I put my hands on my hips. “Take her with me where? What are you talking about?”

Scar flicked his head over his shoulder, his tongue darting out and tasting the air. “This tunnel leads to the throne room where the cloaked ones are currently discussing how to wipe out all of us. They have the children deep in the dungeons.”

“Then why doesn’t your father go get them?” I asked, stepping up beside him.

“Because whenever we get close to the cloaked ones we lose our memory of what we do. That is why we’ve been attacking the Salamanders. We didn’t want to, they were making us.” Scar shook his head. “You are the only one who can go in, Spirit Walker. The males must stay here if they are to be safe; they could be forced to hurt you too.”

I translated quickly for the two men, relaying what Scar had said.

“No, we aren’t leaving her.” Cactus shook his head.

Ash nodded to me and said, “Understood.”

Cactus stared at him. “You would leave her to do this on her own?”

“She has to. What if the other Spirit Walker takes control of you, makes you fight her? What is she supposed to do then?” Ash shook his head. “I know all too well how hard it is to fight the compulsion, and the only way to break it is to be touching Lark physically. How do we fight when we can’t let go of one another?”

Ash’s words made total sense. Cactus was still not convinced. “Then how come Peta can go?”

Peta sniffed. “I’m her familiar. I’m protected by Lark’s abilities, Prick.”

“No more arguing, the longer this takes the more chance we have of them escaping,” I said. I didn’t look back, just walked away. There was a grunt and the sound of bodies hitting the ground.

“Lark, don’t do this, they’ll kill you,” Cactus called out. I straightened my back and kept walking.

Peta swayed on my shoulder. “How little faith he has.”

“No, I don’t think it’s a matter of faith.” I followed the shimmering white scales of Scar’s back. “I think it’s a matter of love.”

CHAPTER 24

The tunnel Scar took me through opened outside the main doors of the throne room where the firewyrm etched into them seemed to wink at us. I was flat on my belly, barely able to squeeze through. The two large statues were directly in front of us and we were concealed behind the queen’s flared skirts. Ironic that she’d been hiding the tunnel all along.

“Good luck, Spirit walker,” Scar said as he backed away from me, disappearing back the way we’d come. In the semi darkness, the entrance was invisible, perfectly disguised.

Peta shifted to her snow leopard form and padded ahead of me. Her rounded ears swiveled back and forth as she tipped her head to one side in front of the doors. “There is only one left in the room,” she whispered.

Swallowing whatever trepidation I had, I eased the door open a crack and peered in. The smaller of the two cloaked figures sat on the throne, drumming her fingers on the arm rest.

“I will be queen here and this time no one will stop me,” she snapped into the air and the words echoed around. Sliding from the throne she strode forward, her cloak swirling out behind her as she slapped her hands on her thighs. Everything she did looked familiar, like someone I’d . . .

“Cassava,” I whispered. That was whom she reminded me off. Her inflections of words, the way she walked, and that thigh slapping. All were idiosyncrasies of my stepmother.

She walked away from me, heading to the far side of the room in the opposite direction of the dungeons. I had a choice. I could follow her and see what she was doing, or I could go after the children.

“Peta, get the kids, lead them through the tunnel. Can you do that?”

“I can. But then you will go after her alone, won’t you?” Her green eyes crinkled with concern around the edges. “Won’t you?”

I wouldn’t lie to her. “Yes, but I’ve stopped her before, I can do it again. Just hurry. Get those kids out.”

Peta slipped through the door ahead of me and slunk toward the dungeon as I hurried after Cassava. The door to Fiametta’s personal rooms was ajar. I peered through. Cassava was flinging things everywhere, searching . . .for what? Whatever it was Fiametta had hidden. Whatever her ex-lover Coal had been searching for. He must have been working for Cassava and Blackbird.

“Damn you, Fiametta, where did you hide it?” She grabbed the mattress and flipped it off its supports. Taking a swing with one foot, she kicked at a vase to the left of the bed, shattering it. Glass went everywhere, and I saw what she was looking for. Glass pieces settled into the faintest of depressions in the floor. A very subtle handle.

The only problem was, she saw it the same time that I did. I burst into the room as she opened the secret compartment.

“No!” I screamed startling her.

It wasn’t enough though. Her hand dove into the hole and came out with a necklace with a big fat emerald teardrop hanging from it.

“It’s mine!” She tipped her head back and howled the words.

The lines of power ran a deep dark green up her arms as she yanked the earth out from under me. Or tried to. I saw her intention and scrambled backward, all the way into the throne room. She stalked out after me, the emerald hanging around her neck.

“You aren’t strong enough to stop me now, Larkspur. Not when I hold this.” She said, touching the large emerald.