Lucan: The Pendragon Legacy by Susan Kearney Read Free Book Online

protocol. She was amazed that such a simple touch, such an ordinary connection between two people, could feel so extraordinary.

    By the Goddess, he felt good.

    Her blood raced too fast through her body. She couldn’t seem to draw enough air into her lungs and had to force words past her breathlessness. “Where are we going?”

    “Outside.” He dropped his hand and headed for the door. “To Avalon.”

    “But Quentin said we couldn’t enter—”

    “He didn’t say we couldn’t
look.
” His voice sounded husky, coaxing, conspiratorial.

    All her life Cael had done what her people expected. She’d followed the rules that had been set long before she’d been born.

    But when Lucan stepped outside, she followed him. Immediately she felt a shift in the air. Three decades ago, a Dragonian had invented air scrubbers that cleaned some of the pollutants from the skies. But factories had increased production and the scrubbers never seemed to keep up. Pollutants often fogged in the cities, and the air tasted bitter. But today the wind was fresh, the air almost clean.

    “Come on.” Lucan took her hand, entwining his fingers in hers. She found herself matching his pace, running beside him toward the obelisk.

    Lucan halted before Avalon’s shadowed entrance. The ancient bronzed doors beckoned. Without the shield to block them, they looked more solid, yet luminous, and her pulse simmered with excitement.

    She placed her hand on the door, and it felt cool and smooth. A slight tingle skimmed up her arm—undoubtedly her imagination. She grasped the ancient lever that would tumble a lock. If she pulled, would the doors open?

    “Don’t.” Lucan tugged her back.

    “What’s wrong?” The urge to go inside was so strong her stomach drew into a tight knot.

    He spun her around to face the laboratory they’d just left. “Fire. Look.”

    Flames lit up the far perimeter of the lab. Already the blaze on the north side crackled, shooting hellish sparks into the sky. Red and orange flames raced along the rooftop.

    She gasped in horror. “It’s spreading fast along the roof.”

    “We have to go back and warn them.” His expression was set. “If the fire reaches the flammable chemicals stored there, the lab could explode before the team even realizes there’s danger.”

    He was right. And yet… she didn’t want to leave Avalon. She had to force her feet toward the lab, her stride keeping pace with his as he pulled her along.

    Hand in hand they sprinted toward the building to warn Shaw’s team. Outside the lab’s door, a whirring in the sky made her pause. She heard the engines of machines, skimmers, hovercraft, and choppers. “Listen. Help’s coming.”

    Lucan tilted his head back and peered at the smoky sky. Flames silhouetted his bronzed face, his square jaw and determined eyes. Above, a squadron of aircraft loomed above the flames and dropped powder onto the fire.

    Lucan’s eyes narrowed. “Are those firemen?”

    “That’s the military.” Could General Brennon’s satellites have picked up on the fire that quickly? She held her breath, praying the powdQ qsky madeer would douse the conflagration. Instead, the opposite occurred. “By the Goddess. The fire’s burning faster.”

    “That powder is an accelerant.”

    She shuddered, her gut swirling with fear. “This fire… it’s no accident…” She met Lucan’s worried gaze. “I think it’s an attack. The military must have learned we dropped the shields.”

    “They want the Grail,” Lucan muttered.

    “Or they don’t want
us
to have it?” she suggested as he pulled her deeper into the shadows. “They may have even started the fire.”

    “Hell, they may have caused the sinkhole.”

    She peered over his shoulder at the airships, noting how he shielded her with his body.

    Lucan twisted the handle to the door of an annex to the lab. “This fire’s their excuse to take over.”

    “We have to warn Shaw.”

    “The door’s