Displaced (The Birthright Series Book 1)

by Bridget E. Baker

  “You need more time,” Inara says. “If you had a month, or even a full week, you might stand a chance against her. But that’s not what I meant by triage. There’s something more pressing than tomorrow’s challenge.”

  “What now?” I sink down onto the edge of my bed.

  “The ring,” she says.

  “What about it?” It’s still clenched in my hand. I was afraid to put it on in front of all those people. I open my palm and look at my mom’s ring, the cursed thing that started this whole mess. It’s sparkling and beautiful ... when it should be black and ugly. I gasp. It shouldn’t be refracting the light from my window, but it is.

  Because it’s a fake.

  The stone in this ring sparkles whether it’s in contact with a member of the family or not.

  “Mom told me once that she had a fake made, in case she ever needed to hide hers.” Inara looks at the ground. “I guess she decided it was time.”

  “What’s it made of?” I ask.

  “Mystic topaz. The funniest part is that it’s essentially worthless. That’s a manufactured stone. You can buy one online for less than a hundred dollars.”

  “Wow,” I say. “I guess we should initiate a lock down and force an immediate search. That will be extremely unpopular with our guests, but we can’t risk one of them flying out with it.”

  “Mom was wearing the fake,” Inara says, “which we know because we saw Judica pull it off her finger. I doubt anyone else knew about it, other than me and whoever made it for her. I don’t think it was stolen, because the thief would have needed the forethought to bring a fake and change them out. I think the more likely explanation is that Mother hid it herself and was wearing the fake intentionally.”

  “But why?” I ask. “It makes no sense.” I held the ring earlier today, the real one.

  Job’s words hit me. Mom sent something to Alora. Would she have sent the real ring? Why? It’s not logical.

  Inara throws her hands up in the air. “Nothing makes sense lately.” She ticks things off on her fingers. “You tell Mom you want to leave, and she agrees and sets up a trip to visit Alora.” Inara shoots me a ‘you’re crazy’ look. “Then you try on her ring and blow up the island.”

  “I hardly blew up the island,” I say. “I set off one little EMP.”

  Inara doesn’t laugh. She doesn’t even smile. “Chancery, that is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. An evian set off an EMP with the stone given our family by Eve herself. Using only a rock, you wiped out our communications, security, and electrical systems. Not to mention, you set the wall on fire. And then blasted a fireball through Mother’s closet wall.”

  “I know.” I drop my face in my hands. “Which made Mom name me as Heir. None of that would have mattered though if only...”

  Inara sits next to me and pulls me close. “If Mother hadn’t died. I know.”

  “I was going to say, ‘if my sociopath sister hadn’t found out and murdered her,’ but you’re technically correct as well.”

  In spite of my attempt at a joke, tears stream down my face again, and when I turn to Inara, she’s crying too. Judica may be a monster, and Mom may not have had many daughters in the last few centuries, but at least I have two amazing, involved sisters who love me. It’s more than some people have.

  “Now the ring is gone, and Judica’s already challenged me to a duel in the morning. I wish I cared more than I’m about to die.”

  Inara straightens up and squeezes my hand. “Mom knew she was sick. She had to have known. I asked her about the circles under her eyes, and I’m guessing you did too. She was brilliant, and always thought a hundred moves ahead. She hid the ring, and she tore up the heirship, but didn’t call her Council to witness the new one. She might have run out of time on that, or maybe not.” Inara closes her eyes and looks upward. “What did you think would happen here, Mom?”

  “She wanted me to rule with Judica’s help. Why didn’t she change the forms to say that instead?” I ask. “It might not have made Judica as angry.”

  Inara shakes her head. “She’d have been just as upset. Plus, there’s no precedent for joint leadership among the families. No, I think Mother knew you wouldn’t challenge her if you were Heir, and that you wouldn’t want to kill her if she challenged you. I think Mother may have hidden the ring for this very reason.”

  “For what reason?” I ask. “So when Judica kills me, her rule won’t feel legitimate?”

  Inara shakes her head. “No, to give you a chance to broker a deal between the two of you.” Inara’s face suddenly looks hopeful. “Which means you must have some idea where the real ring is. Otherwise, this will never work.”

  I shake my head. “I’m as shocked as you.” Besides, if all it takes to broker a deal is that I have the ring, well, Judica already believes I do.

  “Think,” Inara says. “Did she hint at where it might be hidden? Because with that knowledge, we could demand Judica delay her challenge. She’d have no choice. Especially if you make it public that this one’s fake.”

  Do I tell Inara? She followed me, but can I truly trust her? And even if I can, how far? She’s always been there for me, but she loves Judica too. “Mom and I practiced with it this morning. I know she was wearing the real ring then,” I say, delaying. The more I talk, the more uncomfortable I feel with disclosing everything I know. I can always fill her in later. “I have no idea where she’d have hidden it. Could Judica have it? I mean, she knows the ring is the reason Mom changed her mind. Could she be worried I’ll let Alamecha know, and win the people over? Maybe she switched the rings when she took it from Mom’s finger?” A chill shoots from my shoulders to my toes. “She could have poisoned her, taken a fake to the ballroom, and then switched them when we were distracted.”

  Inara and I both close our eyes and replay the earlier scene. It’s painful to think about Mom dying and the moments after, but when I go back in my mind, the ring is sparkling on Mom’s hand from the second I walk in. “Would it have gone black when she died? I mean, it’s still touching her.”

  Inara shakes her head. “I wish I knew. But think back on when Judica took it off. It was sparkling then, separated from Mother entirely. I was watching when Judica forced it off. It was always a fake Judica took from Mom’s hand. So if she switched it, she did it before Mom died.”

  Blast. “If we knew Judica had it, at least we’d know it’s close.”

  “You think it might not even be in Ni’ihau?”

  I suppress a frown. “No, I mean I have no idea where it is. But I mean that Judica couldn’t have taken it, or sent it, anywhere since this morning.”

  “We need to tell her.” Inara jumps off my bed and takes a step toward the door. “We go in and tell Judica what’s going on with the ring, and tell her you aren’t really Empress yet, and she’s not Heir officially because we don’t have the ring. We can’t have the investiture without the ring.”

  “I doubt she’ll care,” I say. “But if Mom knew she was sick and was worried she was dying...” My voice shakes. I need to get it together. “Maybe she wanted to give us something to buy us more time. That’s totally a move she’d make. But the Five will leap on any excuse to try and step into the middle of our business.”

  “That’s why we must approach Judica with this in private.”

  I nod. “Okay, let’s go.”

  Frederick follows me to Judica’s room. I try not to be irritated that two guards are standing outside her room. I try really, really hard when they refuse to let us pass.

  I finally raise my voice, sick of being polite. “I’m Empress. Judica proclaimed it herself. Now step aside, or Frederick and Inara will separate your bodies from your heads.”

  Maybe there’s wisdom behind the Heir having a personal guard. It makes the transition much easier for her, knowing already who she can trust. My only personal guard was Cookie. I swallow the ball in my throat and charge through her unbarred door.

  When we walk in, Judica’s face down on her pillow.
Is she crying? I didn’t think she cared enough about anything to cry. It pisses me off, actually. When you kill someone, you forfeit the right to cry about it. Before I can think of anything fitting to say, Judica leaps up, wiping her eyes so quickly that I wonder whether I imagined the whole thing.

  Judica scowls at Inara, Frederick, and then me. “Get out.”

  I practically spit the words. “Thought you’d like to know that the ring you shoved at me is a fake.”

  “What?” Judica holds out her hand and gestures for it. “No way.”

  I plonk the ring down on her palm. “See for yourself.”

  She clenches her fist for a moment, and then hurls it at the wall. It lodges inside the drywall with a thunk. “Who took the real one?”

  I throw my hands up in the air. “If I knew, do you think I’d have come straight here?”

  “I never have any idea how you’ll react to anything,” Judica says. “You tell me.”

  Inara steps between us and spreads her hands out wide. “Stop. We came to alert you to an issue, Judica. We believe Mother may have hidden the real ring to force you two to spend time together to fix this problem. We can hardly schedule the investiture that officially makes one of you Empress if we don’t even have the Alamecha family ring.”

  “Which means I’m not Empress yet,” I say, “and you’re not my Heir, and so your challenge was invalid.” I have no idea whether that’s true, but it sounds legitimate.

  Judica narrows her eyes at me. “What exactly do you two want?”

  “It’s not what I want,” I say. “It’s what Mom wanted. She wanted us to rule together.”

  Judica laughs. “You’ve lost your mind. Even if Mom wanted that, she’s not here anymore. So what she wanted doesn’t matter much. And I don’t care whether it’s valid. As soon as it is, I’ll restate my challenge, and you’ll look ridiculous for delaying.” She leans toward me. “I know facing things head on is counterintuitive for you, but you’d look less cowardly if you simply fought me in the morning.”

  I take slow steps until I’m standing less than a foot away from her. “The last few days have shifted everything for me, and I know it’s been hard on you too. I’m pretty sure you killed Mom, but I’m willing to try to forgive you.” That’s hard to say. And I’m not sure it’s true, but I want it to be. “Because it’s what Mom would want. Don’t you think ruling beside me is better than dying tomorrow?”

  Judica stares me in the eye for a moment before she says, “I won’t ever say this again, because I’m tired of no one listening. I didn’t kill Mother. I would never have done that. You didn’t own her, nor did you have an exclusive on affection for her. I loved her. But you’re missing one big thing in your little inspirational ‘kum-ba-ya’ speech. It might be better to rule with you than die tomorrow, but I’m not facing that choice. My choice is whether I’d rather rule with you or kill you tomorrow and rule alone, and I’ve been meaning to kill you for eight years. I guess it’s time I get around to actually doing it. So thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass on sharing the throne with a halfwit while she tries to forgive me for something I didn’t do.”

  “Are you really this hateful?” I ask. “If you truly didn’t kill her, then why not give this joint rule a trial run? All you have to do is work with me to try and locate the missing staridium. Besides, you can always kill me next week or next month. What’s the rush?”

  “Other than the fear you’ll get up the guts to have someone assassinate me?” Judica asks. “Don’t think that hasn’t crossed my mind. Anyone can bribe a guard.”

  How is she this dead inside? How can she not care about me at all? Will it really not bother her to kill me? I don’t know what else to say.

  Inara says, “Haven’t we had enough death for one week?”

  Judica sits carefully on a wooden chair, her hands folded calmly in her lap. “I don’t have a choice.”

  “We always have a choice,” Inara says. “You’re just making the wrong one.”

  “You have no idea how this feels,” Judica says.

  “You’re wrong,” Inara says. “I know exactly how it feels to be displaced.”

  “I was unaware you had a twin,” Judica says.

  Inara lifts her eyebrows. “I didn’t. But I was Heir for over a hundred years, and then my father died. Mother swore she would never take a new Consort, and I assumed I’d be Mother’s last daughter. Everyone was sure I would rule eventually. Everyone. Until one day, she completely reversed her decision and took a new Consort, a man she barely knew. A man she didn’t respect or admire. Not long after that, she had another daughter.” Inara paces. “In the blink of an eye, the train of my life jumped its track. I chose that day how to react, and stayed the course every day thereafter. I could have killed my half sister Melina or my mother in jealousy or rage or out of a fit of injustice, but I didn’t. I embraced my new life, and my half-sister, just as I embraced the two of you.”

  “You gave up.” Judica looks out her window.

  “You’re facing the same choice I did,” Inara says, as though Judica didn’t just insult her. “Mother didn’t choose another Consort and have another child, but she got new information and decided it would be best if you two ruled together. Now she’s gone and she can’t explain her reasons or her plan, but you could choose to try and honor it for a few days before you kill your sister, or you can make irreversible decisions now.”

  Judica looks from Inara to me and back again. Without any further argument or explanation, she says, “No.”

  “So that’s it, then?” I ask. “You won’t even consider it?”

  “Do you think we’re the same?” Judica asks. “Because we aren’t. We look alike, sure, and we even sound alike sometimes. But you know nothing about me. You’re too weak. You’d drag me and this entire family down with you, exactly as you did with Lyssa, and even Mother. I have an obligation to every family member in Alamecha to deny your request, to ignore Mother’s delusional hopes, and to prevent implementation of the insanity she was spouting at the end of her life. So, no. In fact, with the ring missing and the pair of you trying to pressure me into changing my mind, I’ve decided I’m not willing to wait for the morning. I think we should have our duel right now.”

  My mouth drops open. “You can’t. You already said we’d wait for morning. Plus, it’s not even a valid challenge.”

  “I’m either Empress or Heir. Either way I can challenge you.” Judica sneers. “You should have spent a few hours reading our laws, sister.”

  I splutter.

  “If you had, you’d know that as the challenger, I have the right to choose the time. You, as the defender, have a right to choose whether we fight hand-to-hand or with blades.”

  “I knew that,” I say, “but you already chose the time. Tomorrow morning.”

  “I don’t want to wait,” she says. “I’d rather kill you now.”

  The door opens and we all turn to see who the guards allowed inside. For a split second I worry that one of the Five has come after us and we may be facing attack. I don’t even have a single weapon.

  Judica draws a blade, of course.

  When the intruder walks through the doorway, I relax. Dark hair falls in gentle waves to her waist, framing striking golden eyes, russet skin, and long willowy arms and legs.

  “Alora!” I leap toward her and she hugs me tightly.

  “Little dove. I am so sorry, so very sorry.”

  I’m sobbing, and she is too. Inara is great, and she’s helping any way she can, but Alora has always been the person I love most, second only to Mom.

  “Touching reunion.” Judica’s voice is flat. “You didn’t get to see Mother before she died, but at least you got to see Chancery one last time.”

  Alora lets me go and turns toward my twin. “You’re hurting, Judica, so I’ll forgive you for acting like a total brat.” She gestures for Judica to come to her for a hug, but Judica stands as still as a statue, shoulders square, chin high, eyes flashing.

/>   “I was just telling Chancery I won’t wait for morning. I insist on her answering my challenge now.”

  Alora tsks just like Mom used to. “Stop being ridiculous.” Before Judica can respond, Alora holds up her phone. “Listen to this.”

  She presses a button and Mom’s voice fills the room via speakerphone. “Alora sweetheart, you must be in the air already. I’m so glad you’re coming after all, although I wish it was under better circumstances. I know everyone told me it was a mistake not to kill one of the twins at birth, but I love them both so dearly. I couldn’t have done it then, and I could never live without either of them now. They are fighting terribly and everything I try makes things worse. Chancery begged for permission to come and live with you. Against my better judgment, I agreed. That’s the reason I called back and begged you to come to my party last minute. I want you to bring her home to New York with you when you return. I’ve promised her a few weeks to decide whether she wants to forsake the family entirely and live among the humans like you. I won’t lie and say I want her to go, but I’m losing them as it is, and maybe the space will help things settle.” Mom lowers her voice and I strain to make out her last words. “I’m leaving you this message because I’ve been... sick. I don’t know what’s wrong precisely, but I fear I’m being poisoned. It’s getting worse, Alora. I don’t know how much time I have left.” There’s a sharp click and the voicemail ends.

  Hearing Mom’s voice is too much. I sit down on the ground and start to sob. She can’t be gone. She can’t. I know in that moment, I cannot fight Judica. I just can’t. I can’t kill my sister. Mom would hate that we’re here, about to fight each other over her throne.

  But I’m certain Judica killed Mom, or else why would she feel so guilty? Act so very angry? She found out Mom’s plan and decided she wouldn’t wait for it to be official. She took Mom from me forever. Suddenly I’m so angry I want to jump across the room and strangle Judica with my bare hands, which horrifies me.

  Clearly I have no idea what I want.

  Alora crosses the room and takes Judica by the shoulders. “You aren’t going to kill your twin, Juju-bee. Not on your mother’s birthday, not when all she wanted was for you two to get along.”