Lucan: The Pendragon Legacy Read online

  “How can you be so patient?” he countered, his eyes twinkling.

  The scales on the insides thfont of her wrists began to tingle, and she didn’t have to be an empath to read his eagerness.

  “This is an historic moment. It mustn’t be hurried.” She smiled to take the sting from her words. “The president will make a speech. Video crews will come in so the public can witness the event. Would you deny everyone a chance to be part of—”

  “We don’t know how long the ground will remain stable. And we don’t know what made the shield come down,” Lucan said, daring to interrupt her. “Suppose the shield raises again just as suddenly? Or the obelisk collapses? We could miss our opportunity.”

  “Or be trapped or crushed inside.” Quentin came up behind them. His tone was firm. “No one’s going into that building until the engineers clear it.”

  Shaw joined them. “Why not?”

  Quentin stared down at Shaw. “I won’t have needless deaths on my watch.”

  From the rising tension in Lucan, Cael thought he might explode. Instead, he placed his hand on the small of her back and guided her away from the debating leaders.

  Lucan was touching her. Absurdly, she wanted to lean closer into him and had to remind herself that he could lose his life for that gesture.

  Cael glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone had noticed. Luckily, with the lights dimmed and all gazes on Avalon, no one paid them any attention. Except Rion. Out of her peripheral vision, she thought she saw him watching them, but when she turned to look, he glanced away.

  Warm and firm, Lucan’s touch shot tingles straight to her belly. The last time anyone had touched her… she’d been five. Until her fifth birthday, her parents had adhered to the law and treated her like her sisters. She’d been held and touched and loved, as if she was a normal little girl. But once she’d reached the age where she could practice dragonshaping, she’d lived apart from her sisters and parents and the Elders took over her education, teaching her about her dragon blood. A blood that made her stronger than her people. A blood that made it difficult for her to rein in her temper. A blood that made it possible for her to kill with dragon fire. For their own protection, her people were forbidden to antagonize her, to encroach on her space. Or to touch her.

  Cael didn’t want to be different. She didn’t want to be feared. Or revered.

  Of course, what she wanted didn’t matter. She was a High Priestess, sacred. Destined to walk through life alone. It was her fate.

  For Lucan’s sake, she should pull away from the warmth of his hand. But she couldn’t summon the will-power to step aside. Especially after they strode through the exit and into the hall, where no one was around to see this breach of protocol. She was amazed that such a simple touch, such an ordinary connection between two people, could feel so extraordinary.

  By the Goddess, he felt good.

  Her blood raced too fast through her body. She couldn’t seem to draw enough air into her lungs and had to force words past her breathlessness. “Where are we going?”

  “Outside.” He dropped his hand and headed for the door. “To Avalon.”

  “But Quentin said we couldn’t enter—”

  “He didn’t say we couldn’t look.” His voice sounded husky, coaxing, conspiratorial.

  All her life Cael had done what her people expected. She’d followed the rules that had been set long before she’d been born.

  But when Lucan stepped outside, she followed him. Immediately she felt a shift in the air. Three decades ago, a Dragonian had invented air scrubbers that cleaned some of the pollutants from the skies. But factories had increased production and the scrubbers never seemed to keep up. Pollutants often fogged in the cities, and the air tasted bitter. But today the wind was fresh, the air almost clean.

  “Come on.” Lucan took her hand, entwining his fingers in hers. She found herself matching his pace, running beside him toward the obelisk.

  Lucan halted before Avalon’s shadowed entrance. The ancient bronzed doors beckoned. Without the shield to block them, they looked more solid, yet luminous, and her pulse simmered with excitement.

  She placed her hand on the door, and it felt cool and smooth. A slight tingle skimmed up her arm—undoubtedly her imagination. She grasped the ancient lever that would tumble a lock. If she pulled, would the doors open?

  “Don’t.” Lucan tugged her back.

  “What’s wrong?” The urge to go inside was so strong her stomach drew into a tight knot.

  He spun her around to face the laboratory they’d just left. “Fire. Look.”

  Flames lit up the far perimeter of the lab. Already the blaze on the north side crackled, shooting hellish sparks into the sky. Red and orange flames raced along the rooftop.

  She gasped in horror. “It’s spreading fast along the roof.”

  “We have to go back and warn them.” His expression was set. “If the fire reaches the flammable chemicals stored there, the lab could explode before the team even realizes there’s danger.”

  He was right. And yet… she didn’t want to leave Avalon. She had to force her feet toward the lab, her stride keeping pace with his as he pulled her along.

  Hand in hand they sprinted toward the building to warn Shaw’s team. Outside the lab’s door, a whirring in the sky made her pause. She heard the engines of machines, skimmers, hovercraft, and choppers. “Listen. Help’s coming.”

  Lucan tilted his head back and peered at the smoky sky. Flames silhouetted his bronzed face, his square jaw and determined eyes. Above, a squadron of aircraft loomed above the flames and dropped powder onto the fire.

  Lucan’s eyes narrowed. “Are those firemen?”

  “That’s the military.” Could General Brennon’s satellites have picked up on the fire that quickly? She held her breath, praying the powdQ qsky madeer would douse the conflagration. Instead, the opposite occurred. “By the Goddess. The fire’s burning faster.”

  “That powder is an accelerant.”

  She shuddered, her gut swirling with fear. “This fire… it’s no accident…” She met Lucan’s worried gaze. “I think it’s an attack. The military must have learned we dropped the shields.”

  “They want the Grail,” Lucan muttered.

  “Or they don’t want us to have it?” she suggested as he pulled her deeper into the shadows. “They may have even started the fire.”

  “Hell, they may have caused the sinkhole.”

  She peered over his shoulder at the airships, noting how he shielded her with his body.

  Lucan twisted the handle to the door of an annex to the lab. “This fire’s their excuse to take over.”

  “We have to warn Shaw.”

  “The door’s locked.”

  She removed her communicator from her pocket and watched while Lucan slid a screwdriver from his boot and attempted to jimmy the station door. She tried contacting Shaw, then Quentin. When neither answered, she swore under her breath. “The military must be jamming signals.”

  “This way,” Lucan said. “Once we find Shaw, we’ll tell him that the scientists have been betrayed. Then we’ll find a way to protect Avalon.”

  Betrayed? Of course. General Brennon must have had a spy on the scientific team. Someone must have notified him the minute that they’d eliminated the shield and now… the flames were spreading like the wind.

  Why hadn’t the alarms sounded? Had the military jammed those, too? Did that mean the fire units wouldn’t respond? With the fire starting on the north end of the complex, the scientists inside still might not know what was happening.

  When the lock gave, she shoved past Lucan, entered the building, and took stock of their situation. The lights were out, so the backup generators hadn’t kicked in. She sniffed but didn’t take in so much as a whiff of smoke. Either the internal air scrubbers were independent of the backup generators and removing the fumes, or the fire hadn’t reached this far.

  “This way.” Taking Lucan’s hand, she led him down the
hallway. How easy that small gesture of reaching out to him seemed. How natural. She could easily become used to touching. And being touched.

  “You can see in the dark?” He was squinting through his glasses.

  His question stopped her cold.

  He had no idea what she was.

  There was no other explanation.

  “I’ve always had great eyesight.” She spoke lightly, but a shiver ran down her spine. The Priestess of Avalon, a dragonshaper, could see in the dark and possessed keen hearing. Everyone knew. dingI ]But not Lucan, apparently. No wonder he’d placed himself between her and the military airships. No wonder he held her hand and whispered in her ear. No wonder he didn’t fear her. He didn’t know. But how could he not know?

  Who in the Goddess’s seven universes was he?

  “You don’t believe in dragons, do you?” she asked.

  “You do?” he shot back.

  While he’d just confirmed her suspicions, now wasn’t the time for revelations and long explanations.

  Even with the emergency lights down, she had no difficulty steering through the long corridors. Her second set of lenses activated, lenses that expanded the pupils of her eyes. If Lucan could see her now, he would see no white around her irises—just dark purple. Very few people had seen her in this state, but those who had, even doctors who’d studied her vision, had been repulsed. But as she led him around water coolers, a file cabinet, and boxes of supplies, she was grateful for her superior vision.

  “I hear shouting.” She made a right, then a left.

  “It sounds as if they’re heading away from us.”

  She frowned, and her voice rose in fear. “They’re running toward the fire.”

  “We have to go faster. Stop them and turn them around. Hurry,” he urged.

  She broke into a run, then stopped at the main lab’s double set of doors. Lucan placed his palm on a door, feeling for heat. He must have been satisfied, because he opened the door. Smoke billowed out.

  Gagging, she stepped back. No one could breathe that smoke and live for long. “Shut the door.”

  “Someone may still be in there. Wait here.” Lucan lifted his tunic over his mouth and nose, darted into the lab, and shut the door behind him. If he got lost in the darkness, he’d die in there.

  Moments ticked by.

  She should have gone with him, but he hadn’t given her the chance, and if she went inside now, she’d never find him in that thick smoke. How long could he hold his breath? Should she go inside and shout to him? Should she flee?

  Damn it. Where was he?

  She took a deep breath and cracked open the door. Flames lit parts of the lab. Smoke burned her eyes, and tears trickled down her creeks. He had to be insane or the bravest man she knew to rush in there. “Lucan!”

  Blindly, he lumbered into her and she backed away. As soon as he passed through the door, she slammed it shut against the smoke and heat. Lucan crouched over, coughing, Sir Shaw draped over his shoulders.

  Shaw’s clothing reeked of smoke. The material was smudged with soot. He had several deep cuts. Blood soaked his back, and the handle of a knife protruded between his shoulder blades.

  In search of a pulse, she placed a finger at Shaw’s neck b D0 yut found nothing.

  Lucan gently eased the man facedown onto the floor. Papers spilled from Shaw’s lab coat pocket.

  “Son of a bitch,” Lucan cursed when he spied the knife, and his rage almost knocked her flat.

  As an empath she could easily be swamped by sensory overload, and she’d had to become adept at blocking human emotions. But as Lucan’s anger pounded her, her temples throbbed. She couldn’t block out his fury and could absorb only so much pain. The urge to reach out to him was so strong, she lifted her hand to his face.

  “Who would do this?” she asked.

  “Don’t know.” Still coughing, Lucan grabbed the hilt of the knife as if to withdraw it.

  Cael placed her hand over his. “Leave it. He’s lost too much blood. He’s gone.”

  “In the smoke…” Lucan’s words came out a harsh croak. He’d clearly breathed more fumes than he should have. Sweat poured over his face, and smudges of soot blackened his forehead. “I didn’t see the knife. If I’d known… maybe I could have stopped the bleeding.”

  She shook her head. “You did what you could. Did you see any of the others?”

  Lucan shook his head and placed his palm on the door. “It’s getting hotter. We have to leave.”

  She closed Shaw’s eyes and stood, a lump burning her throat. She hadn’t known the scientist long, but he’d been a fine leader. A decent man.

  Lucan’s anguish enhanced her own sorrow, until she felt as if she were drowning in despair. She had to regain control. Now was no time to let her empathic senses override her thinking.

  Lucan bent to pick up the body. Blocking his emotions while cornering and corralling hers, she stopped him. “We need to leave. Now. Shaw wouldn’t want us to die with him.”

  Lucan slowly straightened, suppressing his own grief. “You’re right.”

  Praying there weren’t other scientists trapped in the lab, she turned back the way they’d come. Already the hallway had grown uncomfortably hot.

  Still, she spared a few seconds to gather the papers that had fallen from Shaw’s lab coat and stuff them in her pocket. Had the man died protecting those papers?

  So many questions spiraled through her, but the fire was spreading, and the floor outside the door had begun to burn. She grabbed Lucan’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  They made their way toward the exit as explosions thundered around them. Flammable chemicals had begun to heat and burst from their containers. If Cael and Lucan couldn’t escape, they would die.

  Although his breath sounded labored, Lucan kept pace as she sprinted to the door. When he stumbled, he regained his balance. She tried to head back in the direction they’d come, but smoke and flames blocked her path, and she diverted to a different route.

  ="27">“We have to get off the site. And hide until we figure out what to do.” Lucan’s voice was low and harsh from the smoke.

  Hiding wouldn’t be easy. Everyone on the moon recognized her face.

  One thing at a time.

  Behind her to the right, fire flared and shot hellish sparks into the charred ceiling. Automatically, she turned left down a hallway, but the burning wreckage of a collapsed ceiling blocked the way. At her sudden halt, Lucan ran into her, grabbed her waist to keep her from falling. “Sorry.”

  They couldn’t go right or left. The hallways were burning. The flames flaring. Fiery debris rained onto the floors. She raised her voice to be heard above the fire’s crackle. “We have to backtrack.”

  From behind, fire roared down the hallway toward them. She tried to open the door beside her. It was locked. With nowhere to escape, no vast open space where she could dragonshape into a form that could save them, she braced for death. Prayed it would be quick.

  A tremendous crash sounded beside her. Lucan had kicked open the locked door. He yanked her into the room and slammed the door shut as the backdraft whizzed past.

  She gasped and inhaled the reek of old garbage and cleaning supplies. In the darkness, she made out shelving and brooms, mops, pails, and paint buckets.

  She searched for an exit. Didn’t see one. It was entirely possible they’d come through the room’s only access. Had they merely delayed the inevitable? Not even her unusual strength could break through the steel girders that framed the ceilings and floors of this building. “We’re trapped.”

  “Where exactly?”

  She wished she could shut down her heightened sense of smell. One of the disadvantages to superior senses was that when a smell was bad, it almost overpowered her ability to think. This stench was almost knocking her out. Then the fire would… Stop it. She took short, shallow breaths. “We’re in the janitorial unit.”

  He stepped forward, feeling his way along the walls. “Maybe there’s a back do
or?”

  “There isn’t. I can see the rear wall.”

  He remained calm, his tone thoughtful. Even more impressive, she didn’t sense even a hint of panic. He wasn’t faking calm. He was calm, undefeated. “Tell me what else you see.”

  “Cooling conduits.” His steadiness helped settle her claustrophobia. Usually, she was okay with the fact that she didn’t have room to dragonshape, yet with her life in danger, the walls felt as if they were closing in. “Maybe if we pry off the vent—”

  “What else?”

  Interesting that he didn’t jump at the first option. “There’s a vacuum system. And a service elevator.” She tugged him forward. “Over here.”