Page 12 of The First Spark (Dynasty of Fire #1)

Kalie’s eyes flew open to blinding light.

She jolted up, but something dug into her wrists and held her back.

Pain crashed over her. She whimpered, shutting her eyes against the agony of searing burns, pulsing bruises, and strained muscles.

Moving her neck was excruciating. Her head throbbed, but her temple was numb and cold where the pulser had been jammed against it.

Her heart all but stopped as everything came flooding back. The sewage lines, the pulser pressed to her temple, Wells swimming away.

The legionnaires. Carik’s men.

She lunged to her feet, but something pinned her down.

Her grime-covered arms were bound to the armrests of a chair.

Gasping, Kalie tugged against the restraints. Nothing. Her feet were tied too, pinned against the chair legs by metal cuffs. The sets matched. No keyholes on either.

Fighting the panic that threatened to suffocate her, she scanned the room.

She was in space; on the other side of the room, black velvet curtains framed three floor-to-ceiling viewports that faced the stars beyond.

Chairs that looked moderately comfortable were scattered around a few dark tables.

Behind her, two high countertops separated her from the door.

It had to be a lounge of some sort. Maybe she was on the Chimaera .

But below her chair, in the center of the black carpet, was a familiar golden coat of arms: a sword stabbing through a crown.

Every fiber of Kalie’s body froze. If they’d stunned her and brought her here, they wanted something. Killing her wasn’t their plan, but they could do much worse.

Her stomach flopped.

Oh, gods. Oh, gods .

Closing her eyes, Kalie forced herself to breathe. If she had any chance of getting out of this alive, she needed to focus.

I am Kalista Hannover, eldest daughter of the Etovian Emperor and niece of Calida Amador. I am the rightful Duchissa. I will not be intimidated.

It was a technique she’d learned long ago, after a vicious argument with Mother. She’d been crying, gasping for air, until Ariah found her and taught her how to?—

Ariah.

Shrieking pulsers and burning flesh blazed through her memory. Heat roared in her chest, and the vow she’d made came back to her: I will make him pay.

She added it to her mantra, and with every word, she forced her chest to rise and fall.

The room’s stale scent flooded her senses, along with the distant roar of the ship’s thrusters.

As she focused on her breathing, on the reminder of who she was and who she would be, the pain dulled. Her tense muscles relaxed.

She would make Carik pay.

The door slammed open, and Kalie jumped.

I will not be intimidated.

Heavy footsteps thundered into the room.

I will make him pay.

She lifted her head. Six legionnaires, all armed to the teeth, stood before her. Kalie’s breath seized. She would not be intimidated, she would not be intimidated, she would not be?—

Boots thudded across the carpet. A looming shadow appeared as Krii stepped in front of her. With his bloodless skin, soulless eyes, and cold white smile, he looked like something that had crawled from the depths of Zagan’s hell.

Kalie wanted to raise her chin, to tell him that if this show was supposed to intimidate her, it wasn’t working.

But it was. Gods dammit, it was.

A chair scraped against the carpet. She flinched as Krii took a seat across from her.

Distant thrusters roared, muffling the chrono’s unending tick-tick-tick and the air conditioning’s near-silent buzz. Frigid air gusted across her skin. She shivered.

Krii and his lackeys didn’t move.

Their silence was a tactic she’d seen in countless negotiations, a power play.

It was one of Father’s favorite tactics, one he used with his friends and enemies alike.

Aunt Calida, depending on the day, fell into both categories.

When Father had faced her with his imperious stare, she’d matched it with her own.

Kalie met Krii’s gaze.

He crossed one leg over the other and snapped his fingers. A legionnaire appeared with a glass of water. Krii took a long sip. She was suddenly aware of the dryness in her throat, but she didn’t let the longing show. She kept her face impassive. Father’s tactic, Aunt Calida’s expression.

Krii set the glass aside. “Let’s keep this brief, Princessa. His Excellency is waiting.”

“Oh, really?” Digging her cracked nails into the chair’s armrests, Kalie glared into the lens of a camera. “Then listen to me when I tell you this, Your Excellency . I don’t care how long it takes, or what I have to do. You’re going to hell.”

Krii’s strident laugh boomed through the room. He tugged at the tip of his pointed ear. “The Prime Minister isn’t listening, you foolish girl. He’s merely waiting to hear the outcome of our negotiations.”

Negotiations. A jolt of hope shot through her. They did want something. Even if she was backed into a corner, with no way out, she could use this.

“Perhaps, if you want to negotiate with me, Admiral,” she spat, tossing her filthy hair, “you should remove these restraints.”

“You’re in no position to make demands. Still, since I wish for this to be a civilized conference…” Krii flapped a hand, and a lock clicked. All four cuffs fell to the floor. “I’ll humor you.”

There had to be more to it, but cycles of experience at negotiations had taught her not to let them pick up on any surprise. So she did exactly what they would expect—she sighed and rubbed her wrists.

Under her lowered eyelashes, she studied Krii.

Though he radiated confidence, there had to be some angle she could exploit, some tell that would give her insight into his flaws.

But his stony mask gave her nothing to work with, and as she shrank back, every lesson she’d been taught about reading people vanished.

She wasn’t smart enough to find a way to save herself. If only she’d paid closer attention to Aunt Calida, if only she wasn’t such a screw-up, if only she could think.

“Surely you know the only way you’re making it out of here alive is to cooperate.”

Chills lifted the hair on Kalie’s arms, but she did her best to keep her face blank. One of Ariah’s rules: never let them see fear.

“But the Prime Minister is generous—” Krii tugged at his ear again— “and he wants an arrangement that will benefit both of you. So, in exchange for your life, you will renounce your claim to the Etovian and Dalian thrones.”

Kalie’s mouth fell open.

“You will endorse a regent of our choosing, and you will give two-thirds of all annual crown revenues to him as payment for his service.”

No. She could hardly believe what she was hearing, but no .

It would be the same horror story that happened across Sectors Seven and Eight.

He would exploit Dali, tax her people into starvation, force them into factories, and pillage the planet of its resources.

The lush okul forests that only grew on three other planets in the Federation, producing the healing sap that went for thousands of credits per ounce, would be stripped to line Carik’s pocket.

The oceans, the grassy hills, the splendor of the grand churches and cities—all of it would be ruined.

“You’ll be banned from ever returning to Dali. You will formally declare that the Federation and Prime Minister Carik had no role in the deaths of Senator Pool and Duchissa Calida, and you’ll issue a statement accepting full responsibility for the coup that killed your aunt.”

Fury burned in Kalie’s chest as she quaked with rage. Zagan’s hell would freeze over before she let these monsters force her to say she’d killed Aunt Calida.

“I would never. Never. ”

“You can deny it all you want, but you’re charged with treason, conspiracy to commit murder, and any deaths that occurred in the commission of the drone strike.

If you accept the charges against you, we’ll waive the conspiracy to commit murder charge in exchange for your guilty plea of treason.

” Krii smiled at his guards. “Did I miss anything?”

“After her sentence…” a guard prompted.

“Ah yes, the best part. How could I forget? After you serve your sentence, you’ll retire to a convent of our choosing and take religious vows. Do we have a deal?”

She wanted to protest, to slam her fists into the armrests and say no, she would never agree to that deal.

But her mouth was painfully dry. Krii’s expression was cold, and the legionnaire beside him leered.

She scanned the other legionnaires’ obsidian armor, the heavy assault rifles crossed over their chests, the gleaming knives on their bandoliers.

Kalie crumpled into her chair.

There was no way out of this. Not even death.

She would never see Dali again. She would never wear Aunt Calida’s crown, never see justice for the murders of Marcus and her family. She would rot in a Federation cell until she was too old to have heirs. By then, she would have drifted into oblivion .

But Aunt Calida would never let them see her panic. Nor could she.

I am Kalista Hannover, eldest daughter of the Etovian Emperor and niece of Calida Amador. I am the rightful Duchissa. I will not be intimidated. I will make him pay.

As Kalie silently repeated the mantra, the repetition eased the panic hammering in her chest.

“No, we do not have a deal. Thank your master for his generosity, Admiral, but I am not going to take the fall for the man who murdered my family. And if that’s his story, you might want to rethink it, because my fleet was slaughtered too?—”

“By Governor Roth, of course.”

Kalie gaped at Krii.