Firestorm

“Ash, ask for a trial. It will slow things and give me time.” I tipped my head to the side.

“You can’t do that,” Peta said, “he didn’t ask for one in the beginning. He can’t go back now.”

Damn the Salamanders and their rules.

I started to back up. “I’m not giving up, Ash. “

The smile that flickered on his lips was all I needed. I stepped forward, cupped his face and kissed him. The heat between our mouths shot straight through me, warming me like nothing in the Pit had, not even the heat of the lava compared. I felt a need in him as our lips pressed against each other, as strong as there was a need in me to be assured we were together in this chaotic world. That even when everything else went to hell, we had each other.

I found myself clinging to him. No matter what happened, I couldn’t lose him. I pulled back a little and rested my forehead against his as I caught my breath and my heart raced.

“For luck,” I said.

“I doubt you will need luck,” he whispered against my mouth.

Peta cleared her throat. “We must leave now.”

I stepped back from Ash, spun and jogged out of the dungeon, trying not to think about that toe-curling kiss and the depth of emotion in it. I slipped through the doors as Fiametta’s two Enders shut them.

But the queen was nowhere to be seen. I glanced around the room. “Looks like our conversation is done.”

The Enders said nothing but I noticed they glared as they walked away. I couldn’t resist. I lifted my hand and waved. “Say hello to Maggie for me.”

The one on the left, the one who’d answered Fiametta’s question stopped moving and his buddy smacked him on the arm. “Let it go. The queen will fry her ass before the week is out. You know that.”

He grunted, put all four fingers to his neck and slid them across. “You’re dead, Terraling. You will not see the start of the new moon.”

I shrugged as if his words didn’t bother me. “Fiametta is not the first ruler to threaten me. The funny thing is, I’m still here, and those who threatened me . . . not so much.”

The Enders spun away and I stood, breathing hard. “You think they were telling the truth? Do you think Fiametta is playing me?”

“What do your instincts tell you?”

I drew in a slow breath as if tasting the air around us. “That nothing is as it seems here, any more than the Deep showed us its true colors until the very end. And that makes me nervous.”

There was no way I could prove the Enders didn’t die as a result of my weapons without the paperwork the cloaked one stole from me. No way I could show someone else ended their lives.

But how was I going to get Ash out? I paced the throne room, fatigue from the long night slowly creeping over me but I refused to give in. I had very little time to prove Ash was innocent.

Everything here in the Pit was about rules. . . that might be the answer I was looking for.

I stopped in the middle of the room. “The rules here are strict, Peta. And everyone follows them to the letter. Is there a place, like a library where I can look for maybe a loophole? Some way we can get Ash out?”

She shook her head hard enough that I thought she would fall off my shoulder. “No libraries here.”

The lie was heavy between us and her eyes met mine. She blinked slowly several times. “I think we should go see your friend Cactus. He has some plants I’d like to taste.”

It took me a good twenty seconds to realize she was afraid to talk here, so close to the queen’s quarters.

So close to the place we’d be tossed and forgotten about if we stepped out of line.

“Fine, let’s get you some greenery, you nutty cat.”

CHAPTER 15

Peta pointed out where I was to turn at each intersection and not once did we run into anyone. It took my sleep-deprived brain the whole walk to figure out something was not quite right. “How long before Fiametta wakes everyone else?”

“They should be awake by now,” Peta said, “all the sconces are lit. I don’t know why no one else is up. This has been happening more and more. Sleep is hanging onto people instead of leaving when it should.”

Odd, but not necessarily bad. It meant I didn’t have to explain to anyone what I was doing without a guide deep within the tunnels. Even with Peta on my shoulder I had no doubt I’d be stopped and dragged to the queen.

Again.

I stumbled over my own feet, my limbs dragging with fatigue. Peta gave a soft chirping noise. “We’re almost there.”

A few more steps, one last corner and we were in the main living area cavern. Daylight streamed through the light tubes and I guessed we were on our way to mid-morning. But still no one walked about, no children laughing and playing, no women doing laundry or cleaning.

A shiver ran down the length of my spine and I stopped and stared across the cavern. The only noise was of the bubbling lava river as it flowed in its winding curve.

I forced myself into a jog, my long legs eating up the distance between the bridge and us. While I didn’t want to jostle Peta, I also didn’t want to dawdle. Around us I felt the air tensing, like the very breath in the caves was being held; waiting for something inevitable to happen.

I really didn’t want to find out what that event was going to be. Unfortunately for me, I was not to be so lucky.

When standing in the middle of the bridge, the structure groaned and Peta gasped. I didn’t wait to see what the hell was going on but leapt for all I was worth for the far side.