“Well, excuse me for thinking that you might not want to get pumped full of drugs and bullets,” Princess Yamako said harshly. “I was just trying to help.”
“Fucking Sedna. Get me into a vehicle so I can talk,” Visola commanded.
The princess spoke in Japanese to her men, who immediately began to lift Visola and carry her into the back of another truck. This time, she was laid out on a cot and given warm blankets for comfort. Princess Yamako entered the vehicle and sat by her side, instructing the doctors to leave.
Once she was assured of privacy, Visola began to talk. “If you must know,” she said, “I was blackmailing Agent Jackson Poole into getting me access to a secure military facility that’s also a control station for a few nuclear launch sites. It’s nearly impossible to get into the place, but easy to breach it from the inside. My plan was to use their own bombs against them. We were on our way there now.”
“Damn,” said Yamako. “That is a good plan. I guess I wasn’t thinking about how skilled and smart you are. I was just worried about you.”
“I don’t need your concern,” Visola said, turning her face away.
Yamako sighed. “I shut down the electricity grids in a more professional way, you know. I made it unable for them to get booted back up too quickly.”
Visola nodded. “I know. That actually did help.”
“And I can help a whole lot more,” Yamako said, touching Visola’s arm. “If you’ll let me. If you’ll talk to me.”
“Well, if you’re going to get in my way like a little bitch, I’d better let you know of my plans,” Visola grumbled. “Just so you can’t ruin them.”
“Thank you, Viso.” Yamako placed a kiss against Visola’s cheek. “You will soon find that I’m a greater asset than you expected. I have a gift for you.”
“What’s that?” Visola asked.
Yamako smiled. “Japan.”
Visola frowned. “I already know that Shiretoko would help me if I needed it…”
“Not Shiretoko,” Yamako said with a smile. “All of Japan. Land Japan.”
“Land Japan?” Visola repeated in shock.
“Yes,” said Princess Yamako. “It’s part of the new emperor’s policy. He has been meeting with my mother to discuss his great respect for the water and its people. They have decided upon a new constitution that advocates zero separation between land and sea. We are all one people now.”
“Wow. That’s novel,” Visola admitted. “I wonder if any other land-dweller nations will make a similar decision.”
“I highly doubt any will follow suit,” Yamako said. “As you know, Japan’s geography makes them vulnerable to us. They are mostly comprised of small islands. They know they can’t fight against the sea and win. So, I bet there’s an element of self-preservation in their choice.”
Visola nodded. “I suppose their culture and spirituality helps, as well. They have known of Empress Amabie and considered her a deity of sorts, and a good omen for centuries.”
“Speaking of my mother… she sent this note for you.” Princess Yamako reached into her armor and retrieved a slip of paper.
Dearest Visola,
I hope you will be pleased to know that all the U.S. military bases in Japan have been wiped out entirely, to the last man. Whether or not you will have us, we are all standing with you.
Love, Empress Amabie.
“Oh,” Visola said, putting a hand against her chest as she felt an onslaught of emotion. It was the first positive feeling she had experienced in a long time. “But she can’t do that. Japan can’t do that. They’re allies with the United States. They have a treaty of mutual cooperation…”
“Didn’t Adlivun have a similar treaty with them a few years ago? A treaty that restricted you from having an army and building forces?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you and my mother go behind their backs and build your own special forces anyway?”
“Yes,” Visola said softly. “My ducklings.”
Yamako smiled. “Some treaties were made to be broken. Especially when a huge superpower is demanding far too much of smaller nations, and oppressing their rights. Especially when they’re taking our liberties, and playing god in choosing which of us deserve to die. My mother is ready, Visola. Give the word, and we declare war. Not just Japan, and Shiretoko, but all of Oceanus.”
“I should not work together with another person, or another country, Yamako,” Visola told the woman. “I do not want Zuri to be involved. If this goes the way I want it to go—things are going to get really out of hand. I want to be the only one liable. I don’t want anyone else to suffer for what I’m about to do.”
Princess Yamako bit her lip. She struggled to contain a flood of tears and speak calmly. “Don’t you understand, Visola? We are already suffering. We need the chance to heal just as much as you do.”
“I’m not doing this to heal,” Visola told her. “I can never heal. I just want to make sure that they will never heal either. I want them to understand that their actions will not go unpunished.”
“Do you know anything about Japan’s recent history?” Princess Yamako asked.
“Yes,” Visola said. “But I thought it was history. I thought the Japanese loved America?”
“Most do. But not all of us forget so easily,” Yamako whispered. “Not the emperor and Imperial Household. Not the Shizoku warrior families. We’ve been waiting for a long time. We’ve been playing nice for decades. It’s always there, simmering under the surface. We can’t forget. Japan deserves her vengeance as much as you do. Japan has a really big bone to pick with the United States.”
Visola chewed her lip. “For Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
“Yes,” said Princess Yamako, “among other things—but let’s focus on that. I do believe it’s finally our turn.”
Using her arms to lift her battered body slightly off the cot, Visola studied Yamako’s face. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Yamako paused. Her lips curved upward slyly, and she gave Visola a knowing look. “Yes,” she said softly.
“You can help me get access to atomic bombs?”
Yamako smiled. She moved over to Visola, and sat on the edge of the woman’s cot. She leaned over, and put her lips close to the redhead’s ear.
“I can get you anything you want, honey.”
Aazuria marched purposefully through the halls of the palace in Romanova. She was followed closely by Naclana and Callder.
“I hope this goes smoothly,” Callder said quietly.
“Don’t worry,” Naclana assured him.
They turned a corner, and found their family members gathered in the sitting room.
“Daddy!” Kolora shouted, rushing forward and throwing her arms around Callder. “You scared us.”
“Hey, pretty lady,” Callder said to his daughter. “Have you gotten bigger?”
Brynne rose to her feet, holding a tissue up to her eyes. “Callder. Oh, god.”
“Hey, B,” Callder said softly, extending his arm. “C’mere, babe.”
Moving forward, Brynne clamped her arms around Callder’s neck. “Don’t ever do that again. I swear, I will hurt you.”
“I’m sorry,” he told her, kissing her forehead and stroking her hair. “It’s all good now. Don’t worry.”
Trevain moved forward and cleared his throat. “It’s good to have you back, Callder.”
“Big bro!” Callder said in a joyful greeting. “Thanks for sending the big guns out to get me. If not for Zuri, who knows how long I would have been stuck in that fortress.”
Trevain looked to Aazuria thankfully. She smiled at him in response.
“Okay,” said Elandria, rising to her feet. “We don’t have any time to waste. What are we going to do about Visola?”
All eyes turned to look at her, surprised at her no-nonsense, take-charge attitude.
“I have received an encrypted message from Princess Yamako, in the past few minutes, that she has manage
d to save Visola from American custody,” Naclana told everyone.
There were sighs of relief around the room.
“Unfortunately, Visola intended to be captured, and Princess Yamako ruined her plans,” Naclana added.
“Oh, Sedna,” Aazuria muttered. “That could have been any of us.”
“They intend to be working together from this point on,” Naclana explained. “Princess Yamako and Queen Amabie will be throwing Shiretoko and all of Japan toward supporting Visola’s efforts against the United States. They’re going to work covertly for a time, but I believe there might be an eventual declaration of war happening very soon.”
Aazuria frowned, feeling somewhat jealous. “But what about us? How can Visola not involve us in this? We should be supporting her. I want to fight with her.”
“She’s protecting you,” Elandria said softly. “She does not want to implicate you, for she intends to make a very large mess.”
“If Visola is making a mess,” Aazuria said with a scowl, “then I am prepared to get dirty.”
“Let’s just be patient,” said Trevain. “Let’s have a little faith in my grandmother. She’s just letting off steam. Has anyone heard from Vachlan?”
Dylan Rosenberg cleared his throat. “Yes. I have been helping him to search for Visola. He is obviously very intent on finding her and helping her in this fight. But she’s been two steps ahead of him at every turn. He seems to be… losing his mind. That is my professional opinion.”
Elandria closed her eyes. “Those two. They’ve both abandoned their children, and I’m struggling to take care of them.”
“Speaking of children,” Naclana said, “when Japan goes to war, Princess Yamako requests that Kaito be brought here to stay with us. So Empress Amabie can focus on the war.”
“Of course,” said Elandria. “Kaito’s a darling, and he should be able to help me with Ivory and Ronan.”
“I’ll help too,” said Kolora, who was fifteen years old. “I can babysit.”
“Thank you, dear.”
Aazuria felt more jealousy stirring in her chest. “And… Elandria. When Varia and Glais come home, I will need you to look after them too. While I’m at war, helping Visola.” She drew an anxious breath. “Because she is going to come home, soon,” Aazuria said, to try and reassure herself. She smiled, trying to ignore the looks of pity from around the room. “Well, I believe we’ve covered everything,” Aazuria told the others, feeling very crowded and emotional when surrounded by her family. “I have business to attend to.” She turned and moved to leave, but was interrupted by a fat guard.
“A delivery!” said Rolf cheerfully, holding up a large bouquet of red roses. “For the queen.”
Aazuria frowned. “Who is sending me flowers?”
“Let me see.” Rolf shifted the bouquet in his arms to read the card. “Sweet Aazuria, I had a great time with you in Greece. Sorry you had to leave so soon. Come visit me again sometime. Love, Dmitri.”
A loud sound of disgust and exasperation left Aazuria’s throat. She moved forward and swept the flowers from Rolf’s arms before dumping them in the trash can as she moved out of the room. The nerve of that man! she thought to herself as her cheeks flushed in mortification. He must gain great pleasure from aggravating me.
“Who’s Dmitri?” Trevain called after her with concern. “Hey, Zuri! Who’s Dmitri?”
Naclana and Callder both shared a hearty laugh at his reaction, but they did not give him any information. It was too enjoyable to watch the man squirm.
Trevain turned to his second wife in embarrassment. “Uhm, Elandria—would you please excuse me?”
Her face wrinkled in understanding of the situation, and mild amusement. “You are always excused. Go.”
Trevain ran after Aazuria, and caught up to her as she was ascending the carpeted ice staircase to the second level of the palace. “Zuri! You met someone in Greece?”
Aazuria sighed and continued climbing the stairs. “What does it matter to you? What do you care about my love life—shouldn’t you be asking about whether I signed the divorce papers you gave me?”
Trevain reached for her wrist, causing her to turn and look back at him. He lowered his eyes. “I didn’t really want you to sign the papers. I just wanted to know how you feel. Zuri, it’s eating me alive.”
“I know,” she told him quietly.
“Please try to understand. This is a difficult situation. I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Trevain sighed. “By giving you those papers… I thought that I was doing the right thing.”
Aazuria let out her breath in a whoosh. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, but instead, she just ripped her hand away from Trevain and slammed her fist into the sumptuously decorated wall of ice beside her. “That’s what he said,” she whispered, staring at the cracks she had caused in the ice. “That’s exactly what Taranis said.” She turned on her heel and lifted her skirts and ran up the stairs. She just wanted to throw herself down on her bed and find a deep, dreamless sleep for a few minutes, to forget about the pressures of her life. However, when she reached for her doorknob, she found Trevain’s hand on hers.
“Talk to me,” he told her. “Please.”
She was unable to resist the pleading look in his green eyes. “Dmitri is Leviathan,” Aazuria told her husband. “It’s a fake name he used to spy on me.”
Trevain frowned. “He’s interested in you? Did he try anything?”
“I believe he was just pretending to be interested for the sake of his ruse,” Aazuria explained. “He has changed a lot—he lies almost incessantly. He just sent the roses to torment me.” She glared at Trevain. “The same way you erected that statue in the airport. We saw it when we got off our plane, and Callder and Naclana teased me the entire way home. I felt like murdering you.”
Trevain smiled. “Do you like it? I wanted to surprise you.”
“I think your sculptors made me look fat,” she responded. However, her frown eventually softened into a smile. As soon as this happened, she was startled to find her body being pushed back against the doorframe. She saw a flash of intensity in his eyes before his lips descended to hers. Aazuria felt heat flooding her chest with surprise at the suddenness of the motion. “Trevain,” she mumbled against his lips.
His body was pressed against hers as he leaned down to kiss her. She felt trapped between the frozen wall behind her and the giant in front of her. His hands slipped around her body to pull her even closer. She felt dizzy and uncertain. She felt weak, like she had dissolved into putty. She used all her remaining strength to push him away, and grasped the doorknob for support. “Don’t do that to me. I can’t think when you kiss me like that, and I need to be able to think.”
“I just missed you so much,” he told her. He slipped his hand around the back of her neck and titled her head back so he could place one final, small kiss on her lips. “Don’t sign those papers,” he told her.
She moved into him, allowing her arms to glide over his shoulders and lock behind his neck. She clung to him, and placed a few more kisses on his mouth, not really thinking about what she was doing. He had awakened the memory of her hunger for him, and it was difficult to stop. She closed her eyes.
“Actually, go ahead and sign them,” he told her, in between kisses.
She looked up at him in confusion.
“It doesn’t really matter to me,” he told her. “What laws you make up and what documents we print. What words we say, and what we do or don’t do. You’re my wife. I think you always will be. Whether you sign the papers or not. Whether you run away from me or not.”
Aazuria smiled. “Whether I declare war on America or not?”
He cleared his throat. “I was going to say ‘even if you’re getting flowers from other men,’ but I suppose that works, too.” He pushed her back against the wall and pressed his mouth against hers once more, sliding his hands around her waist. “Don’t sign.”
She tried to force herself to think. “I won’t
sign. Not without amendments. If you think you’re getting full custody of Varia, you’re hilarious.”
“I just put that in there to piss you off and get your attention,” he told her, running his hands over her back. “I would never insult you like that.”
“We would be fools to argue over Varia like a piece of property, and not consider her opinion,” Aazuria told him, idly combing her fingers through his shaggy hair. “Especially since no one has custody of her at the moment.”
“You’re right,” he told her, brushing his nose against hers. “We should be working together to get her back, not squabbling between ourselves.”
“I miss my little girl so much,” Aazuria whispered. “Oh, Trevain. I miss you, too, but you’re not mine anymore. Varia was the only person in my life, for so long. And now, Visola…” She tightened her arms around his neck, hugging him desperately. “None of the people I love most want my love. They don’t need it. I feel so empty. Who am I going to love?”
“You can love me,” he told her, holding her close. “You know I’ll always be here for you. No matter what; you can love me.”
“No. I can’t,” she told him with a tearful smile. “But I can’t not either.” She unfastened herself from his body, and pulled away. “Let’s just forget about us, for now. That’s all I can do to keep sane.” Aazuria straightened her posture and lifted her chin. She exhaled, resuming battle mode. “Now that I’ve retrieved Callder, it’s onto the next task. I’m going to send search teams out to every corner of the globe, to find our daughter. Then, I’m going to prepare for war. I once told Visola that I would start a thousand wars for her. I suppose it’s time to gather the troops.” Aazuria nodded, content with this decision. “Until Visola returns, I will be both Queen and General.”
Vachlan stood alone in the middle of the road, surrounded by the rubble of the demolished cavalcade. He should have been grateful that Yamako had saved his wife, and he should be happy at the thought that Visola was no longer alone. She now had powerful, intelligent allies that would help to keep her alive—or at least ensure her success. He should be grateful.
Maelstrom Page 20
