Read Online Stolen by Melissa de La Cruz - Free Book Online Page B

seemed satisfied with the answer and didn’t ask further questions; nor did Shakes. They trusted him, which made Wes feel even worse. He hated lying to his guys. It was the one thing he had sworn never to do, but in truth, he hadn’t had the watts to pay the required bribes. He was counting on the limo providing enough cover to get them through the door, where he could sweet-talk his way in like he always did. He was hoping the guards would cut Farouk some slack since he ran this route nearly every day.
    Those were a whole lot of ifs.
    It was a long shot, but Eliza would be gone if he’d spent another month working the races, trying to earn enough for the bribes. If he’d waited, most likely she’d already have been sold to the temple, to the High Priestess who, it was rumored, fed on blood of the marked, sucking all the life force out of them for her own immortality. And if Eliza was dead on top of all of this—leaving Nat, losing Roark, Brendon, and Liannan—there would be nothing left for him.
    Wes had to trust his fate to chance, and hope his luck wouldn’t fail him. And then that he wouldn’t fail everyone else.

Chapter 9
    L EAVING THE FOREST B EHIND, N AT stepped toward the cliffs that led into the clouds where the white city began. There were stairs carved into the rock leading upward.
Where is everybody?
she wondered. There was nobody on the stairs. This was the capital of Vallonis and yet she and Faix were the only two people at its entrance.
    There are other ways into the city, but everyone must come through this entrance the first time he or she approaches Apis,
Faix sent, as if he were merely a piece of her mind that contained knowledge she did not yet have access to.
You will travel this route only once.
    They started to climb. A soft breeze blew. Birds fluttered in the great void beneath the city. The blue- and red-winged creatures looked familiar, like the birds that came to her on the black ocean when she was alone with Wes in a cargo container on the slave ship.
    She climbed, eyes downcast, focusing on the steps, careful not to trip or lose her balance. She had no thought but not to fall, and even her telepathic conversation with Faix ceased. After what felt like a long and arduous hike, she felt the air getting colder, and when she looked up, she saw that they were nearing the top and that the city was coming into view. The stairs terminated in a great promontory, a stone outcropping that extended outward from the cliff to the gates of the city.
    Nat walked right up to the edge and stopped. There was a gap of about ten feet between the cliff and the doorway to the city. It was too far to leap across.
    She turned to look at Faix, who had been walking behind her, but he wasn’t there—and when she looked across, he was standing at the doorway, underneath the stone archway, his bright hair almost as white as the city stone.
    â€œHow did you do that?” Nat frowned. She was fairly certain she didn’t want to know the answer, whatever it was.
    â€œSimple. Just walk across.”
    â€œYeah, right.” She looked at the great chasm below. She had once leapt from a hospital window, falling many stories without injury. She had flown on the drakon’s back, had soared at greater heights than these. She was not afraid of heights, but something about the gap made her hesitate.
    â€œWalk across the bridge, Nat,” said Faix. “Every pupil of mine has succeeded in doing so.”
    â€œBut I’ll fall. There’s nothing there.”
    â€œIt only looks like there is nothing,” he said. “You must walk on the ether, must command it to hold you upright. One cannot simply enter the city; the city must admit you. To prove you are worthy of Apis, you must step upon the ether and cross the void.”
    â€œA leap of faith.”
    Faix nodded. “So it appears.”
    â€œBut if I fall, I’ll die.”
    â€œYou will not fall if