Page 93 of The First Spark
Tears swam in her vision. Her lip wobbled as she desperately searched his face. This was not the man she knew. Mylis was—Mylis wasgood, and—andkind.
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.
