The Wilds (Reign and Ruin 1) (28 page)

"I need to go,"
I said softly, starting to walk forwards into the dark hallway.
Cassandra held me back and felt around until she was gripping my
shoulder.

"You cannot
walk this house alone," she whispered. Lucan was still beside, but
stayed silent. "He could have tried to take you then, but he
didn't. He's luring you away from us. And we're here to make sure
you get out of this funhouse alive."

"Cirrus would
never kill me. The rules don't allow it," I said. "He wants me just
as much as he wants the throne and the symbol around my neck." I
felt it again, that silent seduction coursing through my nerves.
"And I have to go alone."

"You're not
going alone," I heard Lucan say behind me. "I'll come with you." He
shifted past me until he was at the front. "Cassandra, you should
try and find what happened to Martin."

Martin? Oh God,
please don't tell me Marty was involved in all this, too. But
before I was allowed to consider it any further, Cassandra suddenly
swooped down and kissed my hand. The coolness of her lips was a
fallen snowflake. In the dark, it was impossible to see her face
but when she leaned in to whisper in my ear, I envisioned what it
must have been: sincere, ferocious and utterly beautiful.

"You are our
only one, Maggie," her voice pledged passionately. "You are the
blood and the paint and the spirit of our land and our battle. But
know that if you lose . . . if you become his and Palet seems lost
to treacherous hands, know that we will keep fighting. And we will
save you." I heard her move softly back into the black of the
waiting room. "It was a great honor, Daughter of Palet."

I didn't know
what to say, so I stood in the dark for a moment with Lucan. I
closed my eyes and breathed deeply through my nose until my heart
marched along to the beat of my necklace. But the yearning didn't
allow me to wait for long. A drip of sweat ran down my back and
along my spine like a long finger; like Cirrus's finger, so slender
and graceful and unlike the tough, hardened hands of Lucan, still
waiting patiently beside me.

I pressed
softly upon his arm, just to let him know I was ready, and together
we moved slowly into the dark hallway to our right. Every few feet
my hands would find a door and every time I gently tried to turn
the handle. But the more doors I tried, the more I realized we were
walking in a circle around the bottom floor of the house. And it
was all locked up.

But the hallway
wasn't a snake eating its own tail. It ended in a staircase lit by
a number of candles placed every other step upwards. It then curved
out of sight to the second floor. Lucan ascended a few steps
doubtfully and looked back through the dim light.

"Our direction
is either up or going back the way we came to try more locked
doors," he said. "But judging from this entrance, I would say he's
hoping you follow the light."

A whisper
brushed past my ear and the necklace pulsed. Yup, we were going
up.

I followed
Lucan up the stairs to the second landing, where I saw the line of
candles disappeared a few feet from the top. Another dark hallway
leading left or right, surrounded by heavy wooden doors which were
all probably barred.

The whisper
came again, this time stronger, and I felt my head turned to the
left. I thought I saw a flicker of movement; perhaps the tail of a
coat or the heel of a shoe moving out of sight. Whatever it was, it
was accompanied by a noise: the distinct creak of a door opening
and being left to slowly groan back on its hinges against rust and
disuse.

I started to
move too quickly for Lucan to pull me back. His fingers brushed the
side of my arm as he tried to grab me but I was running beyond him
before he could catch up. And at the end of the hallway, I turned
the corner to see down the length of the house.

The light from
the end of the hall was soft and warm and spread out enough to make
everything visible. It was a shame because the obvious state of
this floor – of the place where guests don't go – was rot.

The walls were
mucky, smeared with dirt and some sort of greasy residue. The
wallpaper was striped vertically in a yellow and brown pattern and
in the corners it had peeled off in small, thin flakes. The air was
still and there was no noise, not even the ticking of a faraway
clock. My symbol pulsed again, so hard it was like a hand reaching
inside of my chest, and I felt him, felt the pull grow so strong I
knew he was there. When I heard Lucan come up behind me I had just
enough time to shove him back around the corner before Cirrus
stepped slowly and deliberately from an open doorway and into the
hallway. The would-be lover and would-be king.

We stared at
each other, the silence between us extending and extending. I could
sense Lucan behind me, trying to stay out of sight and, above it
all, stay calm. Cirrus, on the other hand, seemed very calm. His
mouth was relaxed and his hands hung loosely by his sides. In the
shadows he was my conquering angel, all hard lines and molten
silver. I breathed deeply and sensed something inside me vibrating
against the man's radiation: a string stretching between us of
electric energy and slow intensity; our two symbols meeting each
other for the first time and relishing in the contact.

"There you are,
my love." His whisper was silk and his eyes burned through the
shadows. My mind grew fuzzy and I took a few seconds to find the
words. The pulsing was becoming so strong.

"I need . . . I
need your symbol," I breathed.

"Well, then
come and get it," Cirrus replied softly. He turned back around to
the open room and vanished into the black.

Chapter
24

I walked down the hall to where Cirrus had
disappeared and found that the doorway opened to a staircase
leading further upwards into the third and final story. Cirrus's
soft footfalls climbed steadily upward, not rushing but giving me
time to follow. The pull of the symbol was so strong I hardly
noticed Lucan following behind.

By the time I
had climbed to the top, Cirrus had crossed the room and was
lighting a match to a large candle. The windows were covered in
oily sheets and curtains. The edges of the cold dawn light pushed
through to light soft lines on the wood slated floor and the soft
patter of rain drummed on the roof above us.

The gleam of
the candle flickered about the room and onto the tables littered
with strange objects and tools that threw shadows across the walls.
The floor was covered in broken pieces of ceramic, metal, and
glass. The walls were lined with shelves muddied with the dark not
lit by the candle's flame.

Cirrus turned
around, a soft smile on his face, and froze when he saw Lucan
appear behind me. There was a moment of silence as the energy field
between us wavered and shifted in his anger.

He stood still
and watched Lucan walk slowly around the room. His gaze flickered
from him to me, wondering who was more dangerous to leave alone.
Lucan, on the other hand, only had eyes for his brother. And I
watched him take in his fighting ground and return protectively to
my side with a sense of competition he hadn't shown before now.

"You're not
dead." Cirrus said finally, his eyes coming back to mine. "I'm so
glad." Cirrus's shock of seeing Lucan had momentarily tainted the
haze of our symbols. I felt myself fighting against the pull
again.

"It hasn't been
easy to stay that way."

At that, his
eyes narrowed. "Did he hurt you?"

Lucan growled
and stepped forward, snapping Cirrus's attention over.

"Hurt the
Daughter of Palet?" Lucan snarled. "I was her protector."

Cirrus rolled
his eyes. "You've always been the younger, attention-seeking
sibling, Lucan. You were no more her guardian than you were a Dream
Catcher - and I can see you've thrown yourself into yet another
failing pursuit." Cirrus's mouth curled maliciously upwards. "From
what I hear Maggie has been instrumental in keeping you alive.
Keeping the sand out of your eyes, I should say."

He turned back
to me.

"We protected
each other," I said, internally begging Lucan to keep calm. "As I
am sure you know, there weren't many other options."

"There were
others, if you knew where to look." Cirrus said. "But trust Lucan?"
He laughed and ran his hand along the shape edge of his suit
jacket. "Do you think he's really invested in revolution? He's only
interested in warmth and busy hands."

"Don't speak to
her in that way," Lucan hissed dangerously.

Please, Lucan,
don't rise to it . . .

"This isn't
your fight, little brother!" Cirrus shouted, opening his arms and
stepping forward defiantly. "You cannot do anything to me! Only the
Daughter of Palet can steal back her throne." My skin vibrated so
hard my knees buckled. Lucan reached out to catch me as Cirrus's
laughter rang in my ears. "Do you see, Lucan? I call to her."

"The symbol
calls to her," Lucan countered. Cirrus moved through the wreckage
of his workshop, walking a circle until he was at the line of
covered windows stretching along the entire length of wall. "Stop
trying to make this about you."

"It is about
me," Cirrus hissed through his teeth. "But it was never and will
never be about you, a surplus of skin and air. I should have
allowed Mother to suffocate you at birth. It would have saved us
all the useless effort of keeping you alive."

And then it was
too late. Lucan launched himself at Cirrus, who raised his palms
and caught Lucan directly in the face. The roar was deafening as
his hands scorched the tender skin around Lucan's eyes. I looked up
just in time to see Cirrus push Lucan backwards to the windows,
still clutching his face, and shove him through the curtains.

My mind fizzed
like static on a radio. A strangled cry choked its way from my
throat as the glass shattered outwards like a sheet of melted
sugar. There was barely time to react before Lucan disappeared from
the edge of the window. It was over in an instant before the shock
could even register. I couldn't think about the three stories the
separated him from the ground, couldn't think about where he
landed. Suddenly Cirrus and I were alone in the room.

Cirrus kept
back from the sunlight until the heavy curtains settled down again.
For a brief moment, the dawn light had illuminated the floor, and I
could see it was warmer. The rain had stopped. The sun was finally
coming up.

"You see?" he
murmured. "Lucan could never protect you. He's full of pride and
emotion."

From the floor,
the vibrations were making it hard to breathe. The string of energy
was tightening ferociously. It wanted me to close the gap and find
its partner. I now understood why Cassandra wouldn't allow me to go
at this alone. I barely had any control left. Never before had I
wanted something so much in my life; the craving was worse than
Lucan, so strong the desire was blinding. Cirrus watched me
struggle to reach my feet, but stayed by the window.

"I don't trust
you, Cirrus." The words tangled around my tongue like sticky
caramel. I gripped the edge of the table. "And I don't trust what
you are making me feel."

We regarded
each other from across the room.

"Of course you
don't trust me," Cirrus said finally. "You've misplaced it in every
other possible opportunity. But your necklace –" He raised his hand
and held it out to me. I had to hold my breath to keep from
reaching for him. "That necklace is telling you that you can."

My feet moved
forward and he smiled, relishing in his control. The hook pulled me
across the room and placed my hand in his. As our temperatures
melded, a tremor ran through our bodies simultaneously.

"Do you feel
it, Maggie?" Cirrus ran a finger sensuously down my necklace chain,
allowing himself to briefly touch the edge of my collarbone. I bit
back a whimper. "It's not just your necklace. From the very
beginning our souls found an affinity in each other. There was a
spark. A flame," he whispered. "The symbol only amplifies what is
already there."

"That's not
true."

"Of course it's
true, Maggie! Give your heart some credit for its good taste. It is
just as willful as you are. And it wants me to win. I could take
this necklace right now," he said. "But I want you to give it to
me. Of your own accord."

"I won't."

"You will," he
replied. He sounded cool like the sea, and his voice rung in so
many colored tones and echoed as the inside of a sea shell. He
leaned in, brushing his hand along my back and up to grip my neck.
I leaned into his chest, my body working against my mind. Each
touch was like a kiss, felt in every pore of my being and on every
inch of my body. I could already feel his lips brushing my shoulder
like a butterfly, sending sharp stabs of chaos down between my
legs. I tried to grasp onto something else, anything else besides
the lure of allowing Cirrus to consume me but it was like catching
smoke.

"Are you going
to make me take you, Maggie?" Cirrus whispered, "or will you let
yourself to be taken and rule with me?" I allowed myself to be
pulled back against the line of windows. Air rushed around my
ankles from underneath the curtains where Lucan fell.

Lucan.

My body
screamed inside as Cirrus settled my back against the wall between
the frames. He took a trembling breath and then his head lowered
with relief onto my shoulder.

This was it. My
death. I could surrender now, give myself up entirely. And would
anybody miss me? I could see the lines blurring around my vision
and I sensed the darkness creeping into my brain. But Lucan's
shocked face suddenly intruded into my mind and the moment of
surreal quiet as he fell forced me to fight against the haze. And
the necklace, now so close to its partner, wanted something else.
It had led me here and was telling me to finish the Walk. I could
still win this.