Princess of Death

by Cortney Pearson

  “We can’t stay here, Father. I know you don’t want to leave my mother’s side, but Captain Kelsey has Princess Soraya.”

  He hung his head. “Even if I could do something to help her, I don’t see how we could. There’s no way to reach her through the boundary. I tried to destroy it, Caliana.”

  Cali steadied herself, ready for the truth of what she’d heard him say in the crystal.

  “How?”

  “Captain Kelsey was manipulating your uncle, Emir, and Emir reached out to me for help. I thought if we could take the boundary down, it would settle everything. I thought the captain would leave him alone.”

  “Do you know why Kelsey wants it down so badly, Father?”

  He shook his head. “I wish I did.”

  “So what did you do?”

  “During the last solstice, right after your seventeenth birthday, I sent the Ruthless out to sea. Instead of offering our usual fodder for homage, we attacked it. I ordered our strongest artillery—cannons, dynamite explosives, even swords be thrown at its surface. I thought maybe it would be enough to shatter it and rip it down.”

  “But?”

  “But all I did was tear a rift in it. And little by little, contaminated dark magic has been seeping out from it, poisoning us all.”

  All Cali could do was stare.

  Her father was at fault for the necrosis after all. He was the reason for all of this, the reason for the suffering in the streets, the bodies piled along the outskirts of her homeland. But the worst realization was that Undine’s wrath was real. It wasn’t some phrase muttered under her breath whenever something went wrong. And that meant, if wronging her was possible, Undine Daray herself was real, too.

  A knock tore through the remaining silence. Cali hurried to open the door, eager for a break in the conversation and from her father. Lyric entered, looking much better than she had the last time Cali had seen her. The traces of fever were gone. Her skin had returned to its normal, lively shade, and she moved with agility, no longer trembling.

  “Good day, Your Highness,” she greeted Cali solemnly.

  Cali closed the door behind her. “Lyric, thank you for coming. Did you bring your potion? Can you give it to my mother?”

  Lyric hesitated at the sight of the king. He stood, glaring at her. Something passed between them that Cali couldn’t put her finger on. Did they know one another? Why was Lyric so hesitant?

  “Please,” he said, finally relenting. He gesturing to the bed and moved aside.

  Lyric pulled a small bowl from her pouch along with a jar. Dipping two fingers in, she administered the potion to the queen’s lips.

  “There,” Lyric said, tucking her potion away, wiping her hand on an accommodating cloth from her own pocket. “It shouldn’t be long now.”

  “Thank you, Lyric,” Cali said. “If there’s ever any way I can repay you, you must tell me.”

  “Cali—” Her father snapped.

  Lyric’s eyes turned shrewd. She shot another glance toward the king before inclining her head in Cali’s direction. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Suspicion rose in Cali’s throat. Thoughts of her father’s admission, of Lyric’s uncanny potion-making ability, of her swift appearance upon being called clicked through Cali’s brain like cogs.

  “Are you her?” Cali said. “Are you Undine?”

  Lyric barked a laugh. King Marek covered his face with his hand.

  Cali’s cheeks flamed, but she kept talking. “It’s the only thing I can figure out. If only princesses have magic, how is it you were able to create such a concoction to get me across the boundary if it wasn’t your home to begin with?”

  Lyric wiped her eyes. “No, I’m not the sea goddess, though I’ll take the compliment. I’m not foolish enough to let love dictate my choices.”

  “What does that mean?” Let love dictate?

  The king rose from his place beside his wife, holding his imperial stance Cali was so used to, the one he used on his staff before directing orders. “I think it’s time you left,” the king said.

  Defiance danced in Lyric’s eyes. “Don’t want your daughter knowing the truth?”

  “The truth about what? What else haven’t you told me?” With her mother was healed, Cali knew they needed to get to the boundary, to help Soraya if they could. But she couldn’t pass the chance for another question to be answered.

  King Marek sighed.

  Cali expected some kind of confession from Lyric, but instead, she sat on a nearby armchair and spoke of the sea witch. “Undine thought her power made her immune, but she stumbled like so many foolish mortals do at the sight of a pretty face. His name was Terek, and the moment she saw him, Undine lost her balance and fell straight into love.

  “This was no casual stumble. It was a plunge, headfirst into the dizzying realm lined with roses.”

  Lyric’s tone dripped with sarcasm. She went on.

  “But Undine made one simple, fateful mistake. She fell into that cavernous abyss without tethering herself to something concrete, something impervious to love’s power. And when love ran out, when Terek left her for his own interest, she hit rock bottom. Terek followed the other woman across the sea, to an exotic otherworld where moonlight was magic, where it was all color and silk and lined with gold.”

  “Lunae Lumen,” Cali whispered, remembering all too well the intoxicating land. Who was Terek? Was he real? He wasn’t mentioned anywhere at all in the books Soraya had lent her.

  “Undine crashed so completely without him, and it shattered her heart into a thousand vengeful pieces. She wanted to make sure nothing like love could ever ensnare her again, so she separated herself from where he was. Magic combined with emotion carries more of the heart with it. It crystallizes magic with such force it can’t be stopped. The thousand pieces of her heart hardened over the ocean, ensuring that not only Terek, but also anyone else, would not be able to cross it again.”

  “So when you tried to take the boundary down…” Cali turned to her father.

  Lyric seemed bemused by this. “Magic takes on a life of its own. Undine’s boundary was made from such all-encompassing heartbreak it carried on her sense of vengeance. It turned pungent and green; it festered the way unhealed cuts sometimes do. Instead of dissolving into the sea or becoming part of the landscape like a scar would, this wound on the horizon never healed.”

  “It’s diseased. The boundary itself is diseased every inch as much as the plague tormenting our people.” Her father rubbed his forehead as though faced with a problem he didn’t know how to handle.

  “The magic contained inside is dark, Cali,” Lyric said. “So dark it should never be disturbed.”

  “Dark enough to curse someone,” Cali murmured. She thought of Bae, wondering if his attempts to take the boundary would do any good or would make the curse worse.

  “Segregation from Lunae Lumen and the rest of the world is the price we must pay,” her father said. “But it’s worth it. We’re better off being away from magic. Away from it all.”

  Cali had often romanticized about the boundary. She’d seen its dark beauty, its mystique of nightshade and shadow that mirrored whatever ship approached it. Cali still didn’t understand why Undine was so revered in Lunae Lumen where she’d segregated her deepest love and worst enemy. How could this woman mean wickedness here and goodness there? Wouldn’t it be the opposite?

  “Then how were you able to get me across it? How were you able to cross it yourself?” Cali asked Lyric.

  “Though her own didn’t work out, Undine likes love stories. It’s why she casts her blessing on marriage tournaments and on new life born from love. But she’ll never give anything for free. It always requires—”

  “A sacrifice,” Cali said.

  “Magic of that magnitude pulls from the heartstrings. It’s like a leech, and that kind of power can only be used when feeding off the soul of one who has real intent or need.”

  Cali wondered what need Lyric had had, what
her sacrifice had been to push her from her own land and come to Zara in hiding.

  “So to get back across it, to save Soraya, we have to have a dire need,” Cali said, unable to remain still. Wasn’t saving her cousin enough of a need? Stopping the Kelseys from having it destroyed? Wouldn’t Undine want that?

  “We can’t approach the boundary,” her father said. “The magic is seeping out. There is a rift; it’s the reason for the necrosis in the first place!”

  Cali thought about her conversation with Bae, when he’d told her he was cursed by the sea witch. He’d said the boundary was her home.

  Cali stared at the rug. “She wouldn’t want her home destroyed.”

  “What?” he demanded.

  Cali glanced up at her father. Then to Lyric. “If what you said is true, she wouldn’t want the boundary to be destroyed. Is there a way we can contact her directly?”

  “You can’t be serious,” Lyric deadpanned.

  “Soraya is going to die—or worse, be pawned off to Captain Kelsey’s crew—if we don’t do something. She said she didn’t have enough power to take the boundary down, but he’s expecting her to. For all we know they’re there now, waiting for her to act!”

  “You can’t contact the sea witch,” her father warned. “She cares nothing about the plight of mortals.”

  “That’s not what the Lunae Lumenians believe. Or you, Lyric. You called her a goddess.”

  Her father stepped between her and Lyric, not allowing the young woman to answer. “They’re wrong about her, Caliana. She’s not a goddess. She is pure evil. You can’t trust their blind faith.”

  Cali folded her arms. “If anyone can help Soraya, it’s got to be the one who created the boundary in the first place! I need to contact Undine.”

  “She’ll expect something in return,” Lyric warned.

  “Then I’ll give it. I’ll do whatever it takes; we can’t let this happen. The pirates want something here in Zara. I don’t know what it is, but Captain Kelsey is so determined to get it he doesn’t care who he takes down in the process. If he gets the boundary down, we’ll have bigger problems than a necrosis plague to deal with.”

  Her father exhaled. “Caliana, I absolutely forbid you to do this.”

  “What if it were me, Father? I have no magic, but what if I did? What if it was being held against me? You’d do anything to save me.”

  “I would.”

  “And this is your niece. She’s no different.”

  King Marek closed his eyes and shook his head. Cali could see the argument seeping from his ears before he opened his mouth.

  “She looks like me,” Cali said softly.

  He squeezed his eyes tighter, turning away from her. She waited while the very air pulsed in suspense for his answer. She would go anyway. She wasn’t one to take risks for the sake of it. But when it came to helping her friends, she’d do what she had to.

  “I don’t condone this,” he said as if reading her mind. “But do what you must.”

  Cali greedily turned to Lyric, but she was already two steps ahead, guiding her to the door. “How do you expect to find her?” Lyric asked.

  Cali summoned up the details she’d read in the Cressida royal histories. The sea goddess—according to their lore—used her power to fuel life of all kinds. Trees, fish, birds, newborns. If she were truly goodness, wouldn’t she do the same here?

  New life. Cali had to find new life.

  “I need to get down to the servant’s quarters.”

  Chapter 24

  Cali rushed down the familiar, bare rear stairwells of her palace home. She wasn’t sure if this would work, but the Lunae Lumenian people were so certain of Undine’s blessings on new life, on flowers, on birds, she couldn’t completely discredit the sea witch’s goodness for the sake of decades of superstition.

  The same scent of decay and unwashed bodies waffled through the air, but something was different down here, even in the last hour since she’d left. Movement. Soft voices. Laughter.

  Lyric must have brought some of the cure with her when she’d been summoned.

  Feeling bolstered by the relief that she’d at least been able to save some, Cali pushed into the infirmary. But this time, she wasn’t looking for Darren.

  The nurse who’d helped her before was still in here. She sat at the bedside of an older woman, holding a bowl and spooning what must be soup into the woman’s mouth.

  “Nurse,” Cali called, wishing she’d thought to catch the girl’s name.

  The girl lowered the bowl and signaled Cali with a smile. She spoke a few quiet words to her patient, patting the woman on the shoulder before meeting Cali near the door. “You’re a miracle worker, Your Highness. Your cure helped him, Princess. And so many others,” she said, approaching. “And Lady Reeves brought more! It’s being distributed throughout the sectors.”

  Relief spilled through Cali. She wished she had time to ask for more details. “That’s wonderful, miss—”

  “It’s Alice, Your Highness.”

  “Alice.” Cali squeezed her hand. “I’m glad to hear it, more than I can say, but I’m sorry, I need to find Dr. Bauer. You said he was delivering a baby?”

  If Alice was confused, she didn’t show it. “Certainly, Your Highness. He’s this way.”

  She trotted out through another door and down a corridor Cali hadn’t been through before. It was short and bathed in shadows. Alice stopped outside a door where a woman’s muffled moans could be heard.

  “She’s in here, Your Highness.”

  “And who is it giving birth?”

  “One of the laundresses. Her name is Vera Littleton.”

  Vera. The woman Alice had mentioned when Cali first arrived home. “Thank you, Alice. Return to your patients.”

  Alice bobbed a grateful curtsy and did as she was told. Cali took a deep breath, glancing at Lyric. She was playing with danger, sticking a hand into a dark hole without knowing what lay inside. But she didn’t know what else to do.

  She pushed through the door.

  The room was small and colder than the stone encasing it. A woman lay on a table in the corner, a blanket draped over her legs and sweat coating her face. Her cheeks were flushed, and she clutched the blanket, sinking her head against the pillow and breathing exaggeratedly through her teeth.

  “Very good, Vera,” said a voice Cali recognized. She placed a hand to her chest at the sight of Darren’s back near a washbasin.

  “Darren?” Not Dr. Bauer?

  He whipped around. His face was still pale, but he was once again in his russet-brown medical wear. He dipped his hands in the water, cleaning them.

  “What are you doing here, Princess?”

  At the question, Vera relaxed again, melting against the bed and looking more than exhausted already. Cali had never seen a woman in labor before, but she’d heard how agonizing the pain of childbirth was.

  She thought about Soraya being held captive. About the boundary’s leaking magic and the serious illness such magic had inflicted on her people. Even if they could distribute this cure to those still suffering in Zara’s sectors, what about the new life? Dark magic was still escaping. Others would catch the disease, and Cali hadn’t brought enough of those plants with her for a lifetime supply. And if Lyric was to be believed, there was no way to continue crossing the boundary to obtain more.

  If Captain Kelsey succeeded in forcing Soraya to use her powers, what would the dark magic do? Not only to Zara, but to the world? It wasn’t a risk anyone could take.

  Cali stilled her steps to a walk. Approached the struggling mother. Vera watched her with wide uncertainty, before she winced in pain once more and stiffened like a torture victim. Teeth bared, she moaned through what must have been another round of pain that lasted at least a full minute before she relaxed again. She looked worn out and weary, and her swollen stomach made a small mountain of itself beneath the blanket.

  “My lady,” Vera said wearily. “I’m sorry you have to see me like
this.”

  Cali took her clammy hand. “You’re doing wonderfully,” she said, as if she knew for herself. “I need to be in here when the babe arrives. Is that all right with you?”

  Vera gritted her teeth again, her skin flushing, moans leaking out again. Sweat made morning dew of her skin, and she breathed heavily in and out, over and over, until the pain momentarily ceased.

  “It’s almost time,” Darren said, wiping her forehead with a cloth.

  She smiled—of all things. The woman smiled, as though the news was welcome. “It’s an honor to—have you here,” she said with a breathy voice. Cali wondered who the father was, or better yet, where he was. Was he alive, or had the necrosis taken him? Then again, if he was another member of the staff and wasn’t sick, he’d be required to work, not attend the birth of his child.

  “Your name is Vera?” Cali asked.

  “Yes,” the woman panted.

  Cali squeezed her hand. “Thank you, Vera. I’m sure no one should face this alone.”

  Darren nodded to Vera before turning and guiding Cali toward the door. “I won’t lie and say I don’t want to spend every second I can with you,” he said. “But you don’t have to be in here for me. I’m feeling better. I’m okay. Thanks to you.”

  Confusion puzzled her brow. In all honesty, she hadn’t thought of him since she’d spoken with her father. She’d been too worried about the kingdom, and about what the Kelseys would do if they didn’t find a way to stop them.

  “It’s so good to see you,” she said, placing a hand on either of his arms. “But that’s not why I’m here.”

  “Then why are you, Princess?”

  Behind him, Vera stiffened in yet another contraction. This one seemed to be more painful than the last, and a cry pried its way from her mouth. Darren hurried to her side, checking beneath the blanket for a few moments.

  “It’s almost time,” he said. “Are you ready?”

  Vera nodded. “More than ready, sir.”

  Time trickled by. Cali couldn’t very well tell Darren the truth, especially not with the expectant mother in so much distress. She wished she could somehow see the ocean from here, to know what was happening. Was Soraya okay? Was Bae helping her, the way he’d helped Cali?