by Jeff Wheeler
She could use the Tay al-Ard to go anywhere she had already been. Well, she had been to many places in this world. But she did not speak their language, and without the magic of Trevon’s people, it would be difficult to be understood. She also suspected that the Espion would be looking for her, and it would be impossible to successfully disguise herself, let alone a bleeding man and a girl.
Trevon had a ring that could alter his appearance. Maybe he would use that to free himself.
But she had to act now if she hoped to get Adam to a place of safety. Sanctuaries were supposed to offer succor to those who needed it, but could they really trust Montpensier to honor the old rules?
The mirror gate.
She blinked quickly. The Tay al-Ard would not allow her to cross back to her world, but it could take them to a place where the transfer was possible. Trevon had used it that way for years. She had only ever used one mirror gate to enter and exit Kingfountain. Of course, she’d always been in a boat. But if the Tay al-Ard brought them to the gate, they could swim through it. Once they were back in her world, she could use the Tay al-Ard to transport them back to Lockhaven.
Perhaps then they could summon help for Trevon and the Argentines. Or were the king and queen part of this mess? There was so much she didn’t know.
Noise came from outside the iron door.
“Becka, go see what’s happening,” Sera whispered, and the girl immediately obeyed.
Sera shifted and felt something pinch against her skin. Fitzroy’s journal. If they went into the water, it would be ruined. How could she protect it?
“What do you see?” she asked Becka.
“There are men coming down the hall.” Then she gasped. “Lady Corinne!” She turned, her face suddenly white as milk.
“Adam, I need your jacket. I’m sorry. Becka, give me your dress.” She had to protect the journal, which meant covering it with as many layers as possible. Sera reached under her skirts and pulled the journal free. Becka was hastening to obey, although she looked confused. “Wrap this in your dress. Wrap it up tight.” She handed the journal to Becka.
Then, bending low, she began to remove Adam’s jacket as the sound of steps approached their cell. He tried to help her, but he was too weak. Powerless.
“Hurry,” Becka whimpered.
Sera freed one of Adam’s arms, then the other.
“I’m sorry,” she told Adam as he collapsed back onto the ground, writhing again in pain. There was a bloody smear on the floor beneath him. “Wrap this over the dress and hold the package tight, Becka. You have to hold it tight.”
A key rattled in the lock, and the door began to open. Sera gestured frantically for Becka to come close. The girl cowered on the floor next to her.
“She’s in this one, my lady,” said a man’s voice. “The general said you’d come for her.”
The door swung open, bringing a slice of light to blind their eyes, which had grown accustomed to the dark. Becka hugged the bundle to her bosom, wearing only a thin slip now. Adam propped himself up on one arm, gazing at the light.
Lady Corinne stood in the doorway.
Sera looked at her, waited until their eyes met, waited for the spark of recognition. It came, and the murderess’s eyes widened in surprise.
Sera smiled, a triumphant smile, and invoked the Tay al-Ard once more and watched the anger bloom on Corinne’s usually aloof face as they vanished right in front of her.
CHAPTER TWENTY−FOUR
THE DEEP FATHOMS
The Tay al-Ard wrenched them away from the palace dungeons and deposited them on an outcropping of rock just as a spray of water drenched it. It was the dead of night, and after being exposed to the burst of light in Becka’s cell, Sera felt as if she’d suddenly gone blind. Adam began spluttering from the sudden intake of salt water, and Becka shrieked in fear.
It took a moment for Sera to regain her bearings. A mountain of stone rose next to them, forming the natural archway that led back to their world. It wasn’t a long swim, maybe forty paces, but it would be difficult in the churning water. It felt like an eternity since she had passed through this very portal on a boat. So much had changed in such a short time. Some of it irrevocable.
“Becka, help me pull him higher,” Sera pleaded, gripping one of Adam’s arms. Becka slipped on the jagged stone, and Sera could hear her teeth chattering with the cold. She clutched the bundle with Fitzroy’s journal under one arm and clambered over the rocks to get on the other side.
“Why aren’t we back home yet?” Becka asked worriedly. Another wave came up and lifted Adam, threatening to drag him out to sea. It took both of them yanking hard to prevent it. Adam tried to help, but he was only so much dead weight.
“We have to cross the portal,” Sera said, grunting with the effort. She gazed up at the distant stars overhead. The moon was nearly gone from the sky, providing barely enough light to see.
“But there’s no boat,” Becka said, her voice thick with fear.
“I know there isn’t. We don’t have a choice. This is the only way back to our world that I know of. We have to swim.”
“I don’t know how,” Becka said in sudden panic.
“Neither do I,” Sera said with a sigh. She had tried swimming once with Trevon at the beach in Ploemeur, but it had terrified her, and she’d not wanted to repeat the experience. “But we don’t have to go very far. Just enough to cross the mirror gate. Once we’re on the other side, I can use the magic to get us back to Lockhaven.”
“I don’t think I can do this, Sera,” Becka whimpered.
“I’m not leaving you here,” Sera answered sternly. “If we take a big enough breath, we’ll float. I’ll need your help to pull Adam through.”
“I know how to swim,” Adam said through clenched teeth. He was in utter agony, and his voice throbbed with it. “If I don’t black out.”
“Watch out!” Becka said, and then another wave crashed against the rocks, soaking them anew.
A light suddenly shone from beneath the waters, and one of Kingfountain’s undersea ships emerged from its lair. It was positioned near the maw of the mirror gate, obviously there to prevent trespassers from crossing. Had it been alerted to their presence? Sera stared at it, feeling a visceral anger. Their escape would not be thwarted.
Becka gasped in worry.
“We don’t have time to delay,” Sera said. “Adam, you need to do the best you can. Becka, just hold on to him. No matter what, do not let go.”
The light from the vessel began to sweep across the mirror gate. It would find them in moments.
“We need to jump in,” Sera said. “Help him stand.”
Together, they pulled Adam to his feet. Sera was starting to tremble now as she watched the waves smash against the rocks beneath her. They could all drown. They could smother in—
She forced the thought out of her head with a surge of sheer willpower. The light reached them and held fast, exposing them and making them blind at the same time.
“Ready?” Sera yelled, squinting, tasting the salty water on her lips.
“I don’t think I can,” Becka wailed. The sea looked like it was boiling.
“This is our last chance,” Sera said. “Ready . . . jump!”
Adam hooked his hand around Becka’s arm, pulling her with him as they leaped into the waters. Becka screamed again, which would make buoyancy that much more difficult. When the water plunged over her head, Sera had a momentary feeling of panic, of fear that they’d all plummet to the bottom of the sea, but the principles of the Mysteries of Wind prevailed. Suddenly, her head popped over the surface, and she gasped in air. Adam’s head bobbed up next, and he grunted as he pulled Becka up. The girl was crying, but at least she was with them.
“It’s coming after us,” Sera said. The light was already shifting, trying to find them.
“Kick,” Adam said. “I’ve got her. You stay close to me.” He clutched Becka around the waist and stroked toward the open water at the edge of the mi
rror gate.
The vessel was coming toward them.
Sera kicked as hard as she could, wishing she’d doffed her gown now that it was pulling her down. Her heart skipped wildly in her breast as she tried to propel herself toward the arch. The vessel moved sleekly toward them, coming too fast. It would reach them before they arrived at the portal.
Adam never looked back. He strained against the pain, weak from loss of blood, no doubt, but his grimace showed he was up to the task. A wave slapped at Sera from behind. Clearing the surface again, she spluttered and found the ship’s light in her face. She could hear the hull cutting through the water. Twisting around, she saw Adam and Becka farther ahead, almost at the brink of the mirror gate. How was she ever going to catch up with them?
She stared at the vessel as it closed in on her. Was it going to crash into her? One hand still gripped the Tay al-Ard, but where could she go? Where could she hide? She had to get back to her people.
Suddenly, the watercraft was thrown off course, as if something had collided with it from beneath. The vessel rocked violently, its light jerking in another direction. There was something in the water, something huge. Sera couldn’t see it; her eyes were still recovering from too much exposure to the light. She had only a moment to take a breath before she was struck by the thing too and pushed underwater.
The thing that had hit her wasn’t made of stone. It had a rubbery surface—not a ship, then, but a sea creature so enormous it rivaled the size of a tempest. Whatever it was shoved Sera toward the mirror gate, and although she couldn’t breathe, she felt something hit her middle, a fin maybe? She grabbed at it as it pushed her toward Adam and Becka. The rush of the water in her ears made her deaf, and her lungs craved air, but she was almost there and could sense the Leering at the mirror gate. Sera pushed at it with her mind, demanding that it open for them, that it send them home . . .
And then the magic of the portal seized her. It was a familiar feeling, one that brought a spasm of relief to her frantic mind. She’d never crossed a mirror gate underwater before, but it was thrilling. The water was impossibly warm now, like a bath, and the vortex sucked her in so rapidly she would have screamed if she could. There was light from some unknown source, and despite the strange sensation of having her eyes open underwater, she could see. She could see everything. The marbled skin of the sea beast that was moving her. One of its eyes stared at her, and she felt the beast’s intelligence and raw power. In that moment, she felt the power of the Mysteries, a power that connected her to all living things. A power that transcended worlds, that connected them to one another and her to them. An awareness of infinity exploded in her mind. She was at once part of the universe and an insignificant speck, a mote of dust amidst trillions. Yet she had value, she had a purpose. The Knowing was aware of her and her need. And it had brought a giant whale to save her in her moment of terror and confusion. She had learned about the massive creatures in Muirwood, but she’d never thought to see one in her lifetime.
The light swelled around her, and she could see even deeper into the sea. At the edge of her vision was an underwater city cocooned in magic. She saw buildings made of white stone, terraced temples and lush gardens, strange trees she had never seen before in any world. Her heart nearly burst with longing to go there, to see it, to meet its people and share in the feelings she sensed coming from it. It was the Deep Fathoms. The conviction of that knowledge burst inside her mind.
And then it was gone.
The whale breached the waters, and the sudden exposure to sunlight left her dazed. Her hair was plastered across her face, and when she wiped it aside, she saw Adam and Becka had surfaced close to her. They’d made it through too.
The whale ducked back under the water, and then its massive tail emerged just past them, so large it could smash them, but instead it merely slapped the waters as it submerged. Sera stared at it in awe, realizing that the creature had traveled through the mirror gate with them.
The sun beat down on them, warming the waters and driving away the chill. In the distance, she saw the hull of a hurricane sky ship. They were home.
Her gaze shifted back to Adam, who continued to stare as the whale lumbered once more into view before dipping away and disappearing. He turned his head, looking for her, and his face split into a relieved smile.
“We made it,” he gasped. Becka clung to his arm, her breath coming too fast and quick. She was terrified but safe.
As Sera paddled toward them, emotion swelled in her chest—relief, yes, but also a feeling of loss and fear for Trevon. Sera had upended Lady Corinne’s plans by escaping. And like in any game, what happened next could not be predicted.
Worrying wouldn’t do her any good now. She needed to do something. Sera reached her companions and wrapped her arms around them. Then she squeezed the Tay al-Ard firmly, using it to bring them all back to Lockhaven.
To say that their sudden arrival in the privy council chamber, dripping wet and panting for breath, caused widespread astonishment was indeed an understatement. The council was in the middle of a session, and the exclamations of surprise and confusion sent the entire room into an uproar.
Adam was still suffering greatly from his wounds and was too weak to stand. Becka shivered in her underclothes, still gripping the parcel containing the journal.
Sera realized she must look like an otherworldly creature—one of the water sprites the people of Kingfountain so feared—but she needed to take charge of the situation at once. Her gaze found the Minister of Wind, and she addressed him with a command. “Doctor Creigh has been mortally injured. Get him to a surgeon immediately and get him a Gift of Healing at once.” She then shifted her attention to one of the matronly members of the privy council. “Lady Jane, please see my maid is properly clothed and taken to a place of shelter.”
Both agreed and immediately began to act, but the commotion intensified again until a voice rang out in the throng.
“Sera!”
It was Mr. Durrant, staring at her with a mixture of surprise and impossible joy. He looked about to burst as he pressed through the crowd to come to her side. She was surprised to see him in the privy council chamber since he was exactly the person whose guidance she needed. Her father had exiled him from Lockhaven previously, but that decision had been overturned under the new prime minister.
“I apologize for interrupting the meeting,” Sera said, hearing the noise of water pattering on the floor from her soaked dress and hair.
“You are not interrupting,” Durrant said with wonderment. “You couldn’t have come at a better time.”
“I came to save our lives,” Sera said, addressing the gathering. “Lord Fitzroy is dead . . . murdered. We only just escaped the same fate ourselves.”
Gasps of shock and outrage followed her comment. Several members of the council spoke at once, demanding to know more. It was all in tumult.
“What about the wedding?” Durrant asked. “Was it interrupted?”
“No, it is done,” she said, feeling another pang at the thought of the separation from her husband. “The violence began during it. I will explain all if you’ll let me change into some dry clothes first.” She looked around the room again. “Where is my father?”
Durrant’s look altered at her request. His eyes grew very serious and earnest. “I’ll take you to him. But first, you are right, you should change. Much has happened here since you left. Almost too much to tell. Come, Sera. Let’s get you in a better state.” He waved his hand to those in the room. “Miss Fitzempress will be back shortly. Calm yourselves. A little more decorum if you please.”
“Has something happened to my father?” Sera pressed, dropping her voice lower. Her stomach clenched with dread, and she realized the answer before he told her. It opened in her mind, like flower petals kissed by the morning sun. Her father was dead.
“Yes, my dear,” he said softly, taking her arm, ignoring the wet fabric of her dress. He pitched his voice even lower. “He died this mor
ning. And he named you empress. Unequivocally. I heard him command it myself and saw the will and testament. You’ve saved yourself. Now you need to save the rest of us.”
It was hard to conceive that earlier that day, she had stood in the sanctuary of Our Lady, accepted a ring, and promised to be Trevon’s wife.
As the pain erupted in her heart, she realized she might never be able to go back to Kingfountain again.
CHAPTER TWENTY−FIVE
UNFORGIVEN
A change of dress. Becka’s careful hands combing her hair. The smell of lavender lotion. She was used to living in her house on Kelper Street in the City, but she had a room in the royal manor in Lockhaven as well. It was a place to sleep, equipped with an assortment of formal clothing and jewelry, all befitting an emperor’s daughter. She caught a flash of light from the mirror across from her, and her eyes landed on the wedding band on her finger. A shiver traveled down her back. Sera was exhausted, and she felt out of place in Lockhaven. The surreal nature of all that had happened made her want to pinch herself. Her father had been poisoned, by Lady Corinne, no doubt, but he had named her empress before the poison could kill him.
He had named her.
When Becka finished with her hair, Sera rose from the padded bench. The corset pinched her sides as she straightened, still gazing at herself in the mirror. She looked as she always did. Short. A roundish face. Lips that hovered near a smirk whenever she smiled. Her husband was on another world . . .
Thinking of Trevon only worsened the ache. She hadn’t cried yet. She would. But that could wait. That had to wait.
“You look so lovely,” said Becka softly, admiringly. The younger girl was still pale from the ordeal she’d undergone. It was such a comfort to have her back, to know she was safe from the Espion. Sera had strapped the Tay al-Ard to her forearm beneath the tight cuff of the gown. She would not let it out of her possession.