Zak pivoted and slammed his fist against the wall. Plaster dented under his knuckles. His shoulders pressed back as he shook his head, his voice deep, nearly a growl. “Over my dead body.”
Chapter Sixty-Two
Jade
Grass rippled across Jade’s ankles, and she closed her eyes against the feeling on her hyper-sensitive skin. She clutched Aunt Garnet’s hand while Samantha walked through the crowd. Her mother’s freshly cut hair rippled along her jaw in the breeze. Samantha kept her head high, though her hands trembled as she presented the long lock of brown braided hair to Finn, the officiator of Slate’s funeral.
Finn accepted the offering, his own eyes moist, and Samantha sank into the seat next to Jade as Finn lifted Samantha’s hair in the Piovant custom of widow-rites.
“Today we mourn the changing season of life.” Finn spoke, his voice clear and loud enough to ring through the cemetery field filled with Slate’s family members, friends, and business associates.
Jade held her breath as Finn continued, hoping desperately that he would remember his promise to her.
“Captain Slate Stohner gave his all in defense of Doldra and southern Terrene, leaving behind his mother, Madame Elinora Stohner, his elder sister, Garnet Stohner, his wife, Captain Samantha Stohner, and his daughter, Jade Stohner.”
Samantha’s hand slipped over Jade’s and squeezed as Jade let out a sigh of relief. Thank you, Finn. Her fingers crept up her high neckline and she touched the somber burgundy ruffle that lined her throat, hiding her healing chest. It didn’t matter what her grandmother, Mister Monomi, Zak, Ben, or anyone else said. She was not a princess. Her father was Slate Stohner. Not the man who’d slaughtered so many and nearly killed her.
Jade glanced over to where Zak stood amongst his family, his square jaw set while his eyes roved over where she sat with the women in her family. The Monomi had insisted on providing security for Slate’s memorial, and so they lined the gathering, the sun reflecting off their formal, white clothes, nearly blinding anyone who looked directly at them. They look like avenging angels.
Somewhere in the back, Zebediah and his brother guarded Prince Brandon, who had insisted on coming today. She wove her fingers with her mother’s and refused to even glance over her shoulder. Jade’s family was here. And in the crew of the Sapphire.
She tilted her head to see the two somber rows of airship hands. Kerlee caught her eye, and a corner of his lip tilted up before he looked away. These were her people. Not those who would put her on a throne.
And definitely not the one in the back—whose blade had brought the death of so many. The Sapphire crew had lost four in the attack on the yards, the Monomi had lost one, and her grandmother had lost six of her men.
Blade and his bandits had murdered at least twenty-six in the palace.
Finn’s voice pulled Jade from her dark musings, “We declare him a hero. May his legacy live on in those who knew him.” Finn lit the two shallow bronze bowls of incense and stepped back as the smoke drifted across the grass. He lifted his hands, signaling to those gathered that they could approach and say goodbye to the aged body in the simple casket.
Jade rose and followed the scarlet hem of Samantha’s long skirt. Doldran custom dictated that surviving family wear red as a symbol of the bond between family, and Jade hated it. She’d seen too much blood in the last three days. The moment the ceremony was over, she planned to change into something less nausea-inducing.
Smooth wood met Jade’s unsteady fingers as she looked down on the lined face of the man she called father. Slate’s closed eyes looked relaxed, almost peaceful. Samantha’s long braid had been tied around his folded hands in Piovantian tradition. Tears blurred Jade’s sight, and she brushed a kiss against his cool forehead before hastening away for Garnet and Ellie to say goodbye.
Jade took a shaky breath, and, for once, didn’t jump when Ben’s hand steadied her elbow. “Where to?” He had been her shadow whenever Zak wasn’t readily available. No matter what time of day or night it was, she was guaranteed one of them. She pointed and he nodded.
People parted to let Ben lead Jade to where Krista sat with Briar in his wheelchair. Briar offered a tiny smile as he gingerly rubbed his knee, just above the empty pants leg.
“I’m waiting for everyone else to go through,” Briar said as he waved a hand at his mobile contraption. “Navigating grass and crowds with this isn’t a great idea.”
“Are you sure you should even be out of bed?” Jade asked, regretting the question even as she spoke.
Briar nodded firmly, a fire burning in his brown eyes. “I can’t not say goodbye. Not when I was lucky enough to survive.”
Jade hugged herself awkwardly, her healing skin protesting the movement. What could she say to that? He was right, of course.
Krista wove her fingers between Briar’s and lifted her face to Jade. “Our plan is postponed for the time being, obviously.”
Jade huffed a small laugh, then winced. “No kidding.” She fluttered a hand between the palace and herself, and then gestured to the people gathered. “Three days, and I still don’t know what to think about all this, let alone what to do.”
“For now, rest, Jade.” Briar’s grin looked more like a grimace. “You have the same problem that Krista does: you think better on your feet. You need to learn how to take it easy, let your body heal, and process it all.” The lines of pain around his eyes eased, and he offered a soft smile. “I know you can do it.”
She nodded her silent thanks to her friends and turned to look for Zak, quickly spotting him despite the sea of white. His gaze met hers, and his eyes widened.
“Adeline.”
Jade lifted her hem so as not to snag it on a particularly tall lump of grass and started moving toward Zak, not recognizing the voice behind her. Ben swore loudly, and she turned to scold him, then stumbled when she saw who stood behind her, flanked by two white-clad Monomi.
Zak gripped her arm to steady her as he stepped in front of her, his broad shoulders shielding her from Brandon. Ben moved to Zak’s side, the two of them facing down the shorter blond man.
He’d cleaned up well, for being a lost prince of ruthless bandits. His long ponytail had disappeared in favor of a shorter one that curled just below his shoulders, and his scruffy beard was shaved.
Shadows danced in his blue eyes as he tried to peer around Ben and Zak. “Adeline.”
“My name is Jade.”
A flash of irritation darkened Brandon’s eyes, and he flattened his lips. “I’m sorry. We named you Adeline, and it’s hard for me to think of you as anyone different.”
Zak shifted, blocking Brandon from her sight. “What do you want?” Anger burned in Zak’s voice, and he touched his sword hilt.
Jade slid her fingers under Zak’s elbow and pressed her hand against Ben’s shoulder, gently moving them apart just enough that she could see.
Brandon’s head snapped up, and he stared at her, his eyes searching hers. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice cracking. “I didn’t know. I…I thought you were dead. And—”
“And you nearly killed her,” Zak muttered.
Jade squeezed his elbow in silent warning.
Breathe. Jade focused on shallow breaths, trying to avoid hyperventilating or pulling at more of her stitches with deep inhales. She blinked back tears of frustration and fear, opting to look at the shiny buttons that lined Brandon’s dark blue jacket. Why did they let him talk to me?
“Jade,” Brandon spoke her name hesitantly, trying it out. “Your name suits you.”
“Thank you.”
Silence stretched between them. Ben shifted his weight from foot to foot, and Zebediah coughed.
“What—” Brandon cleared his throat. “—what will be you be doing now?”
Jade resisted the urge to shrug and shook her head instead. “For the immediate future, healing. I was recently maimed, you see.”
Pain shadowed Brandon’s eyes. Good. Let him hurt. He deserved so much
worse.
Now it was Zak’s hand on her elbow, offering silent support. She recognized the slight tremor in his shoulders as a suppressed snort. She raised her eyes to stare into Brandon’s unfamiliar gaze. “Whatever I do, it will be what I want to do. I’m a mechanic, daughter of Slate Stohner.”
Brandon’s eyes flashed, and he lifted his eyebrows with a derisive laugh. “That may be how you see yourself, but that’s not how others view you. Like it or not, you’re my daughter. And once news of you spreads to the nobles here, let alone the other kingdoms, your life will never be how you want it. Accept that.”
Curiosity warred with the desire to spin on her heel and walk away. What was with him and his constantly shifting attitude? She leaned into Zak, seeking stability from the exhaustion that rolled over her. “What do you mean?” Jade shivered at Brandon’s look of pity.
“Politics are a battlefield you are woefully unprepared for.” He looked to the Doldran palace gleaming in the distance. “And Lord Everett will not be pleased to know that either of us is alive.”
Ben coughed deep in his throat while Zak’s body tensed.
“Actually, he does know about me,” Jade said finally. “And he’s already arrested my uncle for hiding the truth.”
Confusion crossed Brandon’s face as he mouthed uncle to himself. “Then you know the danger you’re in.”
Zak tucked Jade’s hand over his arm and steered her away, looking over his shoulder at Brandon. “She knows, as do we. We will keep her safe, unlike her father.”
Jade allowed Zak to guide her away, Ben trailing after them. The people mingling parted to let them through while Jade’s mind tumbled over itself in consternation.
What if he was right? Her life wouldn’t be what she wanted. Am I going to lose all my freedom?
She blinked at the green directly in her face and realized that Zak had leaned down to be at her eye level. Tiny lines furrowed his brow as he gently gripped her upper arms.
“Don’t think of what he said. Not today. We’ll figure out how to protect you, no matter what you choose.” He nodded to Samantha as she walked toward them. Ellie and Garnet stood in a tearful discussion just beyond. “For now, you need to focus on the moment. Here and now. Be with your family. We’ll deal with tomorrow when tomorrow comes. Not before.”
“And you’ll be there tomorrow?”
Surprise flickered across Zak’s face, and a fresh line creased his forehead. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because you think you’re not right for me. Because you think you failed, that I got injured when you were supposed to protect me. Because you think it’s not your place to be with me.” Tears welled in Jade’s eyes, and she fluttered her eyelids in an attempt to hold the evidence of her distress back. She stared down at her shoes and the blade of grass that waved in the breeze between her feet. “I’m afraid you’re going to leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Jade didn’t look up. She released a shuddering sigh and raised her gaze enough to see his chest rise and fall as he breathed. “What do you think I should do?”
“Right now, I think you should focus on getting better, taking it easy, and spending time with your family. If you get bored, help Krista design the prosthetic for Briar.” Zak ducked into her line of sight and pinned her with his brilliant gaze. “The challenges that you’ll face won’t be for you to deal with alone. I’ll be with you, every step of the way, and that’s that.”
“Why?”
At last his confidence wavered, and he shifted back and rubbed the back of his neck, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. He sucked in his cheek for a moment before replying. “I already told you why: you are my princess.” A faint blush rose in his face, and he swallowed, breaking eye contact. “And, I care about you.” His gaze darted toward her and then away. “‘Care’ may be too soft a word. Regardless, I will follow where you go, and do all within my power to protect you.”
Something in Jade’s belly warmed at his words, and the sight of his flushed cheeks made her smile. She carefully tucked her hands behind her back to resist the urge to touch his jaw. “If I choose to not be a princess, can we be together?”
“Jade.” Pain flashed in Zak’s eyes, and he closed them, taking a deep breath. “I can’t make promises. There’s no guarantee that you won’t be forced to take up leadership. I know you don’t want to,” he added hurriedly as she narrowed her eyes, “and I support whatever you choose. But we need to take things one day at a time. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. And I’ll be here for whatever that is.”
Jade nodded and leaned into Zak, hugging him as best as her wounds would allow, unwilling to even contemplate what tomorrow would bring.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Ben
Ben ran his fingers down his mug, rubbing off all the condensation. He wiped his wet hand on his pants leg, then set his elbows on the table and leaned forward to better hear Finn.
Finn sat at the far end of the sturdy table with Raine to his right, and Garnet next to her. Zebediah and Zak sat across from the ladies, flanking Brandon.
Why Brandon had to be there, Ben wasn’t sure.
Ben hadn’t been too surprised to learn that Garnet owned a pub that the Monomi ran in her absence. She managed all the financial and managerial aspects on the Sapphire, so somehow her having another business endeavor on the side just made sense. This morning it was open just for their group—the kitchen silent, the drinks and food provided by Garnet and Zandra, Zak’s elder sister.
A long oak bar gleamed in the luminary light. Sparkling glasses and polished mugs sat on a rack behind it. Sunlight streamed through the fogged glass panes, casting a crimson hawk on each table from the center of each window. Though the place was empty but for their group, it was easy to imagine the bustle, the laughter, the noise of the pub when it was open. Scuffs and scratches marred the floor by the door, and the tables bore the inevitable dents of time and wear. The entire place had a feel to it that Ben could only think of as “homey,” if such a word could be used for an eating establishment and inn.
Finn pulled a thick stack of discolored papers from a worn leather satchel and set them reverently on the polished wood. He braced his hands on the edge of the table and looked around at the small group.
“For those of you who didn’t know, Raine was orphaned by thugs looking for me, and right before that dark time, several of my important documents were stolen.” Finn tapped a finger against the papers before him. “These are Doctor Taylor’s notes.” He shuffled the papers and drew out a stack that was half the size of the original. “These are my notes from twenty years ago.”
Ben’s eyebrows shot up as he digested Finn’s words. Finn hadn’t mentioned any of those details when they were on the Phoenix together. Ben glanced at Raine’s smooth face, her calm eyes. She hadn’t mentioned why she was with her grandfather either, so hearing that she, too, was an orphan interested Ben. How had she lost her parents? Did she remember them? Ben blinked away a hazy memory of his own parents dancing in the kitchen, and he honed in on the conversation before he could miss something important.
Zandra pulled out the remaining chair at the table and sat at Ben’s right. She tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear as she nodded to Finn.
Finn continued. “As you know, we were able to determine through these notes that the keystone was in danger of being brought down—due to Jaxton lying about the bloodstone and its intended uses. What you don’t know is that Jaxton was sharing his findings with someone, and I suspect this person could make Jaxton’s motives look sweet and cuddly in comparison.”
“Lucio.” Brandon kept his palms flat against the table while he spoke, his eyes wild with hatred. His nostrils flared as he fisted his hands. He looked around the table, the fire in his gaze almost searing to the soul when he reached Ben. “Jaxton talked about him on occasion.”
That’s why he’s here. Intel. Ben racked his brain, but couldn’t think of meeting any
one named Lucio.
“He spoke freely to you about his activities?” Garnet asked softly.
Brandon’s lip curled. “I was his obedient puppet, his dog. You don’t mince your words or your activities around your pets, do you? That’s all I was to Jaxton. He didn’t think of me as someone with a mind anymore, and so I learned more than he ever intended.”
Garnet shrank into her high-backed chair with a pained sigh. Ben studied Brandon’s loose blond hair that tried to hide his clenched jaw. It had been wise to leave Jade at the shipping yards with Samantha and the rest of the group to recover. Physical health aside, she would not have handled this meeting well.
Finn nodded. “It looks like Jaxton was working alongside Victor to at least some degree, though there’s not much of a paper trail to prove that.”
“And now Victor has the bloodstone. And a Void Born.” Zak hunched over the scarred table on his elbows, his fists white-knuckled.
“Yes.” Finn rubbed at the line creasing his forehead with a grimace. He looked to Garnet. “Do we have any idea where he would go with it?”
Garnet shook her head and unwrapped her fingers from her clay mug with a helpless shrug. “Your guess is as good as mine. If he was working with Everett at all, maybe he went to Aerugo? But I can’t imagine why Everett would want the barrier to fall.” She fiddled with the lace on her sleeve. “Does Everett know about the Void Born? What’s his endgame?”
“I’m guessing that Everett teamed up with Victor only because he wanted the Doldras family gone, or for some reason we haven’t figured out yet,” Zebediah stated. His posture remained perfect as he sat, arms crossed, dark eyes thoughtful. “We need to get teams out to each of the locations to make sure he can’t access any other keystones.”
Ben leaned in toward Garnet and whispered, “There are seven keystones, right?”
She turned, a red curl falling over her cheek as she murmured, “Right. Scattered all over southern Terrene. They’re all connected, so if one fails, they all go down. And the barrier that rings around southern Terrene will be gone.”
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