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Lucienne glanced at Vladimir with a rueful smile. She was trained to be a shark. “Be a predator, never prey,” Jed often told her. But she was the shark that always worked to make bloodshed the last resort. Vladimir gazed at her with approval before fixing his hard stare on the guards. “Sun Tzu once said, ‘The best victory is to win without fighting, without spilling blood,’” he said.

Lucienne squeezed his hand in appreciation before turning to the king. “We’re the good guys. If the bad guys come, innocent blood will spill on your lovely streets.” She called to the screen, “Miss Wen?”

Ziyi’s animated eyes lined with heavy blue mascara replaced the graphic pictures on the screen. “Yes, Your Majesty,” she greeted. Lucienne almost rolled her eyes. Ziyi must have heard Orlando calling her that in front of the natives.

“Mr. King, Miss Wen is going to employ a Sky Eye to watch you from space. Show Mr. King where he is.”

An image of the king and his queen looking lost on the temple’s marble stairs replaced Ziyi’s glossy red lips on the screen. To highlight the effect, the satellite camera zoomed in and portrayed a close-up of the king’s twitching mustache.

“The glass mirror is going to suck our souls!” the queen cried.

“It has no interest in your souls,” Lucienne said.

Awe-struck, the king looked up at the heavens to find the Sky Eye.

“It sees you, but you can’t see it,” Lucienne talked into the screen. “Thank you, Miss Wen. I can take over from here.” And the screen faded to blackness.

“I must show you one last thing, Mr. King.” Lucienne clicked an icon and brought to life a video of military parades—hundreds of thousands of soldiers marching behind massive tanks. “Imagine all of them swarming Nirvana like millions of locusts,” she sighed.

The king clenched his teeth, his voice choked in fear. “They mustn’t come! The gods built this kingdom for their chosen people. Our ancestors had the land—”

“The bad guys don’t care. They can't be reasoned with. They can't be bargained with. They don’t feel pity, remorse, or fear,” Lucienne interrupted. “But as long as my people are safe in Nirvana, Miss Wen won’t inform the rest of the world of your land.” She straightened her shoulders and looked into the king’s eyes with a piercing gaze. “I advise you to let your people know it’d be a horrible idea to attack us in any way—sneak up on us, ambush us, cut our throats while we sleep, or poison us with food and drink. If we don’t survive, you don’t.”

The king flinched. He exchanged words with his queen in their local tongue. “How long will you stay in my kingdom?” the king asked Lucienne venomously.

“Until we find the sacred token missing from Hell Gate and return it to the gods, so the climate will return to normal.” Lucienne’s keen eyes locked onto the king and queen, trying one more time to read their minds and see if they knew anything about the Eye of Time.

“Whoever committed such an unholy crime shall be punished to death!” the king said.

“Father, Ashburn the Extra is the one who committed such a crime.” Prince Felix stepped forward. “He must have stolen the token—the god’s magic box. So the gods’ light went out.” He gestured at the blacked out town with indignation.

“We’ll catch whoever took the magic box,” Lucienne said. “We must now bid you and your people goodnight. We’ll be back.”

The king and queen looked sullen, and the crowd remained hostile but silent.

Lucienne and Vladimir shared a look. They’d gained the access to Nirvana. Vladimir gestured for the men to withdraw.

BL7 shot into the sky like a black arrow. In a few seconds, it vanished from the sight of the islanders.

CHAPTER TEN

BL7 descended on the Island of Sphinxes.

Lucienne inhaled deeply the night ocean air as she stepped out of the plane.

A formidable-looking man in a black trench coat strode toward her.

“Kian,” she cried, breaking into a run. He enclosed her in his arms. Even in the safety of their own territory, Kian never let his guard down. His cold sapphire eyes on his clean-shaven face stayed alert. They only warmed at the sight of her.

“Welcome home, kid,” he said, kissing the top of her hair.

“Welcome home yourself.” Lucienne laughed, breaking the embrace. “Didn’t you arrive only a few hours before me?” Kian had been tracing the Sealers for three months outside the Sphinxes.

Lucienne knew her enemies wanted Kian dead almost as much as they wanted her. If they got him, they’d surely maim her. “Next time, bring more people with you,” she said in a stern tone. “I mean it!”

“It’s more convenient to travel lightly,” he said.

Orlando stalked toward Kian, and the two men clasped hands.