Page 14 of The First Spark (Dynasty of Fire #1)

Krii raised his eyebrows, and Kalie swallowed thickly. He would not let her go unless she agreed to one last, critical term.

“If there’s war…” Her voice gave out, and she cleared her throat. “Dali will remain loyal to the Federation. I will commit all of our resources to Carik’s cause.”

“And if Etov is on the side of the rebels?”

For now, she had no choice but to give Krii the answer he wanted. “I’d beg my father to see reason. If that failed, I’d remain loyal to the Prime Minister and hope I wouldn’t face my family on the battlefield.”

Krii studied her.

Kalie’s hands shook, and she locked them together, meeting Krii’s scrutinizing gaze with a blank stare. The terms were the best Carik could hope for. Krii would be a fool not to agree.

“I consent to your terms, on one more condition. Carik will need an assurance of your good behavior. If you go back to Dali, there’s nothing stopping you from discarding these terms and declaring war anyway. I want hostages, as a symbol of good faith.”

Kalie’s mouth fell open. She almost refused on the spot.

But negotiations were a battlefield, and she’d already gained ground. She’d watched Aunt Calida trade and barter, haggle over terms. She could do the same.

The future of Dali depended on it .

So she nodded.

The dance began.

“I think we’d better ask for your brother, Prince Theron, as a hostage. That’ll keep you and your father in line.”

Kalie bit the inside of her cheek. Danae was the only child Father loved, and even for her, he wouldn’t hand over his Crown Prince.

“My father won’t give him up.”

Krii’s pulser twitched towards her. “Perhaps you should compel him.”

“My sister.” Kalie injected a tremor into her voice, to make the lies sound like truth.

“Selene is my father’s favorite child. If he did surrender Theron to your custody, he’d sacrifice him in the end.

He has another son, a spare. But the child he and my mother love most is Selene.

If you take her, my father will never risk a revolt. ”

‘Nor would I’ would be laying on the lies a little too thick.

Kalie held his gaze, keeping her arms resting on the chair.

She tried to channel honesty into her expression, her posture.

In a dark, twisted way, it would benefit both her and Carik.

As long as her favorite child was held hostage, Mother would use whatever scraps of power Father gave her to prevent a revolt against Carik.

And if Selene was in Carik’s hands, she’d be incapable of causing any problems for Dali.

“Our intelligence indicates that your half-sister Danae is the Emperor’s favorite.” Krii’s voice was distant, but his focus was sharp. “Perhaps we should take her.”

Kalie’s heart faltered, but cycles of practice kept her face blank.

“His bastard?” The disdain in her tone, the curl to her lip—all of it was a careful study in dismissal.

It hurt her to do so, but she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Danae is nothing. My father only keeps her around because he swore an oath to her mother, a courtesan he bedded. Take her off his hands. You’d be doing him a favor. ”

Krii tilted his head. “Alright. We’ll take Princess Selene. And Governor Roth, he’s too powerful to be left out.”

Kalie’s knuckles turned white on the armrests. Uncle Jerran was out of the question. He was the ruler of Dali in all but name. Without him, she would be nothing but a title, trampled over by nobles who’d grown too powerful. Carik would be able to invade easily.

Before she could think of a way to spin it and exclude Uncle Jerran from the agreement, the door burst open.

Kalie looked over her shoulder, and her heart all but stopped.

It was Wells.

His hands were braced behind his head. The dark-haired woman standing behind him jabbed him forward with her pulser, and his grime-caked legs trembled with every step.

He’d clearly been shot. Stained bandages were wrapped around his arm and patches were taped over his skin.

Blood dribbled from a nasty gash above his eye.

Guilt churned in Kalie’s stomach.

He was an arrogant, disgusting wretch, and when he’d said good riddance about Aunt Calida’s death, she’d wished him dead… but holy gods, she hadn’t meant it.

“Sergeant Vega.” Krii looked bewildered. “What’s this?”

The woman, Vega, snapped off a salute. “I’ve apprehended her accomplice, sir. My team caught him hiding out on the Chimaera .”

“Interesting.” Krii flicked his hand. “Find out what he knows, and if he refuses to cooperate, schedule him for execution.”

“He’s—he’s not my accomplice,” Kalie protested, as two legionnaires stomped towards Wells. She lurched to her feet. Rifles whipped towards her, and her pulse thundered, but she didn’t flinch away. No one else could die for her. “He was trying to stop me—he—he chased me through the tunnels?—”

Wells grunted. Vega had stopped between the high countertops.

Vega winked.

Wells mouthed, down.

As all hell broke loose, Kalie dove for cover.

Pulsers shrieked and blasts roared above her. Panting, she crawled across the carpet. A laser flew close enough to singe her hair. She whimpered, dropping flat on the floor. There was no cover near her. The room was so open.

A table.

Kalie lunged, catching one of the metal legs. She tugged; it wobbled and lurched over .

She rolled out of the way. Another blast sailed past her, and she scrambled behind the overturned table.

Behind the cover of the tabletop, Kalie gasped for air. It didn’t go into her lungs.

She peeked around the corner.

The legionnaires had no cover on their half of the room, but Wells and Vega each crouched behind an onyx counter. Red blasts peppered the dark wall behind them. Krii’s crumpled corpse bled out into the carpet’s golden logo. It was a horrible sin to thank the gods for a death, but she did anyway.

The legionnaires paused their fire, inching forward.

Wells and Vega popped up with their pulsers ablaze.

Red bolts lit the room. Pulsers shrieked, blasts wailed. Smoke twisted up her nose.

Kalie weighed the distance to the closed door. Too far.

But she didn’t have a choice. She’d prayed to the gods to save her, and this was probably her only chance.

Another legionnaire fell, landing beside Krii’s motionless body.

Kalie tried to push herself up. She couldn’t get her legs to move.

Someone screamed. Not Wells or Vega; they were still shooting. Wells had dropped into a crouch, firing around the corner of his counter. His blast struck a legionnaire in the arm. Vega’s finished him off.

Kalie could’ve sworn the woman smirked.

A legionnaire popped up from behind cover. Their blasts struck him as one.

Six corpses littered the floor. The room was still.

Rising to her feet, she let out a sigh of relief. There had been six legionnaires. They’d got them all.

Breaths rattled in Kalie’s ear as an arm snaked around her neck. Soul-crushing cold swept through her veins. Too late, her gaze landed on Krii’s body. Six corpses, but not all six legionnaires.

Something cool pressed against her temple, paralyzing her. Every hair on her skin stood on end. A band of pressure closed around her ribs, making it impossible to breathe, not that she would’ve dared try.

There was a pulser jammed against her skull .

She could’ve cried. Not again. This couldn’t happen again.

Wells’s eyes narrowed, and he rose with his pulser outstretched. “Don’t move, Hannover.”

“I’ll pull the trigger!” the legionnaire barked. “Drop your?—”

Heat seared her cheek, and a shrill shriek pierced her eardrum. The pulser fell away. Vibrations shot up her legs as something thudded to the floor.

Blinking rapidly, not daring to breathe, Kalie turned.

A smoking hole was carved between the soldier’s eyes.

Vega rose to her feet. Smoke blew from her pulser.

The tinny shot rang in Kalie’s ears, and her cheek burned from the laser’s searing heat. That was too close. Way too close.

Vega dusted off her filthy black uniform. “Four.”

“Three.” Wells jerked his head towards Krii’s corpse. “But he counts as two.”

Kalie gawked at them. They were comparing kills. Wonderful. She’d traded legionnaires for people who made a game out of murder.

Vega scoffed. “Yes, but I saved her, so that’s an extra?—”

Alarms whined. Pain jolted through Kalie’s skull, and she clapped her hands to her ears. Vega’s grin slid away as Wells’s expression hardened.

“We need to get out of here.” Vega grabbed a device from her pocket, a thick piece of metal resembling a remote. “I’ll take you one at a time. Grab my hand. You’ll go first.”

Kalie tensed. “Go where?”

Vega snatched her arm, and nausea crashed over Kalie as she lurched into a black void of nothingness.

Panic crushed her lungs. Vega floated beside her, rigid, her lips set in a flat line.

Arcs of color sprang to life and danced around them.

Whistling wind rushed against Kalie’s skin, but all she could focus on was the pure terror coursing through her veins.

Bile lurched into her mouth. Within seconds, it was over.