Crystal Caged (Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles Book 5)

by Elise Kova

  “Any deal you strike with me can be done here and now,” Adela insisted. Vi slowly shook her head. “Then I will let them kill you.”

  “It’d be a shame for me to raze everything you’ve built and kill every man and woman on this ship simply because you are stubborn.”

  “You think you can kill us?” a pirate broke rank and shouted.

  “Do you doubt me?” Vi looked to the man and watched as he took a step backward. She turned her eyes back to Adela. “I will not speak among the rabble. This is your last chance. Parlay in private and have everything you desire. Or meet your end. I care not. The vortex continues with or without you.”

  Adela narrowed her eyes slightly. “Very well, come to my cabin.”

  The crew parted for their captain. Vi could feel their eyes gouging at her throat, making up for what their weapons could not do. But they made no motion against her. As long as Adela tolerated her, so would they.

  Adela led her back to an entrance underneath the quarterdeck. It opened into a large cabin with windows lining the stern of the vessel. Ice stretched between beams of wood in place of glass, the world beyond blurred through the frost. A large desk was opposite a bed. Shelves lined the wall to her left, the books and scrolls held in by narrow rails. Two seats were positioned in front of the windows.

  “Please, sit.” Adela motioned to one of the leather chairs. “If it’s not too cold for you.” She smiled thinly.

  “I’m not one you need to worry about.” Dredging her spark to the surface, the air around Vi crackled, shimmering with heat. As she sat down, the thin layer of frost covering the leather evaporated into steam. She could feel Adela’s magic pushing in against hers, trying to cover the chair once more. But Vi held the ice at bay with minimal effort, winning their first tug-of-war as Adela sat across form her.

  “You’re human, a Lightspinner, and you also know the elemental magics of the Dark Isle.” Adela tapped her cane, punctuating each item. “You’re like me.”

  “In some ways,” Vi admitted. “I will not stop until I get what I want. I am not afraid to be ruthless. And I did grow up once, long ago, on the Dark Isle, just as you did.”

  “Is there elfin in your parentage as well?” Vi shook her head. “Pity, you’ll be dead soon enough, then.”

  “I am timeless.”

  “Yes, this Champion business.” Adela lifted her icy hand off her cane, waving it through the air as though the notion was nothing more than a fleeting thought. “Tell me what it is you want. And why I should let you leave my ship alive.”

  “What do you know of the crystal weapons of Yargen?” Vi asked, ignoring the opportunity to reiterate that there were only two options: Adela working with her, or everyone dying.

  “Crystal weapons? Very little.”

  “I suspected as much, or you would’ve never left the crown of Solaris unprotected.”

  “It wasn’t entirely unprotected,” Adela said gruffly. “My magic was powerful.”

  “For one such as yourself, yes.”

  “Tell me about these crystal weapons,” she demanded, tapping her cane on the ground.

  “I’ll tell you that these weapons are worth little to you and everything to me. If I do not get them, it will spell the end of the world.” Vi looked out the windows. Adela—at least the Adela of her time—didn’t care about the world ending. It was an intangible concept to a woman who only valued things she could put her hands on. “I need your help in getting them to where they need to go. Specifically, I need the Stormfrost.”

  “I am the pirate queen, not a ferryman at your beck and call.”

  “You are a mercenary by another name who will take jobs from the highest bidder regardless of who or what they are.” Vi gave her a hard look. Surprisingly, Adela didn’t look offended. She smiled wider, or perhaps it was a sneer. “I am the highest bidder.”

  “All right, put your gold where your mouth is, then. What is sailing on the Stormfrost worth to you?”

  “I can give you access to the treasury of Solaris.”

  Adela threw her head back and laughed. “I had access to the treasury of Solaris when I wasn’t even twenty-five. I took all I wanted and that treasure ended up being worth so little to me, I couldn’t be bothered to go back for it. Do better.” Vi had expected this reaction. But she couldn’t be blamed for starting low in her negotiations.

  “The Archives of Yargen.” That got Adela sitting straighter. She wasn’t laughing now. “I know pathways in and through them. I will give you access to those pathways.”

  “And get the Swords of Light away from the Archives?”

  “You’d have to promise me more than the use of the Stormfrost to get me to do that.” Vi wasn’t even sure if she could do that. But she wanted Adela to think she could.

  “What will the use of the Stormfrost entail?”

  “I need you to deliver me to a few places, pick me up in a few others. Perhaps some comrades of mine as well. Nothing too difficult for the great pirate queen.”

  “That’s a rather open-ended request. I have my own empire to run here on the seas. I need to know how much of my time you’ll take to determine if what you’re promising is worth it.”

  “I won’t call on you more than five times in the span of the next ten years.” In ten years, the Caverns would meet their end, one way or another; a new Vi would be born; and she would long know if her efforts to save the world had ultimately resulted in failure.

  “Humans,” Adela said, as though her own parentage wasn’t part human. “Always thinking so narrow.”

  “I’m attempting to strike you a fair deal.”

  Adela hummed, looking out the windows at the sea drifting by. She caressed the top of her cane made of ice, smoothing away jagged shards as they grew around her fingers. Being part elfin explained her immense power, and her longevity.

  “Access to the Archives of Yargen for five trips in the next ten years, whichever comes first,” Adela summarized before bringing her bright blue eyes back to Vi. “You have your deal, Champion.”

  “One more thing.”

  “You are not accustomed to how negotiations work, are you?” Adela narrowed her eyes. “One puts everything on the table foremost.”

  “The boy, Fallor…” Her voice trailed off. The thought had vanished from between her fingers and Vi struggled to bring it back. Why had she brought up Fallor again?

  Ah.

  The memory of Arwin, soaking in the bath, staring at the ceiling, trapped in a bubble of pain and longing and what-ifs. The shade of Jayme on the boy. Fallor was nothing in relation to stopping the vortex, but she had made a promise to save the people she could, hadn’t she?

  “You are to cut ties with him.”

  “We have been working—”

  “This isn’t negotiable,” Vi said firmly.

  Adela pursed her lips. “Very well, we have other morphi we’ve been working on recruiting.” Adela shrugged. “Or are they off-limits too?”

  “Recruit away.” Vi leaned back in the chair, folding her hands over her stomach and staring out at the ocean. Perhaps the Isle of Frost getting a shift was the stone in the river, and some other morphi would betray King Noct and his family. Perhaps she’d somehow made it worse. But for now Vi hoped that Arwin would have a few extra years of happiness. If she was lucky, regardless of what else came to pass in the world around her, she would have a hand to hold when the day was done.

  She’d handle Jayme when her and Adela’s deal was up. By then, she would have even more power. The pirate queen would agree to anything just to avoid angering her.

  “Where will we be delivering you first?” Adela asked, still somewhat begrudgingly.

  “First, we’ll wait for my friends to join us. Then, to Norin.”

  “And you will tell me of the way into the Archives?”

  “I will tell you how to get into the Archives once our deal has concluded and you have taken me to my fifth and final place.”

  “What assurance do I h
ave until then?”

  “I’m sure you’ll think of some way to make my life miserable if I don’t follow through.” Adela smiled knowingly at that. Vi held out her hand, a plain, silver ring on her left middle finger. “Narro hath.” The connection sprang to life with the glyph hovering around the ring. “It’s settled, come to the Stormfrost,” she said, short and simple, before closing the connection.

  “Who are your friends?”

  “Curious, aren’t you, for a woman who’s all business?”

  “Keep your secrets.” Adela turned, looking out to sea. Vi couldn’t tell if she was bothered or not.

  “One of them is an elfin from Risen. The other is another elfin but from much farther away… where I’m from.” More or less. Vi decided to answer Adela’s question anyway. She was never going to be friendly with the pirate queen. But the more cordial they could become, the better. “May I ask you something?”

  “You may ask.” But Vi didn’t miss that Adela made no guarantees about giving an answer.

  “Why Solaris?”

  “Pardon?” Adela swept her icy gaze back to Vi. It would’ve made her shiver, once.

  “Why do you hate Solaris? You stole the crown jewels. You worked with the Knights of Jadar. You’ll go out of your way to bring harm to Solaris, even offering discounts to people acting against the family.”

  “Was it you who killed my man in Norin years ago?”

  “Yes.” Vi would’ve expected Adela to be upset at that, but she only seemed amused.

  “I was wondering when Janice informed me there was a Lightspinner…” Janice must’ve been the morphi that night. “I had bet it was one of Lumeria’s men.”

  “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  “Oh, yes, why do I hate Solaris?” Adela’s wispy, white hair hovered like an aura at the slightest turn of her head when she looked to Vi. “Why do you think?”

  “I think it’s because Tiberus scorned you,” Vi said boldly. “Because you loved him and he—”

  Raspy laughter and wheezes cut her short.

  “Because I loved Tiberus? That sod?” Adela shook her head several times. “No. Though he might have thought I did. His affections suited me, I’ll be the first to admit. Tiberus was a means to an end for me to see if I could get the treasure.”

  “Then it’s not about Solaris?”

  “Why would it be?”

  “Because…” Vi faltered. Her voice trailed off. Everything she’d known Adela to be. Everything the pirate queen had done.

  “You thought this was all about a man?” Adela continued to get a chuckle out of Vi’s shock. “No, girl. This is about me, and my power. Tiberus was a stepping stone, a test run, to see if I could become what I knew I was destined for.

  “I want every so-called ruler on this earth to know that their dominion ends at the sea. I do not hate Solaris any more than I hate Lumeria, or any other ruler across the various kingdoms, empires, and republics of the earth.” Vi chuckled softly. “You find my ambitions amusing?” Adela looked at her from the sides of her eyes.

  “Not at all. What I find amusing is that you and I will do anything to get what we want. And you are the last person I ever expected to find kinship with.” All the hatred Vi had felt for Adela was melting away like the ice on the chair around her. She didn’t like the woman. But she was starting to understand her. Part of that transformed her disdain into ambivalence.

  Adela fought to carve out her place in the world. What made her any different from anyone else?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Taavin and Deneya arrived on the Stormfrost later that day, brought on the vessel by a skiff, and Adela showed them to their temporary quarters. Vi was reminded of the Dawn Skipper—two bunks, a table between them, and not much else.

  “I don’t want to say I doubted you but…”

  “You doubted me.” Vi grinned at Deneya. “I’m not offended. Adela’s reaction was a coin flip.”

  “It was, and I’m relieved this worked out.” Taavin crossed to the window, looking out at the sea that was now drifting past them as they moved toward the Dark Isle once more. “What did you have to promise her to get her to agree?”

  “Nothing of consequence.” Vi folded her arms and leaned against the closed door.

  “Why do I get the feeling you’re lying?” Deneya said uncertainly.

  “Consequence is a matter of perspective.”

  “She’s avoiding answering for a reason.” Taavin faced Vi. “What were the terms of the deal?”

  “We have ten years, or five trips on the Stormfrost, whichever comes first.”

  “Is ten years enough time?” Deneya asked.

  “It all ends soon.”

  “That sounds ominous.” Deneya sat heavily on a bunk.

  “You still haven’t told us what Adela expects in return,” Taavin pressed.

  “As for what I offered her… I offered a way into the Archives of Yargen.”

  “You what?” Taavin and Deneya said in unison.

  “I had to give her something. But that was all I offered her.”

  “That’s all, she says, as though handing the Archives to Adela isn’t anything major,” Deneya muttered.

  “You didn’t though.” Taavin took a step toward her. “Did you?”

  A smile curled Vi’s lips. “All I promised her was a way in to the Archives. I didn’t guarantee it’d be safe, and I didn’t promise her a way out.”

  “You mean to ensnare her.” Deneya was now grinning as well.

  “I mean to prevent the world from ending. What the people of Risen do is up to them.” Vi shrugged.

  “I’ll make sure the people of Risen are ready to protect the flame,” Deneya proclaimed.

  “The flame will be gone long before then.” And you’ll be the one to take it, Vi added mentally.

  “If we take the flame from Risen, there’s no more rebirths—no more turns of the vortex,” Taavin said solemnly.

  “As I said, it all ends eventually. It must.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. Vi could almost feel him reading her thoughts through her eyes. She tried to shield herself from it with an encasement of Yargen’s magic around her.

  “You have plans,” he said finally.

  “Of course I do.”

  “Care to share them?”

  “When the time is right.”

  “You act like you don’t trust us.” Deneya rolled her eyes.

  “I trust you both with my life.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell us what you planned on offering Adela?” Deneya asked.

  “Because it was inconsequential.”

  “What about your work with the shift?” Taavin’s voice took on a hard edge. Even Deneya stilled as the atmosphere in the room became nearly suffocating. They’d found out. They must’ve heard from Ruie when word spread that she escaped through the shift surrounding the Twilight Kingdom without the help of a morphi.

  “Is it true?” Deneya whispered. “Did you really go through the shift without the help of a morphi?”

  Vi nodded.

  “How?” Deneya shifted uncomfortably. “You shouldn’t be able to… none of us can. Only morphi can master the shift.”

  “I’m not quite sure how,” Vi finally admitted, staring down at her hands. “I got a feeling when working with Arwin. A feeling that led to an understanding.”

  “You can understand the shift.”

  “I can,” Vi answered. But she didn’t know if that was entirely the truth. Did she understand the shift? Or did the goddess within her, working through her mortal form? “Perhaps it’s a boon. Now I will be able to make all the crystal weapon replicas so that the major events surrounding the crystal weapons remain unchanged.”

  She looked to Taavin as if she was the one giving a peace offering. If she could make crystal weapons, they could continue along his mission of ensuring the birth of a new Champion. Surely, he should be thrilled.

  “Speaking of…” Deneya reach
ed for her pack and produced the fake crystal crown she and Arwin had made. “We have it.”

  “We’ll return south and find what Baldair did with the actual crown. Hopefully, it’ll be an easy swap,” Vi proclaimed. “We’ll go by way of Norin so we can stop in the Crossroads and collect some gold from our hideaway.” She looked to Taavin. He still regarded her with a thoughtful and somewhat wary gaze. “If my plans meet your approval as well?”

  “The stones of fate in the river are unchanged. We’re still heading toward the birth of a new Champion and protecting the future of this world in the process.” His words were approving, but his body language said otherwise.

  Vi reached out, taking his fingers and trying to smooth away the tension between them with her thumb on the back of his hand. A smile broke across her lips, one he reluctantly returned. Her fingers tightened. She had to hold onto him, for as long as possible, because holding him felt like holding the last remnants of the woman she’d once been.

  Adela took them just south of Norin. They were taken ashore by rowboat and left without fanfare. In the distance, the Stormfrost was barely visible. By the time they reached Norin that evening, there were already whispers of the legendary pirate Adela being spotted.

  They left the rumors behind and began the long trek to the Crossroads.

  When they arrived a few days later, it was late, and the stars had been their only companions on the road for the final hour. Even the center of the Solaris Empire was relatively quiet.

  “Glad to see it didn’t burn down.” Deneya looked up at the vacant storefront Vi had purchased years ago as she slid her key into the iron rose lock.

  “It won’t burn down,” Taavin said confidently. “This place is going to play a pivotal role in the future of our world.”

  A deep rumbling distracted them. Vi and Taavin shared a look. Both turned to Deneya.

  “Was that your stomach?” Vi asked with a laugh.

  “It was a long walk today.” Deneya rubbed her stomach. “Here, take my pack, I’m going to go find some food.” Vi accepted the woman’s pack and Taavin gave a nod. “I’ll be back with sustenance soon.”