Page 77 of Ignited

They’d expected this; Bro put the gun back into the van. Riker nodded to one of the soldiers with him, and she reached down with a knife and cut the bonds on Karisma’s feet, then dragged her out of the van. Another soldier came up on Karisma’s other side and they pulled her upright, each taking a firm grip on one of her arms.

The other two soldiers kept their weapons trained on Bro. Riker led the way.

They walked through a set of wrought iron gates and up the graveled driveway. It was dark, with only the soldiers’ flashlights to light the way, so Karisma only caught a vague impression of a dark, hulking structure that really did seem to be built right into a cliff.

Instead of going up the wide steps to the front door, they walked around to the side of the staircase, where there was another wrought iron gate and a smaller set of steps leading down. Kind of like those old London townhouses she’d seen pictures of, that had a delivery entrance under the front stairs, leading to a basement kitchen.

Which was exactly what this seemed to be. Except they went past the kitchen, down a long stone-flagged hallway that seemed to lead straight into the cliff, and then down another set of stone stairs to a set of carved wooden doors. It was like a smaller version of the entrance to Thanatos’ underground room.

What was it with sorcerers and dank underground spaces? It was like living inside your own grave.

Riker placed his hand on one of the doors, where a knob should have been. The doors swung open.

Karisma had expected a normal-shaped room like the one Thanatos had, except on a smaller scale.

But instead there was a short entryway leading into a room that looked more like a manmade cave—a perfect half-sphere about thirty feet across and fifteen feet high. And in the middle was something she should have anticipated, but somehow hadn’t—and it brought back a rush of memories that made bile rise in the back of her throat.

Maximilian, sitting with his eyes closed in a velvet chair in the center of the room, surrounded by magic. For a moment she almost didn’t recognize him—the handsome, vital man she’d known looked thin and old and desiccated, as if he’d been sitting in that chair for years, turning slowly into a mummy.

And his wizened face had a deep scar across it. Go Boomer.

On his head was some kind of bizarre helmet, embedded with a crystal ball the size of a grapefruit. It glowed a dark, dull red, and was cracked and pitted.

In a ten-foot circle around him, six crystal discs floated in the air, glowing with bright magic. Balanced on three of them were upside-down tripods of crystal rods, each with a crystal sphere cradled in it.

The first three parts of the Orb of Thekate. She’d never forget them as long as she lived. The crystal spheres had tiny flames dancing in the centers: blue, green, and gold, with arcs of magical light arching from them to the helmet. The arcs started out from the spheres the same color as the flames, but turned gradually to that dull red as they got closer to the helmet.

The gold flame was almost out; the blue one burned bright. And the green one…

The green one was hers.

The piece of herself that Maximilian had stolen from her. He was still feeding off it, all these years later.

Still feeding off of her.

A snarl rose up in her. “You fucking bastard,” she spat out.

His eyes opened. These she recognized; these were the same. A dark, intense gray, full of passion—and not a hint of love or pity.

“Karisma.” It was almost a purr. “My dear. I’ve been waiting for you.” She wanted to vomit.

Then he turned his head slowly towards Riker. “I trust you’ve finally fulfilled your mission?”

“I have, my Lord.”

For fuck’s sake. Thanatos was an arrogant bastard, but at least he didn’t try to make the wolves call him my Lord. She could imagine Boomer’s reaction to that.

Maximilian said, “Bring me the box.” Bro held it out to Riker, smirking.

Riker hesitated before taking it. “The wolf claims there’s a fail-safe mechanism on it, set to explode if anyone but him opens it.”

“Then don’t open it.”

Riker took the box carefully and stepped into the circle, carrying away the three sections of the Orb Karisma had gathered in the last ten years, at such huge cost and sacrifice.

Maximilian took the box, held his hand over it, muttered a spell, and frowned. “There is no trap on this box.”

Riker said defensively, “He said there was.”