The Wilds (Reign and Ruin 1) (30 page)

"Cassandra,
what's wrong?" he asked.

She glanced
sideways at me through her hair and blew out a slow breath. Tossing
her head back she sat up straighter and looked at me evenly, as if
bracing herself for an oncoming wave.

"Cirrus isn't
dead," she said.

Lucan's fingers
clamped onto my shoulder. This was obviously unexpected for some,
although the ghost-feeling around my chest had already alerted me
to the possibility immediately.

The relief in
my heart terrified me.

"What do you
mean, he's not dead?" Lucan said in a hushed voice. "We saw the
house go down. He was on the third floor, for fuck's sake. No one
could survive that!"

"You didn't
exactly break a nail when you fell from three stories up,"
Cassandra snapped and looked back at me. "Do you understand,
Maggie?"

I nodded.
"Sure, Cirrus is King now. He won." They were both silent and I
knew what was coming next. "So time to go home, then," I said.
Lucan's grip tightened and I shrugged it off. "It's ok, I'm
fine."

"Maggie –,"
Cassandra started to say, but I held up my hand.

"No, I get it.
You have a revolution to incite. More houses to burn and political
figures to assassinate?" I stood up, brushing the dirt off my
legs.

"Maggie, you
can't go home," Lucan said, rising up beside me and standing beside
Cassandra.

"What, you
don't know how?" I asked. Lucan winced and shifted awkwardly.
Suddenly, I had a horrible feeling that there was something else
they weren't telling me. "Tell me. You don't know how to get me
home, do you?"

Cassandra drew
me aside, giving Lucan a look that said to stay back, and put her
arm around my shoulders. I desperately wanted to break away but
couldn't move for the sudden panic that danced around my brain.

"You signed a
contract, Maggie," she said smoothly. "And you lost."

The cogs in my
mind chugged away slowly through the thick mud of comprehension. I
looked behind at Lucan, who was biting his bottom lip and seemed
miserable. I didn't get it.

And then
suddenly I did. I got it and held it and tried to toss it away but
the searing heat grafted it to my palm and I was left reeling.

The connection
wasn't severed. The Walk wasn't over. I had forgotten my bit and I
hadn't held up my part of the bargain.

Lucan saw my
face change and grabbed me away from Cassandra. But I couldn't face
him. Oh God, I couldn't look at his pitying face for one more
second . . .

I pushed away
from them and ran a few steps into the woods. Putting my hands in
front of my eyes, I breathed one two, one two, one two and waited.
Then opened my eyes.

Still here.

"We're not
giving you up, Maggie," Lucan said, coming up behind me. "We are
going to bring Cirrus down from the throne and place you where you
rightfully belong."

"I rightfully
belong in a place where I can get drunk and cry into a Rainbow
Bright pillowcase without actually feeling like the world is going
to end," I breathed. Lucan took my face and forced me to stare
tearfully into his eyes.

"You're one of
us now, whether you like it or not. You're a Rider.
The
Rider. The Daughter of Palet. The people will follow you."

"I had my
chance, Lucan. I played along!" His hands moved down my neck to my
shoulders as I shook my head. "And that was it. Accept it."

"I will not!"
Lucan said fiercely. His eyes burned with passion and momentarily
ignited a flash of something resilient in me. "You will become
Queen, and not by the side of a tyrant."

He swooped down
quickly and pressed his mouth against mine. A quick kiss, a promise
and a pledge. "The revolution has already begun. And you can fight
with us."

Great. Oh, what
a peach.

Cirrus would be
looking for me. That was sure.

And somewhere
in New York, once the time caught up, my uncle would be carted off
to the morgue. I was not going home.

Chapter
26

As the ash floated in the air like pieces of
soft snow and the initial cloud of the explosion dispersed, the
black cars of the Council came snaking over the hill and down the
drive to the wreckage of the blast. They had followed a line of
smoke that could be seen all the way from the center of Grekegoria.
Against the morning light it was a beacon, the only thing
differentiating the sound of fire and destruction from any other
recreational activity happening in the city.

The King walked
out of his front door, blinking against the sunlight that at one
time could leech away even the smallest reserve of spirit. But not
today – today the sun caressed his skin like a lover, wrapping
around his elbows and behind his ears. The air was cold and crisp
and tinged with something chemical, as if burning the house down
had purged away all the taint of nightmares. It was a step out of
the darkness, quite literally, for the man who could once mold it
with his hands.

He turned
around to survey the destruction. The Riders had done a fine job of
igniting the house and bringing down all but some of the solid
outside structure of brick and beams. The inside was absolutely
gutted. Behind him, people fanned out across the yard, picking
their way around fallen bits of debris.

"Cirrus! You're
. . . you're alive!" a voice sputtered from beside him. He turned
around to notice the Council Man gripping his briefcase. Cirrus
sighed tiredly and looked around the lawn.

"If you are
here . . . does that mean . . . ?" the Council Man began to
whisper. Cirrus opened his palm to display the broken chain and
gleaming dreamcatcher, now cold and lifeless as a piece of tin. The
Council Man let out an awed sigh and clutched his hands to his
chest. "Congratulations, Your Majesty. You have won."

"Obviously,"
Cirrus replied and allowed the dreamcatcher to fall back into his
pocket. Maggie was nowhere to be seen. His queen had
disappeared.

"This will get
cleaned up," the Council Man was saying hurriedly. "And rebuilt
–"

"No matter,"
Cirrus interrupted. "This place as I knew it is done with. I need
to find Maggie."

"Maggie?"
Cirrus started to walk down the steps, his tattered coat fluttering
behind him, and the Council Man ran to catch up. "She was taken,
Sir. With the Riders." The authorities parted like the Red Sea as
Cirrus strode across the ground.

Cirrus paused
before opening the door to a vehicle. He had won. His eyes closed
and he breathed in the smell of victory and burning and
expectation.

"Sir, the
Riders will come back," the Council Man was saying. "They are
traditionalist and extremists." He looked around them nervously.
"There are whispers of a resistance even amongst the
civilians."

"Yes, Maggie
will come back," Cirrus murmured. "She has to." He looked beyond
the trees and over the fields of the estates. He surveyed his new
kingdom and touched a finger lightly to his lips where the faint
taste of her skin still lingered. "Where are you, my queen, my
savior? You promised your heart. You promised . . ."

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to the most
supportive but grammar-stringent husband in the world, and not only
because you're obligated to like it. Look out for all the rogue
commas. Those are for you.

To the gorgeous Silvia
Paoletta, who was my Beta reader when I didn't even know what that
was. Your support has meant the world.

Of course, to Najla
Qamber, Lindee Robinson and Carly Schneider for visualizing Maggie
and the world around her so perfectly.

And finally, to any
reader who got to the end of the book. The Walk isn't over. Thank
you for everything . . .

Return to Palet in the
next Novel of Reign and Ruin

coming in early 2015!

In the meantime,
discover how the circle closed around Maggie in those final hours
before swallowing the marble and step into the shoes of Cirrus,
Lucan and Marty.

THE CALM BEFORE

(A Reign and Ruin
novella)

Available in November
2014.