The Kingdom

Thirty-Six

As I stumbled out of the bald, the rain slacked. It seemed like a sign, and I felt almost giddy with relief. I could see mountain and sky and, through a break in the rain clouds, a sliver of moon. The air was fragrant with evergreen, the cool darkness now a welcome cocoon.

But I still had no idea where I was. None of the landmarks looked at all familiar, and after a momentary reprieve, panic resurfaced. I’d found my way out of the maze, but I was still lost. And I was still being pursued by a killer, someone who knew the area like their own backyard. I couldn’t stand there forever and wait to be found. I had to get moving.

I started to climb, picking my way through the trees and up a steep, rugged incline that quickly stole the reserve of my energy. The going was slow without a flashlight, the path treacherous with fallen branches and slippery stones. I had to stop once to remove a pebble from my boot, but the damage had already been done to the tender tissue in my heel, and I had to bite back a cry of pain and frustration.

Somewhere above me, I could hear the muted sound of rushing water and thought I must have come out of the bald on the back side of the waterfall. If I followed the base of the cliff, I would eventually arrive at that arched opening, and from there I could find my way back to the cemetery and my car.

As I knelt to relace my boot, I heard what I thought was the distant rumble of thunder. But in the next moment, the whole mountain seemed to shudder, and an avalanche of pebbles and stones rained down upon me. Scrambling for shelter beneath a rocky ledge, I huddled there until I was sure the rock slide had run its course, and then once again I began to climb.

Even though I’d never been on this side of the hill, I was starting to get my bearings. The ground leveled out, and a crude path ran along the foot of the cliff. The going here was a good deal easier, but I had to keep constant vigil because I was more or less in the open. The sound of the waterfall grew ever louder as I limped along, and just ahead, I spotted what I thought was the arched entrance to the glade. My heart started to race because, for the first time in hours, I knew exactly where I was. With any luck, I could be back at the cemetery within half an hour.

A hawk took flight from the top of the cliff, and I spun to track it against the gloomy sky. What had startled it from its roost? I wondered uneasily. And then as I slowly turned back to the path, I caught the bob of a flashlight coming across the meadow still some distance away.

I darted off the path and flattened myself against the rock, but with the moon peeking from the clouds now, I was completely exposed. For a moment, I considered turning back, but then I remembered that Thane had told me there was another way up to the top of the cliff. If someone had been up there just now and startled the hawk, I might have already been seen. They might be on their way down even now, and in my present condition, I could never outrun them.

My only hope was to find a place to hide, but even with the hunters closing in on me, I hesitated to enter the glade. I remembered all too well that feeling of being penned in, the almost suffocating claustrophobia. The scars on Wayne Van Zandt’s face.

But I was already hemmed in with someone approaching from the meadow and, for all I knew, someone already behind me on the path. There was nowhere to go but inside the arch.

Even so, I might still have resisted if I hadn’t heard Angus bark in distress. The sound was muffled, as if he were a long way off.

“Angus!” I called in a loud whisper. “Angus, where are you?”

An answering whimper came from the depths of the cave.

Careful. It could be a trick, a little voice warned me.

Easing through the archway, I said his name softly, “Angus.”

As I scoured those rock walls, I felt eyes staring back at me from every crack and crevice, saw the dart of shadows along the shelves and ledges. The place seemed alive in the moonlight.

“Where are you, boy?”

As I moved across the clearing, I heard a faint noise outside the arch, the softest of footfalls. My mind raced frantically. I couldn’t hide in the cave…it was a dead end, another trap. Thane had said it ended a quarter of a mile in.

I whirled as the footsteps drew closer.

Then once again, my gaze scaled those walls, treacherous enough in daylight, but by darkness, it would be a suicide climb… .

I imagined the ax hacking through my flesh, and I turned to scramble up the wall, fear and desperation unleashing agility I never knew I had. Even in the dark, I managed to find handholds and footholds, some of them crumbling away into nothingness as I climbed. I was almost to the nearest ledge when I sensed, more than heard, someone enter. I scurried up as silently as I could, hoping that by some miracle of miracles I wouldn’t be made. Pressing myself against the wall, I glanced down into the glade.

From my vantage, I could see Luna clearly as she moved into the center of the clearing and flung her arms wide, head tilted to the mountains, turning and turning, calling the evil just as I had in that circle of Asher angels.

Gone was her lush hair, the luminous skin, the voluptuous figure that the years seemed hardly to have touched. The mask had slipped yet again, revealing a face and body that were wrinkled and withered.

She held the flashlight in one hand and in the other, something that shone in the moonlight. It was one of the curved knives I’d seen in her office. Perhaps the same blade she’d used to slit my young mother’s throat.

Eyes open now, she continued to turn in a slow circle, scanning the walls. Lowering her arms, she started back toward the arch, and for one breathless moment, I thought she might have given up. The relief left me light-headed as I pressed my cheek against the cool, wet rock.

Then I heard a whimper.

Luna stopped, turned, her gaze going back to the cave. Even in the moonlight, I saw the tilt of her lips, could almost hear the rush of adrenaline through her veins as she caressed the knife blade.

My heart was still pounded, but not in fear for my own safety.

I rose on the ledge, sending an avalanche of pebbles down into the glade. She looked up, and I could see moonlight gleaming in her eyes.

“There you are.” Her tone was so casual she might have been inquiring about the weather.

I flattened myself against the wall, trying to meld into the stone. My gaze lifted, gauging the distance to the top of the cliff or even to the next ledge.

“I wouldn’t try it if I were you,” she said as she walked toward the base. “If you keep still, I won’t hurt the dog.”

I stared down at her from my ledge. “Why should I believe you?”

“What choice do you have?”

“You killed Freya,” I accused.

Luna shrugged. “She was a nuisance just like you.”

“Why am I a nuisance?” Keep her talking, I thought. Keep her engaged until I could figure a way out.

“You’re very draining, Amelia.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at me. Look at my face. That’s your doing.”

“How?”

“Everything changed when you came. The wind, this mountain…even the dead.”

A cold breeze swept over me, and I thought again of Emelyn Asher’s corpse. “How do you know that’s my doing?”

“Oh, it’s you. You’ve somehow fed on our energy. You’ve somehow usurped all my power.” Her eyes glittered dangerously. “And I mean to have it back.”

I thought I had scaled the wall with relative ease, but she came up like a panther. Within moments she’d climbed above me on the wall, and as she jumped down to the ledge, I turned and leaped to the next. The edge of it crumbled beneath my boots, and I hovered for what seemed an eternity before I found my balance and dug my hands into the tiny crevices in the wall.

“I’m Pell Asher’s granddaughter. If you kill me, he won’t make it go away this time. He’ll come after you.”

She merely laughed. “Do you really think I’m afraid of an old cripple? He only thinks he’s still in control.”

I sensed someone moving above us, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off Luna.

“If I’m such a threat to you, why did you bring me here? Why did you put me in the Covey house?”

“Oh, that was all Pell, and I admit he still has a few tricks up his sleeve. I had no idea you were alive. I thought the old fool merely wanted to restore the cemetery before his time came. That would be like him. It was only after you arrived that I figured it out. As for the Covey house…” She gave a low laugh. “I can only assume he thought it would keep you safe until the deed was done.”

The deed was done… .

I shuddered.

“Once you produced an heir, he would have had no more use for you. Not with your unfortunate lineage. No doubt he would have taken care of you the same way he handled Harper and Thane’s mother.”

I inched back. “What does Thane’s mother have to do with this?”

“He thought if he eliminated Riana, Edward would come back to him. So he arranged a hit-and-run. Poor thing never knew what hit her.”

I tried not to succumb to the horror of her words as I clung to the rock wall. I wanted to believe the gap between my ledge and hers offered a modicum of protection, but I knew better. She was toying with me now. She had me right where she wanted me, so she could afford to take her time.

“Did Edward know?”

“He must have suspected, but there was nothing he could do. He did manage to have his revenge, though.”

“How?”

“He committed suicide, and had his body cremated before Pell could claim him and bring him home.”

I remembered what Thane had told me once about Edward. He wanted to break free of the Asher shackles. He just never quite managed.

“If he hated Pell that much, why would he leave Thane with him?”

“He didn’t leave Thane. Pell took him. Edward was too weak to fight him.” She thumbed the moonstone at her throat. “That’s your family, Amelia. That’s your legacy. That’s who you are. Not that it matters now… .”

The Drudenfuss was right above us, the open end over Luna’s ledge, a closed point over mine. I don’t know what I hoped to accomplish. I suppose I was still acting purely on instinct and adrenaline, but I grabbed a loose stone and began to chip away at the closed point, trying to blunt the end.

“No!” Luna screamed.

She leaped the distance between the shelves, easily clearing the edge. But there must have already been a fissure in the rock—or perhaps I’d created one—because I heard a crack that sounded like a gunshot. Even so, she might still have saved herself if Angus hadn’t appeared in the shadowy recesses of one of the crevices. He growled viciously and lunged. Caught off guard, Luna stumbled backward with a stunned cry. For the longest moment, our eyes clashed, both of us frozen, and then her hand shot out to clamp onto me and we were free-falling.

Somehow, I grabbed onto the ledge, feet dangling, and clung for dear life. A split second later, I heard a thud as her body hit the ground, then a great roar—the flap of a thousand bird wings as a murder of crows descended into the glade.

I heard Thane call out to me as he climbed down to the ledge.

He stood over me. “Take my hand!”

Even with the rock crumbling away beneath my fingertips, I hesitated.

Something flared in his eyes, anger…hurt… .

It was gone in a flash as he grabbed my arms and pulled me up. The shelf was already giving away. Angus darted back into the cave, and with a heave, Thane propelled me up the wall. I climbed without hesitation, groping for holds.

The birds had gathered over Luna’s body, and I heard her scream. As I reached the top and turned to give Thane a hand, I caught a glimpse of Tilly standing at the edge of the cliff, gazing down into the glade.