Dion lay facing her with his head on his arms. There were gashes on his face and lower arms, and his tunic pressed up against more wounds on his body. He shivered and trembled.

He had his eyes closed, but then they opened wide.

He was looking at her.

‘Dion . . .’ Chloe said. She didn’t know what she was going to say next.

He clambered to his feet. His white tunic was red with blood. His dread-filled eyes met hers and then he looked at the cliff edge.

‘No!’ Chloe cried.

He ran to the precipice and leaped off. Chloe told her muscles to move but she stood transfixed. She waited for the splash as his body struck the surging sea far below.

But it never came.

62

62

The journey from the Temple of Aldus to the base of the stairway embedded in the cliff seemed to take an eternity. Chloe was forced to pause every few steps, gasping for breath and fighting a trembling in her limbs that wouldn’t stop.

When she completed her descent she put a hand to her mouth.

Bodies lay scattered around the agora and along the summit of the sloped bastion, too many for her mind to encompass. Soldiers of three nations littered the city’s main square, their faces twisted in final expressions of agony. Phalesia had survived, but at a terrible cost. Chloe wondered if the horror would ever end.

She stumbled to the embankment and saw Captain Amos, an ugly swelling on his forehead, issuing orders to his men. Concern filled his face as he saw Chloe approach.

‘The sun king’s body is up there,’ Chloe whispered.

‘Chloe . . . Are you all right?’

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Chloe finally nodded. She straightened and took hold of herself as Amos called out to some of his men, sending them up the cliff.

‘What happened?’ he asked. ‘How did the sun king die?’

Seeing a familiar figure, Amos beckoned, and Chloe saw her father rushing forward.

‘Daughter!’ Aristocles cried, alarmed when he saw Chloe’s blood-drenched chiton. ‘Are you well? You’re unharmed?’ He looked at her quizzically.

‘Where is the sun king?’ a rough voice called as a man who must be Nikolas approached. He scowled, his eyes dark under his bushy black brows, the expression fierce on his broad face.

‘He is dead. He tried to open the ark. Something . . . was in there.’ She drew a slow, shaky breath. ‘An . . . eldran saved me. It’s over.’

‘We must thank him,’ Aristocles said, looking around. ‘All of them.’

‘They’ve all long gone,’ said Amos. ‘But we’ll find a way.’

‘They don’t need thanks,’ Chloe murmured. ‘They just want peace between our races.’

Speaking these last words, her thoughts turned to Dion. She tried instead to focus on her father and her home.

‘Nikolas—’ Aristocles began.

‘King Nikolas,’ Amos admonished.

‘Of course,’ said Aristocles, bowing smoothly. ‘King Nikolas of Xanthos. We thank you.’