by White, Gwynn
“What, so no warlords? That’s a shame. I hear there’s a nasty one who’s tearing up Seastone right now.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Of course I am. I’m your daughter.” I rose to my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.
He laughed. “Love you, kid.”
“Love you too.”
He wrapped his arms around me. “Just promise me that you won’t go after any dangerous criminals alone. At least bring Jason along.”
“I thought you said Jason was a bad influence,” I teased him.
“He is. I certainly don’t trust him to keep you out of trouble. But I do trust him to get you safely out of it again.”
“That’s what best friends are all about. Speaking of which, I hear you and Jason’s father had quite a few misadventures yourselves in your young and reckless days.”
“Indeed we did.” The look on his face was almost nostalgic. “But we eventually grew up. And it’s time for you to grow up too.”
I didn’t like where this conversation was headed. It always ended up in the same place.
“We’ll have a visitor tomorrow evening,” he told me, his voice too casual.
“Who?” I asked, fearing the answer.
“Your future husband.”
4
Interworld Jog
I thought your father had given up on finding you a husband with a suitable strategic advantage,” Jason said early the next morning during our run.
We were taking one of his favorite routes: an interworld dash through a portal loop that contained every imaginable environment. From icy plains to scorching deserts, from tropical rainforests to towering mountains and sandy beaches. This loop had it all. It was glorious nature wrapped around a body-breaking package. On most days, I was breathing in agony by the third world, but today I was buzzing with energy. It must have been the excess frustration I needed to burn off.
“He’s declared that he will never give up on me, no matter how many suitors I chase off,” I told Jason.
King River was a Chameleon, like Ruby, the red mage we’d captured yesterday. But my father didn’t morph his appearance. His changeable nature was of a different variety. He could adapt to any situation or person, which was one of the traits that made him a master negotiator.
“He is determined to make a marriage match for me,” I continued. “And an advantageous alliance for him.”
“Your father has been threatening that for years,” replied Jason, his tone even and calm.
“Yes, but he’s serious this time. We’re going to receive my betrothed tonight.” I grimaced. “It’s a vampire.”
“The vampires are very secretive. And they don’t often marry outside their own kind.”
“It’s a vampire,” I repeated. “I just know it. I overheard some whispers at the palace. It’s definitely a vampire. They’ve been sending delegations to my father for months. The Emperor himself even stopped by for a visit last week.”
Jason looked thoughtful. “What did they talk about?”
“I don’t know. They met behind closed doors. And I’m not as good at eavesdropping as you are.”
Like that time Jason and I had hidden on the ceiling of my father’s audience chamber to spy on his meeting with Prince Ryan of Sea Smoke. That was the first marriage match Father had tried to make for me. It didn’t go as planned. Jason and I did some digging and found out that Prince Ryan was actually in love with someone else. All it took was a visit from Jason’s smoldering stare to convince the prince’s parents that their son should be with his true love. Terra Cross and Jason Chanz: galactic matchmakers. That’s us.
We hadn’t gotten me out of just one arranged marriage—or even three or four. We’d done it over a dozen times. We were masters at it, the perfect team. That was probably why Father had grown so frustrated with Jason. He was my partner in crime, and together we were unstoppable.
But my father had clearly wised up. He hadn’t given me a heads up about my latest potential betrothal until the day before I was to meet him. That wasn’t nearly enough time for me to find a way out of it. This vampire alliance was even more important to him than I’d thought. I’d wager if he hadn’t needed me to show up all pretty, he wouldn’t have told me until the second before the ceremony.
“Where does your father think you are today?” Jason asked.
“At the Summer Springs Spa, cleansing my pores and getting a beautifying massage in preparation for tonight.”
Jason laughed.
“Do you have anything for us to do, any criminal to catch?” I asked him desperately. “Preferably something that will last the whole day and late into the evening. I need to miss my date with the vampire.”
“Actually, I do have an idea. Follow me.”
Not slowing his pace, he led me off the path. We passed a gold-plated sign that read ‘Silver Oasis’. It looked like a cross between a city billboard and a shopping mall placard, which was appropriate considering where we were. This planet was a merchant world, made up of one shopping mall after the other.
We cut through town, running down pristine paved roads of upscale buildings with marble fronts and gold handrails. Jason veered onto a smaller road, and between one block and the next, the buildings changed. They were made of brick now, not marble. We came to a stop in front of Fruit Paradise, a kiosk that sold smoothies and juices.
“If your plan is to drown my troubles in Pineapple Delights and Coconut Dreams, then I am with you one hundred percent,” I told Jason.
“No, the smoothies are to quench your thirst.” He shot me an evil look. “Your throat sounds like you’ve swallowed the desert.”
“That’s your fault for taking the long way through the Unending Expanse,” I replied, then stepped up to the counter.
Piles of various fruits were set up in pleasant visual arrangements around the cash register. Blenders hummed in the background. I ordered a Strawberry Sunset, then we continued down the street, this time at a walking pace. I sucked on my fat straw, enjoying the cold rush of my smoothie, like a refreshing splash of winter on a scorching day.
The next city block saw another noticeable drop on the galactic fanciness scale. The road was dingy and the buildings sprayed with graffiti. It looked like the kind of place where you’d buy merchandise that had fallen off the truck. The sort of road where drag races happened at night. And a neighborhood where you didn’t walk around unarmed, whether by day or by night.
The signs in the windows advertised ‘refurbished’ motorcycles and ‘overstock’ television screens. Those sure were fancy ways of saying stolen.
“What are we doing here?” I hissed at Jason.
He didn’t respond. He just led me into a shop behind the refurbished motorcycle garage. The windows were black—and the merchandise blacker.
“Jason?” I asked, choking on the stench of oil and old machine parts.
“We need to pick up something.”
What could he possibly want here? The counters were stuffed full of contraband. This whole place was just begging for a galactic police raid.
The curtain to the back opened, and a man in a hoodie, jeans, and a backward baseball cap stepped out.
“Paul,” Jason said.
“Magus,” he replied, using Jason’s power name.
Every adult mage had a power name. We got them around the age of twelve, during a time of physical and magical metamorphosis highlighted by a ceremony called the Passing. Based on the results of the Passing Trials, the priests gave each mage a power name that was supposed to represent our abilities. Any mage who heard the name Magus would instantly identify Jason as a Phantom. It was a strong name, a name fitting for the Elite Phantom.
“I have your merchandise,” Paul told him over the hum of computers in the back.
Oh, good. My best friend was actually buying something from the black market dealer. I thought back to what Father had said about Jason always getting me into trouble. If only he could see us now.
Paul’s eyes flickered to me. “Who’s the cheerleader?”
“Cheerleader?” I gasped. “I’ll have you know that I’m a Prin—”
“She’s with me,” Jason told him. “I vouch for her discretion.” He shot me a hard look.
“Ok, man.” Paul slapped a wrapped package into Jason’s hand. The wrapping looked like a greasy bag from a fast food joint. But what was inside?
Jason handed him a bag of coins. Paul balanced it on his open palm, like he was weighing it, then he flipped open a cash box and tossed it inside. He didn’t even peer inside the bag. Now, he might have just been a trusting sort of guy, but I didn’t think ‘black market peddler’ and ‘trusting’ belonged together in the same sentence. There was another option—that Paul wasn’t what he appeared to be.
“Your friend is a leprechaun,” I said to Jason as we left the shop.
“What tipped you off?”
“He weighed the bag of gold by touch, without ever looking inside. I’ve only ever seen leprechauns do that. Well, and goblins. But a goblin would never say ‘man’ with a surfer accent.”
“I see those Friday night poker games at Goldilocks have taught you a thing or two,” Jason commented.
“Much more than sipping tea with otherworldly ambassadors.” I looked at the greasy bundle in his hand. “So, what is in there? The galaxy’s best fries?”
“No.” He unfolded the package, revealing two disks, each one about the size of a large coin.
“Portal keys?”
I glanced at their glossy silver surfaces splashed with crimson. These were black market portal keys. As if the shady shop at the end of Dark and Nefarious Alley weren’t enough to convince me of that, the keys were covered in blood.
“Your friend Paul the Leprechaun obviously killed someone for these passes,” I told Jason.
“Paul is perfectly harmless. He bribes, not kills.”
“Explain the blood then.”
Jason lifted the disk to his nose and inhaled. “It’s chicken blood.”
“Chicken blood?”
“Leprechauns like to eat them alive. They say the squirming makes them go down smoother.”
“Well, thank you for that lovely image I won’t be able to get out of my head.” I grimaced. “These portal keys once belonged to witches, didn’t they?”
“How do you figure that?”
“Logic,” I said. “Vib escaped into the witches’ territory. Our keys don’t have access to those portals, so if we’re going to go after him, we need some keys that do.”
He looked at me for a moment, then proclaimed, “You’re pretty smart for a cheerleader.” His smile was as dark as pure chocolate.
I smirked at him. “That’s Princess Cheerleader to you, smart-ass.”
“I’ll try to remember that.” Jason handed me one of the portal keys and pocketed the other. “Now let’s see if you can run your legs as well as you can run your mouth.”
We took off running on our worldly circuit once more.
“My father is right,” I said as we passed through the portal to Black Rock. “You are a bad influence on me.”
“Our fathers are best friends. They’ve been a bad influence on each other since long before we were born.”
“But they never went shopping for black market portal keys.”
He snorted.
“They did?” I asked.
“They did far worse than that,” he told me.
“I don’t believe it.”
“That’s because you have very naive ideas about our fathers’ piety.”
I stuck my tongue out at him. “Delinquent.”
“Goody two shoes.”
“Phantom.”
He arched a single dark brow at me. “Was that supposed to be an insult?”
I snorted. “Tell me about Paul.”
“I didn’t think he was your type,” he said drily.
“Not like that. I was just wondering about his tech.”
“You mean the one that mods his appearance.”
“Yes.”
“It’s experimental tech. It creates a projection around him.”
“That’s…weird.”
He nodded. “Yes, it really is. And it’s glitchy as hell. A good Chameleon will beat that tech any day of the week.”
“I wonder what it’s like to wear someone else’s face.”
“It comes in handy when you’re a criminal who deals in illegal tech.”
“Or a princess who wants to escape a dinner date with a vampire,” I mused.
“There are easier ways to get out of a dinner date.”
“I’m not going to kill my father’s guest,” I told him flatly.
“You don’t have to. Let the sun do the job for you.”
“Davin told me that’s just a myth. Sunlight doesn’t kill vampires.”
“Of course it does. That’s why you never see them out of their full-body armor.”
“You’re just pulling my leg.”
“No.” His face was a perfect granite mask, but his eyes gave him away.
“Nice try,” I said. “Now are you going to tell me what your grand plan is with those illegal portal keys?”
“That depends. Are you going to scowl at me until that disapproving line forms between your eyes?”
I frowned at him.
“That’s the one,” he told me.
“Just tell me what you’re planning, Jason. There’s no need to play coy. If you’re roping me into it, I’ll find out anyway.”
“Ruby, the mage we captured, is being questioned in Pegasus,” he said.
“Has she shared anything useful?”
“No. And I don’t think she will. So far, she’s not said a word. She just stares through the bars of her cell, a demented gleam in her eyes.”
“So she’s crazy. Well, that isn’t all that surprising considering who made her,” I pointed out.
“She believes her master and maker is coming for her. My father’s interrogators are trying to figure out how to use her to draw out Vib.”
“Mages can’t venture into the witches’ territory without clearance from the witches—and they aren’t going to give it to us.”
“I proposed sending a stealth team to Temporia, but my father shot it down,” said Jason. “He thinks it’s too risky.”
“You bought these keys so we can travel to Temporia anyway, even without your father’s approval.”
“He’ll approve when I deliver Vib into his dungeon,” Jason stated with perfect certainty.
“You’re behind the times, Jason. Castles have prisons nowadays. They don’t have dungeons anymore.”
“Ours does,” he said proudly.
I laughed. “I’m surprised your father hasn’t fired you yet, considering the way you defy him on pretty much everything.”
“He can’t afford to. I am too good at my job.”
Jason wasn’t wrong. He was the best enforcer in all sixteen mage kingdoms.
“And you could use a little defiance in your life, Princess,” Jason added. “Why don’t you just tell your father you aren’t marrying that vampire?”
“Short of running away, I don’t have a choice.”
That was how things were done in the mage kingdoms, especially in the older ones, like my world Laelia and Jason’s nearby Pegasus. Duty was everything, betrothals were common, and happiness was an alliance well-made.
I sighed. “I just wish Father had betrothed Davin to one of his vampire allies instead of me.”
“He wouldn’t do that. Davin is your father’s eldest, his heir.”
“What you mean is, Davin’s too important,” I said drily.
Jason frowned. He and Davin didn’t get along. My brother believed Jason was a brute who did everything by bashing heads and slitting throats, and Jason thought Davin was a disingenuous poser hiding behind layers of flattery.
“Your father surely doesn’t want a vampire as queen,” said Jason.
“True. I
don’t think he trusts them all that much.”
“If he doesn’t trust them, it’s imprudent to enter into an alliance with them.”
I grinned, thinking of what my father would have to say about Jason calling him imprudent.
“It’s because of the witches,” I told him. “My father’s spies say they are planning an attack on us.”
We mages were strong, but the witches had magic and technology. Even though their tech didn’t work in the Wilderness, they had more than enough weapons in their arsenal. They had potions and spells and even powerful allies in the Siennans, a whole world of mages who’d broken away from Elitia long ago. And last but not least, the witches had those horrible hellhounds, vicious beasts who could tear down even a Phantom on the battlefield.
One of those monsters had killed my mother when I’d been only five years old. The witches claimed it was an accident, but everyone knew that was a lie. They’d assassinated her because she was too powerful, because her position threatened theirs in the Galactic Assembly.
“Father is desperate for allies,” I told Jason. “That’s why he went to the vampires. The vampires hate the witches, and they have a powerful army and advanced technology to counter the witches’ own. If the witches came for us, the vampires could engage them on their planets and we could fight them on ours.”
“And after we helped the vampires defeat their enemy, they would come for us. The vampires have done it before. This alliance isn’t a good idea,” Jason declared.
“Your father is of the same opinion.”
“I know.”
“Look, I don’t trust the vampires either. But what else can we do?” I asked him. “We don’t want to end up like the fairies.”
Half a millennium ago, the witches of the Avan Empire had completely wiped out the fairies. There wasn’t a single living fairy left on any world in the galaxy. The witches could do the same to us.
“There’s always another way,” said Jason. “It shouldn’t be too hard to manipulate the vampires and witches to go to war with each other, rather than just spitting insults at each other from across the Galactic Assembly chamber. That would keep them both too busy to go after us.”