I smiled warmly. “It’s a piece of paper that saves you from a lifetime of misery, Seraphina. I know what I’m getting into.”
“Riley and I have spoken about this. We wouldn’t do this lightly. There will be no pressure on us. You won’t ever have to be my actual wife, in the… physical sense.” Navan choked uncomfortably. “I just want to protect you from Aurelius, and so does Riley. Think of it as a favor instead of a marriage.”
“Romantic, right?” I joked, wanting to ease the tension.
To my delight, Seraphina laughed, her whole body relaxing in front of my eyes. “I’ll leave his romantic side to you!”
“So you’re in this with us, then?” Navan urged.
“I will tell my parents that you’ve agreed to the wedding, and they will begin preparations as quickly as possible.” She chuckled tightly, turning to me. “They’re desperate to see their aging spinster of a daughter get married, regardless of who the husband is. As long as he has ample wealth, they couldn’t care less who stands at the Binding Font with me. He could be a gangster or a pirate, and they’d still be thrilled.”
I realized that Aurelius and the rest of the soldiers had kept their word to Gianne, and news of Jareth’s arrest had yet to filter out into the population, thus protecting his status in the eyes of Seraphina’s parents. If they knew he was a traitor, they might have been forced to rethink whom they married their daughter to, regardless of his wealth. A gangster or a pirate would have been fine, but a traitor to the crown… that was probably where they drew the line.
“How long will the preparations take, do you think?” I asked, trying to keep the bitter edge out of my voice.
Seraphina hesitated. “Given their connections, and their sheer desperation to see me married off… my parents will barely need a week.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
After leaving the school, we took a walk in a nearby park, ignoring the disapproving looks that passersby shot in our direction. I wanted a moment to breathe before we headed to the palace. Neither of us had spoken much about what had just happened, and I kept telling myself it wasn’t a big deal, that it was just a piece of paper that meant nothing. The only remaining problem was, once they were married, Navan could never marry me. I mean, we could technically marry on some other planet, but he would still legally be Seraphina’s husband here, and I didn’t feel like making a bigamist out of him. More than that, I was worried it wouldn’t be special—the whole idea of marriage tarnished in his eyes. It wasn’t something I was looking to do with any kind of urgency, but I owed it to future-me to think about these things.
I kept worrying about Queen Gianne popping up, wondering what the hell had happened to the Idrax mansion. She’d surely have found out by now that the whole thing had gone up in flames, and all her evidence with it. Then again, she had Jareth Idrax in custody. There really wasn’t anything else she could do about the lost information, except keep him around and try to pry the intel out of him. She might come after Sarrask and Kaido to make an example of them at one of her executions, but surely she would realize the corner she’d backed herself into. She couldn’t strike at any of Jareth’s family now, not if she wanted a sliver of progress with the immortality elixir. It all came down to what she cared about more—the elixir, or loyalty. It didn’t take a genius to figure out which she’d choose.
Jareth Idrax, you clever bastard, I mused.
“Do you want to go to Gianne?” Navan asked, as we paused beside a bizarre tree. Black petals cascaded down like blossoms, reminding me of the ash that had drifted across Tristitia Lake. I knew we had to, but I didn’t feel ready to hold my breath through another meeting with her.
“We should give the boys a call first, let them know how we’re doing,” I suggested. “Are the comms back up?”
Navan took out his comm device, and a dialogue box popped up on the screen. “It says domestic range only.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I can only transmit to somebody within a short range of the comm towers.”
I frowned. “Is Sarrask’s house close enough?”
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” he said, as he connected his device to the black box we’d left with Ronad. It rang for what seemed like an eternity, the screen blank.
“Hello? Navan, is that you?” Ronad’s voice crackled through. I could hear raised voices in the background, but I couldn’t see who was yelling. A moment later, a holograph shot upward, feeding us a video stream. Taking my hand, Navan pulled me into a nearby shelter, both of us tucking into the corner, out of sight. There weren’t many people around, but neither of us felt like drawing more attention to ourselves.
“Ronad, is everything okay?” Navan asked. The video stream was a little on the fuzzy side.
“Will you two cut it out!” Ronad snapped over his shoulder, before turning back to the camera. “Everything will be fine, once these two stop trying to kill each other.”
Sarrask came into view, brandishing what looked like one of Kaido’s plants. “I would stop it, if Kaido would stop putting his things all over the place. If he wants a private lab, he’s going to have to use his ship. He can’t spread his gear all over my house!”
“I need space to work, Sarrask. My neurobotany is vital, and I am making groundbreaking discoveries!” Kaido insisted, also popping into frame. “If you do not allow me to continue my work, with the correct special requirements, then you and I are going to have a falling out.”
“We’re already having a falling out, Kaido! Your crap is all over my kitchen, and I want it gone!”
Ronad rolled his eyes. “They’ve been like this since you left.”
“Wait, let us listen in,” I said. Ronad gave me a funny look, but he nodded.
“You’re throttling my Illumine Budanska!” Kaido cried, trying to snatch the plant from Sarrask’s hand. “Do you have any idea how rare those are, and what they are capable of? No, of course not, because all you ever want to look at are rocks! Big, ugly, useless rocks!”
“I’ll crush it, if you don’t take all of this back to your ship!” Sarrask yelled, gesturing to what I presumed to be the kitchen.
“No!” Kaido shrieked. “It will be years before I can find another one to study. They only bloom naturally once in a century, you lumbering oaf!”
Sarrask smiled coldly. “You scared I’m going to kill your little plant friend?”
“They are not my friends! A plant cannot be a friend!” Kaido shook his head. “Even so, my plants are more intelligent than you, rock-lover! If I were to inject one of my serums into your brain, I am certain I would find that your frontal lobe has been compromised!”
Sarrask looked at his brother in confusion. “Look, if you don’t move your stuff, your plant gets it! And I will work through every plant you own, until you have nothing. Then, maybe, you’ll learn.”
“What’s going on here?” I shouted, attracting the attention of the two warring siblings.
Sarrask moved toward the screen, peering at it. “Riley, is that you?”
“Stop yelling at each other,” I demanded.
“I can’t stand having this geek in my house!” he grumbled, shoving Kaido away as he tried to look over his brother’s shoulder. “He’s messed up my kitchen, and there are plants everywhere. Not just here, but in the living room, in the bedrooms, in the bathtub—I can’t move around, there’s so much foliage!”
“They’ll die without space and water!” Kaido said.
I let out a tense sigh. “Sarrask, Kaido doesn’t have anywhere to live. His home—the one he’s lived in his entire life—is gone,” I said. “Show a little compassion! He’s lost everything.”
That shut him up real quick. “I just… I guess you’re right,” he mumbled.
Navan nodded. “Yeah, maybe you could compromise. Why don’t you give Kaido one of your rooms—a dedicated space for him to store his plants in?”
Sarrask scoffed, no longer cowed. “Why don’t you offer up
space for him, instead of offering out my property. He’s your brother, too, though you seem to forget you belong to the same family as us.”
“I don’t have anywhere close by to put the plants. Otherwise, I would!” Navan snapped.
“Look, Sarrask, why don’t you just give him one of your rooms, temporarily, until we can all come up with another solution?” I suggested, watching Sarrask’s face soften. “Kaido, if you select the most important plants and put them in the designated room, then you can store the rest in your ship. Again, just as a temporary measure, until we can think of something else.”
Sarrask shrugged. “I guess that makes sense.”
Navan snorted. I looked up to see a disapproving look on his face and realized he didn’t like the way Sarrask and I interacted. I knew he was still bothered by the kiss, but it had nothing to do with me, and he needed to be the bigger man here. If I couldn’t allow myself to show jealousy when I had a lot more to be jealous about, then neither could he.
“But what about my—” Kaido started to protest, but I interjected.
“Kaido, it’s Sarrask’s house, and he’s being kind enough to offer you a room in it solely for your lab work,” I said. “I know you’ve lost your lab, and your home, but sometimes you have to compromise, even if you don’t want to.”
Kaido frowned. “I suppose I could choose the prime species and leave the lesser ones in the cargo hold. I can divert some of the systems to adjust the atmosphere and temperature, for optimum growth,” he mused, nodding.
I turned back. “So, are we all good? No more arguing?” The two Idrax brothers nodded like naughty schoolboys. “Excellent. Sarrask, give Kaido his plant back. I want to see the pair of you working together to move Kaido’s stuff into his new space.”
Reluctantly, Sarrask handed over the plant he’d been holding captive, much to Kaido’s evident delight. Admittedly, I was a little bit biased where Kaido was concerned, but he’d lost a lot, and he needed a win. And, secretly, there was a selfish aspect to my suggestions. Kaido had promised to continue developing a serum from the information he’d gained from my brain, and he couldn’t do that if he didn’t have the space to work.
The two of them chattered in the background as they started sorting Kaido’s things. There would probably be yelling soon enough, but, for now, there was an amicable calm.
“So, how did it go with Seraphina?” Ronad asked.
“We gave her the news, and the wedding preparations will be underway soon,” I replied.
Navan sighed. “I’ll be married in about a week.”
Ronad looked shocked. “A week?”
“Yeah, her parents are pretty desperate to see her married off,” I chimed in. “Anyway, it’s probably best to get it out of the way as quickly as possible so we can continue our search for allies.”
“I can’t wait until we can just get back to normal,” Navan agreed, slipping an arm around my waist as he filled Ronad in on the plan to keep Seraphina blameless, when we finally made our escape from Vysanthe. He seemed happy enough to go along with everything, but there was a lingering hesitation in his manner. As Navan came to the end of the explanation, Ronad shook his head.
“I can’t believe you guys are doing this, man,” he muttered.
“Me neither, but here we are,” Navan replied.
“We need to stop with all this moping—it doesn’t mean anything!” I said, with forced brightness. “It’s a favor for a friend. That’s it. I don’t want to hear any more about it.”
Ronad frowned. “It’s just that—”
I cut him off. “I said, I don’t want to hear it,” I warned. “Now, what are we going to do about Angie, Lauren, and Bashrik? Can you get in touch with them once the long-range signal is back up and running?”
Ronad nodded. “I’ll keep the black box on me, and as soon as long-range transmission services resume, I’ll try and get word to them. Did you want me to contact the Titans while I’m at it?”
Navan shook his head. “We should try sending them an offering instead, to get their attention. They’ve ignored every attempt I’ve made to communicate with them through traditional means, so that seems to be off the table.”
An idea popped into my mind. “I know just the person who can help us out!”
“Who?” the two guys asked in unison.
“Mort! As soon as we’re done at the palace, we should track him down, see if we can persuade him,” I said excitedly, glad to have something else to think about. All of this wedding talk was starting to drive me nuts.
“I guess that’s where you two are headed right now—Gianne’s palace?” Ronad asked.
Navan sighed. “I guess so.”
Gianne had demanded to meet with Navan as soon as he arrived back in the South, and though we’d put it off for as long as we could, the moment had arrived. If we waited any longer, we ran the risk of her coming to us. The palace beckoned.
“Well, good luck,” Ronad murmured.
“Thanks,” I replied.
I had a feeling we were going to need it.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
As we made our way to the palace, I froze on the winding road that led to the gates. It was the first time I’d seen the terrible adornments lining the battlements. The heads were all in various states of decay, the amber sap slowing the disintegration process. Some heads had huge chunks missing, exposing ashen holes; some were eyeless; some had entire jaws missing, while others were more or less intact.
“Ignore them,” Navan urged softly.
I gulped down the bile that rose up my throat. “I don’t know if I can.”
With his hand in mine, we pressed on, walking toward the palace gates, only to come face-to-face with two grizzled Impalers, their features slathered in red-and-black war paint, their pikes crossed in a defiant X. It had been a long time since I’d seen one of Queen Gianne’s renowned border guards, and I’d forgotten just how frightening they were. It seemed, since the border was already a mess, the queen had drafted her best warriors to protect the palace, too.
They stared down at us with derision as we approached. “State your business,” one said.
“We’re here to see Queen Gianne,” Navan said. “She’s expecting us.”
The other Impaler snorted. “And who might you be?”
“Navan Idrax.”
Frowns furrowed the guards’ foreheads as they leaned into one another, whispering. It was obvious they were discussing us, but I didn’t like the unexpected fear in their tones.
“The queen isn’t in the palace at present,” the right-hand Impaler said, “but if you’d like to come with me, I can take you to her. She is indeed expecting your arrival, Navan, though you will have to leave your pet here.”
Navan shook his head defiantly. “The queen knows my pet comes everywhere with me. She will be expecting both of us.”
“As you please, but if you land me in trouble for this, I’ll remember your name,” the soldier muttered, before leading us through the gates of the palace. Now that I could no longer see the decaying heads, I remembered just how beautiful this building was. Brisha had been envious of it for a reason. What made it more impressive was the fact that Bashrik had designed it all. With a war going on, I just hoped it would still be standing when the dust settled.
The Impaler took us into the vast entrance hall, where my eyes instantly raised up to the imposing chandelier that twinkled overhead. Tapestries billowed as a gust of air surged through the open doors, bringing life to the images that had been woven across the silken fabrics. I was so engrossed by the foyer that I almost didn’t notice the elevator until I wandered straight into it. The guard pressed a button, and the elevator rose, building speed at an alarming rate.
The force of it crushed my chest as the elevator switched direction, zipping along sideways instead of upward, making it impossible to draw breath. I felt like I was being sucked back against the wall, my body unable to cope with the pressure. Navan gripped my hand, and I held
on for dear life, praying for the discomfort to end before my lungs exploded.
A few unbearable minutes later, the elevator screeched to a halt, sending me flying forward. Had I not been holding Navan’s hand, I would’ve careened straight into the Impaler’s casually placed pike.
“Sorry about that,” he muttered. My face was less than a foot away from the sharp point.
“Don’t they teach you basic pike skills in Impaler training?” I gasped, my heart pounding.
He flashed a warning look at me. “I’ll let that one go, but say another word and you’ll get to see just what this pike can do.”
Navan huddled me to him as the elevator doors slid open, and a blast of bitter wind crept in. I recognized the open courtyard beyond, with the single skeletal tree in the center, its bark jet black, streaked through with veins of icy white, its clawed branches reaching skyward. It didn’t look as eerily beautiful as it had the last time I’d seen it. Now, it just looked vicious and stark, especially against the brooding sky that grumbled overhead.
Following the Impaler, we reached the covered walkway of gleaming gray marble, which led up to the cathedral-like structure of Gianne’s secret sanctuary. The huge stone doors greeted us at the end of the sheltered cloisters. A spray of color glanced down from the stained-glass windows, showering the walkway with vivid light.
Here, there were two more guards, dressed identically to our pike-wielder, their faces barely recognizable as coldblood with the amount of red-and-black greasepaint they wore. Both held guns instead of pikes, but they looked just as fierce.
“What have you brought?” one of them asked.
The Impaler stamped his pike-pole on the ground. “Navan Idrax and his pet, to see the queen. She’s expecting them.”
The guard nodded. “You caught her on a good day,” he said, as he pushed open the door and ushered us in.
Gianne’s expansive botanical garden lay beyond, the heady aromas mingling in the air, drifting toward us on a sea of exotic perfume. I flinched as a fine mist of water floated down to refresh the plants below, the spray jetting out from ports in the stone walls.
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