Chapter 33

Ursula stood slowly. Her eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the light. Instinctively, she began to channel fire into her palms.

“I told you, your fire won’t hurt me.” Lucius grabbed her by the wrist.

He dragged her from the cell, throwing her onto the rough floor of the hall. As she scrambled to her feet, she heard a shout, muffled through four inches of solid oak. Unmistakably Bael’s voice.

“Looks like I woke your boyfriend up,” said Lucius. “A pity. The condemned deserve their sleep.”

Horror slammed her in the gut like a fist. Condemned?

Lucius’s hand was at her wrist again, pulling her up in a vise-like grip. He yanked her to her feet and began dragging her down the hall. Her pulse raced wildly.

“What do you want with me?” Ursula shouted, struggling against him.

Lucius turned to her, his eyes the color of molten steel. “Obey me, and I’ll give you a painless death.” He squeezed her wrist so hard that she was sure her bones would snap. She grunted with pain, wishing her fire could do some damage to him. Lucius continued to drag her down the hallway, while the sound of Bael’s assault on his cell door grew more distant, until they turned a corner and she could no longer hear it.

She’d expected Lucius to lead her upward, to some sort of bird’s-nest-like dragon eyrie. Instead, he led her downward, deeper into the bowels of the ravaged castle.

At last, they pushed through a doorway, into a massive corridor. A giant tube, hewn straight from the bedrock. Ursula shuddered when she saw the walls, deeply gouged by dragons’ claws.

They followed the tunnel as it twisted downward. At last, it opened into a familiar cavern. Here, massive dragons rested on tiers of stone, their sides moving in slow breaths as they slept. There was no question that this was Lucius’s Mount Acidale warren.

Lucius led Ursula past the sleeping dragons, into a smaller, human-sized corridor.

“Where are you taking me?” she hissed.

“Someplace private, where we can talk.”

Ursula glanced at Lucius with surprise. His voice had lost its brutal edge. While it didn’t exactly sound kind, it also didn’t sound like he planned to eviscerate her the instant he got her alone.

He pushed through a heavy oak door into a living room of sorts, but one that gleamed brightly. Just as she had when stepping from her cell into the hallway, Ursula had to shield her eyes. As her pupils constricted, Ursula gasped with astonishment. Gold filled the room. Gold coins littered the floor like confetti, and bars of bullion lined the walls behind golden armchairs. Solid gold sarcophagi stood against the walls. Even the walls and ceiling were papered with gold leaf.

“You reek of death,” said Lucius, reminding her that she still wore the soiled prison uniform. He pointed to a door, covered entirely in gilt, like a museum picture frame where the picture was simply more gold. “There’s a shower in there. Clean yourself up. Then we’ll talk.”

Like in the living room, gold lined every inch of the bathroom. Lucius had even eschewed a porcelain toilet for one made of solid gold. Not that Ursula spent a lot of time judging. She practically tore her dirty clothes off as she made a beeline for the shower. Steam filled the space.

The water was piping hot, but Ursula spent a good ten minutes under the scouring stream, scrubbing at her hair and body with gold-flecked soap. Finally clean, she stepped out into a steam-filled bathroom, toweled her hair dry, and slipped into one of Lucius’s robes. Whatever he had in store for her, at least she wasn’t dirty.

In the living room, Lucius sat on a gilt chair, Excalibur on his lap. Ursula frowned. He wore a black shirt and dark navy pants. The only gold on him was a thin chain around his neck.

“Is there a problem?” asked Lucius.

“I was just surprised that you weren’t wearing a gold shirt.”

Lucius shrugged. “That would be ostentatious.”

“Look,” said Ursula, “I appreciate the shower, but what do you want with me?”

“I wanted to hear your side of the story.”

“My side,” she repeated, dumbfounded by this change in his behavior.

Lucius cleared his throat. “Grisial. Please join us.”

From between two of the sarcophagi, a door creaked open, and Grisial stepped into the room, her white hair draped over a bright red gown. “Hi, Ursula.”

Ursula blinked. “What are you doing here? I thought you escaped.”

Grisial smiled. “I thought so, too, but Lucius caught up with me.”

“So you’re a prisoner as well?”

“No,” said Lucius. “Grisial is free to go if she so wishes.”

Ursula crossed her arms. “Can you fill me in a little? The last time I saw you two in a room together, you were trying to kill each other. And that was a matter of hours ago.”

“We have a complicated history. But you’re the one who makes me nervous. If I recall correctly, you disemboweled my friend Dreq,” said Lucius solemnly.

“Well, he ate me,” Ursula sputtered. “What was I supposed to do?”

“Most humans consider it a great honor to be eaten by a dragon. Dragon bile is said to cleanse the soul of sin and free you of any earthly bonds. If you’d allowed yourself to be digested, you could have lived a glorious afterlife.”

Glorious afterlife, my arse.“Right…” said Ursula.

Lucius leaned forward, fixing her with his amber eyes. “Grisial told me your story about getting Excalibur. I’d like you to understand that I spent years as a torturer. I know when people are lying and telling the truth. Tell me. Is it true you spoke to Viviane? That she gave you Excalibur?”

Ursula didn’t have any idea what was going on. “You mean the Lady of the Lake?”

Lucius pierced her with his gaze. “I assumed you’d stolen the blade from her.”

“No. She gave it to me to fight the Darkling.”

Lucius stared at the blade in his lap. From where Ursula stood, she could see the words put me down engraved in the steel. “Vivane was my great love. Were it not for this blade, she would not have died,” said Lucius softly. Slowly, he raised his eyes from the steel. “Is it also true what you told Grisial about the Darkling?”

“Yes,” said Ursula. “Abrax is gathering power as we speak. He says he intends to free mankind, but he only wants to rule them. If he succeeds, he will subjugate the human world, and the magical realms.”

Lucius nodded slowly. “I’ll help you.” Lucius looked from her to the blade. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but the blade is mine.” He rose, sliding Excalibur back into its sheath.

Lucius was turning toward the door when it burst open. Five guards rushed into the room. They trained their rifles on Ursula.

From behind them, Ursula’s grandfather stepped into the room. “The king requests an audience with all three of you.”