!”
She leapt over corpses, bounding towards the control box. She could lower the forcefield, then—
A warplane’s red laser struck the stone in front of her. She stumbled. Something burned her side, and she cried out as she staggered towards the silver panel. Another flash. Pain scalded her thigh. Guards flew towards her, and warplanes fired on Zane.
Kalie leapt over a pile of glass. Faster. Faster.
As she slammed her fist down on the control box, the forcefield shimmered and dissolved.
Gasping, she spun towards Zane.
Her eyes landed on Mylis.
And the barrel of a pulser, pointing at her head.
“But…” Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Tremors rocked her body as her gaze rose from the pulser to a navy blue sleeve, to messy brown hair, to stony eyes. “But… you… you were…”
Mylis shrugged. “Hedging my bets.”
Tears swam in her vision. Her lip wobbled as she desperately searched his face. This was not the man she knew. Mylis was—Mylis was good, and—and kind.
Wave after wave of hard air slammed into her, pushed from Zane’s flaming ship as warplanes chased him away.
Her knees nearly gave out.
“Always play the long game.” Mylis’s voice was cruel, and his lips twisted bitterly. “Your uncle taught me that.”
A mortelle reference. Kalie didn’t know whether to laugh hysterically or sob. He was pointing a pulser at her, and he made one of Uncle Jerran’s gods-damned mortelle references.
Mylis jerked his head towards Uncle Jerran’s prone form. “What’ll happen to him?”
“He’ll be tried and executed,” Iliana said, gliding towards them.
His face hardened. “Good.”
“Good?” Kalie sputtered. “Good? He saved you!”
“And why did I need to be saved?” Mylis stomped towards her. His pulser shook in his hand, and she flinched away. “My childhood was a living hell. He only came for me when he needed a pawn, and the minute I was no longer useful to him, he left me in prison and walked away.”
Tears poured down Kalie’s face. “He always cared about you.”
Mylis scoffed. “Your Majesty, I’m at your command.”
“So much like your father,” Iliana mused. The crown glittered atop her wild black hair, and fire raged in Kalie’s heart. “I’m sure you’d be delighted to pull the trigger…”
Kalie stopped breathing.
Zane’s ship was a distant shadow. No one was coming.
“But I have no desire to become my uncle.” With an outstretched hand, Iliana stepped towards her. Mylis’s hand twitched on the pulser. “I meant what I said. You could be my heir, Kalista. I’ve always wanted a daughter.”
“Go to hell.”
The creases on Iliana’s ghostly face deepened. “So much fire for a throne you don’t even want. Is it not your dream to travel the stars? Do you not wish to be free of this court? I’m the key that’ll set you free—and return something you lost.”
Chills crept through Kalie.
“You lost something very important to you. A piece of you, if you will. Something I have the power to return.”
“Enough riddles,” Kalie spat, shaking. “What are you talking about?”
“Does the name—”
Screaming.
She whipped towards the noise, but a flash of light blinded her. On instinct, she hit the ground. Gasping, she blinked spots from her vision. Billowing clouds of smoke stung her eyes and burned her nose.
Zane’s ship was back.
“Come on!” he roared.
Lunging to her feet, she ran. Blasts streaked after her.
Kalie picked up speed as the ship lifted away. She vaulted over a body, but she didn’t stop to look. She couldn’t. Shadows were descending from the sky. Warplanes. She barreled towards the ledge and jumped.
Her heart stopped as her feet lifted off the ground.
A shrill scream tore from her mouth. She flailed helplessly, crashing through the air.
A hand caught her wrist.
She looked up.
Strain contorted Zane’s features. His arms were stretched as far as they’d go; one clung to a metal pole, one gripped her wrist. A forcefield fizzled to life around the boarding ramp, pummeled by bright lasers.
Zane’s mouth formed words, but she couldn’t hear them.
They rose higher. Her sweaty wrist slid from Zane’s grip. A vicious hurricane whipped around them, slamming her against the ramp’s metal edge. Kalie screamed as her ribs cracked.
Azura, Mother above, please.
Zane screamed soundlessly. His grip reached the heel of her hand. Any second, she was going to fall.
So she swung.
Her fingertips barely grazed the edge of the ramp, but she had it.
Kalie gasped for air. The stench of gasoline knocked into her like a brick wall. She spluttered, and the metal slipped from her fingertips. Scrabbling for purchase, she dug her fingers into a groove between the metal plates. Then she pulled.
Her fingers were crushed between the plates, but she hauled herself up. Zane’s grip on her other wrist tightened. She strained her muscles as he tugged on her arm, dragging her up, until she collapsed on the ramp. The metal plates tipped upwards, folding into the hull. She crashed onto the steel floor inside. Zane landed on top of her, crushing the air out of her lungs.
The ramp clicked into place.
Violent blasts rocked the ship, but Zane was already racing into the cockpit.
Kalie rolled onto her back. Her chest heaved as she struggled for air. Every gasping breath brought an inferno of pain.
Alarms wailed. Thrusters sputtered.
She couldn’t stop yet.
Pushing herself up, she staggered into the cockpit.
“Holy Azura,” she breathed.
Radars wailed, and red screens flashed. The forcefields were down. Smoke gushed from a hole torn into the metal as Zane wrestled with the controls, swearing like a drunken sailor.
Dropping into the seat beside him, Kalie fumbled at the harness with half-numb fingers.
Warplanes streaked past them, leaving puffy white jet streams in their wake. Zane let go of the sticks and squeezed the cannon’s trigger. Direct hit. Without his hands on the controls, their ship veered down, down, down, through a shower of scrap. He caught the sticks. Kalie’s stomach lurched as he pulled the ship up, pointing the nose towards the sky.
He let go and slid the controls to her.
“You fly,” Zane thundered, “or we die!”
Kalie’s pulse pounded in her ears as she stared at the vibrating control sticks. With a trigger in each hand, Zane fired the booming cannons. Warplanes exploded, but a blast slammed into the hull and they spiraled down.
She grabbed the sticks. She barely felt her arms, and the levers quivered in her grip, but she used all her strength and tugged. The forests below the viewport disappeared as the ship pulled up, revealing a bright sky peppered with lasers. Explosions erupted like fireworks.
She glanced at the flashing radar. Warplanes loomed behind them, explosions ahead of them.
“Where?” she cried, as another blast rocked the ship.
“Anywhere but here!”
Kalie gasped for air. There was nowhere to go, no one to trust.
As they shot into the sky, her eyes landed on a metal ring floating beyond the clouds.
She pulled the sticks towards herself until the nose of the ship pointed high into the sky, then she shoved them forward.
They shot into the air at a near-vertical tilt.
Gravity pressed against her, peeling back her lips and keeping her pinned to the backrest. Cannons boomed, and warplane artillery shrieked. Zane bellowed curses. Smoke and fire danced through the sky, wind screamed, and blast after blast battered the ship’s thick metal walls.
Kalie shut it all out.
She lost track of Zane, of the warplanes, of everything but the levers she was forcing forward as far as they would go.
The levers clicked, capping out at max speed. She kept pushing into the sky. Metal groaned. Alarms screeched. Fires ignited on the viewport’s edges, curling around the corners and licking down the sides of the ship. The blaze swept across the viewport, snapping and hissing.
Still, Kalie strained, pressing all her weight against the levers.
They crashed through the clouds, through a faint blue haze, into the fathomless darkness of space. Warnings trilled from the radar. Lighting down, navigation down, fire suppression down, shields down, engines and thrusters on override. She clenched her teeth and kept barrelling forward.
Her pulse thundered.
This had to work. It had to.
The stargate loomed in the distance, a circular behemoth of shining metal. Kalie’s heart dropped. The ring’s center was dark and inactive.
The transceiver crackled. “Incoming shuttle—”
“Override code four-four-two-six!” Kalie bellowed. “Four-four-two-six!”
The overtaxed levers clenched in her fists pushed back against her. She didn’t let up. The gate was inactive, so shooting through it wouldn’t send her anywhere, but she had to hope. It was a desperate chance. It was her only chance.
Breathless seconds passed, and the gate stayed empty.
Flickering blue light sparked in the core. Kalie’s heart leapt into her throat.
The pulsing light crackled outward, expanding into a teal ring within the stargate. Blue lights led away from the other side like a tunnel.
The gate was opening.
Warplanes screamed after them. As Kalie closed her eyes and pushed into the ring of light, they collided with the blinding aura.
Spots swam in the white light consuming her vision. Something boomed, and their ship shuddered as they made the jump.
“Close the gate!”
Though her lips formed the words, the ringing in her ears drowned out her voice. She cracked her eyes open. A fathomless white void surrounded her.
Sputtering vibrations shot through her legs. The control sticks spasmed and went limp in her hands. Blood rushed in her ears as she blindly fumbled with the controls, searching for an anchor, something to orient her in the unseen room. Hot metal met her fingertips. A ridge, a button, a cool glass screen. But no images, no sight.
Pain blossomed in her chest as she struggled for air.
Her lips moved. Zane. The sound didn’t reach her ears.
A warm palm covered the back of her hand.
It could’ve been seconds. It could’ve been hours. Slowly, spots appeared in her vision. They danced through the white void before zipping away, taking holes of light with them. Dark, endless space appeared through those little windows, growing until the white light was just an aura at the edges of her vision.
