Void Born

by R. J. Metcalf

  Lance jumped and looked over his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t hear—” His eyes widened, and he swallowed hard. “You.”

  Ben tried for a friendly smile and an awkward wave. “Me.”

  Lance’s eyes flicked down to the items on the dinged counter, then back up to Ben. His face tightened. “This is for you?”

  There was no easy way to go about questioning someone already on edge. Ben sighed and crossed his arms, keeping his gaze on the door as if he could translate the sounds of foot traffic outside to a visual of who might walk in. “That, and a few questions.” He speared the fidgeting shopkeeper with a sharp look. “I came alone, so you can be honest. Are you from here?”

  Lance snatched a rag from under the counter and started scrubbing at the wood obsessively. “Of course. What kind of a question is that?”

  Ben fished out his dog tags, slipped them over his head, and smacked them on the counter next to Lance’s weathered hand. “You recognized these before. How? Where are you really from?”

  Lance stared at Ben’s tags, frozen. He wet his lips, and his gaze darted to the door. “Put those away, and I’ll talk.”

  Surprised, but pleasantly satisfied, Ben tucked them under his shirt. Once the metal was out of sight, Lance’s shoulders dropped a scant fraction of an inch. He sighed heavily and stepped back, leaning against the cubby-holed wall. “What can I tell you to make you leave?”

  “Just help me understand,” Ben replied. “That’s all I ask. I-I know I’m not from here. And I suspect that you either aren’t from here, either. Or maybe you know someone else who’s not from here.”

  Lance nodded once, a thick line creasing his already wrinkled brow. He pressed his lips together.

  Ben sucked in a breath, held it a heartbeat, then released it in the form of a heavy sigh. “I-I died back there. Or, should have died.” Ben braced his hands against the counter and stared at the new scars shining on the backs of his hands. “I don’t know.”

  “You cannot talk about this with anyone else,” Lance said, his voice hushed. “Do you understand? You could get lynched.”

  Ben ignored that. “How did you get here?”

  “I don’t know.” Lance looked away and closed his eyes. “I was a child. I remember being in a hotel, and there was a fire, and then I was here. Alone.” He took a deep breath and ran his trembling hands over his navy vest. “Do you realize how dangerous this is? This city is one incident away from starting a hunt for Void Born. People are scared. And scared people will do anything to protect themselves and their families.”

  “I know. And I’m sorry to be asking this of you,” Ben replied honestly. “I wouldn’t ask if I had someone else I could go to. Do you know of a way back?”

  Lance’s laugh was sudden and abrupt. “If I did, do you think I’d stick around in a place that would literally kill me if they knew what I was?”

  “Does this . . .” Ben hesitated, trying to find the right words to make real what he was understanding. “Are we—or, at least, am I—a Void Born?”

  Lance seemed to deflate, and he scrubbed at his face with a hand, looking up at the ceiling with mournful eyes. “Yes. According to what the general populace believes, we are unnatural and horrifying and should be eradicated because we are what they think of as Void Born.” He glared around the edge of his hand. “Satisfied? Can we be done now?”

  “Please, just a few more questions.” Ben glanced down at the counter and nudged at the toothbrush with a wry grin. “And I still need to pay for all this.”

  Lance huffed and snatched up his ledger. “Ten lut.”

  Ben opened a pouch at his hip and pulled out a piece of crimson currency. He set it next to his purchase. “What can Void Born do, aside from survive a fall into the barrier?”

  “It’s more like what we can’t do.” Lance glanced at the door again, biting his lip. “We lack a spark—something that everyone born here has. Avoid anything that has to do with manipulating elements like time.” He paused. Looked at Ben. “Actually, avoid anything that has to do with manipulating in general. Some people have more ability than others, and you may be able to play it off as though you have less than the normal ability.”

  Ben nodded. It made sense now, why Jaxton had been unable to heal his burned hands back on the Sapphire. The doctor had mentioned that the spell involved time magic. He was lucky that the doctor hadn’t suspected anything—or if he had, that he hadn’t shared the suspicions with others.

  A finger waggled under Ben’s nose. “And stay away from Antius,” Lance warned, his voice dropping, somehow even more serious than the moment prior. “The Elph down there are allies, but they’re also very superstitious about Void Born. They have stones and charms to warn if one is near, and that could be the death of you.” His brown eyes clouded. “Rumor has it that more people north of Antius are getting the same fear. Those alarms may be traveling here soon enough.”

  Lance’s fear was starting to creep into Ben despite his best attempt to stay focused on the here and now. “And there’s no way to trick the sensors?”

  “Not that I know of.” Lance picked up the forgotten bit of currency and handed Ben two yellow lut. “If you want to live, take my advice: Find a place that’s safe to settle, and stay there. The more you travel, the greater the chance of being caught.”

  Chapter Two

  Jade

  “I think ceramic may be the best for the attachment.” Jade cautiously leaned across the round table in the sunlit conference room to poke at the schematic for Briar’s prosthetic leg. “I’m just not sure what would be most comfortable, but we can change that out easily enough if he doesn’t like it.”

  “The hard part will be finding a plating the right shape and size for his shin, and in copper, no less.” Krista bit her lip as she tugged on a woven braid dangling by her face. “I’m not sure where to even look for something like that. Lasim, maybe?”

  Jade tapped a pencil against her chin as she thought. “If anyone would have something like this, they would.”

  Krista slid the paper to herself and scrawled a note in the side margin.

  Jade dropped the pencil on the table and leaned side to side, gingerly stretching tense muscles while yawning. She settled in the chair and let the firm cushions support her aching back. Her body was healing well under Finn’s care, but she’d already learned the lesson of what her stubbornness could cost her if she didn’t rest frequently enough. The constant need to take it easy, along with everyone’s perception of her fragility, was driving her crazy.

  Yes, the Doldran palace was an elegant place to recuperate in. The polished floors, amber-colored walls, luminary crystal sconces, and posh rugs were lovely. But they didn’t make it home. It wasn’t the Sapphire. Not by a long shot.

  And she didn’t want meals delivered on trays by politely silent servers. Or the constant guards who stayed in the hallways or lingered just inside whatever room she was in. Nor did she want advisors who would show up just to “talk about her plans” or to discuss how she was or wasn’t fit for the throne.

  Bad enough to have Aunt Garnet try to talk to her about everything whenever she was in the palace. Every visit either involved grief from Slate’s death that was so deep it was hard to breathe, or guilt over his wishes for Jade to take up the crown that weighed like an anchor around her neck, drowning her. Jade felt a smidge of remorse over her relief that Garnet didn’t stay at the palace due to memories that were too painful. Garnet’s shortened visits meant that Jade could get a tiny bit of breathing space.

  She stared out the open window to the blue sky beyond. A bird trilled from somewhere out of sight. Freedom. If only she could go back in time, to enjoy every sunrise and sunset on the Sapphire. To enjoy every laugh, every nudge, every moment with her father, Slate. To enjoy every second of her life when the hardest thing she faced was an overprotective father and a man who made her emotions go haywire.

  I had it so easy, and I had no idea.

  A wad of
paper smacked Jade’s cheek, and she whipped her face around to glare at Krista. “What was that for?”

  “You’re thinking again.” Krista pulled another sheet of paper from her clipboard and crumpled it before chucking it at Jade. Jade dodged, and Krista wrinkled her nose. “You need to stop. Regrets won’t get you anywhere good, and you know it.”

  Jade slumped, and her shoulder twanged. She rubbed at it. “I—”

  A knock on the door interrupted her, and she sighed. “Enter,” she called out. She made a face at Krista and whispered, “Who do you think it’s going to be this time? Catherine the Bossy or Nelson the Uppity?”

  Krista snorted. “Zaborah can’t stand Catherine, so my lut is on—” Her eyes widened and she popped out of her seat, her black braids swinging with the sudden motion. She dropped into a curtsy.

  Jade twisted in her chair. Queen Violet stood framed in the doorway. Jade’s mind blanked as she fumbled to stand and curtsy as well.

  The queen swept into the room. “Please, Jade, don’t concern yourself with formalities. Zebediah told me of your injury, so please rest.” She held her hand out, palm down. “I shall join you.”

  Jade looked at Krista and felt a bit of relief at the matching confusion evident in her friend’s face. Krista’s eyes darted to the table and all their papers and books scattered across it. She lunged forward, hands flying as she stacked their reference materials. “I’ll get out of your way, Your Majesty.”

  “Stay,” the word spilled out of Jade before she could think about how it could sound to the queen. Would Violet override her and send Krista out anyway?

  Violet smiled at Krista, but looked to Jade. “You are welcome to stay, if you’d like, Krista.” Violet sat in the chair next to Jade, but didn’t sink into it. Instead, she perched on the edge like a bird ready to take flight. She reached out and brushed her hand against Jade’s. “I am sorry,” she said, her voice sincere. “I was in Perennia, and was coming this way to check on everything as I’d already scheduled, and I only just arrived.” The delicate lines around her eyes deepened. “I’m sorry about your uncle.”

  “Father,” Jade corrected automatically. She looked down at her lap and twisted her fingers in the folds of her skirt. “Thank you.”

  Violet gave a slight shake of her head and leaned forward. “Zebediah said that you knew the truth—”

  Jade cut her off. “Family is a choice. And Slate was my father, Samantha, my mother. Not Brandon and Sapphire. They may have been my birth parents, but they weren’t the ones who raised me.” Her jaw clenched. “I reject them.”

  Violet’s eyebrows lifted, and she rocked back in her seat, this time sinking into it some. “I ...see.” She smoothed her fitted skirt and scrutinized Jade. “That puts us in a tough spot, politically, if you reject them.”

  “Wait,” Krista interrupted. She lifted a finger to her lips, then waved it at Violet, frowning. “You don’t seem surprised that Jade is the princess. Did you know?”

  A small smile graced Violet’s lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ve suspected for many years. But knowledge can be dangerous, and I’ve purposefully avoided knowing the truth for as long as possible. As much for your safety,” she inclined her head at Jade, “as it was for my own.” Violet’s eyes hardened. “But now the truth is out, and we need to determine the next step.” She stood and walked to the window, resting her fingertips on the gilded sill as she gazed out over the gardens. She turned, the mid-morning sun silhouetting her thin yet matronly form. “Either I need to step down and you take the crown—”

  “No.” Jade shook her head. “Absolutely not. I am not going to take the crown. Ever.”

  Violet moved away from the window, her features visible once she stepped out of the direct reach of the sun. Her lips twisted in sympathy. “Have the nobles come calling yet?”

  Jade felt Krista’s eyes on her, but Jade pointedly stared at the table and the few papers still scattered on it. She wouldn’t acknowledge the truth in Violet’s question. “I’ve had Mister Monomi send them away as often as possible.”

  “That’s not going to last forever.”

  “I know.” Jade pushed herself out of the chair and ambled over to the pitcher of water. Ice clinked in the silence as she poured three glasses. She set them on a tray and snatched a pink piece of rock candy from the bowl that she’d asked be kept full for Zak’s sake. Sweet, berry-flavored sugar spread on her tongue, temporarily soothing her irritation as she walked back.

  Violet waited patiently until Jade sat back down, the three waters served, and that momentary distraction gone. “If she hasn’t already started, Lady Catherine will be hounding you. She’s going to want to be your advisor and tell you what she thinks you need to do.” Violet’s gaze didn’t waver. “She once championed Doldra’s priorities, but she’s become power-hungry since Bentley has been allowed to govern here, and she’s held his ear for several years. He may be gone for the moment, but I still wouldn’t trust her.” Violet brushed a hand against her thick hair. “Advisor Nelson will want you to step down.”

  “I see no problem with that,” Jade stated. This conversation was unnecessary. Nothing would change her mind. Leadership of a kingdom was not her dream.

  “Well, it is a problem,” Violet shot back, her voice as sharp as a blade. “Most the other nobles want a true Doldras as their rightful ruler. The knowledge of your survival could be sufficient motivation for them to reject me as their queen. And Everett will lose the power that he has through his marriage to me.” She shook her head. “It will not go well for you.”

  “Are you threatening Jade?” Krista asked, her eyes narrowed. She shifted in her seat to sit on the edge, mimicking Violet’s early pose.

  “No, I’m not,” Violet said, patting the air with her hands as if Krista and Jade were children to be pacified. Her voice turned imploring as she looked at Jade. “I’m warning you. My husband will not be satisfied to let you live. You are a threat to the power he holds. He’s had control over Doldra for more than fifteen years. He’ll neither relinquish it nor risk it being lost just because you’re alive.”

  Jade crossed her arms over her stomach and hunched over. She just wanted peace to live her life. Was that really too much to ask? “All I want is to be an airship captain. I don’t want the power he thinks I have.” She scrunched her face and lifted it to Violet. “And how much power do I even have right now? You’re the queen. Not me.”

  “Legally?” Violet sat back in her seat, her voice softening, speculative. “Not much until you’re either acknowledged by the six other rulers as the rightful blood queen, or you step up to claim the crown. Politically?” Her lips curved in a smile that was almost a smirk. “You hold enough sway to cause chaos for Everett.”

  “It’s not just Jade, though.” Krista spoke up. “Prince Brandon is alive, too.”

  “What?” Violet’s shock was palpable. Her fingers shook, and she set her water glass on the table. She touched her throat, her lips working for several moments before she spoke. “Zebediah failed to mention that.”

  Jade hugged herself and lifted her better shoulder in a defensive shrug. “He probably also failed to mention that my injury is because of Brandon, too.”

  Violet blinked, incredulous. “Your father injured you?”

  “That’s what I said, wasn’t it?” Jade snapped. “Prince Brandon, the one who should be ruling, is alive. He’s here. And it’s his fault that I’m stuck in this”—Jade unwrapped a hand from her middle to gesture—“gilded cage, trying to recover. I’d rather leave and be where I belong.” Her voice rose steadily, and she didn’t try to rein it in. “If you want him, you can talk to him. I want nothing to do with that man.”

  Violet pursed her lips and leaned back, her eyes shuttered. “Who else knows he’s alive?”

  Jade looked away, her lip curled and hands fisted.

  Krista spoke into the quiet. “The Monomi. The palace staff.”

  “My mother,” Jade emphasized Samantha�
��s title, “her crew, and my crew.”

  Violet took a deep breath, her expression pinched. She rose and nodded at Jade, then tilted her head to Krista. “Thank you for your time, ladies. Now, please excuse me, as I must find Brandon and speak with him.”

  ***

  Jade twitched her lips in the semblance of a smile at a server who stopped in the hallway, bowing to her as she passed by him. She quickened her steps and turned the corner, leaving him alone in the amber hall.

  She wasn’t the queen, and she barely accepted the title of princess. Why did these people have to make it harder? She wasn’t going to be staying here any longer than she had to. Granted, it was much easier for the Monomi to guard her here, and it allowed her to have some space to roam, but it was a palace. Not the Sapphire.

  A stitch pulled in Jade’s side, and she leaned against the wall, catching her breath. She should’ve left to rest sooner, but she couldn’t even think of resting after seeing Queen Violet. No. It had been better to stay with Krista for a while longer, even if they hadn’t been working on Briar’s prosthetic anymore. The time spent with her best friend was well worth it, but now her body ached with the strain of being up for so long. Finn had warned her that she needed to sleep more for the next few weeks to restore all the energy that he’d used from her body to heal her grievous injuries.

  She’d never been the best at listening to doctors’ advice.

  Needles of agony radiated from her shoulder across her chest, ending just after her collarbone above her breast. She let out a shaky breath. Maybe it’d be good to start listening after all. She pinched her eyes shut. The room she and Krista shared was just around the corner. So close.

  “Jade? Oh, Miss Jade!”

  Jade turned her head to the sound of footsteps running toward her. Strong fingers gripped her arm and she looked up, heat exploding across her cheeks at the shame of being found weak yet again. She blinked, then grinned in spite of herself.