‘My mother,’ Rafael growled. ‘How am I going to—’
‘Well, that’s your problem,’ Gwen said and rose to her feet, graceful as a dancer. ‘I’m sure you’ll work it out. You’re very good at that sort of thing. I can take care of things here. You should leave.’
‘But Laure…’
She glared at the sleeping body of his sister and all the humour drained out of her. ‘She’s mine now. She used my mask, my magic, for her own ends. She killed my Simon. There’s a price. There is always a price, especially when you abuse the gifts of a water witch. And when you anger us. She joins me, cursed as I was cursed, my servant forever. But don’t worry, I’ll keep her in check. In the meantime, you need to go. Now. Once I release the spell, the cave is going to collapse. I should have done it long ago. Sentiment stopped me, I suppose. There isn’t much time.’
The cave began to shake again. Dust and dirt rained down on them. A crack lanced through the rock overhead and the ground trembled wildly. They could hear the sound of the sea pounding against the rocks.
‘Gwen, please!’ Rafael shouted. ‘Don’t do this.’
‘And what would you do with her, Rafael? How would you explain to the police what happened? Enough. Much as I love my retreat, this place must be destroyed. It is too dangerous to leave standing. I should have done it years ago. There is no curse of Ys anymore. Nothing to protect. Take Ariadne and go. Run.’
She turned her back on them both.
Scrambling to his feet, Rafael lifted Ari in his arms. The roof was coming down. They didn’t have time to hesitate, plunging into the tunnels again. But she knew carrying her was slowing him down. Without words, she struggled free and they ran together, even if she had to lean on him more than she would have liked. There was almost no light, but they moved on instinct, fleeing, the sound deafening behind them. She could smell the dust and the sea, feel the world tearing itself apart just behind them. Somehow, they found their way back to the opening, a combination of the marks on the cave walls, unconscious memory and blind luck.
Rafael almost hurled her up through the gap and she grabbed the rope, pulling herself the rest of the way.
‘Ari!’ Jason screamed her name from outside and pounced on her, dragging her clear.
But Rafael didn’t emerge after her. Ari turned like a feral animal, her hands reaching after him in the darkness, but he’d gone.
Back down the tunnel, trying to get to the cavern to save Laure, even if she only wanted him dead, even if she was a murderess and attempted murderess…she was still his sister.
‘Get back from the edge,’ Nico yelled hoarsely. ‘The cliffs are unstable.’
She didn’t care. Couldn’t care. Rafael was down there somewhere, maybe trapped, maybe dead. Just when she had gathered her wits to jump back down, she saw him, his hands first, clutching the rope in the last ray of light to make it down into the hole.
‘Help me,’ she shouted to the other two and hauled their end of the rope, dragging him up.
He was covered in dirt and dust, his face streaked with it and tears. Blood ran from a gash on his head. He tumbled out of the darkness and lay on the track cutting through the bracken and gorse. His chest heaved.
‘I couldn’t reach them,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t get back. The whole thing has come down. It’s all gone.’
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
The lights were blinding and the Paris studio was peculiarly airless. Ari perched on a tall thin stool opposite a woman who looked like a sexy little doll newly brought to life. They’d taken one look at Ari’s outfit, a rather neat if affordable black suit, and sighed, muttered and conferred until she was whisked off to a wardrobe department somewhere. She emerged wearing something far more stylish, her hair and make-up transformed.
The blue of the blouse did at least bring out her eyes, or so the make-up artist had informed her. That might have helped if she hadn’t sounded like it was a miracle. It softened her appearance, made her more approachable. She hadn’t been aware she was unapproachable before and instantly wished she was again.
Ari brought her hand up to her neck. She felt strangely exposed without the necklace and the little bone pendant. But that was long gone, the pieces buried under Castelmeur.
Emergency services had found nothing, no way into the cave system, no signs of life. They even sent in rescue divers through the sea cave at the end of the point, but the pathway to Ys was gone. Too much debris to continue, they’d said. No hope of finding survivors. No one should have been down there in the first place.
Ari agreed with every word. No one should ever have been down there.
They still had the coin and once they could dive again along with Nico and Simon, she had been able to locate the remains of the mosaic between Castelmeur and Îlot D’Or. But that meant the university and the department were swarming all over the place and the treasure hunt was over. It was a find of national importance. And international interest.
The media descended on them.
Jason seemed remarkably calm about it all. He’d proved his point, she supposed. The people who had dismissed him, ridiculed him, now had to admit that he had been right about the lost city of Ys and that seemed to be enough for him. There was talk of a television series, book deals and more. He was loving it. Besides, he had Nico. And that meant more to him than all the fame in the world.
While Jason charmed the world’s media and sparkled, the roguish adventurer to the core, Ari was summoned more and more to be the voice of reason and academic responsibility. The documentary team had seemed the most reasonable and Rafael had arranged something. He had made some calls, found an agent for them, and had his own people go over the contracts. She suspected he was using them as a way to avoid doing it himself. Though his involvement was well known, more than a few people complained that he seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth the moment the story broke.
They’d barely spoken since their escape. Ari just kept remembering his face when she tried to talk to him afterwards, the hope dying in his eyes that Laure might be found, even then, after everything, after all her confessions and her plans for him.
But then Ari knew how she felt about Jason. Family was family, no matter what. She couldn’t help but blame herself.
