“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’swhy. 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.”
