Crystal Caged (Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles Book 5)

by Elise Kova

  Jax took the last of the papers from the prince and asked, “Where’s this cargo hold?”

  “Louis, you show him,” Cole said, starting for his cabin.

  Vi struggled to resist the urge to do it herself. But she had no reason to insist she be the one to show him. Violet didn’t know this man.

  So she was left standing uncomfortably as Louis led Jax below decks to the dark cargo-hold.

  She milled about the deck as she waited, using the time to think. If the prince cleared the ship, she could get off. The ship would offload and be out of port. Then—

  A conversation disrupted her thoughts.

  “Fallen lord, how dare he step foot on this ship.”

  “Henrietta wants us to teach the royal and his lackeys a lesson for poking their noble noses into our business. They’ve been rooting around where they don’t belong since they got to Oparium and hosted that little soirée of theirs.”

  Someone shh-ed. “Don’t say her name so loudly.”

  “They’re going to find out if they keep investigating.”

  Vi strolled over to the railing to get closer to the whisperers without looking suspicious.

  “Stay calm and don’t act rashly.”

  “Twintle doesn’t pay us enough for this.”

  The conversation was between some of Henrietta’s crew and Dower’s. Usually, a few of Henrietta’s crew stayed with the ship after they traded off the rubies. They were there to make sure that everything went according to plan—that was all the explanation Vi ever got.

  Movement distracted her. She saw Joyce walking down into the hold. Vi pushed away from the railing as magic rippled the air. The last thing Vi saw was dagger of ice in the woman’s hand.

  At the same time, Dower’s door opened.

  The next few seconds unfolded as the world slowed to a fraction of its speed. Magic ignited below deck while Joyce retreated above. Vi lifted her hands and blocked the woman’s path with fire. Joyce had gone rogue.

  Vi’s fire melted away with a hiss of steam as water pushed against it. A trident made of ice appeared in Joyce’s hand and she lunged. Vi clamped her mouth shut so Lightspinning didn’t escape.

  She could go for the rest of her life without ever seeing an ice trident again. Joyce dropped her other hand, spreading ice across the deck, slowing the rest of them as she launched herself over the railing.

  “Stop her!” Jax shouted as he emerged from below, alight with fire. He threw himself over the railing in hot pursuit of Joyce.

  Vi followed on instinct.

  They pushed through the crowds on the docks, already dissolving into panic. Vi watched Joyce cut down any who stood in her way. Behind her, Vi could hear Erion and Baldair shouting, but she worked to keep up with Jax. Instinct told her to do so above all else.

  They rounded market streets, not far from the hovel. Joyce headed down a side alley and Vi was just close enough to see Jax disappear through an illusion in a cliff-side. Sprinting over, Vi ran her hands along the surface of the wall; sure enough, they sank through a misty illusion concealing a narrow passage.

  She plunged through.

  “Stop and I might make this painless for you,” Jax’s voice echoed ahead. Vi pushed her feet harder as magic erupted.

  The narrow passage opened up into a cavern that had an interior cliff with a sheer drop down to the sea. It was no doubt one of the openings she’d seen the night before, with Taavin and Deneya. White hot flames assaulted Joyce as she levied a volley of ice spears with a wave her hand. Jax lifted his arms on instinct. Vi did the same, bringing a thin veil of flames to cover them both.

  “What’re you doing here?” He blinked at her.

  “Helping you!” Vi shouted back. “I’ll keep her pinned, you kill her!”

  With a scream, Jax lunged forward for Joyce, fire alight. He missed his target. Vi watched him twist and Joyce caught his leg, ice coating his foot.

  He certainly wasn’t the skilled combatant he’d been in Vi’s time—at least, not yet.

  “You never should’ve chased me.” Joyce looked to her with a snarl. Then turned to Jax. “You shouldn’t have gone asking about Adela Lagmir.”

  Joyce pushed Jax away and his arms pinwheeled. Vi caught him, helping right him, but let go just as quickly to lunge for Joyce with flames alight.

  The Waterrunner parried her blow for blow. Vi had spent decades learning and perfecting her Lightspinning. Her Firebearing had improved naturally with her combat instincts, but she wasn’t nearly as good with it.

  If only she could use her chants.

  “I’m not letting you go,” Vi growled, throwing a ball of fire.

  “Petulant child.”

  Jax was all flaming hands and feet as he rejoined the battle. He was more of a liability than a help in such close proximity. Vi found herself dodging his attacks as frequently as she was avoiding Joyce’s.

  The awkward dance distracted her and Jax reached out, searing a spear of ice that was meant for her. Vi’s breath hitched. He’d overextended and left himself exposed. Joyce impaled him to the hilt on an icy weapon and Vi bit back a cry of agony on Jax’s behalf.

  This could still be salvaged. If she let his consciousness fade due to blood loss then she could use her Lightspinning to finish off Joyce and heal him. Assuming Jax didn’t die in the gamble.

  “What a noble soldier,” Joyce sneered as Jax coughed blood. “You shouldn’t have gone looking for the pirate queen if you didn’t want to find her.” Joyce pushed him away and Jax staggered backward.

  Vi stepped forward. Joyce levied a spear of ice against her. Vi melted it and uttered, “Juth calt.”

  Two simple words, and Joyce was dead with a flash of light. Now, for Jax. Vi was just in time to see him stumble back into the open air beyond the cliff. Gravity mercilessly pulled the dying man down into the dark waters below.

  “Jax!” Vi screamed, lunging into that void as well. She would not let him die.

  Saltwater went straight up her nose and Vi surfaced, sputtering and looking around frantically for Jax. The tide was heading out—her first lucky break. They wouldn’t be pushed deeper into the Caverns.

  A lifeless body rolled over in the currents, dipping below the surface.

  “Yargen above, don’t you dare die on me,” Vi snarled. Looking behind her, she said a quick “Kot sorre.” The glyph pushed on the water, giving them forward momentum.

  As she tumbled in the waves she made, Vi reached for Jax. Dark waters, swirling with blood, surrounded her. Sand crunched beneath her feet as she found footing. Her elbows scraped against pebbles and rocks.

  Her arms closed around the man and she pulled him to her. Vi tipped her head back, surfacing for air, clutching onto him for dear life. She gasped as they beached on one of the rocky shores she’d walked with Taavin and Deneya only a night before.

  The wound was bad. Jax was coated in blood. But his heartbeat was weak and fluttering under her fingers. Water gurgled up from his throat as his lungs struggled to inflate.

  Vi closed her eyes, dipping her chin down as she laid her hands over his chest. She could feel the man’s shaky breaths, his struggling body, his quivering magic, his fleeting life. She could see it all as clearly as she’d seen Taavin’s body, inside and out, when she’d made it.

  “Halleth ruta sot,” she whispered. Glyphs illuminated her hands. She opened her eyes, both seeing and feeling his skin mending.

  “Halleth ruta toff,” Vi continued. She moved deliberately, as if guided by an unseen teacher. Light and skin merged, weaving together and becoming one. Vi gave herself to instinct and her body moved as though it were no longer her own.

  It was afternoon when she finally finished the job. Vi looked up at the young man. She reminded herself for the dozenth time in a few hours that this was not her Jax.

  But… she would look after him to honor the memory of the Jax she’d known. He had spent the latter half of his life looking after her. Even if this Jax had nothing to do with the man who
had made that sacrifice, Vi would look after him. She would repay that favor as best she could.

  Vi twisted and sat with a sigh. She wiped the salt water that mixed with sweat from her eyes—certainly, these were not tears from emotions she didn’t have names for—and looked out to sea. Jax slumbered at her side, breathing steadily; Vi would wait for him to wake naturally. She’d monitor him. And when he was ready, they would take on Henrietta’s crew together.

  A sigh at her side had Vi stopping the tune she’d been humming. She didn’t know where she’d heard the song, or where it came from. Phantom memories that didn’t quite feel like her own paraded through her head as she’d sat watching the waves, thoughts and visions that scattered like rats as Jax stirred.

  “The Mother did not want you yet,” Vi said faintly. Perhaps that was what had allowed her to pull him back from the edge of death—Yargen’s blessing. At the edges of her vision she could see him turning to look at her.

  “You’re the sailor,” he said slowly. Vi nodded in reply. “You saved me?” She merely nodded again. Not going into too much detail was for the best. “Where are we?”

  “I don’t know exactly.” Though Vi had a very good suspicion. “We got dumped out here after you fell off the ledge and I went in after you.”

  Jax finally sat and Vi paid careful attention to his movements. Luckily, nothing seemed out of sorts. She watched as he inspected the holes in his clothing, pressing on newly mended flesh.

  “How long was I out for?”

  “A few hours.”

  “How did you heal me?”

  Vi fought a smirk at that question. “Magic,” she answered coyly. He stared at her, disbelieving, and Vi laughed. He’d never understand Lightspinning, and she wouldn’t tell him. “Fine, fine, I had a salve on me. So you’re doubly lucky I was here,” she lied.

  “Why did you save me?”

  Her insides knotted at that question. He was so shocked someone would, and clearly confused as to her motives.

  “Should I not have?” Vi leaned against the cliff at her back. Jax just shrugged and silence passed between them. They should get moving; things in town were no doubt escalating quickly. But she stayed where she was, saying gently, “I know who you are.”

  More panic across his eyes.

  “I know you are Jax Wendyll, the man they call the ‘Fallen Lord’ in Norin,” she said. She’d been in and out of the port for years now, she’d heard the stories. But she’d mostly ignored them. She knew the type of person Jax was in any world. “I know that, three years ago, you were tried for the murder of the Zower family, including the young Lady Zower to whom you were engaged.

  “I know you were conscripted to the crown for your seemingly heinous crime.”

  “My crime was heinous,” he retorted.

  “It seems it.”

  “What would you know?” he snapped. “Who are you anyway?”

  For one brief moment, Vi was back with Fiera on her birthing bed. She thought of telling him he had been like a father to her in another place and time. “Just a traveler,” Vi said simply. He snorted.

  “You’re not ‘just’ a traveler.”

  “Perhaps not ‘just.’” Vi grinned. He was astute. More than he realized. “But I have traveled from far away to investigate this Adela Lagmir impostor and her treasure.” It was technically true. Just not in the way he’d interpret it.

  “So you’ve heard of it, too?”

  Vi nodded—that was one way to put it. “They’ve been running a criminal ring for over a year in the coves further south of here. Ships dock and unload cargo… some legal that they’re avoiding tariffs on, others not so much. The coves are all connected, as you know. It’s a maze, but that’s how the real Adela gave the Emperor the slip about thirty-five years ago.”

  “Along with her treasure,” Jax bitterly lamented.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Just because you haven’t found the treasure doesn’t mean it isn’t here.”

  “What do you know?” His skepticism and self-doubt were becoming less jarring and more tiring by the moment.

  “Help me take out this pirate queen impostor, and I’ll tell you what I know about the treasure. I want to be the one to find it.” She could imagine Taavin’s face when he heard what she was doing. But she wasn’t the one going rogue and finding the treasure. She was just following along with the prince and his merry band to make sure they didn’t find it first. She was allowing fate to play out and give her the opportunity to get the crown.

  If she lied to herself enough, perhaps even she’d believe it.

  “Fortunate for me, that’s an easy deal to make.” A rush of relief overcame her and Vi beamed from ear to ear. “I would’ve done it anyway,” he added, as though trying to somehow make it seem like the whole thing was, at least in part, his idea.

  “I suspected we were aligned when I saw you chasing after her.” Vi stood, dusting the sand and stones off her clothes. She had what she wanted, Jax was healed—no point in lingering. “Your little investigation into the treasure and soirée with the prince helped fluster the ring into making a mistake that has led me right to them.”

  “And now you’re planning on going after her?”

  “Will you help me?” Vi didn’t understand the question—she thought the matter settled.

  Jax sighed and pulled himself up to his feet as well. Vi regarded him with a careful eye, making sure her healing was as good as she thought. He didn’t even stagger. “You’re lucky we happen to be aligned.”

  “I think you were the lucky one.” Vi smiled thinly. He would’ve died had she not been here. Taavin had never mentioned anything about Jax dying, and finding a time to ask when they were more at peace with each other was now high on Vi’s list. Not that it mattered now. But she needed to make sure he wasn’t keeping potential futures from her to spare her heartache.

  He certainly hadn’t with Fiera.

  “Thank you,” he said sincerely.

  Vi waved away the notion and started along the beach. “I scouted an entrance up here. It’s a bit of a climb, but if we fall heading for it, we fall into the water.”

  “What’s your name?”

  The question struck her harder than she’d expected. You know me, her heart wanted to scream. But her mind knew better. She searched his expression. There was no familiarity there.

  She was no one to him.

  Even after all this time, this new world could still cut deeply, and it would hurt more with every year that passed as the people here grew more and more to look like those she once loved.

  “It’s not important,” Vi finally said.

  “I must have something to call you.”

  “I’ve gone by many names. You pick.” Vi, pick Vi out of everything in the world, her heart asked as she began to walk again.

  “Fine, I shall call you,” he paused and Vi’s heart pounded, “Nox.”

  Vi chuckled. How dare she, after all this time, have hoped for anything else.

  “Very well, if that’s the name you choose.”

  “One more thing.”

  “What?” Vi stopped just as she’d been about to start climbing.

  “You never told me why you saved me. If you were here to kill the Adela impostor and put an end to this criminal ring, why throw away the chance you had on saving me? Even if I could help, you had your quarry.”

  “Who said I threw away my chance? The woman we chased was not the leader.”

  “That’s still not answering my question.” And curse him for seeing so.

  “Because all men are worthy of saving.” Vi saw him open his mouth, no doubt with an objection. She cut him off at the pass. “Even—no, especially you, Jax.”

  His lips parted in shock and Vi turned away, beginning to climb. If she looked at him a moment longer, she would tell him there had been a young princess, long ago, who still thought of him like a father.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “So, how are we going to find them?
” he asked as they headed deeper into the darkness of the caves.

  “Patience.” Vi shrugged as if she didn’t know where they were going. Vi knew exactly where they needed to go to find Henrietta and her crew. If she led Jax there, perhaps she could encourage him to continue searching for the treasure. And if she happened to be there when he found it, she wouldn’t have gone against her word to Taavin.

  “And what if we get lost in here?”

  “Then I suppose it’s a good thing we’re both people who’ve lived colorful lives. We’ll have a lot to talk about while we wait to die.” Vi gave a smirk over her shoulder. They weren’t dying here.

  “This, coming from the woman who wouldn’t even tell me her name,” he muttered.

  “Well, maybe if we’re on the brink of death, I’ll tell you everything. Though, it’d take more lifetimes than we have.”

  “You love playing the mysterious card, don’t you?”

  “I am what I am.” Vi shrugged. She didn’t always know what that was anymore. “Quiet now. The ship docks in an inner cove to the south of town. I’m trying to listen for the workmen.”

  They continued into the darkness, winding through the dripping caves by the light of her flame. The sounds of people talking grew and Vi stopped, turning in place to stop him as well.

  “I don’t know where this is going to put us out.” She feigned ignorance. He’d be suspicious if she knew too much. “We should stay low, make for good hiding the second we see it,” she whispered in his ear. Jax nodded as she pulled away and followed her into a crouched position.

  Vi waved away her mote of flame as its light merged with the ambient light of the cave beyond. She stopped for a moment, allowing her eyes to adjust, only to find Jax staring back at her.

  “Do you want a ‘we might be about to die’ kiss?”

  Vi fought the urge to burst out laughing with the competing urge to vomit at the suggestion. “This is not the place where you die,” she whispered, cutting through his levity. “But this is the place where you will kill again.” Vi grabbed his hand tightly. “You have to fight. You must fight for yourself, fight to live.” Not just now, but through all the years to come.