Treasure of the Fire Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 4) (30 page)

She
gaped like he’s said something extraordinary.  “Kingu, I…”  She shook her head
as if overcome by his words.  “You are just spectacular.”  She finally
whispered.

Hope
stared up at him with that hot, celestial gaze and Kingu wanted to groan.  How
long would this take?  He wanted to go home and try to talk Hope into letting
him put her underwear on, again.  “I won’t let anything happen to you.  Just
don’t wander away.”  He wasn’t worried about any kind of heavy Phase
resistance.  They’d do what he told them or he’d flatten the gods’ damn prison
and drag Lycus from the rubble.

Two
Phase guards came dashing out, swords drawn.

“Kingu,
what are you doing?”  One of them sputtered.  “You can’t…”

Kingu
snapped his fingers and a river of black tar suddenly blocked their path.  The
men ran straight into ankle deep sludge, sticking like flies in traps.  He
didn’t even bother to glance in their direction as the two of them toppled all
over each other trying to get out.

“Gods,
sometimes I completely understand why these idiots were Banished.”  He muttered
and stalked towards the plastic grate over the jail’s entrance.  The lock was a
sophisticated electronic devise which no doubt would have required a PhD in
computer engineering to bypass.

Unless
you were a monster.

Kingu
grabbed one of the plastic bars and just wrenched the door open, breaking the
lock through sheer force.  He hated doing things like that around Hope.  Hated
showing her the brutal, brutish side to him.  She was so small.  He never
wanted her to think that he’d use his strength against her.  Never wanted Hope
to step back from him in fear, ever again.  Moving aside, he gestured for her
to go inside, not meeting her gaze.

She
kept staring at him.  “Kingu?”  Her voice sounded strange and he shot her a
cautious glance.

“Yeah?”

Hope
let out a shuddering breath.  “You are just spec
tac
ular.”  Her eyes were
burning, now.  “My
God
.  It’s just…”  She shook her head dazedly. 
“Wow.  Later on, we are sooo gonna play monster movie.”

Kingu
felt his lips part in astonishment.  She…
liked
this side of him?  That
was impossible.  Totally impossible.  If she was lying, though, she deserved
one of those human acting awards for faking her expression of desire.  Looking at
her, he felt it like a surge of heat straight into his groin.

“Which
movie?”  He demanded, still not totally convinced she wanted him.  “
Frankenstein?
”

“I’m
thinking
Phantom of the Opera
.”  She licked her lower lip.  “We’ll skip
the finale, obviously.  I still can’t believe that idiot girl escaped back to
the boring guy and left the poor Phantom.”  Hope began to look genuinely
insulted as she recalled the finale.  “Seriously, who wrote that ending?  Did
anyone in the audience
not
want her to stay with the monster?”

From
out of nowhere, Kingu felt a rush of annoyance at Hope for being so stubbornly,
optimistically blind.  How could she not tell the good guys from the bad?  How
could she not see?

“What
was the woman supposed to do?  Squander her life because some asshole was
lonely?  He lived in a fucking sewer, Hope!  He kidnapped her and pulled her
into the darkness.  She
had
to get away from him, before he dragged down
with him.”

“No. 
She should have saved him.  She should have brought him into the light.”

Kingu
had never been any good with metaphors.  He was too blunt and he sucked at
having conversations, anyway.  “I don’t have a soul, Hope.  You can’t save me,
so don’t waste your time trying.”

She
rolled her eyes.  “Just leave everything to me.  I’ll take care of you.”  She
strolled through the door to the prison and headed down the industrial looking
hallway, blonde curls bouncing.

Hope
really was suicidal.  He’d seen it in the arena and he saw it now.  Her level
of cheery fearlessness could only be chalked up to a death wish.

Kingu
followed her with an exasperated sigh, tugging her backwards so she was at his
side.  “I’ve left everything to you all morning, and I’m becoming more and more
convinced that you’re a lunatic.  Maybe I am, too.”

“Oh,
you definitely are.”  She agreed straight faced.

Kingu
gave a reluctant snort of laughter at her serious tone.  Who else but Hope had
ever made him laugh?  She gave him so much.  “I have another three minutes of
leading this mission, so some respect is in order, puny human.”

“I
just love that you see me as puny.”

An
Electricity Phase sat behind a desk surrounded by television sets, monitoring
the Elemental prisoners in their cells.  He watched them approach, wearing an
even stupider expression than most of his species.  “Ummm, you’re not allowed
in here.”  He said weakly.

“Get
out.”  Kingu ordered and was gratified when the boy’s eyes widened and he
quickly did as he was told.

Obviously,
the Elemental wasn’t quite as dim as he looked.

Hope
watched Electricity Phase dash off and shook her head.  “Well, that was
pathetic.”  She headed around the edge of the desk and frowned down at the bevy
of surveillance monitors.  “Geez, Galen and his little goon squad have locked
up some really awesome people!  They have Falyn, of the Sound House in one of
these cells.  And --look!-- there’s Emagene.  I’m sort of related to her.”

“Isn’t
she an evil queen of some sort?”  Kingu vaguely recalled Emagene, of the Heat
House trying to usurp half her royal relatives and claim the Heat House throne.

“Oh,
the Heat House is always bickering, but no one would want to see Ema trapped in
prison and forced to battle gladiators.  This is just degrading.”  Hope shook
her head.  “There’s Mallachi, too.  And poor Akkadian.  Galen’s locked-up
everyone who might oppose him.”

Kingu
was still mulling things over.  “So, if you’re related to Emagene, of the Heat
House, doesn’t that make you part of a ruling family?”

“Ummm…” 
Hope shot him a glance.  “Kinda.”

“So
what are you?”

“I’m
Hope.”

“What
else?
”

“A
princess?”  It sounded like a guess.  “My grandfather was the king.”

“You’re
a princess.”  Wonderful.  Kingu didn’t know anything about the Color House line
of succession, but her title upped the odds that someone would come looking for
her.  Not that it wasn’t
already
a dead certainty.  He’d seen that
Qadesh guy in his dream and Kingu knew that he’d be looking for Hope.  Damn
it.  “Is there anything else you haven’t told me?”

Hope
blinked oh-so-innocently and quickly turned to start down the nearest hall.

So
she
was
hiding something more.

Shit!

More
Phase guards were coming down the stairs behind them.  Kingu absently snapped
his fingers, throwing up six inch thick plastic wall.  The men slammed into it
like bugs against a windshield.  Kingu barely noticed as he stomped after her. 
“Hope, I swear to Gaia…”

“Well,
there’s stuff you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”  She interrupted, trying to
turn the tables on him.  “Don’t be so judge-y.  Help me find Lycus.”

“
What
haven’t I told you?”

“You
haven’t told me enough about your past.  I think, if you shared it with me, it
wouldn’t have such a hold on you.”

Her
tone was gentle but the words cut like jagged glass.  “My past has
nothing
to
do with us, Hope.”

“I
disagree.  It’s festering inside of you.  You should talk about how awful it is
to know that your evil mother is snoring away in the Air Kingdom.  You should
talk about what she did to you.  Why did she chain you to a wall?”

“So,
I couldn’t escape, obviously.  That’s what captives try to do, after all. 
Escape
.”

She
didn’t miss the double meaning there.  “Are you accusing me of plotting some
kind of get away or complaining that I haven’t tried one?”

Kingu
had no idea.  He just knew that he wasn’t going to discuss Kay and Hope’s
unnaturally easy acceptance of a life in captivity was as good a topic as any
to divert her attention.  “I merely find your apparent willingness to stay my
prisoner forever… odd.”

“I’m
not your prisoner.”

“Really?” 
Kingu looked pointedly at the manacle on her ankle.

“Of
course not. 
These
people are prisoners.”  Other Phases watched them
from behind the cell doors, desperate faces staring out at them.  A few started
to call for help, but they stopped short when they saw Kingu.  Apparently they
preferred to stay in the frying pan, rather than risk the fire.

Hope
slowed her search, her eyes going sympathetic and then determined.  “Kingu?

“No.” 
He already saw where this was headed.

She
looked over at him, with a persistent expression.  “We should free all these
Phases, don’t you think?”

“No.”

“But…”

“
No.
 
They’re bad people, Hope.  Just because Galen doesn’t like them, doesn’t mean
we should let them go.  Akkadian, of the Crystal House is locked up in here. 
You want the responsibility of him roaming free in the world?”  Even Kingu knew
that would be a lousy idea and he generally supported massacres.

She
frowned at him, willing to stand there and argue for the freedom of criminals
so vile they’d even been Banished from the
Banished
Phases’ society. 
“Galen has no right to lock up these people and force them to fight in blood
sports.  Not even Akkadian.  The Council passed judgment and they were
Banished. 
That’s
how they were punished.  This is just cruel.”

“I
agreed to free Lycus, but I never said I’d help
all
these beings…”

“Hope!” 
Lycus bellowed from somewhere down the row of cells.  “Is that you?”

“Lycus!” 
Hope dashed off in the direction of his voice.  Her hand was still clutching
Kingu’s palm like she needed to pull him along.

She
didn’t.

He
wasn’t racing to save that idiot Metal Phase, but he was certainly keeping up. 
When they’d been walking, Kingu had slowed his usual stride because it took
Hope two steps to match one of his.  With her running, it was reduced to about
one and a half.

She
went barreling right past Lycus’ cell and then quickly backtracked to stare at
the Metal Phase through the Plexiglas.  He was isolated, with no one else
around him.  “Hi!  There you are.  Don’t worry.  We’re here to rescue you.”

Lycus’
eyes fixed on Kingu through the plastic.  The guy was still dressed in his
battle fatigues from the day before.  “Rescue me?”  His voice was ragged and
vivid bruises from Kingu’s strangulation attempt encircled his throat.  “Is
that what you told her?”

“She’s
actually the one who told
me
that we were paying you this exciting
jailhouse visit.  I could’ve thought of far more enjoyable ways to spend our
day.”

“I’ll
bet.”  Lycus spared Hope a quick glance.  “Are you alright?  Has he hurt you?”

“I’m
fine.”  Hope crouched down to examine the electronic keypad next to the cell
door.  She pushed some blonde hair behind her ear and the cherry earrings
rattled.  “Don’t be so suspicious.  Kingu’s been a perfect gentleman.”

Lycus’s
gaze went straight to the love bite that Hope had left on Kingu’s neck.  His
jaw tightened.

Kingu
had deliberately created a shirt with a collar low enough to show off the hicky. 
Hope had marked him in the midst of her passion and he had no intention of
hiding the proof.

Kingu
met Lycus’ outraged gaze and smirked.

“Son-of-a-bitch.” 
Lycus glanced back at Hope.  “For God’s sake, woman, what are you
doing
with
him?”  He pointed at Kingu.  “The
guy’s a fucking monster!”

Hope
glanced up at Kingu, one brow lifting archly.  “Oh, I know he’s a monster.”  She
drawled.  “That’s one of my favorite things about him.  Narrowly beating out
the color of his eyes and the way he sometimes calls me ‘treasure.’”

She
was
his treasure.  “Also, you approve of my decorating.”

“True.” 
Hope nodded.  “And you’re very efficient at jailbreaks.  We’re already on step
four and we didn’t even have to use dynamite a single time, yet.  We
always
use
dynamite at home, so it’s possibly becoming a crutch for us.  It’s inspiring to
see you work so easily without it.”

Kingu
had no idea what they were blasting-to-hell in the Color Kingdom, but he
nodded, anyway.  “My pleasure.  Let’s just speed this up, so we can go.”

Lycus’
eyes narrowed at him.  “Did you use some kind of magic to brainwash her?”

“I
don’t perform magic, you idiot.  I’m a
god
, not a birthday clown.” 
Kingu gave up on Hope’s random-button-pushing approach to opening Lycus’ cell
and gently nudged her from in front of the keypad.  “Here, treasure.  Allow
me.”  He slammed a fist into the electronic lock, causing sparks to fly out. 
Within two seconds, he ripped the internal wires free and then it was just a matter
of using his strength to snap the plastic locks open manually.  “Ta-da.”  He
deadpanned.  “He’s saved.  Hallelujah.  Did I make it in under five minutes?”