Immortal Reign (Falling Kingdoms #6)(99)

The main gates themselves were coated in flames. Cleo could feel the painful, intense heat even thirty paces away, as if she’d stepped close to the face of the sun itself. Enzo’s horse wouldn’t take another step toward it, bucking in protest until they finally had to dismount it.

There were no sentries stationed above the fiery gate or to the sides of it.

“How do we get inside?” she asked.

Just as she spoke the words, the gates opened all on their own, allowing entry into the city.

As the flames parted, Cleo saw someone waiting for them. Lucia’s long, raven-black hair blew away from her face.

“Don’t worry,” she called out to them. “I won’t let the fire burn you.”

“Lucia . . .” Cleo said, stunned.

“Welcome,” Lucia said, spreading her arms. She wore a plain black cloak that bore no embroidery or adornments at all. “It’s nice of you to finally show up. I’ve been waiting here for a while.”

She sounded so calm and collected, as if this weren’t a nightmare come to life.

“You’re helping him,” Cleo said, the words painful in her throat.

“He has Lyssa,” Lucia replied simply. “He won’t show her to me, won’t confirm that she’s fine. But he has her. And therefore, he has me as well. It’s as simple as that.”

Cleo wrung her hands as she walked through the entrance and into the city. Enzo stayed at her side. True to Lucia’s promise, they didn’t feel the heat of the flames anymore, even though the opened gates still burned.

Cleo hadn’t seen Lyssa at the temple. Perhaps she should have demanded that Kyan show her the baby to ensure her safety. Instead, she’d been too focused on her own well-being.

She could have prevented all this.

“You . . .” Lucia addressed Enzo. “You’ve done what Kyan asked of you. Now leave us to speak in private.”

“I won’t go,” Enzo said gruffly. “I will protect the princess from anyone who means her harm.”

“That certainly must be a long list by now. I’ll say it again: Go away.” Lucia flicked her hand, and Enzo staggered back toward the flames.

“Stop it,” Cleo snapped. “Don’t hurt him!”

Lucia raised a brow. “If he does what I say, he won’t come to further harm.”

“Princess . . .” Enzo said, his voice pained.

Cleo’s heart pounded. “Go, do as she says. I’ll be fine.”

They both knew it was a lie. But Enzo nodded, turned, and walked directly toward the palace along the main pathway to the entrance.

“Come with me,” Lucia said. “We’ll take the long way.”

“Why?” Cleo asked. “Doesn’t Kyan want to know I’m here?”

“Just follow me.” Lucia turned away from Cleo and strode in the opposite direction from Enzo.

Cleo forced herself to move. She had to be brave.

Finally, the water Kindred said from within her. This long and tiresome journey is almost at an end.

Not if I have any say in the matter, Cleo thought fiercely.

She followed Lucia along the city’s main concourse. Tiled with sparkling stones, the concourse was usually filled with citizens going about their daily business. With carriages and wagons bringing both guests and wares to the many businesses and the palace itself. Its emptiness was so eerie, Cleo felt a shiver run up her spine.

“Please! Please help us!”

Cleo froze at the mournful sound of cries coming from a deep pit in the ground ten paces away, at the edge of a grassy garden.

Legs stiff, she moved to the side of it and looked down at thirty faces looking up. Her heart wrenched.

“Princess!” The trapped Auranians reached up toward her. “Please help us!”

“Save us!”

Cleo staggered back from the side, her breath now coming in gulps as she tried not to allow her fear and desperation to overwhelm her. “Lucia,” Cleo barely managed to speak. “You have to help them.”

“I can’t.”

A sob rose in Cleo’s throat, but she refused to let it out.

Lucia might be helping Kyan in order to save her daughter, but at what cost? Thousands of people called this city their home. Countless others would be visiting for the day.

Kyan would kill them all.

“You can!” Cleo insisted.

“Trust me, they’re safer in there than anywhere else.” Lucia’s expression was grim. “Kyan arrived in this city in a foul mood. He burned fifty citizens in a single burst of his fire before Olivia created pits like this.”

Cleo stifled a gasp. Kyan’s foul mood was surely because she’d run away from the temple. And now fifty citizens were dead.

She tried to find her voice in the face of this realization. “Olivia is trying to help?”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Lucia exhaled shakily. “I think she’s simply trying to keep Kyan from becoming distracted from the task at hand.”

“Which is?”

“Kyan wants me to perform the ritual again,” Lucia told her.

“The ritual?” Cleo repeated. “No. Lucia, no! You have to listen to me. You can’t do this.”

“I have no choice.”

“You do have a choice. I can help you defeat him.”