The Augenspire (Origins of Elaria Book 1)

by V. St. Clair

  “I like to believe that my sense of self-worth can withstand more than a little needling from Darius Hamish,” Topher said matter-of-factly, not looking the least bit perturbed by the comment.

  “I’m glad to hear it, though I still intend to speak to him about how he talks to people,” Jessamine insisted.

  “If you insist,” he looked around at the subject of their discussion, who was now speaking with Shellina and Missy. Darius seemed much more comfortable around them than with the others, probably because he already knew Missy.

  “I’m surprised no one from the General Assembly is here, aside from Skye and Rolf,” Gareth spoke now, looking around with interest.

  “It was my doing,” Topher responded. “I was charged with the guest list, and didn’t think the Vicerina would want to turn this into a political debate.” He turned to Jessamine now. “Should I have invited the full Assembly?”

  “Heavens, no.” Jessamine shuddered at the thought. “They can’t resist the urge to appeal to me for funding of their pet projects whenever they get the chance. Skye and Rolf are fine, because at least they have the good sense to save their appeals for official meetings and they mostly only want supplies and equipment for the troops anyway.”

  “So I gathered,” Topher nodded in relief.

  “We have half an hour before our next duty rotation,” Reya glanced at her watch. “Topher snagged us for this meet-and-greet as backup, and to balance out the number of other guests in the room, but if you have no further need of us…”

  “No, you’re free to go. It doesn’t look like I’m going to be in any danger here, and the initial round of introductions have been made. Thank you for sitting through this impromptu gathering with Darius. I’m sure you’ll be getting to know him better soon enough.”

  Gareth looked like that moment could wait forever as far as he was concerned, but only said, “Thank you, Vicerina. Please excuse us.”

  Topher remained behind as they watched the other two walk away. Jessamine had no idea if he was also going on duty soon, or if he was already on duty. She was rarely able to keep track of his work schedule, since he always just seemed to be there whenever she needed him.

  I shouldn’t take advantage of his work ethic by just assuming he’ll drop everything when I call on him, she scolded herself mentally.

  For some reason the first words out of her mouth to him when they were alone were, “Those two are definitely having sex.”

  Topher raised an eyebrow at this abrupt insight of hers and said, “Occasionally, as I understand it.”

  “I thought Reya was seeing someone downside, or did they break up?” Jessamine strained her memory. She was usually excellent at remembering details about other people’s lives, but perhaps she had missed news of the separation in all of the recent chaos.

  “No, they’re still together,” Topher supplied helpfully. After a look from Jessamine he added, “You’re surprised?”

  She shrugged. “Who am I to judge? My family isn’t exactly known as a paradigm of monogamy.”

  “Oh come now, not all of your ancestors were promiscuous….Sure, your great-grandmother made it her personal goal to sleep with the entirety of Silveria’s government, but others were less ambitious.”

  He was laughing at her with his eyes, damn him. Jessamine smiled and said, “Please, you don’t have to defend my family to me. My grandfather had a penchant for twenty-year old boys, my great uncle single-handedly kept the sex-worker trade alive during the Depression, his wife was a sex-worker…”

  “What about your grandmother?” Topher pointed out helpfully.

  “I think she was asexual and only forced herself to bed my grandfather for the sake of getting pregnant with my father,” Jessamine admitted.

  Neither of them mentioned the current Viceroy’s inclinations, since he had kept his affairs fairly discreet since the death of her mother.

  “Anyway,” Topher changed the subject abruptly. “While we’re not specifically banned from marrying, we typically don’t, and even the ones that do marry may occasionally sleep with a colleague. It’s a sort of unwritten rule that none of us really speak of but all of us understand—given the demands of our job and the restrictions upon us, we allow ourselves some leeway where others may not.”

  Jessamine immediately wanted to ask if Topher had slept with any of the men and women working with him, but it was an inappropriate question and she had no right to demand an answer to it.

  It doesn’t matter anyway. He’ll never be mine.

  “Ah, I see.” She shook the possessive thought from her head. “Well—”

  “What’s so interesting over here that you’re ignoring your other guests?” Darius interrupted their conversation, his eyes bright with the effects of alcohol and voice slightly louder than usual. Shellina was with him, apparently taking it upon herself to play hostess in light of Jessamine’s negligence, her arm looped casually through his so she could guide him around the room and make sure he was moving in the right general direction. It seemed like she was currently trying to pull him away from Jessamine and Topher, but with little success.

  Jessamine would have to thank her sister for stepping up to help with the hostess duties, when she should really be playing hostess for her own husband-in-waiting’s reception.

  “Nothing really,” Jessamine replied immediately, forcing a welcoming smile and ignoring the rude interruption for her sister’s sake. It wasn’t fair to expect Shellina to overpower Darius and keep him out of trouble on her behalf. “We were just discussing cultural nuance.”

  “Sounds dull,” Darius replied bluntly. “Shellina has offered to tour me around the topmost floors of this fortress, and to introduce me to some of her friends from town when they arrive.”

  Shellina added to this, “I called Frish, Grayson, and Bessa and asked them to come to town for the weekend so we could do a more casual welcome party for Darius. They are able to get away from their other engagements and have promised to bring some friends as well, so we should be able to make a nice little to-do of it as long as you and Father lend us some security for the event.” There was a questioning look in her eyes.

  “Thank you, Shellina, that was very kind of you,” Jessamine said with perfect sincerity, thoroughly relieved that Shellina was willing to help out so much where Jessamine was out of her depth. Lately, her sister seemed to be making an effort to be more helpful and shoulder some actual responsibility, and Jessamine was encouraged by the change in her.

  “Of course I’ll authorize the security for your event. I assume you’ll need the standard checkpoint at the entry to scan everyone for weapons, plus a clutch of Majors for the event itself?”

  “That should be fine—and it’s no problem. Darius is going to be family soon, so we might as well make him as happy here as possible. Besides, he has great contacts from the south coast and he says he’s willing to help me plan some parties in the future.”

  Shellina loved to play hostess, and Darius seemed to enjoy any excuse for drinking and frivolity. They’ll probably get along better than he and I ever will.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” she replied. “I’m not very good at planning or managing these kinds of events, I’m afraid.” As though this would come as a shock to any of them.

  “Oh, you’re definitely hopeless at it,” Shellina agreed cheerfully. “I’ll be planning your wedding, of course. Everything will look perfect, and I’ll finally get to see you in a proper dress for a change!”

  Jessamine had been intending to marry in her light armor, but the slight lift in Topher’s eyebrows at the idea made her say, “Well…yes, I suppose so,” instead.

  “Could you point me in the direction of the restroom?” Darius asked, apparently not following the conversation or else simply not caring about it.

  “It’s right down there, on the left,” Shellina pointed, releasing her hold on his elbow and watching him walk off unsteadily. Once he was out of earshot she added, “That man can drink like a
fish. He’s not very handsome, is he? But at least he knows tons of people, and he said he’d be willing to invite them here to introduce us to them, so it won’t all be bad. I’ve always thought we should widen our social circle, not only because it gets boring seeing the same old people every day, but it might help us to have more close allies and friends who can ward off these nut-jobs who want to kill us.”

  Jessamine was surprised her sister was actually trying to think of ways to help protect them from assassination. She was growing up and changing for the better, it seemed. Perhaps Shellina was taking the attack on her sister harder than Jessamine had expected.

  “You’re right,” Jessamine allowed. “I don’t suppose it will be a bad thing to broaden our circle of friends.”

  “It’ll be great fun, you’ll see. And I just know you were going to wear your armor to your wedding, but I’m glad I persuaded you to see good sense and let me dress you in something pretty. After all, if you can’t be the center of attention on your wedding day, when can you be? I’ll be sure and pick out something that doesn’t clash with your hair or skin color…yellow, maybe? Not a garish yellow, mind you, but a soft one, something feminine but not something that washes you out, of course. And you can borrow my stylist for your hair; I know you love Hanna, but the woman is hopeless on hair. Ooh, I can’t wait to get started on the planning! When are you going to announce a formal date, anyway?”

  And there’s the Shellina I know and love.

  “I don’t know—soon, I expect.” Jessamine had been avoiding the thought of setting an actual date as much as possible. It would make the whole thing so much more definite, and the countdown would officially begin. She glanced at Topher, who was as hard to read as usual.

  “Topher, you’ll be my date, of course,” Shellina added. “You’re much too handsome to sit with the other Majors, and besides, you saved my sister’s life so you deserve to sit up front with me. Oh, there’s Darius again. I’ll go walk him around a bit, see if I can sober him up on the tour.” And with that, she was gone.

  “Is it cowardly that I don’t want to set a date for this nightmare of a wedding because it means I’ll actually have to marry my husband-in-waiting?” Jessamine asked Topher in a soft voice.

  “Maybe, though it’s understandable under the circumstances. Remember, Jessa, it’s only a moment in time. Nothing has to change if you don’t want it to.”

  Something in his tone seemed to imply, Besides, you knew what you were agreeing to when you allowed the engagement, though maybe she was just projecting her own thoughts onto him.

  “Easy for you to say,” Jessamine scowled. “I’ll be tied to that drunken sack of tactlessness for the rest of my life, which I know I agreed to because we need the backing of his father’s company, but I still don’t look forward to the actual event.”

  “You don’t have to share a room with him,” Topher continued smoothly. “You don’t even have to sleep with him to create children, if you don’t want to, though your family has historically stuck with the classic method of conception.”

  “Yes, because our bloodlines are superior and we don’t need gene-selection or gene-cleaning, or so we say,” she rolled her eyes.

  “So he sits beside you at important functions,” Topher shrugged. “You can otherwise see him as little as possible, if you want.”

  “I know, and you’re right. I’m just too much like my father to easily accept defeat. I don’t like being told I have to marry him in the first place; it’s like being put into a cage.” Afraid that she sounded whiny, she attempted to add levity by saying, “Keep an eye on me at the ceremony, alright? If I give you the secret hand-signal, kill Darius and run away with me to some remote island where no one will recognize us.”

  “Alright,” Topher replied with a nod, so serious that it nearly took her breath away.

  “I was—you would do that for me?”

  “My job is to protect and serve you in whatever way you require. After the attack on you, your father removed me from my obligations to him and made you my sole charge.”

  There was a bit of news her father hadn’t told her about yet…

  “We’d never make it past the horde of other Majors and military officers at the ceremony, and you’d get in terrible trouble for murdering my husband on our wedding day, whether I asked you to or not. Punishments for that sort of thing tend to roll downhill, and I’m generally too important to suffer the consequences of my actions, which puts you in a bad spot.”

  Topher shrugged and said, “I serve at your pleasure, whatever the consequence.” Then, with a slight smile, he added, “Of course, I am also too high-ranking to suffer some of the more severe consequences of your actions, so the punishment may continue to roll down hill and avoid us both—likely to some poor Minor by the time it’s said and done.”

  There was something so alluring about that small smile. Each one was something rare and beautiful, to be cherished and coveted.

  If only I could order you to marry me instead of Darius…

  No, she would never command that sort of thing from anyone. Love had to be freely given or it isn’t worth having, and she really did need the shipping contracts Darius’s father could offer.

  “Knowing you would fight for me at my own wedding actually does cheer me slightly, thanks.” She smiled, turning to see that all of the other guests had already left the sitting room, including Hanna. She had no idea how long she and Topher had been alone here together, and was embarrassed by what a poor job she had done of hosting Darius’s welcome luncheon.

  I have to get better at this; I can’t dump this whole mess in Shellina’s lap and expect her to manage my marriage for me.

  “I’m going to change clothes and head down to the training room,” she changed the subject abruptly. “I haven’t worked out in weeks—thanks to getting shot in the back—and it will feel good to punch and kick things for a while.”

  Topher acknowledged this with a smile and said, “The punching bags don’t stand a chance. Take care not to injure yourself, and make sure you have a spotter.”

  She pursed her lips at this warning and walked back to her room alone, thinking perhaps she could use a cold shower before going downstairs to train. She needed something to drown Topher and his teasing little smiles out of her mind.

  I should get Darius to be my spotter in the training room, she smiled in dark appreciation. Even if I get distracted and accidentally hit him in the face, it’s a win-win for me.

  On that cheerful thought, she went to change into her workout clothes and prepared to punch things.

  20

  Topher Augen

  ~

  It was meant as a blessing,

  But you made of it a curse.

  You’re funny about that sort of thing,

  Aren’t you?

  ~

  Topher stared down upon the city of Silveria like a god from on high, leaning forward with his hands on the windowsill in front of him, surveying the landscape below.

  He didn’t feel like a god.

  Even at this distance and from this vantage point, his problems loomed before him as large as ever.

  Worse, he thought grimly. The enemies are inside the walls and out.

  The western side of the Augenspire had a commanding view of most of Silveria, including the Academy resting in the valley beneath the bluff on which the Augenspire stood. With his vision-sharpening Talent equipped, he could see quite clearly all the way down to ground level if he cared to, mentally forcing his eyes to zoom in on a random person sitting on the lawns of the Academy, reading a book. Topher couldn’t read the words on the page, though that level of detail hardly mattered from this height and certainly came at a cost. With this particular Talent equipped, Topher might be able to see better than a normal human could ever hope to, but the more granular he focused his sight, the narrower his field of vision became. He could see this one boy reading his book as though the teen was twenty feet away from him, but his peripheral v
ision was worthless until he zoomed out to a larger view, losing fine detail in the process.

  He had no idea what he was looking for, or why he kept coming here to stare down at the city below, except he knew that somewhere in the maze of people and architecture were the answers he was searching for. Hera had to be hiding somewhere in Silveria, as well as the people who hired Jessamine’s assassins, assuming they weren’t all residing within the Augenspire itself. It tormented him to know his enemies were in plain sight and he wasn’t able to see them for what they were. Why wasn’t there a Talent capable of magically detecting traitorous plots? He’d have to recommend it as a research topic to the technologists.

  Now, more than ever, Topher wished he had another chance to talk to Maxton Mercuria. It felt like things had spun rapidly out of control ever since the prisoner escaped confinement and went on the run. Had he known what a valuable player Maxton would end up being in this game, Topher would have found an excuse to visit him more often before the escape occurred, in an attempt to befriend the man and get some answers to his most burning questions before it was too late.

  While the technologists are working on the magical lie-detector Talent, I should set them on a Talent that lets me know when I’m staring at the lynch-pin of the entire movement against the government.

  Topher sighed and leaned against the thick glass, wishing at times like these that he could open the windows on the three-hundredth floor and feel the breeze play across his face. The cooler air would be a welcome relief. Though the climate control within the Augenspire kept the inside reasonably comfortable at all times, there was something about the open air that felt inherently clearer and more invigorating to him.

  The windows on the upper floors were meant to withstand a minor missile strike from space, and were welded shut on all sides. It was possible to break the glass from the inside—the Theroclear coating on the interior-side of the glass rendered it more brittle from this end—but was only intended as a failsafe in case the Provo-Major needed to get out of the Augenspire in a hurry and the elevators were compromised. The Viceroy would not appreciate him blowing out the glass in the foyer of the three-hundredth floor just to get some fresh air.