He pulled Zwaantie down a small side street and suddenly they were in the middle of a forest. Zwaantie blinked at the sudden change of scenery. Trees towered over them, and leaves and pine needles littered the ground. Heavy pine replaced the tulip and orange smell.
“What happened?” Zwaantie asked.
“A botany mage created this. It’s an illusion of course, but she wanted the people of the city to be able to experience the forest. She’s a good friend of my father’s. Her house is amazing. Flowers and trees everywhere. And they aren’t an illusion.”
They kept walking, and a minute later they were back on the street. Zwaantie glanced behind her. No trees, just a shimmer of light.
They wandered in and out of the buildings. Zwaantie loved all the little shops with magical trinkets floating around. She almost forgot she was supposed to be miserable.
Leo’s disc buzzed. He glanced down at it. “Oh, stars, I lost track of time. We need to go.”
As he dragged her down the streets, she couldn’t help but notice the eyes following her as she walked.
“Why are people still staring at me? I thought if I dressed like them, they’d stop.”
“You mean besides the fact that you’re gorgeous? You’re with me. It will only get worse when people find out that you’re the princess. I thought you’d be used to it. In Sol, everyone bowed wherever you went. At least here, they’re not stopping in their tracks. ”
“I didn’t go out in public very often, and when I did, I usually went disguised because I hated the attention. I just want to be normal.”
Leo stopped short, spun around, and pulled her close. His chest felt so nice against hers. She should be thinking about Phoenix, not Leo.
He stared deep into her eyes. “Zwaantie, you continually surprise me. I need you to understand something, though. You will never be normal. You are special in so many ways. Embrace that.”
He kissed her on her forehead, and tugged at her hand. She didn’t want to be special. She scanned the crowd, so many eyes on her. She’d never be able to hide in Stella. Her plans with Phoenix were looking grim.
Chapter 3
The Baby
A few minutes later, a very strange smell assaulted Zwaantie’s nose, which was a rude shock from the tulips and oranges.
“What is that?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.
Leo gave her a forced smile. “It’s the smell of the ocean. The salt is the briny smell you noticed. You’ll get used to it.”
He moved swiftly, dragging her along, the tension in his body apparent. The water glittered under the light. Two big boats with wide decks sat at the docks.
“Where are the sails?” Zwaantie asked. Neither of the boats had any masts. There were a few large lakes in Sol, but the boats there had sails.
“We don’t need them. They move by magic.” His words were clipped, short.
A gruff man stood on the boat. “Prince, we have to go.” Others were rushing around them on the docks. “Queen Candace is already on that boat,” he said, pointing to the other boat. “The rest of the boats with your party have already left. Please can we move?”
“Of course.” Leo tugged Zwaantie onto the boat, worry on his face.
Zwaantie’s heart raced. She and Phoenix were supposed to run away before they got to the capital city, but he was already on another boat.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“We need to get a move on. This will not be a pleasant ride. We dawdled too long in the city.”
The captain was a large man, and he wore a deep black vest. Besides him, Leo and Zwaantie were the only ones on the boat. The captain glared at Leo.
“You’ve risked all of our lives. Go on, get below. We’ll move as fast as we can.”
How had Leo risked their lives? She hid behind Leo, peering around him. The captain clenched his fists. He looked like he might chuck Leo right off the boat.
“I’m sorry. I lost track of time. We’ll stay below. Thank you for your service.”
The captain rolled his eyes and moved to the front of the boat.
Zwaantie crawled downstairs and found several large sofas and ottomans. She collapsed onto one that swallowed her right up. Leo chuckled. She was glad to see he had relaxed, but not at her expense.
“Why is the captain mad at you?” she asked.
Leo sat on an ottoman across from her. “Because I’ve endangered us. I should’ve been paying more attention.”
The boat took off, and Leo nearly fell over. The boat bumped along the water. Zwaantie hadn’t been out on boats much, and she was nervous she’d get sick.
“How have you endangered us aside from making sure I throw up on the ride?”
“Sorry,” he said and stood. He wobbled along to a small cupboard, pulled out a large bowl, and handed it to her. Then he sat and put his arm around her. “It’s just after six o’clock, and it takes about six hours to get to City of Stars. Less if the boats move fast, but we can probably only hope to gain about thirty minutes. If we are out after midnight, we could die.”
Zwaantie’s stomach rolled as they hit another small wave. “How?”
“All of our magic ceases at midnight. The boats won’t move, and the light will go out.”
Zwaantie gripped a pillow as the boat swayed. “That doesn’t sound bad. Maybe we can just watch the stars.”
Leo grimaced. “There’s more to it. Monsters come out after midnight. No one has ever seen one, but anyone who is out dies. A boat is not a place you want to be after midnight.”
“If we don’t make it in time, we’re going to die?”
“Maybe. I’ve never spent a night out on the water. I don’t expect our good captain has either.” He frowned.
“Do you know anything about these monsters?”
“We call them vipers. They’re some kind of serpent.”
“How do you know if you’ve never seen them?”
“They shed their skin, and so we know their general shape.”
“How often do they kill?”
“As often as they can. If you leave a door open or don’t quite make it home, they’ll get you. A cousin of mine died last year on his way home from a party.”
Zwaantie squeezed her eyes shut and tried to ignore her queasy stomach. She was in a land where if she stayed outside after midnight, she would die a horrible death. Just when she thought Stella couldn’t get any worse.
“Leo,” she said in a cracked voice.
“Yeah.”
“Please tell our captain to move faster. I don’t care how sick I get.”
Leo pulled her tight against him. “Don’t worry. He already is. We’ll make it.”
“All I wanted to do was see the stars,” she said, suddenly bereft. Nothing had gone the way she’d planned.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get your fill of stars. Maybe after the wedding, we can go spend a few weeks on one of the smaller islands, where the stars always shine.”
She didn’t want to think about after the wedding with him. He was being so sweet to her, but she couldn’t allow herself to feel guilty for abandoning him for Phoenix. There would be no after the wedding. Her own happiness was worth sacrificing his.
“What will happen to the slaves once we get to the capital?”
“I’ll free them and find them someplace to stay for a few weeks. We’ll integrate them slowly. If they want to go back to Sol, we’ll make sure they have passage across the border.”
“Where will they stay?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll talk to the jobs master. He helps people find jobs. He’s very good at what he does.”
Zwaantie let out a breath of relief. At least she’d be able to find Phoenix the next day. Though, she had been hoping to run away that night. From what Leo said, the midnight hour would come soon after they arrived, and so there would be no time to find Phoenix or a safe place to stay for the night.
“Will we have time to get to the castle before midnight comes?”
He frowned. “No, probably not. There is a small house near the docks for those who come in late. We’ll stay there tonight and go up to the castle in the morning.”
Leo’s disc buzzed. He pushed a button, and Hunter’s face popped out of it and hovered in front of Leo. Zwaantie was still unnerved by this mode of communication.
“What’s up?” Leo asked the floating head.
“Candace is in labor. We are too close to midnight.” Hunter sounded scared. It was a strange emotion coming from him.
“Where’s her birthing mage?”
“In The Black City,” said Hunter. “Stars, why didn’t we have her come with us? What are we going to do?”
Zwaantie gripped Leo’s arm. “Is there anyway I can help?”
Hunter’s head swiveled so he looked directly at her. “Unless you can deliver a baby, no.”
“But I can. I do it all the time.”
“Stopping the boats will take too much time. We can’t afford even a small delay.”
Zwaantie cocked her head at Leo. “Explain to me how a woman who expected to deliver her baby with magic is going to have her baby on a speeding, rocking boat with no one who knows how to deliver a baby? Both she and the baby could die. Find a way to get me on that boat.”
Leo looked from her to Hunter and then stalked up the stairs. Zwaantie wrung her hands. She knew what this meant. This could be a fool’s errand. She might save Candace and her baby, but they could die anyway. But if she didn’t and something happened, it would haunt her for the rest of her life. She had to help.
The captain stomped down the stairs.
“This is foolishness, girl. We cannot stop the boats.”
“Do you want to be responsible for the death of the baby and his mother? Women die without proper care. Thousands of things could go wrong. Do you really want that on your head?”
“You don’t understand. If we stop these boats, we are going to die.”
“You’re telling me no one has ever survived out on the ocean after midnight. Surely it happens.”
The captain let out a sigh. “Yes, it happens occasionally. They only survive if they seal up their ships well.”
Zwaantie stood straight. “Well, then I guess you better start sealing up the boat.”
Fifteen minutes later Zwaantie was down in the hull of Candace’s boat with her screaming all sorts of Stellan obscenities. The captains had lashed both boats together and were now rushing around checking every seam on the boat and reinforcing the doors. Zwaantie didn’t have time to worry about what they were doing. She had a baby to deliver. The boats had stopped moving which would make it easier to deliver the baby, but that meant they were stuck out on the water for the night.
Zwaantie propped Candace up on her bed and spread her legs. The baby wasn’t crowning yet, but he was getting close.
“There are things I need to help her with during the birth. Normally we use pain potions from Stella, so I’m assuming you have some of those. I’ll need scissors of some kind, clean cloths, and a few bowls. Otherwise I just need you all to stay out of my way.”
The captain glowered at her. “I don’t have time for this. We’re all going to bloody die.”
He pulled a bag out of a cupboard with pain potions and the scissors and went to work on the hull door. Leo found Zwaantie a stool so she could sit at the foot of Candace’s bed. She handed the pain potion to Hunter, who poured it down the screaming throat of his wife. She quieted a little and sobbed. She would not be an easy mother to deliver. She was scared, a screamer, and this was her first baby. Zwaantie had delivered scared mothers before, but never when she herself was terrified.
Leo paced around the small room. Then he stopped and leaned down toward her.
“Zwaantie,” he whispered.
“Little busy here, can we talk later? Maybe you should go sit down. It’s just a baby. She’ll be fine.” Zwaantie checked Candace again and fully expected to see a crowning head, but nothing.
“No, you need to know a couple of things.”
Zwaantie sighed and turned toward him as Candace let out another scream. “What?”
“Do you remember that the magic stops at midnight?”
Oh Sol, she’d forgotten. Delivering a baby in pitch black would be impossible. She’d delivered babies after midnight in Sol before, but the rooms were lit enough that midnight made no difference.
“Thanks for the warning, but I’ve done this plenty of times. I can do it by sound and touch. It will be good practice.”
Bells rang.
Candace let out a scream. Hunter and Leo both yelled. Their words were lost in the confusion. The captain bolted the door behind Zwaantie, and she was so focused on Candace she didn’t notice Leo had her arm in a tight grip.
He bent his head toward Zwaantie and whispered furiously into her ear. “You need to listen to me. When the bells stop—”
Zwaantie jerked her arm out from his.
“I have a baby to deliver, and if I’m correct in assuming that as soon as those bells stop, the lights go out, then I need to take care of a couple things first. Leave me alone and let me do my job.”
He continued to prattle on, but Zwaantie ignored him. She knew he probably wanted to tell her more about the monsters, but at this point, she didn’t care. She checked out Candace once again. A small head was crowning. Thank the stars. This wouldn’t take too long.
Zwaantie looked over Candace’s knees.
“It’s time to push. Your baby will be here any minute.”
Candace grimaced, the bells stopped, and the room went pitch black. Zwaantie couldn’t even see the hand in front of her face. At first, something like rain pitter-pattered against the boat, but soon the noise was so loud that she couldn’t even hear Candace cursing. It was as if a thousand swords were hacking away at the ship. How many monsters were out there? Hundreds? Thousands? Zwaantie’s heart constricted. She tried not to think about what would happen if one of those monsters got into the boat.
Candace screamed out. The darkness would be a complication, but she couldn’t worry because the baby would be there any minute, and Zwaantie had to focus on Candace. She gripped Candace’s knees and shouted over the noise. “I know you are scared, but you have to push. This will be over soon. Are you with me?”
Candace didn’t answer, but Zwaantie felt her bear down. A small hand popped out into Zwaantie’s hands.
“Almost done, one more big push.”
Zwaantie hoped to Sol this baby screamed when he came out because she didn’t know if she’d be able to revive a baby with no light.
The shoulders came out, and the rest of the baby followed.
“He’s out. Good job,” Zwaantie said.
She wrapped him in the towel and flipped him upside down. She cleared out his mouth with her finger and smacked his bum. Silence. Except for that wretched pounding.
“Shouldn’t the baby be crying right now?” Hunter asked.
Zwaantie didn’t answer, just kept working on the baby. She flipped him over, blew air into his face, and felt his body shudder. He let out a loud scream, and for a few seconds they couldn’t even hear the incessant pounding.
Zwaantie cut and tied the cord, cleaned him up, and handed him to his mother, whose sobbing still hadn’t stopped. Zwaantie found her shoulder and leaned close to her ear.
“You did great. Now rest. We’ll get the mess cleaned up in the morning.” Zwaantie tried to still her shaking hands. A rapid thumping came on the door. Now that the baby was here, the monsters seemed more real. Would she and the others survive the night, or were her efforts in saving Candace and her baby useless? Zwaantie was already regretting her decision to come to Stella. She wanted to be home where midnight was there were no monsters and the sun was bright.
Chapter 4
The Confession
The thumping was louder now, like a thousand hammers pounding nails into a coffin. A hand fumbled for Zwaantie’s and gripped it tight.
“It’s me,” Le
o said. “Let’s go find a place to sit. We are stuck here until morning.”
“How long has it been?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. We should get some rest.”
Zwaantie’s legs crashed up against something.
“Ouch. I think I found the couch.”
She sat down and felt Leo settle next to her. She guessed it had been about three hours, but it could’ve been longer or shorter. The sheer darkness made it impossible to tell anything.
“Do you think we’ll be okay?” she asked.
“The captains did a good job at securing the boat. I think we will. We just need to ride it out. They’re manning the door, making sure nothing can get in.”
“Do you hear this every night?” she asked.
“We do. It’s not as loud when you’re in your rooms, but you’ll hear them pounding on the doors.
“Holy Darkness, how do you sleep at night?”
“I grew up with it, so I hardly even notice anymore.”
Leo scooted closer to her so their knees were touching. “You were so brave. I’ve never seen someone do something like that before.”
“Thanks,” she said, meaning it.
“One more reason to love you, right?”
She wished she could see his face to know what he was thinking. When she didn’t respond, he went on. “Listen, I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I haven’t been completely honest with you. There is a reason I was so insistent on marrying you. I mean, I totally fell in love, and I know it seems weird, considering how short of time we had, but it happened.”
“Really?” she asked because she didn’t know what else to say. Her palms were sticky with sweat. Guilt plagued her. This wasn’t fair to him.
“Yeah, really. I don’t know. You’ve captured my heart in ways I didn’t even know were possible. Watching you with Candace just made it stronger. You’re an incredible person, Zwaantie, and you’re going to make an excellent queen.”
Stella and Sol Box Set Page 19
