Vortex Chronicles: The Complete Series (Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles)

by Elise Kova

  “Admit it, you’re glad I did.”

  “It makes things convenient,” he grumbled, and kissed her anyway.

  “Speaking of the shift… Deneya will be here soon. We have to start looking for the crown.”

  “That’s tomorrow’s problem.” He shifted atop her again. “Tonight, you’re mine.”

  Tomorrow’s problems promptly became today’s.

  Taavin went to hunt through the records in the Tower of Sorcerers for any mention of the crown being discovered. Vi navigated the depths of the castle and back up into the servants’ quarters. There, she lifted three sets of uniforms from a supply closet while no one was looking, and took them back to the hideaway she and Taavin were using.

  He was still gone, so Vi changed alone and returned through the hidden passageways and servants’ halls to get to the royal quarters. Neither of the guards positioned on either side of the golden gate stopped her as she made her way quietly past them. Pitcher in hand and pale blue tabard over her shoulders, she looked like any of the other servants coming and going to attend the needs of royals.

  A short hall after the gates opened up into a large atrium. Vi’s feet slowed as she crossed the tiled floor. She came to a full stop, staring in awe. The fact that she was supposed to be a servant who had traversed these rooms countless times was lost for a long moment and she shamelessly gawked, taking in the sight.

  A stained-glass dome with the sun at its apex washed the mosaic of the palace set into the floor in a myriad of colors. The dome contained the Dark Isle, Barrier Islands, and Meru off to the side.

  Her eyes followed a golden staircase back down to the main floor. Two hallways stretched out on either side. Vi imagined Romulin running up and down these halls to let out energy. No… that was what she would’ve done, had she grown up here. Romulin no doubt spent a good portion of his time in his room, or a sitting area, quietly studying like the golden child he was.

  Now having met Baldair, she could see what everyone had said about her brother inheriting some of his features and charm. But there was still a good deal of Aldrik and Vhalla in him as well. Romulin had been a healthy mix of the family—the best of them, in Vi’s eyes.

  Her eyes stung, watering suddenly.

  Turning away from the atrium, Vi headed left down a long corridor lined with doors. She was drowning in emotions she wasn’t expecting, and her body was trying to let them out through her eyes. Vi picked one of the doors at random and gave it a knock.

  When no one answered, she cracked it open, murmuring a soft, “Excuse me?” The room was empty, likely reserved for esteemed guests or extended family. Most of the furniture was covered in drop-cloths, dust weighting them down.

  She stepped back out of the room and moved on to the next. One by one, Vi crossed the doors in the hall, finding them all empty. Most were bedrooms, but there were handful of sitting rooms, offices, and a dining room interspersed throughout. Vi crossed back through the atrium, ignoring the staircase for the time being—as it surely led to the royal chambers—and headed down the other wing.

  There were fewer doors here and they were spread wider apart. As Vi roamed down the hall, a cleric emerged from one near the end. His eyes met hers.

  “Oh good, perfect, thank you.” He quickly made his way to her, taking the pitcher from her hands.

  “Yes, of course.” Vi passed it to him. “The prince—is he all right?” she asked hastily.

  “He is, thank the Mother.” Vi didn’t have to feign her sigh of relief. The Bond must’ve been formed. “It’s been a miraculous recovery, a true blessing. Now, excuse me.” The man immediately returned to the room from which he’d come.

  That must be Aldrik’s room. Vi turned to the door at her right. If the one to her left was Aldrik’s, then…

  Sure enough, she had found Prince Baldair’s quarters. Vi stepped inside and locked the door behind her. The younger prince was still out at the front and wasn’t due back for some time.

  The main room was clearly set up for entertaining. A dining table was situated by the window, covered in a drab cloth. Between it and the door was a gaming area, complete with a billiards table and bar. The outlines of sofas and loveseats made up a sitting area.

  Walking through the door at her right, Vi found the prince’s bedroom. The four-poster bed was bare and the air was stale. The bedroom connected through a dressing room to a bathroom that had two doors, the second leading her back into the main room.

  “Was this where you lived, Romulin?” Vi murmured, running her fingers lightly along the tabletop as she walked by the window. Had he been given this room as the younger son? Or had he taken what was currently Aldrik’s room, since he’d been the royal child who was actually present?

  Vi drew her attention inward, trying to imagine herself returning home to this room. She would’ve been happy enough, she supposed. At least, she thought the girl she had been would’ve found joy in this place.

  This was not her world, and the emotions attaching her to the people and places in it became more and more like the tarp-covered furniture by the day—covered, unused, dusty.

  “To work,” Vi said, refocusing herself.

  She started in the prince’s bedroom, searching the most obvious places first. Vi crawled under the bed, feeling underneath the platform for any hidden compartments. She lifted the mattress, double-checking that there wasn’t enough room for something like the crown to be hidden underneath.

  Next, she checked behind the headboard and explored the mantel around the fireplace. She ran her fingers over the embellishments and carvings, pressing and pulling. Her fingers hooked on a small lever, hidden by a raised section of trim. She pulled, and there was a soft click to her right.

  One of the built-in bookcases sighed as Vi pulled it away from the wall, revealing a narrow passageway that ran behind the bookcases to the chimney. It was certainly a hiding place for the prince—judging by the racy literature and sentimental tokens dutifully stored within.

  But the crown wasn’t there.

  Vi placed everything back exactly as she found it and closed the hidden passage. She continued her sweep of the bedroom before moving on to the dressing room. All the while, Vi tapped the floor with the toe of her shoe, listening for fake boards.

  Most of the prince’s clothes had been packed away when he left for war, which made scouring the shelves easy. Vi found two other secret compartments built in false bottoms of the shelves. One had a lock of golden hair, a silver dagger, and a pile of notes. Vi promptly closed the compartment out of privacy, suspecting the hair to be Raylynn’s.

  The other compartment held a key, the outline of which was visible in the dust when she removed it. Vi flipped it over in search of markings that could offer a clue as to what it might unlock. The skeleton key was fairly large, but otherwise plain. The only embellishment was the Solaris seal stamped at the end.

  Unhelpful.

  Still, Vi pocketed the key and resumed her search. The key clearly hadn’t been moved in some time, judging from the outline it left behind in the dust. It must unlock something important for him to hide it. She just hoped that “it” was more than a chest filled with scandalous tomes of daring women.

  As she’d expected, the prince’s royal apartment was filled with secret nooks in almost every room. Vi scoured the place from top to bottom, not stopping until she could be confident she’d explored every one. She found ten in total, including one servants’ entry and passage that was void of any possible hiding spots.

  The crown wasn’t in any of these locations. Nor was anything that the key could unlock.

  She was just placing the last of the fabric over the furniture when the ring around her finger grew warm. A glyph sizzled in her mind, begging for release. “Narro hath,” Vi murmured.

  “Miss me?” Deneya’s voice echoed to her from across the connection.

  “Terribly.”

  “Then your agony will soon be over.”

  “How far are you?”
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  “I’m just about to start up the switchbacks now.”

  “Meet me in the Imperial Library.” Vi paused, remembering what day and age she was in, now. Vhalla was present in the castle. Her chest tightened in a way that begged avoidance at all costs. “On second thought, the servant’s entrance, the one not far from the water gardens.”

  “See you soon.”

  Vi released the glyph and did one last sweep of Baldair’s room. Wherever the prince had hidden the crown, it wasn’t here. Vi pursed her lips and left, heading down through the castle to meet Deneya.

  The servant’s entrance was busy at all times of day. Boards lined the main entry with schedules and memos. Someone was always coming or going, and no one paid Vi a second glance in her palace robes.

  She perched herself on a bench just outside, watching the night fall as she waited. Soon enough, the silhouette of a woman cut against the watercolor sky as Deneya crested the hill.

  “You’re a sight for sore eyes.” Vi stood.

  “I’m marvelous, I know.” Deneya smiled down at her. “It’s good to see you, too.”

  “Let’s find a place to board the horse. I doubt we’ll get to use the palace stables again.”

  “Unfortunately.” Deneya dismounted.

  “I think I know a place.”

  “Lead the way.” Deneya walked alongside Vi as she headed for an inn with a long row of stables that were usually unoccupied. “Any issues up here?”

  “No, your end?”

  “None.”

  Vi glanced at the pack the woman had over her shoulder, then to the saddlebags. “You have it?”

  “Of course.” Deneya patted her backpack and Vi could imagine the shimmering crown inside. “You find the real deal yet?”

  “No, but we only just got here a few days before you.”

  “I know, that’s why I thought you would’ve certainly found it by now.” Deneya grinned.

  “We need your help, clearly.”

  “Yes, you’d be lost without me,” she proclaimed loftily.

  “I did miss you.” Vi nudged her shoulder against her friend’s.

  She snorted. “I doubt it. You’ve had a few days with Taavin all to yourself and judging from the glow around you, the alone time did you well.”

  Vi laughed and didn’t even bother with a denial. “Yes, but now that you’re back, it’s nothing but work again. We must find the crown soon.”

  “What’s the rush?”

  “I’m not sure… a feeling?” Vi looked over her shoulder, feeling as if someone was following her. No one was there. The memory of the Tower—of Victor watching her movements without her realizing—was an unexpected companion in the castle. “I know Victor is usually the one to find it. And knowing what I know of him, once he finds it, he won’t let it go.”

  “So we have to beat him to it,” Deneya surmised. The statement brought Vi’s thoughts to Baldair’s empty room.

  “Yes. But my fear is that we’re already too late.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Vi, Taavin, and Deneya broke the palace into segments in order to search for the crown.

  Vi continued to search the royal quarters. Baldair might not have hidden it in his chambers, but he’d have access to every room in the Imperial wing of the palace. There were plenty more secret locations that were all potential hiding spots, and lots of locks for her to try the key on.

  Deneya began looking through ledgers used by the palace guard. Vi supposed it was possible for Baldair to have entrusted the relic to his loyal soldiers. Though Deneya returned empty-handed day after day, which slowly squashed that theory.

  Taavin remained assigned to the Tower of Sorcerers. He reported on overheard rumors, mostly from students; there were more tales of Vhalla’s doings than anything relating to the crown. Whispers flew about how she had fallen from a tower rooftop and flown, how the crown prince was her personal tutor, and how Minister Victor wanted nothing more than to see her enrolled as the Tower’s newest student.

  Time whittled away Vi’s patience. The crown began to haunt her dreams. Night after night, she could imagine herself touching it, feeling the magic of Yargen seep into her. Day after day, she searched for that sensation, imagining feeling it on the briefest shift in the air.

  Just when she was about to turn the whole castle upside down, fate and stones and rivers be damned, the military returned to the capital.

  Vi, Taavin, and Deneya watched from the upper ramparts as palace staff and citizenry alike funneled into the Sunlit Stage, waiting for the military party to march up the mountain and make its grand arrival.

  “They look so small and insignificant,” Vi murmured.

  “From this high up, everything looks small.” Deneya leaned against the stone, looking down.

  Vi wondered what the world looked like to the gods. Did they stand on walls higher than this? Walls that kept mortals from their divine domains? She could imagine Yargen staring down, and every mortal in the world being little more than grains of sand to be swept around by her hand.

  “Here they come.” Taavin pointed to the military party as it arrived. Cheers erupted for the Emperor and Baldair as they entered, a deafening roar that rolled across the whole mountainside.

  “They certainly love him, don’t they?”

  “They do.” Vi stared down at the speck that was Baldair. Somewhere in his mess of golden hair was the knowledge of what he’d done with the crystal crown.

  “I feel bad for Aldrik… to be so hated when your brother is so loved,” Deneya mused.

  “His hardships prepare him for what’s to come.”

  “That’s grim.”

  Vi shrugged in reply.

  “Now that the prince is back, does the plan change?” Taavin asked.

  “We’ll see.” Vi stepped away from the stone railing and headed back inside the palace. “I’m going to see if I can steal a moment with Baldair.”

  “Why does she get all the fun?” Deneya asked Taavin.

  “Because this is her destiny.”

  Vi came to a sudden stop. How she truly hated that word.

  “What is it?” Deneya asked.

  “I’m going to go this way. I’ll meet you both back at our rooms later.”

  “Good luck.” Taavin leaned forward, planting a warm kiss on her cheek before he followed Deneya in the opposite direction, down to their hideaway in the bowels of the palace.

  Vi moved quickly through the servants’ passages. She was one of many hustling to get from one place to the next. The return of half the royal family, even when expected, had turned the castle on its head.

  Servants flowed in and out of the Imperial wing and Vi fell into step with them. By now, the guards had seen her come and go so many times that they hardly paid her any attention. Most of the people went up to the royal chambers at the top of the golden staircase. It was the one place Vi had yet to look because it was rarely unattended.

  A war raged within her as she debated if she had time to head up there now. In the chaos, she might be able to poke around unnoticed. Ultimately, Vi went to the right for Baldair’s rooms. She doubted he would’ve hid the crown up in his parents’ chambers, unless he’d given it to his father. But if Tiberus Solaris had a crystal weapon, the whole world would know it.

  However, on returning from a long trip, Baldair might immediately want to check the location of his prize. If she was lucky, he’d lead her right to it.

  The servants were bustling in and out of the young prince’s room, carrying trays of food and drink. Vi stepped off to the side, heading for the bedroom.

  “Just where are you going?” a man asked.

  “I’m checking the linens,” Vi said.

  “I was just in there, the bed is made.”

  “Did you check the towels?” The man nodded. “Extra sheets?”

  “Why would the prince want extra sheets in his room?”

  “Do you really need to ask that? This is Baldair we’re talking about.”
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  “Oh, Mother above.” He muttered something else under his breath.

  “Come on, I need your hands.” A woman tugged on the servant’s arm, successfully pulling him away from Vi.

  As he left, Vi could hear him murmuring, “I haven’t seen her around before…”

  She disappeared into the bedroom, which was thankfully empty. Vi headed right back for the fireplace and pulled on the secret lever she’d found before. The bookcase opened with a soft click as the mechanism disengaged. Vi hurried over and stepped inside, closing it behind her. She listened through the wood as the commotion continued in the common area. Servants bustled about in the bedroom.

  Then, silence.

  Vi counted to fifty, then opened the hidden door slowly. On light feet, she stepped out and closed the shelf behind her. She’d learned every creaky board in this room from her investigations, and Vi made her way soundlessly into the dressing room, then into the bathroom. There wasn’t another soul to witness her collecting towels into her arms.

  She poised herself in front of the bathroom door that connected to the main room. The bundle of linens was shoved under one arm. Her other hand was on the doorknob.

  Closing her eyes, Vi took a deep breath. Who would she be? Who did she need to be in this moment?

  “Yargen, guide me,” she whispered. It wasn’t quite a prayer. More like… asking a friend for a favor.

  The door to the main room opened, heralding male laughter, and Vi sprang into action. She pushed open the bathroom door at the same time as Baldair and two other young men entered through the main door. Her eyes met his.

  “My prince!” Vi said, startled. She juggled the towels, allowing them to scatter to the floor. Baldair’s laughter stopped and he regarded her with a confused and somewhat amused expression. Vi dropped to the floor, hastily gathering and folding the towels. “I’m so sorry. I was supposed to be gone, I know. But I realized the towels had not been properly refreshed for your arrival and I was terribly worried by the thought of you putting a musty towel to your face.”