Page 71 of The First Spark (Dynasty of Fire #1)

Blood flowed from Iliana’s calf as she hobbled down the hallway, leaving a trail of scarlet streaks on the tiles behind her.

“Iliana!” Kalie bellowed.

Iliana stumbled, and Kalie squeezed the trigger.

As the pulser recoiled, a red beam of light burst from the barrel. The bolt struck a vase, and shattered glass rained down on Iliana.

Kalie lunged, landing on top of her as she hit the ground.

Iliana thrashed; Kalie struck her face with her pulser.

The sickening crack and Iliana’s scream fueled the rage rushing through her veins.

Pinning her down, Kalie rammed the barrel into her skull.

Her finger twitched on the trigger. She could end this right now.

She sucked in a deep breath, trying to still her quaking muscles.

“Don’t shoot,” Iliana whimpered.

Kalie scoffed. What made her think she had any right to plead for her life after everything she’d done?

If it wasn’t for her, Zane wouldn’t be dead.

Their people wouldn’t have been slaughtered.

Pure, undiluted rage crashed through Kalie’s veins, like waves breaking on a rocky shore, and her lips pulled into a snarl.

“I have every right to blast your brains out.”

Tears rolled down Iliana’s cheeks. “I’ll do anything. ”

“Where are my?—?”

Kalie grunted as her head hit the floor. Knocking the pulser out of her hand, Iliana held her down. Sweat covered her flushed face. She pulled back her fist, and Kalie flinched—then her nose snapped.

She screamed.

Holy Azura, the pain . It came in waves of agony, throbbing and intense. Heat burned her face as sticky blood gushed from her nose, dribbling down her lips. She tried to raise her hand to wipe it away, but Iliana kept her arm pinned to her side.

“I’m not going back to prison,” Iliana growled. She pulled her fist back. “Never again.”

Kalie choked back a sob as her fist crashed down.

Bone crunched, and she howled. Darkness clouded her vision, and blood dripped into her eyes.

Iliana became a blur of black hair and white skin, rippling over her.

Kalie twisted her head to the side. Faint white glows shone through the jagged openings in the shattered windows, casting the hallway in shadow.

Coppery blood clogged Kalie’s throat. She coughed, and crimson dots splattered on Iliana’s silk dress. Iliana’s shifting features steadied as she wrinkled her nose at the scarlet beads.

A distraction.

Kalie spat a glob of blood into Iliana’s face. With a sound of disgust, Iliana let go of her wrist and swiped it away.

She slammed her fist into Iliana’s neck.

Her aunt gagged and recoiled, and her eyes bulged as she clawed at her throat.

Kalie shoved her aside, lunging for her pulser.

A hand closed around her ankle, but she tugged it free, crawling through glass shards and snatching the pulser’s grip.

Blood rushed in her ears as she stumbled to her feet, aiming her pulser at Iliana.

“Don’t move.”

Iliana was standing, bent double at the waist, spluttering for air. The blood drained from her pallid face as she clutched weakly at the wall behind her.

“Help!” she bellowed. “Guards! Help!”

“Quiet!” Kalie’s finger twitched on the trigger.

But ending it like this wouldn’t bring Zane back .

A hollow ache settled in her chest. She pushed all thoughts of him away and stared into Iliana’s wide, desperate eyes.

In those icy irises, she saw those who shared them.

Aunt Calida, Lexie, Uncle Jerran, Mother, Theron, Lida.

And in Iliana’s eyes, she saw herself. The damaged girl she might’ve been if Mother hadn’t saved her from the Etovian court, or if Uncle Jerran had thrown her aside like Iliana, or if Ariah’s sacrifice hadn’t saved her from Carik’s prisons.

She saw Ariah in Iliana’s eyes, too.

“I won’t kill you.” Kalie didn’t take her finger off the trigger. “You’re going to free my friends. Then you’ll stand trial for your crimes.”

All color leached from Iliana’s face. “I won’t go back to prison.”

Kalie pursed her lips.

“I won’t,” Iliana whispered. Blood seeped from her wounded calf as she stumbled through shards of glass and clay. “I won’t .”

Kalie jerked her pulser. “Stop moving.”

“Guards! Help me!”

The shadowy hallways were silent. Only the two of them existed in the world. Their harsh, rapid breaths danced between them as beads of blood writhed across the marble tiles, twisting together between pieces of dusty rubble.

As Kalie reached for her comm to call for backup, Iliana’s gaze flicked from her to the shattered window. Shivers ran up Kalie’s spine. Iliana straightened up, her jaw jutting, her lips pursed, her muscles taut.

“Don’t—”

Iliana ran.

Kalie fired.

The blast collided with Iliana in a blur of red and black and white, just as her feet left the ground.

As if in slow motion, Iliana soared into the air.

Shards of glass tinkled against the tile floor.

She sailed through the window. Then her body dropped out of sight, and her shrill shriek pierced the night sky.

Kalie’s mouth fell open. She sprinted to the window, braced a hand against either side to halt her momentum, and leaned into the gaping void .

Like a graceless dancer following a poorly designed ballet, Iliana tipped into the dark abyss and twirled downwards.

Her white skirt billowed around her as she spun and tumbled, head over foot, plunging deeper until she was a speck of white in the darkness that engulfed her.

The speck vanished, and Iliana’s haunting scream fell silent.

Panting, Kalie stumbled back.

Nausea wove knots through her stomach. She closed her eyes and pressed her bloody hand to her face, but the sickening image of Iliana’s fall was imprinted on the back of her eyelids.

“Your Majesty!”

Kalie swung her pulser around. A bloody band of Dalians and Aquisians stood at the corner of the hallway, surveying the carnage.

“Your Majesty, we need to get you out here.”

As Kalie shook her head, the world spun around her.

Slowly, her racing pulse subsided, and the pain surged back.

Fiery agony pulsed through her eyes and nose, her sliced cheek stung, and jolts shot through the bruises marking her spine.

She could feel the gash in Zane’s stomach as if it was her own, and that bone-chilling anguish was the worst of all.

“Zane won. I’m not running.”

“Commodore Ryker ordered us to evacuate until the Emperor’s fleets secure the planet.”

“The Emperor?” Kalie gasped, spinning towards the window. She thrust her head and shoulders through the shattered pane, craning her neck towards the sky.

Her knees nearly gave out. Distant burgundy ships blotted out the stars.

Father had come.

The voices of Nadar and Julian’s soldiers thrummed behind her.

Father had come.

Dali would be saved.

But her allies wouldn’t. They needed reinforcements.

Kalie stepped away from the jagged glass and turned to the weary soldiers. “We have to get to the communications center. I need to put out a broadcast, and my comm won’t have a strong enough signal. Will you come with me?”

“Of course, Your Majesty. Fall in!”

The soldiers scattered around her, covering her from all angles. She took off towards the communication center. As she led them through dark, dusty hallways, distant explosions thundered, shaking the walls. A portrait crashed to the floor. The frame shattered into a rainstorm of glittering pieces.

“Call Julian. Order a medevac. For Zane.” Each order was punctuated by a gasping breath. Her lungs burned as she sprinted around a corner. “Tell him Mylis is in the dungeons. We need to figure out where Ariah is. And tell him Iliana is dead.”

As the Dalians exchanged looks of shock, they reached a pair of colossal oak doors. A soldier stepped aside, speaking into his comm; the others barged into the room, scattering frightened Dalian techs. Kalie winced as they bolted past her, shrieking and yelping, apparently unaware of her presence.

An Aquisian motioned for her to come in.

Kalie strode towards the massive holoprojector in the center of the room, punching in the code to broadcast a transmission to all the major galactic news networks.

A camera drone buzzed to life and launched into the air.

Two metal wings unfolded from its flat, circular form, and its dull lens glowed with brilliant white light.

Above the projector, a holo of her mirror image appeared.

“My people are under attack.” Kalie clasped her hands behind her back.

“So are the people of Aquis, Britiria, Vataskor IX, Dynar, and all of Sector Eight. Your fellow citizens. Your loved ones, your friends, your allies—persecuted by a tyrant for believing in a better future. Persecuted for trying to save us all. And now, we need your help.”

The camera drone whirred. Vents buzzed as they pushed gusts of heat into the shining white room. Sweat beaded on Kalie’s palms, and she wiped them on the back of her mud-stained jacket.

“Carik sees this rebellion as a spark of something greater. He fears us, and he’ll do everything in his power to squelch this flame before it can spread into an inferno.

If he extinguishes this fire today, there won’t be another.

So I ask you, from one citizen of the Federation to another—rise up today, and let this be the first spark. ”

Kalie’s comm chimed. She cast her eyes towards the window, towards the distant shadows warring beyond the atmosphere. Towards hope.

Breathing in deeply, she faced the camera drone’s glowing light.

“Let the fires of Dali and her allies ignite the flames of rebellion, and let the revolt of our worlds spread in a blaze that cannot be stopped. Fight for a future without fear. Fight for a future of peace and safety.” Kalie’s comm stopped beeping, then started again, vibrating in her pocket.

“Fight for a future where your children are free. Together, we can burn down the corruption of the Federation and build a better world for all.”

She stared into the camera drone’s blinding light for the span of three heartbeats—a sign of confidence, Aunt Calida had claimed—then pressed a button on the projector’s circular rim. The camera drone’s light blinked out, and she sagged against the projector’s cool metal base.

Her comm’s urgent buzzing sliced through the room’s tranquil silence. As Kalie snatched the device, a holographic contact card floated above it: Mira .

Her stomach dropped through the floor.

She accepted the transmission, but Mira’s holo didn’t appear. Her camera was off.

Heavy, labored breathing crackled through the speaker, raising the hair on the back of Kalie’s neck. The comm slid from her hands, and she fumbled to catch it.

“Mira?”

“Hannover.” Mira’s voice was utterly toneless, devoid of her usual snark or passion.

Kalie’s knees gave out, and she crumpled to the floor.

The comm clattered to the tile beside her.

Heaving shudders racked her frame, and a choked sob broke from her lips as her throat swelled shut.

She pressed a trembling hand over the comm’s speakers, as if she could shut out Mira’s report.

As if, by refusing to hear Mira’s defeated voice, she could deny Zane was dead.

But the truth was like a thorn in her heart, a poison in her mind?—

“Zane’s alive.”

The emotionless words stole her breath.

Kalie snatched her hand away. Her pulse thumped in her ears. Her lips parted, and she tried to ask for confirmation, but she couldn’t speak.

“Ryker’s medics secured him. He’s lost a lot of blood, but he has a pulse. They medevacked him. I’m leaving now.”

Kalie’s breath rushed out of her as she sagged against the base of the holoprojector. Zane was alive. She pressed her hand to her heart. He was alive, and they were safe, Dali was safe…

“Wait, you’re leaving Dali? Now? It’s a warzone up there!”

“Goodbye, Hannover.”

“I—I still owe you the fee,” Kalie stammered. “For your services. How much is it, altogether? Five million? Six?”

“Just wire me the money. I have to go.”

“Mira…” Kalie drew her lip between her teeth. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Shallow breaths crackled through the comm. She read body language better than voices or sounds, but that rattle… fear. The sound of cornered prey.

Shivers crawled up Kalie’s spine.

“Goodbye.”

“No, wait?—”

The transmission had already clicked out. The blinking white light in the comm’s rim faded. Kalie jabbed the callback button, smoothing her unruly hair and staring into the miniature camera lens. The comm rang and rang, but Mira didn’t answer.

Frowning, Kalie pulled up Cybel’s contact card.

“Look, Your Majesty!” a Dalian cried, pointing at the sky.

Kalie’s muscles went taut. Pocketing her comm, she rose to her feet and strode towards the window. The lamp’s glare dimmed the visibility in the distant sky, and she had to squint to make out the shapes looming beyond the atmosphere. As her vision adjusted, her jaw dropped.

One by one, a collection of battleships appeared in the sky and unleashed their lasers on Carik’s crumbling fleets.