Solomon?
My prince, this is my informant, Mela.
Now I understand Jordan’s agitation on the morning when Michael came to Earth and arrested me for revealing my powers to the enemy. He had just learned that his mother was alive, but couldn’t bring himself to believe it. I see now it is true.
I nod at the woman, quickly softening my shocked stare. Hello, Mela. My eyes shift to the big angel. Sol, how did Mela come to be in Skade, and alive?
Michael and Isaac approach, but remain silent.
I was there when Mela took her last breath. I felt the presence of three Death Watchers in the room: two behind me, one further away. As I weighed up my options, Mela’s soul ejected from her corporeal body and rose to the ceiling. I spun round and took out the two behind me first, Solomon explains. When I looked for the third, I saw to my horror it was the Dark Prince himself, running off with Mela’s soul in his arms. I gave chase but he threw fire and other obstacles in my way. He proved too fast. When I returned, Mela’s empty body lay on her bed, Death Watchers gone.
He planned it all, Michael says. He exchanged Mela’s body while Death Watchers distracted you, wrapping the replacement body in a dark glamour so anyone looking would still see Mela’s image.
The significance of this human’s presence in Skade is not lost on any of us.
I offer Mela my hand. She takes it and I become aware of her warmth, her pulse, the thudding beat of her human heart. I have come to take Ebony home.
She smiles. Yes, I knew you would try. I just didn’t think you could get through the gates.
Mela, I wasn’t aware of Luca’s devious plans for the night you died. I’m sorry Solomon didn’t receive assistance in time to save you. If it’s any comfort, your son lives in my house on Mount Bungarra. I keep him as close as I can. You’ll see him soon.
Choked up, she simply nods.
Mela, will you take us to Ebony now?
There’s a secret passage directly into the king’s apartment that even he doesn’t know about. I’ll give you directions.
You’re not coming with us?
There are too many stairs. I’ll only slow you down.
Would you allow a member of my team to carry you?
She glances past me at the others, her eyes stopping on Sol, and she nods.
Go ahead, Sol.
He gently lifts Mela into his arms and, under her directions, leads us back to the circular stairwell where we run up more levels than we descended until we reach the palace’s top floor. Here Mela takes us inside a dark and narrow tunnel where she warns us to be silent.
But it’s not long before we come to a door with many bolt heads. Mela turns one near the centre and the door opens soundlessly, revealing the narrowest corridor yet. Pausing, I try to figure out why the floor is shaking. I’m just about to warn of an approaching earthquake when Shae grabs my two hands in hers and nods at me several times, her eyes telling me it’s all right. It’s then I realise it’s not the floor that’s shaking. It’s me.
The end draws near. Ebony is so close now I can almost – almost – hear her heart beating. I take a deep breath and steady myself. Shae releases my hands, and then I spot two Throne guards dressed in full armour, helmets in the crook of their elbows, waiting directly in front of a door as if to block it.
Mela?
Allies. Captains of his royal army, but my lieutenants, both of them.
I jerk my chin at the door. Where does it lead?
The royal bedroom.
I swallow hard. So that’s where I’ll find her. Unwanted images push into my mind. I squash them all as distraction could lead to a crucial error I can’t afford to make. Not now. Not when we’re so close.
As we approach, the Throne soldiers do nothing to raise the alarm. Weapons at their sides remain still. They open the door, nod at Mela and back out of our way.
Light floods in as Mela rushes through, and though there are other things I should be doing right now, when I step into the room the first thing I see – the only thing – is the bed. It’s big and luxurious, more so than I imagined in my worst nightmares, raised up on a circular platform with a red quilt across it, pillows piled at one end. Is this where Ebony laid her head at night? Did her tears soak into the silk-covered pillows? Did he lie beside her? Cradle her in his arms?
Michael’s calming hand on my shoulder helps pull my thoughts to where they should be. I drag my eyes away and continue moving through room after room until, there, looking ahead through an open doorway into a large living area, I see her. She’s standing still, watching Mela dismiss three female souls and wearing a long formal dress in black and taupe. It clings to her upper body as if painted on her skin, flowing from her hips. Her hair spirals down her back in long red-gold curls with sparkling gems running through it.
My breath catches. It’s not been a week, but Ebony has changed, become even lovelier. She’s grown up by force, her last youthful year stolen from her by an obsessed monster. Now she carries the air of eloquence she was coming into. And, by the stars, she’s arresting.
It takes a whole heartbeat for me to realise she’s wearing a wedding dress.
And suddenly everything makes sense – the crowded streets, the gathered dignitaries, the festivities in the front courtyard, the extra security. Now I understand it all.
Prince Luca plans to marry Ebony today.
Mela turns to Ebony, and they embrace like close friends. Ebony is visibly relieved to see Mela again and touches the right side of the woman’s face, her fingers timid as they travel lightly from Mela’s right eyebrow to the bottom of her chin, looking at her with awe.
But suddenly Ebony becomes aware they are not alone.
She turns slowly round and sees me. Her eyes widen and her lips part as she draws in a large breath, releasing a gasp that reshapes her mouth into an amazing smile. Blinking several times rapidly, she does nothing to stop the tears starting to trickle down her face. Then her smile collapses, and her jaw begins to tremble. She lifts a hand as if to cover her mouth, but stops it in mid-air. There is so much in her changing expressions, her eyes especially. They speak of joy, of disbelief, of stunned excitement and … and of love. Oh, there is love in those eyes. Those same eyes that have loved me for more than three thousand years haven’t changed, except, if possible, right now they hold more love in them than ever before.
Her image blurs suddenly and for a heartbeat I panic that something is happening and she’s about to disappear. A drop of moisture falls on my hand and I realise that I’m looking at her through a haze of my own tears.
She starts to run at me. I hold open my arms. She leaps into them, her force so strong I stagger backwards, but we’re together and it wouldn’t matter if we tumbled off a cliff. But my back finds the support of a wall and I lean against it as her legs fold around my waist and she buries her tear-soaked face into my neck.
‘Are you real? Am I dreaming?’ she whispers.
‘This is no dream, my love. I’ve got you now. And I’m taking you home.’
My hands reach for her legs to secure her higher, but flounder in folds of fabric. Trying again, I gather her bulky skirt up and slide my hands beneath her thighs. She moans, and her husky voice, her warm lips, her breathy, unintelligible murmuring sounds in my ear have me reeling with the need to get closer.
I smile to myself at her reaction, and hoist her up higher, shifting my hands to her back, where of their own accord they slide up to where the dress ends. Her bare skin is like silk and so warm, now I’m the one moaning in a voice I hardly recognise as my own. ‘Ebony.’
She lifts her head and our eyes connect, millimetres apart.
‘I knew you would come.’ Her words are soft as her gaze roves over my face like a drawing she’s sketching from memory.
She stops at my mouth.
I draw in a sharp breath.
Her eyes lift back up to mine, devouring me, and I can do nothing but press my mouth into hers.
Ebony meet
s my kiss with a hunger all of her own. It’s almost my undoing. If not for the others spilling out around us, and Michael’s mind-link of Steady, cousin, as he passes, I’m not sure I would remember where we are, or how urgently I need to get Ebony out of here.
There is only Ebony. There always was, and now that I have her back in my arms, there is only ever going to be Ebony in my life.
32
Ebony
I’m still inside Luca’s chambers, but in Nathaneal’s arms I’ve finally come home. He broke the seal that Luca was so damn sure no one could, and I’m so proud of him I could burst.
I knew he would come for me. And in my heart I knew he would be successful. He had to make it happen. Our love is of the kind that can’t be kept apart. The universe will somehow always find a way to ensure we’re together or risk being thrown out of balance. It’s a fact. I’m sure of it. And it’s this thought, this truth, that’s singing in my bones, in the strings of my DNA, that I cling to, because we still have to get out of Skade safely. But as long as I’m with Nathaneal, and he holds me with the assurance that he will never let anyone come between us again, I know we will prevail.
Together, we can face Luca.
We can face anything.
I’m in his arms for only a few minutes, but what minutes they are. His hands. The touch of his fingers on my back. His mouth. I may not have the memories of our time together in the spirit world like Nathaneal does, but it doesn’t mean I love him any less. This beautiful angel is my partner for all time. He is my life, my safety, my home. He makes me laugh, and I cry because of him. He makes my cells tingle and he lights my passions into raging fires. Who knows what he’s risked to be here. I only know how relieved I am, how grateful and humbled by his efforts, and those of his team.
My blood flows thick and fast with my love for him.
As the angels prepare to leave, it’s with relief I learn Mela is coming with us. She’s the rebel army’s general, and they’ll miss her, but she’s been training her top captains and lieutenants to take over. She’s done more than her fair share for the Skadean people. Her time here is over. Luca would destroy her if she stayed. And I’m so glad she’s going home to be with her son.
I slide down from Nathaneal’s hips and his fingers automatically lace through mine. He’s keeping me close. It’s what I want too. But my sister is waiting and I turn and throw myself into her waiting arms. She squeezes me, inhaling and exhaling deeply, and there’s so much relief in her eyes that guilt cuts deep into me for not acknowledging her as my sister the first time we met.
‘Sweetheart,’ Nathaneal whispers in my ear, ‘from here on I will need to carry you. Do I have your permission?’
Images of Luca, what he did to me the last few nights in his bed, fly into my thoughts. If only there was some way to scrub my memory clear like Zavier did to my inherited memories when I was an infant. But these images are too intense, too recent. I only have to close my eyes and they appear. Like now. No. No! If Nathaneal must see them, let it be at a time when I can explain. What will happen if he finds them too disturbing to live with?
But our love is strong and has endured so much already. It will endure this too.
‘Of course,’ I respond.
He scoops me up in his arms. Our eyes meet, and his overflow with compassion and pity and guilt. He has seen the images. I turn my face away, unable to hold the scrutiny of his intense blue gaze. He loosens an arm and tugs my face back with two fingers under my chin. ‘I want you to know that whatever Luca did to you in his rooms or anywhere in this entire kingdom makes no difference to how I feel about you and it never will.’
Tears sting my eyes. He leans his head down and kisses my forehead softly, gently, leaving his lips against my skin while waves of his love wash through me.
33
Nathaneal
We follow the rebel soldier Elijah back into the secret passage that runs off Luca’s bedroom. The other rebel, Lhiam, keeps watch inside the apartment and when he joins us he will hold the rear, destroying the entrances of each tunnel as we pass through. It’s a good plan. But the sound of movement through the front doors, a scream that could only belong to the Dark Prince himself, and soldiers rushing into Luca’s front rooms alert us that our plan is already in trouble. As Elijah urges us to hurry, in my arms Ebony stiffens.
The tunnel door, Shae links. We have to destroy it, Thane, before it’s too late.
But destroying that door is effectively signing the rebel Lhiam’s death warrant. I flick a glance at Elijah, whose frown is a deep V in his forehead. He glances at the door, then at me, his loyalties torn. They are brothers, Ebony shares with me in a link.
Go! I tell Elijah. He nods, and starts to make his way to the door when Lhiam bursts in, closing it behind him and urging everyone to stand back and be silent. Using the weapon at his side, he shoots blue flames, sealing the door shut.
Let’s go, let’s go! Elijah links, running to take the lead again while his brother lets me know it was Luca with General Ithran and six guards who came to escort Ebony to her nuptials but found an empty apartment instead. They will tear down all the walls to locate the escape tunnel, he says. He knows you’re here. He became incensed when he saw you had already taken Ebony. I’ve never seen him so angry.
Ebony and I share a look. She’s worried. But there’s no time for reassurances, even if I had any to give her. In silence we follow Elijah, who takes us through a series of connecting passageways and tunnels.
This pair of rebel Thrones are putting their own lives at risk to help us escape, but it’s still difficult to trust them and the reason is simple. I don’t know them. I don’t know Mela either – a human being who has lived with the Dark Prince for eight years.
I open a link with the team and Ebony, forging my doubts with Solomon first. He quickly vouches for all three.
But, Sol, how do you know they’re not leading us into a trap?
He comes up alongside me. They were part of the crew the king tasked with destroying all the internal passageways. On their own initiative, and at great personal risk, they secretly kept open one set of linking tunnels to provide an escape route should any of the rebel army find themselves compromised. And now, to help Mela and Ebony escape, they’re destroying even those.
Where does this passage lead?
To a quiet lane outside the perimeter wall on the city’s eastern side.
Outside the wall? I check, as this would put us in a decidedly advantageous position.
Solomon nods and grins at me before moving back into position.
I glance down at Ebony. What do you think?
I had the chance to search Elijah’s eyes for the truth. He is loyal to the rebel cause and to his own soul. He detests having to live under King Luca’s rule. He’s very close to his brother and I trust them both.
We come to a circular stairwell and descend to the lowest level. With some of my team behind me, some in front, Elijah stops at the exit and checks the lane through a pinhole viewer in the door.
And then he swears viciously under his breath. The news is not good.
Prodigies and Dominion soldiers have set up outside in numbers too large to count. There are troops on the ground, snipers on rooftops armed with all manner of weaponry, he reports.
Is there another way out? I ask, setting Ebony down on her feet for now, but keeping a firm grip on her hand.
Elijah remains quiet for a moment. My prince, there is another way, but it’s risky.
Explain, Captain.
Lhiam and I walk you all straight out the front doors, into the crowd and across the festivities to the perimeter wall, where you will then fly to the gates.
But that’s insane, Jerome hisses. It will never work.
Shae says, Prince Luca will have every street exit covered by now, not just this one. Maybe descending into a courtyard of thousands of excited Skadean citizens is not such a bad idea.
What of Luca’s private courtyard? Ebony forges with
slow careful direction of her thoughts.
Lhiam says, He knows you’ve seen it, my lady. By now he will have it closely monitored.
Elijah elaborates: The king knows you’re here. He’ll have soldiers coming in from all around to find you. To stop you. There’ll be soldiers in all the courtyards keeping watch for you too, but in Skade crowds can turn volatile at the flick of an eyebrow, a misconstrued passing look, a drink not poured to the brim. If needed, a distraction is something my brother and I can easily arrange.
Isaac rubs his jaw. To walk through the crowd in that front courtyard is brazen. But we’re trapped if we stay here, and considering our precious cargo, it’s certain annihilation if Luca catches us. We have to try something.
Shae agrees. Let’s do it.
Soloman shakes his head. What’s up with everyone? We’ve faced worse odds. At least we know what’s waiting for us in the lane outside. And we have two back-up teams ready at our signal. We should go out fighting.
Sami?
Stay and fight.
Tash, your thoughts?
Courtyard.
Elijah peers outside again and comes to stand on the step below me so we are face to face. Flying is banned in airspace directly above the palace. You need to know this if you elect the front courtyard exit. You would have to make it undetected to the perimeter wall on foot before you take to the air, or risk a soldier shooting you down.
Michael?
The front courtyard could work as long we appear to fit in.
I can take care of that, Elijah says.
I run my hand around the back of my neck. The decision to follow this rebel soldier’s instructions carries enormous consequences should it be the wrong choice. I’ve made so many mistakes in these past few months; can I continue to trust instincts that have let me down so much? But, in retrospect, my decisions have not all had negative results.
I study Elijah standing before me with his eyes clear and open and waiting for my command. These rebel brothers were born and raised in Skade. Luca didn’t give them a choice to live anywhere but here in the capital. If it were up to me, this would be reason enough to give someone a second chance, just as I did Jordan, who had no Guardian to help him find his way. But it’s also reason not to trust them.