Rootbound

“Nothing.” I waved him off. “Keep going.”

He gave me a look but said nothing more. “How do you want to do this?”

I swiped at my face, wiping the sweat from my eyes. “How well does she trust you? At all? Can you get close to her?”

“Closer than you,” he said. “Maybe ten or fifteen feet.”

I nodded. “I want you to do that. Get as close as you can and be ready to tackle her.”

“And get the ring.”

I nodded. “Toss it to me immediately. You can be controlled through it.” The last thing I needed was for Flint to put the ring on and make it so I had to deal with him too.

“Lava piss, then I was right? I’d hoped . . .”

I nodded. “Yes. But if she’s used the ring a lot, her mind will be chewed up. Just like Cassava.” I hadn’t meant to say that last bit.

He opened his mouth, but I beat him to it.

“Yes. She had a ring like the one your mother is wearing.” A ring I’d buried in the bottom of Griffin’s hut years ago. I swallowed hard, suddenly realizing I’d not checked to make sure it resided there still. Worm shit, I forgot to grab it before I left the Rim, but in the grief of having to end my father’s life, it had slipped my mind.

One thing at a time. I would go back for the pink diamond at the end of the journey. There was no way Blackbird would find it.

We reached the end of the tunnel we were in and Flint held out his hand to stop me. He put a finger to his lips and peered around the edge. His whole body stiffened. I hurried to his side and looked out.

The main floor of the living area was a wide plateau, and in the center was a living oasis I’d created with Cactus’s help. That had been my gift to Fiametta and the Salamanders before I’d left.

Where it had stood was a monstrous fire that licked the ceiling of the cavern, thick black smoke filling the room. The fire crackled and hummed, happily destroying every living thing in its path.

“She has everyone here,” Flint said quietly. I put a hand on his arm.

“Where is her familiar?” Fiametta had had a black panther named Jag as her familiar the last time I’d been in the Pit. I’d hoped she would listen more to his advice, but it looked like he was being ignored once more.

“She killed him,” Flint said, his voice flat.

Holy hell on fire, she was as lost as my father. I could not understand how either of them had the ability to kill their familiars. The thought of Peta dying had sent my mind into a state of sheer panic, but to be the one who’d killed her? What had that done to Fiametta when she realized she was the hand of death? I remembered all too clear my father’s attempt to destroy the Spiral and the Rim.

There were more children than Flint who belonged to Fiametta. I didn’t want to ask, but I made myself spit the question out. “And your younger siblings?”

He shook his head and his eyes blurred. “She sent me to the Rim. She knew I was interested in Bella. When I came back they were buried . . . I should have been here, Lark. I could have stopped her.”

“Why would she send you away?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them once more. “I have always led her to believe I am weak, uninterested in the throne. She has believed me all these years. The others openly spoke of being the ruler one day. It . . . saved me, even while it damned my brothers and sister. If I had known what she was about, I would have taken them with me and left them in the Rim, come back and faced her on my own.”

I put a hand on his shoulder, feeling the loss of Bramley and understanding all too well the desire to protect your siblings—and failing.

“I doubt that. You would have died too and then where would your people be? You are here now. We can make this right. Or as right as is possible.” Goddess, I hoped we could. “What are the chances we’re going to make this happen without a full-on war? You know her mental state, if she killed her own familiar and children . . .”

He drew in a slow breath. “I think we will have to kill her. I don’t see her backing down, or seeing any sense.”

That was what I was afraid of. “And are you ready to lead your people if that happens?”

He nodded. “I am.”

“And marry my sister, uniting two families?”

His eyes widened. “Pushy much?”

I tightened my hand on him. “For her? Yes.”

He grinned. “Yes, I plan on it. She and I will change things.”

I nodded. “Good enough for me. I want you to go to the other side of the plateau, get your mother’s attention and keep it. I’m going to hit her from behind.”

Flint clapped me on the back, turned and disappeared into the tunnel we’d just left. I crept out and onto the ledge. Shimmying down the rock face, I dropped to the main floor with a soft thud. No one looked back at me. So far so good.

Fiametta was yelling at someone, and though I couldn’t hear the words, I knew it wasn’t good. The tone was that deadly mixture of anger and calculation that only she had, of fire and ice that made you want to shiver and melt away at the same time.

I hurried along the curve of the room until I was as close as I could get without exposing myself. Crouching next to the edge of one of the living quarters, I peeked around, trying to get a look without being seen myself.

Fiametta strode back and forth in front of her people; I could only catch glimpses of her.

“Time and again, I’ve protected you, and what do I get for it? Suspicion, my own people plotting against me, my own son defying my commands!” Her deep red hair flew behind her, she strode so fast. “And then, a spy is sent, a spy that tried to use my love for him against me.”