the damn thing once my people are free. And if any cruciata do come for us before you manage that, you will destroy them.”
Rielle sensed a memory. It floated to the surface of his mind and drifted toward hers. It was herself, months ago in the Sunderlands, attempting to repair the Gate and instead cracking it further.
“Is that why you urged me toward it?” She watched Corien closely. “You wanted me to touch it. You wanted to see if I was powerful enough yet to open it.”
“In part,” he admitted smoothly.
“But you suspected I wasn’t ready and that it would hurt me.”
“I guessed it would hurt you and knew that your failure would help me—and thereby help you.”
She stepped back from him, reaching for his mind and finding, to her horror, that he spoke the truth. “You astonish me.”
“And you yourself wanted to attempt a repair.” Corien approached her slowly. “Even if I hadn’t encouraged it, you would have done exactly the same. Why shouldn’t I have taken advantage of a situation that was already in motion?” He was near her now, his eyes alight with passion. “I have my people to think about, Rielle. Millions of angels, imprisoned and waiting for me to free them. Remember that.”
At his words, a bitter thought occurred to Rielle—that Audric, even to help his people, even if everyone expected it of him, would never urge her toward a thing he knew would hurt her.
She shoved the thought at Corien and watched the anger settle over him like a net of flitting shadows.
Satisfied, she lifted her chin and stared him down. “Can you control the cruciata as you can control humans?”
His furious gaze moved across her face, as if searching for a chink in her armor. “No. Their minds are too alien.”
“So you are creating your own.” Rielle stretched onto her toes to touch the cruciata’s stiff tail. “Beasts with blood that won’t harm you. Beasts with minds you can influence.”
Corien’s eyes followed her every movement. “Precisely. Though complete control of their minds remains elusive, we have devised…other methods to manipulate them.”
For a moment, Rielle gazed up at the viper, imagining it alive and vicious—twenty feet of muscle and scaly hide, racing across the ground with claws as long as her forearm.
“If I open the Gate,” she said slowly, “I could exacerbate the damage done by the saints.”
“Yes,” Corien agreed.
“Without meaning to, I could widen those cracks in the Deep and bring the cruciata here.”
“And then you will destroy them, as I’ve said. You’ll blink them to ashes.” Irritation colored his voice. “You worry for the people of this world. You worry for those who would not worry for you. Why?”
Because life is precious.
Because it’s the right thing to do.
Because I am the Sun Queen. I protect, and I defend.
None of the answers she mulled over rang true. Early in the trials, she had believed such things, had even proclaimed them for all to hear. But maybe she had been lying to herself even then.
Corien was watching her intently. “They don’t deserve your pity or your protection. You’re more like us then you are like them. You belong with us.” A pause. “You belong with me, not with him.”
Rielle tried to hold this declaration in her mind but could not find a steady grip on it.
She turned away from Corien to stare at the beast, with which she felt a sudden sick kinship. “I belong nowhere,” she whispered.
It was the truest thing she had said in some time.
Corien’s fingers brushed the small of her back. “I know you must come to this truth on your own, and I will wait for you to find it, but I urge you to see it now: where you belong is at my side.”
When she did not reply, he found her hand, pressed his thumb into her palm. “I have been engineering this war for centuries. And at the end of it, you and I will reign over a glorious new world in which the only beasts are our own and will obey our every command.”
She drew in a breath and turned to face him. “Show me.”
• • •
He had carved out an entire city beneath the mountains. More immaculate laboratories, staffed by white-robed angelic scholars and lined with metal tables, racks of wicked-looking tools, rows of stoppered vials. Mines and forges that burned day and night. Barracks for legions of mute, gray-eyed soldiers that Corien called adatrox.
“They’re human,” Rielle said quietly as Corien escorted her through a
<<Previous page Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 1 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 2 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 3 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 4 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 5 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 6 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 7 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 8 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 9 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 10 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 11 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 12 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 13 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 14 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 15 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 16 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 17 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 18 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 19 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 20 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 21 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 22 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 23 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 24 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 25 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 26 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 27 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 28 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 29 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 30 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 31 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 32 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 33 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 34 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 35 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 36 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 37 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 38 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 39 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 40 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 41 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 42 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 43 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 44 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 45 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 46 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 47 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 48 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 49 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 50 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 51 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 52 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 53 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 54 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 55 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 56 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 57 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 58 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 59 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 60 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 61 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 62 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 63 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 64 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 65 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 66 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 67 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 68 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 69 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 70 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 71 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 72 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 73 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 74 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 75 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 76 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 77 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 78 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 79 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 80 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 81 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 82 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 83 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 84 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 85 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 86 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 87 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 88 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 89 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 90 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 91 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 92 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 93 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 94 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 95 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 96 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 97 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 98 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 99 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 100 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 101 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 102 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 103 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 104 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 105 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 106 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 107 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 108 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 109 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 110 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 111 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 112 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 113 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 114 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 115 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 116 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 117 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 118 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 119 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 120 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 121 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 122 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 123 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 124 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 125 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 126 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 127 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 128 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 129 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 130 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 131 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 132 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 133 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 134 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 135 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 136 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 137 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 138 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 139 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 140 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 141 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 142 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 143 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 144 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 145 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 146 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 147 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 148 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 149 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 150 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 151 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 152 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 153 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 154 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 155 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 156 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 157 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 158 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 159 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 160 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 161 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 162 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 163 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 164 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 165 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 166 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 167 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 168 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 169 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 170 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 171 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 172 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 173 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 174 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 175 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 176 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 177 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 178 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 179 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 180 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 181 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 182 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 183 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 184 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 185 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 186 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 187 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 188 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 189 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 190 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 191 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 192 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 193 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 194 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 195 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 196 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 197 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 198 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 199 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 200 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 201 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 202 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 203 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 204 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 205 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 206 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 207 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 208 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 209 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 210 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 211 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 212 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 213 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 214 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 215 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 216 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 217 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 218 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 219 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 220 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 221 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 222 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 223 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 224 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 225 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 226 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 227 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 228 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 229 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 230 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 231 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 232 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 233 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 234 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 235 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 236 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 237 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 238 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 239 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 240 Lightbringer (Empirium #3) - Claire Legrand - Page 241
Next page>>